Fever

May 22, 2023

Fever-Tree's Classic Bloody Mary, Classic Margarita and Light Margarita Mixes.

The world's leading premium carbonated mixer is expanding beyond bubbles.

Fever-Tree has launched Margarita, Light Margarita and Bloody Mary Mixes that are rolling out to U.S. markets this month.

The company built a name for itself on high-end tonics and has branched out into ginger beer and other sodas designed to play well with spirits.

Charles Gibb, the CEO, North America for Fever-Tree USA has long envisioned expanding into other non-fizzy cocktail occasions. The Margarita, the number one cocktail in the United States, and the Bloody Mary, the king of brunch drinks, were obvious first choices for the new product line, Gibb said.

"Our skill is taking an existing, or taking a drink that's trending, and just making that drink tastes a hell of a lot better and making it a more enjoyable experience for the consumer," he said. "No matter how great your spirit is, a drink can be destroyed by a bad mixer."

While there are a lot of high-end local and regional Margarita and Bloody Mary mixes, Gibb noted that there's not another national premium brand. The packaging is a tad staid in comparison with some of the mixers out there, but Gibb said it should call to mind the overall brand, and the quality of ingredients that are associated with Fever-Tree. In the tonics, the quinine comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo; the elderflower from the English countryside. The Bloody Mary mix has tomatoes that create a thick viscosity that's visible from the bottle, and the Margarita mix is made with bright Mexican limes.

The Classic Margarita is well balanced, but as someone who prefers their cocktails on the drier side, I liked the Light Margarita Mix, which is sweetened with 58% less cane sugar and Mexican blue agave than the classic. The Bloody Mary has subtle heat, and leans more towards Worcestershire than horseradish on the flavor profile. Currently, the mixers are offered in 750ml bottles ($8), perfect for stocking the bar at a party, but Gibb doesn't rule out offering a single-serve canned version in the future.

And we’re also likely to see additional variations on the Margaritas and Bloody Mary, as well as entirely new cocktail mixers from Fever-Tree in the future.

"As a business we've never we've never stopped innovating, and it's because we believe that there are so many different drinks that the consumer is interested in. I'm always amazed and staggered by the diversity of what people drink and how they drink in this in this country and also the willingness to try new things," said Gibb, who is British.

It makes sense to target tequila and mezcal drinkers. According to the Distilled Spirits counsel of the United States, in 2022, sales of tequila and mezcal were up 17.2% — $886 million totaling $6.0 billion. Fever-Tree sparkling pink grapefruit, which works well in Paloma's is one of several indicators of both tequila's popularity and the U.S. public's willingness to buy mixers for it. Another indicator of consumer willingness to experiment: Gibb said the fall launch of Blood Orange Ginger Beer, a partnership with Maker's Mark Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky, has far exceeded sales expectations.

The new line will likely follow the Fever-Tree model: nail the core product, like tonic, and then branch out into new iterations like elderflower tonic.

"I think it's important always to establish yourself with the right core product," Gibb said of the new Margaritas and Bloody Mary. "This is the biggest opportunity in the market. Let's elevate that drink, let's make that drink tastes even better. And then when consumers love our Margarita, we start thinking, how do we innovate off that?"