Australian YouTubers, Cold Ones, have officially launched their premix drink, Grog – unveiling a locally made, Japanese and Aussie fusion RTD.
In their first month, Grog has become one of the most followed RTD Instagram pages and sold over 250K units.
Selling 1000 tickets to their sold-out Grog launch party in 27 minutes.
Emerging as the independent underdog, Grog aims to be a unique and flavour-packed alternative to the popular seltzer – distilled and canned in Victoria using a blend of Aussie and Japanese ingredients.
Inspired by Japanese soft drinks, the Japanese-Aussie culture collide is made with Shochu, Vodka, and soda in grape or peach flavour.
While the RTD is packing a serious flavour punch, its 6 per cent alcohol formula is also low calorie and has zero added sugar.
“We’ve spent years testing and reviewing alcohol on our Cold Ones channel, but found we were never completely satisfied. The only drinks that ever came close were the ones we found in convenience stores on trips to Japan, but even those we felt could be improved when made locally,” said Max.
Despite their loyal following of over 10M people worldwide, the process of bringing Grog to life wasn’t without its challenges, with many prospective brewery partners turning them down.
“In the beginning we approached a number of big breweries, and the general consensus was that they didn’t take us seriously and didn’t believe we had the selling power,” said Chad.
“They were happy to put our names on their already established flavours, but we didn’t want that; we wanted a drink that felt true to us, so we did it on our own terms.”
Fuelled by their rejection, Max and Chad set out to bring Grog to life themselves, developing the hard Japanese soda recipe, flavour profile and design on their own, and leaning on established alcohol label 80Proof to scale distribution.
Max and Chad are proud to be stocking 1000+ independent bottle shops with Grog at the end of October.