Wisconsin-based Carbliss is stepping into the high-ABV ready-to-drink segment with a four-SKU Cocktail Collection clocking in at 12% ABV, marking the brand's most significant portfolio extension since its founding. The new line hits distributor shelves in November across Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota, with a broader national rollout planned through 2027.
The SKUs and Specs
The debut collection spans four cocktail-inspired formats: Margarita (tequila base), Mango Margarita (tequila base), Blackberry Moscow Mule (vodka base), and Mai Tai (rum base). Each can delivers 12% ABV, zero carbs, zero sugar, and 250 calories — a nutritional profile the brand is positioning as a differentiator in a high-ABV RTD segment where calorie and sugar counts often climb alongside alcohol content. The lineup is also certified gluten free. Packaging features brightly colored ingredient illustrations distinct from the existing 5% portfolio, aiding planogram separation at retail and reducing shopper confusion between the two tiers.
Route-to-Market Context
Carbliss built its distribution footprint on a five-percent ABV RTD platform that won it the No. 1 Food & Beverage Company ranking on the Inc. 5000 for two consecutive years — a depletion story that gave the brand considerable leverage with Midwest wholesalers. The six-state November launch concentrates distribution density in the brand's home region before asking its wholesaler network to absorb a second, higher-ABV tier nationally. That sequenced approach limits the SKU rationalization risk that has tripped up other RTD suppliers expanding too quickly across the three-tier system.
The 12% ABV positioning also pulls the brand into a distinct competitive set from its existing 5% line — competing less with hard seltzers and more with canned cocktails and spirits-based RTDs that have posted strong off-premise velocity gains over the past two years. Limited carbonation, a formulation choice carried over from the core portfolio, keeps the flavor profile closer to a poured cocktail than a sparkling mixer, which could support on-premise placement in casual dining and bar accounts looking for consistent, high-ABV serves without the back-bar complexity.
What Kroener Says
"Flavor has always been where we start," said Adam Kroener, Co-founder and CEO of Carbliss. "This is a full strength cocktail built to get the party started, with the flavor people expect from Carbliss and zero carbs and zero sugar. More alcohol didn't mean we were willing to compromise on anything else."
The comment signals that Carbliss is not simply chasing ABV as a volume lever — the brand is betting that its flavor-forward positioning, which differentiated it from watery hard seltzers at launch, translates into the increasingly crowded high-ABV RTD lane. How quickly the new collection converts trial to repeat depletions through the Midwest wholesale tier will determine the pace and breadth of the 2027 national expansion.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
