The Modern Substitute has published an enthusiastic review of the Aplós Chili Margarita, a canned alcohol-free cocktail from the Florida brand ($24 per 4-pack, and spotted at Total Wine for $17.99). The specs are notable on their own: 30 calories and 2 grams of sugar per 8.5-ounce can. The reviewer praised the drink's unexpected depth, with herbal notes of black olive, thyme, and sage layered under the familiar margarita profile, concluding that "one won't be enough."
The same edition rounds up an unusually busy week of launches: No Fun Beverages' Ashes to Orange cocktail, the chef-inspired Nomaro aperitivo, a HOP WTR and Hot Girls Pickles pickle lemonade collaboration, a Go Brewing double IPA, Otavo craft brews built on green tea and citrus, Dr Zero Zero's AperZero aperitivo, and a pair of THC-infused wines from Bloom & Barrel.
Seven launches in a week would have been a full quarter's worth of news a few years ago. The pace itself is the story.
The Cr(af)ted Take
Look at that sugar number. Two grams, in a margarita-style drink with genuine complexity, is the kind of spec that was nearly impossible in this category five years ago. Producers used to lean on sugar to fill the space alcohol left behind. The best ones now build structure from botanicals and heat instead, and the Aplós can is evidence the approach works at retail scale.
The launch roundup tells its own story about where the category is heading: aperitivos, savory flavors, functional crossovers, and collaborations that would sound like jokes if the products weren't serious. A crowded field is a healthy field. It also means the bar for quality keeps rising, which is exactly what drinkers should want.
Original reporting: The Modern Substitute →