Sammy Hagar says he developed his ready-to-drink sparkling cocktails after being challenged by his kids to do so.
Speaking to Seltzer Nation, he says, “Well, it was during COVID when I had nothing to do…
“The only people around were my family. My two sons and two daughters were drinking RTDs (Ready-To-Drink) and hanging out around the house a lot. They had all of these RTDs in the refrigerator, and I would taste them. I’d say, ‘What the hell is this?’ I’m really into a good drink, quality beverages and quality spirits. So, I don’t want to tell you the brand name, but I tasted one, and I went, ‘This is just crap, man.’ I couldn’t even swallow it hardly. I was like, ‘Oh my God, what are you guys doing?’
“Sure enough, what do my kids say? ‘Oh yeah, Papa, why don’t you make something better?’
“It was a family challenge. I said, ‘Okay.’
“I only get into a business if I think I can do better than the competition. Otherwise, I don’t bother. I don’t make fine wines even though I drink fine wines more than tequila or rum… I wouldn’t even know where to start, so I don’t make those things. But when somebody makes a lousy RTD and sticks it in my refrigerator, I go right to work. And that’s why I decided to do it. I said, ‘I can make a better product than this.'”
And Sammy rolls ups his sleeves and doesn’t entirely leave it to others.
“I started taking notes of what flavors I wanted. And I started thinking about packaging, and I went to my Beach Bar Rum people, and everyone said at that time, ‘No, you can’t use spirits. You can’t use rum. It’s going to be way too expensive.'”
Sammy wasn’t phased and did it anyway.
“I first made them out of beer base, and I couldn’t stand it. I didn’t like that, that malt-flavor. And so, I thought, well, I’ll try just a regular alcohol base, which they call a wine base, which is sugar-based. It was all right but not the same thing. I said, ‘You know, I want a bubbly spirit. I want to put rum in this thing and make it really elevate the whole thing.’ Because, see, when you put alcohol from rum, vodka, gin, or even whiskey, it makes a good RTD…
“So, I decided to use my rum. I wanted it to be sparkling. And I tried to keep the calories down to match everyone else… So, I would send my flavors in; they would send them back to me, and I’d taste them and say to my flavor guys, ‘Eh, we need a little more of this, a little more of that.’ I was perfecting it.”
Sammy’s Beach Bar Cocktail Co. is available in four flavors: Pineapple Splash, Tangerine Dream, Cherry Kola Chill, and Island Pop.
REUTERS PHOTO
