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Boston Beer Company has found another growth driver with its spirits-based hard tea brand Sun Cruiser, which continues to deepen its distribution footprint. But the hot ticket item continues to be unable to stop flooding volume from its sibling brands, as the company recorded yet another quarter of shipments and depletions losses.
Super Lyte, a vodka-infused, sports-drink inspired refresher, from the makers of Surfside, has depleted 120,000 cases in its first five weeks in the market, with a forecast to hit 1.5 million cases this year.
Molson Coors has struck a deal to acquire spirits-based, ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktail pioneer Atomic Brands, whose Monaco Cocktails entered the then-nascent space in 2012. The deal should come as no surprise, as it aligns with Molson Coors’ goals to expand its beyond beer portfolio, part of the Horizon 2030 plan CEO Rahul Goyal outlined earlier this year.
As it bolsters its core seasonal craft beer lineup with occasion-driven variety packs, 38-year-old Great Lakes Brewing Company (GLBC) also has several irons in the beyond-beer fire. Earlier this month, Great Lakes announced the launch of aSplash, a ready-to-drink (RTD) canned cocktail produced in collaboration with Columbus, Ohio-based Watershed Distillery, the Buckeye State’s largest craft spirits producer.
Mission Craft Cocktails’ Pickle-Rita, a gag that was supposed to die on April Fools’ Day, is headed to grocery stores in September.
YOSHI Matcha Liqueur is moving from a two-state test market to national distribution in under a year, testing its thesis that the popularity of espresso martinis and matcha prove there’s demand for green tea-laced cocktails.
The latest spirits distribution headlines include RTD gin cocktail The Original Southside landing in major retailers, a wave of Southern Glazer’s (SGWS) additions spanning vodka, rum, and scotch, and distributors scooping up new territory in the wake of Republic National Distributing Company’s (RNDC) collapse, among other moves.
Rhinegeist Brewing’s Cincy Light line has crossed categories with the debut of Cincy Splash, a vodka-based, ready-to-drink (RTD) canned cocktail. The vodka sodas are available in three flavors: Pineapple, Black Cherry and Peach. The 4.5% ABV, 100-calories drinks are packaged in 355 ml slim cans and sold in single-flavor 4-packs and variety 8-packs, according to a press release.
There were many kinds of party drinks before 2010, but we’d bet none of them came in colorful plastic orb-shaped containers. BuzzBallz, the Sazerac-owned ready-to-drink (RTD) party prop, doesn’t just stand out for its spherical shape, but for what it represents about how people are drinking these days: with entertaining, high-ABV, convenient formats.
Check out news items initially reported in the Brewbound Insider Newsletter August 6-7, including headlines from A-B, Tilray Brands, Departed Soles and more.
How can a new brand make a splash in the increasingly crowded ready-to-drink waters? A winning combination of differentiated flavors, artistic packaging and a willingness to work the market day in and day out. That’s what has been working for Lake Hour, according to CEO Michelle Ivey, this week’s featured guest.
The time is right for founders of scaled ready-to-drink (RTD) brands to consider exits with the emergence of a “classic seller’s market,” Arlington Capital Advisors managing director Townsend Ziebold declared earlier this month at the Beer Marketer’s Insights business conference.
Most founders build to scale, but Adam Kost, founder of ready-to-drink brand Dirty Shirley, built to prove. In a saturated market, Dirty Shirley was structured from day one as a market-validation project that was lean, disciplined, design-led and deliberately positioned for an early strategic exit – which it got.
Ready-to-drink canned cocktail brand Carbliss is open to potential acquirers, co-founder Adam Kroener made clear Wednesday at Beer Marketer’s Insights spring meeting. “Everything’s for sale,” Kroener said during a panel conversation that included SpikedAde co-founder and CEO Jason Cohen and Happy Dad co-founder and CEO Sam Shahidi.
Entering its third summer, Right Coast Spirits’ Italian Ice is riding high. The ready-to-drink (RTD) bottled cocktail more than doubled year-over-year (YoY) during summer 2025, increasing volume 101% compared to summer 2024, Right Coast director of commercial strategy Jon Schwartz told Brewbound.
Sazerac-owned BuzzBallz is the dominant brand in the RTD segment. BuzzBallz’ dollar sales increased 65.6%, to more than $569.3 million, in Circana-tracked off-premise retailers for the 52-week period ending April 19.
While off-premise bev-alc scans have been on a rollercoaster this year (one with admittedly mild drops compared to 2025), the on-premise has been more steady, trending between flat and up 1% over the last few months.
