StrangeLove reveals move into premix alcohol

It began as a wellness drink brand, evolved into a broad portfolio of adult soft drinks, and now StrangeLove Beverage Co is branching into alcohol.

StrangeLove co-founder James Bruce revealed the new premix venture in a recent podcast interview with Drinks Adventures.

“If you look at our brand DNA and our history, we’ve been making other people’s alcohol better for ten years and we just thought, ‘it’s our turn now’,” he said.

“We may as well make our own alcohol better, because we know how to do it.”

Bruce said StrangeLove’s premix range will leverage some of the “greatest hits” from its soft drink portfolio.

“We’ve recently released a spiced pineapple mixer for rum and agave spirits that will be making an appearance,” he said.

“We recently released a passionfruit soda, so we’re playing around with a passionfruit vodka RTD, kind of like a ‘pornstar martini’.

“I think we’ve got the underlying NPD there and the underlying equity in our current flavours. It’s just about drawing them out and finding what alcohol to mix them with.”

Bruce acknowledged that the Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code scheme presents challenges for soft drink brands that want to branch into alcohol.

“We’re working with ABAC to find whatever the best solution is,” he said.

“Our positioning has always been very adult. Anyone under 18 probably can’t afford our drinks in the supermarket anyway, so the price itself is a kind of barrier.

“But you know, we’ve been talking about gin and tonic and palomas and margaritas for ten years, so we’ve got a history of having that relationship with alcohol.

“We’re treading really carefully though, because there’s obviously been some cases recently where people have gotten it wrong.

“I think that move from non-alc into alcohol is one that needs to be made very carefully.”

You can listen to the full podcast interview with James Bruce here.