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Lil Yachty debuts RTDs
American rapper Miles McCollum, AKA Lil Yachty, has launched a line of Tequila seltzers named Yacht Water.
The Grammy-nominated rapper has partnered on the ready-to-drink (RTD) Tequila seltzer brand with spirits industry veterans Rachel and Peter Kiley (co-founders of Atlanta-based boutique spirits company Sneaky Spirits) and fellow music mogul Kevin ‘Coach K’ Lee, the co-founder of hip-hop record label Quality Control Music.
Said to be inspired by Texan cocktail Ranch Water, the canned seltzers contain 105 calories and come in three flavours: Key Lime, Jalapeño, and Sunrise.
Each is made with Pedro Furtivo Reposado Tequila, real fruit juice and filtered sparkling water, finished with a pinch of sea salt.
On his entry into the spirits industry, Lil Yachty said he “never messed with alcohol because the taste never sat right”, so he worked with Kiley and the team to “create something smoother – something I’d actually want to sip”.
Noting the popularity of RTD cocktails over the pandemic and the rise in market availability, Peter Kiley said he “couldn’t help but notice a decline in the quality and flavour of those products”.
This inspired the idea to create an alternative to “what this type of drink could – and should – taste like”.
He explained: “For many of the bigger brands in this category, it seems any innovation is motivated by the bottom line instead of the consumer. Yacht Water is proof that quality and affordability can coexist if you care enough about the people you’re selling to.
“Our ethos at Yacht Water is that ‘people deserve nice things, and nice things can be accessible,’ which is what inspired us to concoct a canned beverage made with honest ingredients – and very few of them – that tastes really %#$& good.
“The architecture of this liquid puts the consumer first – both through quality and composition. Profitability and margins are not on our list of ingredients – and never will be.”
Each Yacht Water variant sits at 5.8% ABV and – for now – are available only at select retailers in Georgia and Tennessee.
Yacht Water is not alone as a celebrity-partnered RTD brand, with Jennifer Lopez, Kylie Jenner and Hailee Steinfeld all introducing their own takes on the format in the past year.
Expanding beyond RTDs, the line of celebrities who have jumped on the Tequila train is rather long, including the likes of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Kendall Jenner, Matthew McConaughey and, most recently, Megan Thee Stallion.
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