Flirting while buzzed can be one of the many hazards or benefits of picking up a drink, but is there a way for a non-alc beverage to bottle up that liquid courage? Amber Murphy and Jordan Bauer, founders of Drink Redacted, are hoping so with an “aphrodisiac tonic” hitting the market this month.
Drink Redacted’s Flirty Social Tonic contains a 1,200mg proprietary blend of “aphrodisiac ingredients” such as Epimedium (also called Horny Goat Weed), Tongkat Ali, and Maca Root – all associated with enhancing desire, boosting blood flow, and reducing stress. The active ingredients come in a 12 ounce slim can with lemon, ginger and chrysanthemum, priced at $25 per 4-pack. It’s the brand’s second iteration, after its initial foray under a more risqué name, For Sex, marketing a beverage called the Sparkling Libido Elixir couldn’t quite find the right chemistry with consumers.
“We originally came out as a drink alternative to the gummies and the mints and supplements of the world. And in discovery, we realized that we didn’t want to be exclusively a sex supplement,” said Bauer. “We are absolutely a sex supplement, because we’re a powerful drink, and yet, at the same time, drinks in and of their nature are such a more social thing, it’s not just popping a mint in your mouth – you’re enjoying this with someone else, with someone around you.”
Capturing that social occasion was crucial to the product’s viability, and reactions from retailers also made the founders press pause on the original, more provocative edition. That first attempt sought to eliminate the taboo around libido, but the language and depictions of stick figures in sexual positions on the packaging proved to be too much for retailers.
The new can was redesigned with a similar logo and coloring, but the brand’s messaging has pivoted to focus on the drink’s “flirty” effects, aiming to fill the gap in adult non-alc (ANA) drinks offering a THC or kava-induced high and those functional wellness cocktails more focused on long-term health. The goal is to meet the need for a short-term, instant effect that drinkers may be looking for when they’re out socially, while allowing them to stay in control, said Bauer.
The brand isn’t the first arousal-boosting beverage attempt: Woman-owned Moonlight Beverage Company launched Love Life Enhanced Intimacy Beverage in 2021, which is now off the market, and Gillian Anderson’s G Spot is making its way to the U.S. from the UK.
G Spot and Drink Redacted enter the U.S. ANA market as a number of NA ready-to-drink beverages promote functional properties of ingredients to sell mood-enhancing buzzes. Most of them have been geared at enhancing relaxation or energy, replicating only some of the possible positive effects of alcohol intoxication. The Flirty Social Tonic may be among the first to aim at increasing other effects, such as confidence or desire.
As the founders test their new cans at on-premise events in their homebase of St. Louis, the social tonic is already pulling in one demographic the founders were aiming for: Moderation-curious and socially-anxious Gen Z. There’s a second clear customer base emerging too.
“The other people that are gravitating towards it are in their mid-50s, mid-60s,” Bauer said. “Divorcees or moms, or the people coming into their second sexual wave.”
The founders see Drink Redacted as a feminine-forward product – think the Call Your Daddy Listener, said Bauer. The company isn’t based in a “trend-setting city,” which has given the founders a taste of the potential apprehension from consumers and retail channels. Kick-off events and sales will target cities such as Los Angeles, Austin, New York and Miami once the brand lands distribution partners.
Drink Redacted is also planning to keep its portfolio spicy: an entry into sparkling water, Flirt Water, containing a smaller dose of 400mg active aphrodisiac ingredients, is aimed for Q2 2026, and a bottled spirit-replacement, Flirt Potion, with 2,000mg active aphrodisiac ingredients per 1.5oz, should follow.
“With that one you can kind of turn any mocktail, any cocktail, into this aphrodisiac flirt cocktail,” Bauer said.
Those products may aid with what could be a velocity challenge for the Flirty Social Tonic, which via marketing copy and its packaging instructs its drinkers to “split a can, share the love.”