De Soi, the non-alcoholic apéritif brand co-founded by Katy Perry, is turning up the heat with its newest launch, Haute Margarita.
The cocktail arrives as the team behind the brand – master distiller Morgan McLachlan and CEO Scout Brisson – crystallizes how to position a line of inventive zero-proof cocktails in a nascent category.
A riff on the spicy margarita, De Soi’s newest addition features flavors of lime, agave, mesquite, green mango and jalapeño with an adaptogenic twist beneath the bubbles that includes L-theanine, lion’s mane, and reishi mushroom. This will be the third core SKU from Brisson and AMASS distiller McLachlan, who launched the brand in 2022 and have learned along the way to create products that are recognizable alcohol proxies, while novel and nuanced.
“We’ve had a lot of learning that’s particularly relevant as we’re launching the margarita, because if you look at the lineup that we started with, they were representations of more abstract cocktail concepts,” said Brisson.
The brand’s Très Rosé – premiering a year and half after the business launched – was the first SKU that shifted away from abstract adaptogenic-infused concepts to a one-for-one that helped bridge an educational gap for consumers: what flavors to expect from their cocktails.
The Spritz Italiano, a take on the rising Aperol Spritz, came next, a flavor that was neck-and-neck with the margarita on post-purchase survey requests from customers. The two alcoholic versions have ranked in the top cocktail spots on-premise in recent years.
“As we were thinking about what can top an Aperol Spritz, it really only felt like some version of a margarita made sense,” Brisson said.
The team will now be heads-down pushing sales for their three core SKUs, while leaning on their strengths in product innovation to build the brand through exclusive or seasonal flavors, such as last winter’s St. Moritz Mule.
De Soi is now dropping its Haute Margarita into a distribution network of 28 new U.S. markets, thanks to a partnership launched in March with Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits (SGWS). The distribution development is aimed at broadening the brand’s footprint particularly in the on-premise sector, making De Soi more accessible in bars, restaurants, and hotels. That strategy aligns with bars, restaurants, and other places such as music venues and festivals, that are embracing the need for more zero-proof options.
To date, nearly all of De Soi’s business has been off-premise, expanding from regional and natural grocery outlets to liquor giants BevMo! and Total Wine & More.
“We still partner with your traditional non-alcoholic beverage distributors to service accounts that prefer to go through those types of partners, but it’s really about knowing that de Soi is replacing an alcohol occasion, so we have to be able to show up on those occasions,” Brisson said.
Now is certainly the time to show up: new ANA spirits and ready-to-drink (RTDs) cocktails have flooded the shelves in past years, with SKUs rising from 160 in 2022 to 298 in the 52-week period ending January 25, according to NIQ data assembled for BevNET by bev-alc data firm 3Tier Beverages. Non-alc RTD sales off-premise are also gaining traction, up 167% in 2024.
Still, Gen Z, which over-indexes in ANA RTDs, is still more likely to balk at the price of ANA products and switch to products that are easily available. Brisson is hopeful that by the next reset cycle, retailers will have more clear procedures on where ANA products live among buying teams and at stores.
“I think the category is moving in the right direction, but there’s still work to be done tightening up what that presence looks like at stores,” she said.
Four-packs of the Margarita Haute are available now online and will hit shelves at Whole Foods, Sprouts, The Vitamin Shoppe, Fresh Thyme and Jewel-Osco stores across the country this month and in early June.