RTDs, Rebels, and Real Ingredients: Lemonati Releases New Innovations

While spring showers may bring summer flowers, the past six months have brought something far more flavorful—new seasonal releases and exciting innovations from the minds behind Mighty Swell and its parent company, Lemonati.

Known for their unapologetically bold approach to beverage crafting, the team continues to push the boundaries of spiked seltzers and ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails. With a vibrant track record of quirky, crowd-pleasing flavor combos and a relentless commitment to transparency, Lemonati and Mighty Swell are forging their own path in the ever-growing beverage space.

If you’re familiar with the brand, you know they don’t play it safe. From Tiger’s Blood (the strawberry, watermelon, and coconut-flavored hard bubbly that won Seltzer Nation’s 2023 “Best Spiked Seltzer”) to Purple Magic (mimicking that childhood grape drink), Mighty Swell’s lineup delivers nostalgia-packed flavor with a modern, adventurous twist. But behind the whimsical names and color-splashed cans lies serious beverage craftsmanship.

After Lemonati acquired Mighty Swell, the company sharpened its focus on building a Total Beverage portfolio (for the whole family)—one that now spans spiked seltzers, ready-to-drink (RTD) options, and soon, non-alcoholic options aimed at all occasions, for families and health-conscious drinkers alike.

This season, the team turned heads again with two new offerings under their Mighty Swell Spirited line: Mastery and Cherryosity.

“The idea is to disrupt and innovate,” says Lemonati President and Mighty Swell CEO Jeana Harrington.

Each drink channels a very different vibe—one refreshingly southern with a golf-course charm, the other cozy and cocktail-inspired—but both reflect the thoughtful formulation and design that have become Mighty Swell’s signature. With Mastery and Cherryosity, Lemonati isn’t just chasing trends—they’re creating moments worth sipping.

And the innovation doesn’t stop there. With their non-alcoholic lemonades, Lemonati Lemonade and Hoot Juice on the way for Q3 and plans to expand territories even further, Lemonati is proving that playfulness, quality, and creativity can all live in the same can.

So buckle up—this Lemonati ride is just getting started.

Mastery Hits a Hole in One

Photography courtesy of Lemonati

Fashioned after a mint julep, Mastery takes everything you love about this Southern cocktail and puts it into a can.

“Juleps are tedious to make at home but are a staple this time of year,” says Harrington. “We wanted to take the julep, put it in a can, and make something you could drink every day.”

With a traditional corn bourbon mash bill, Mastery adds white peach and a touch of garden mint. It clocks in at 5.7% ABV, slightly lower than its high-rye bourbon counterpart, Cherryosity.

“A julep is not something you drink five of, because it’s too mint-forward and cloying,” explains Harrington. “We didn’t want to venture into the toothpaste world.”

Instead, just a touch of mint gives Mastery a lovely sweetness and sessionability, balanced by the white peach, one of Harrington’s favorite flavors.

“Could I have three?” says Harrington. “That’s the goal.”

Photography courtesy of Lemonati

Mastery features a golf-course green that evokes the iconic jackets worn by PGA Masters winners.

Harrington, who grew up in the South watching The Masters and Kentucky Derby as a kid, says this spirits-based cocktail is all about “celebrating those cocktail moments.” The ones that honor sporting and recreating, and where portability comes in really handy. “It’s something relevant, elevated, and a bit tedious to make, that we put into a can,” says Harrington. “If you do it right, that’s compelling.”

You’ll find nods to the South all over Mastery’s can, including little pimento cheese sandwiches, golf bags, golf tees, azaleas, race horses, peaches, and mint leaves.

“It’s the most beautiful and elegant can we’ve made, in my opinion,” says Harrington.

Much like following the flight of a golf ball, drinking Mastery takes you on an arcing journey.

Harrington says you’ll taste the corn-heavy bourbon first, followed by a bit of refreshing, sweet mint and white peach in the mid-palate, and ending with a clean, dry finish.

TRY MASTERY HERE

The Cherry On Top: Mighty Swell Spirited’s Fall & Winter Seasonal

Photography courtesy of Lemonati

One of the newest seasonals in Mighty Swell Spirited’s lineup, Cherryosity combines cherry, spice, a high-rye bourbon, and a touch of brown sugar for a “New-Fashioned Bourbon Cocktail.”

Harrington says the drink has Dr. Pepper-like vibes. Although Lemonati’s Senior Director of Brewing and Innovation, Andrea Clodfelter, the “Flavor Captain,” first tried pairing this flavor profile in a spiked seltzer, the combination overpowered the neutral base. Clodfelter says that the “unique, cherry-based” flavor overpowered the spiked seltzers they were working on at the time, but it “absolutely stuck in my brain as calling out for bourbon.”

Clodfelter, who has a background in distilling, felt that there were overlapping flavors between bourbon and the Cherryosity flavors. “They both have elements of vanilla and spice and a very complementary complexity,” she explains.

After extensive panel testing, Clodfelter confirmed her initial thoughts. She found that bourbon, when used as a base, ranked highly among testers.

“The bourbon with a high-rye mash bill had enough backbone to compete with the cherry and spice,” notes Harrington, who sourced the spirit from a prominent distillery in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. “We’re not using swill! We sourced specific ages and mash bills, and then specific barrels, that continued to age until it was time to decant and produce these cocktails. That’s something I don’t think anyone else out there is doing.”

To Clodfelter, who came up with the name, Cherryosity just expresses “such a curious expression of what a cherry flavor can be.” Cherryosity delivers cocktail-esque notes of deep red cherry, cinnamon, clove, and anise.

Keeping the alcohol content under 6% ABV, Cherryosity is still a “little heavier, a little hotter,” according to Harrington at 5.9% ABV. “We wanted consumers to be able to taste the base spirit, bourbon, and we chose to use a dash of brown sugar versus juice – unlike our spiked seltzer and rum cocktails – to ensure a drier finish.”

Photography courtesy of Lemonati

What’s inside the can isn’t the only thing that stands out with Cherryosity.

Engineered by Harrington, Cherryosity’s label and packaging exude a sense of fancy and fun. “We wanted it to evoke holiday, but also something you could drink from October through February,” she says, pointing out the red Christmas and pretty pale blue color palette.

Partnering with the Boulder-based design agency, Moxie Sozo, Harrington designed Cherryosity’s branding as “stately and elegant, but with a nod to classic beer brands, like Rainier,” she says. “It’s definitely one of our more beautiful cans.”

Moxie Sozo came up with the idea to add filigree, or ornamental tracery, in the background.

Amidst the patterns, “there are several Easter eggs,” says Harrington. You’ll find images of a cardinal (the state bird of North Carolina, where Lemonati produces Cherryosity), cinnamon sticks, anise flowers, pine trees, and whiskey barrels.

You’ll also find something pretty unique for RTDs: an ingredient list.

Harrington felt strongly about including calories, carbs, and the whole bit on Cherryosity cans.

What she calls “a desire for transparency” extends across all of Lemonati’s brands. “I want everybody to know exactly what is in our products,” says Harrington.

Releasing for the first time last winter, Cherryosity is only a seasonal offering, available from in the colder months.

“Once I’m wearing a sweater,” says Harrington, “I’m all about it.”

Harrington calls Cherryosity something she hopes people look forward to once the temperature drops below fifty degrees. “This is an approachable and wonderful seasonal to me,” she adds.

TRY CHERRYOSITY HERE

The Zest is Yet to Come

Photography courtesy of Lemonati

If there is one absolute at Lemonati, it’s that they’ll never stop spinning the creative wheels of the Mighty Swell Spiked Seltzer and Mighty Swell Spirited bus.

Always curious to explore lesser-known segments, Harrington says better-for-you lemonades are next up in Lemonati’s total beverage innovation cycle, using unique and patented lemons that are naturally sweet.

These lemons are a natural mutation that produces a juicy lemon without the cheek-puckering acidic qualities. “The lemons are super juicy and lightly sweet,” Harrington explains, “and offer a great base to build a healthy beverage from,” Harrington says she immediately thought of kids.

A stepmom, Harrington says she’d watch her stepkids “crank through juice pouches, leading to a sugar rush and lots of plastic waste.” Hoot Juice solves for both of those problems. The sweet lemons allow for a lemonade with fifty-five percent fewer calories and fifty percent less sugar than the current leading lemonade. And their 7.5oz cans are the “goldilocks options for kids – not too small like juice pouches and not too large like 12oz cans. The name Hoot Juice is a nod to the owls that live in the orchards where the unique lemons grow.

For adults, Lemonati Lemonade is still non-alcoholic but includes more carbonation that falls “somewhere between a sparkling water and a spiked seltzer,” in an adult-size 12-oz sleek can, says Harrington.

This compelling lemonade will still clock in at thirty percent fewer calories and forty percent sugar versus the leading sparkling lemonade offering. Both Hoot Juice and Lemonati Lemonade contain just four ingredients, use no artificial sweeteners, flavors, or dyes, and are certified Non-GMO, Gluten-Free, and OU Kosher.

Both new innovations will debut in time for summer, with all products available soon on Amazon Prime. Lemonati Lemonade launches across all Harris Teeter stores in North and South Carolina and Food Lion across North Carolina in Q3. Check them out on www.hootjuice.com and www.lemonatilemonade.com!

Ready to Ride the Mighty Swell?

Photography courtesy of Lemonati

You can find Mighty Swell in twenty-eight U.S. markets, Puerto Rico, and five foreign countries. Track down a brand near you here.

FIND MIGHTY SWELL NEARBY

Or, just get it delivered right to you!

BUY NOW