7 Things You Should Know About BuzzBallz, the Trailblazing RTD Popular With Gen Z

In a ready-to-drink (RTD) market teeming with options, few premixed cocktails have won over younger consumers like BuzzBallz. Found in bright bulbs across convenience, grocery, and liquor stores, BuzzBallz are spirits- and wine-based RTDs with flavors ranging from classic like Espresso Martini to new and zany like Pineapple Jalapeño.

While they’re low in volume, BuzzBallz are high in alcohol content. The brand’s standard drink packs 15 percent ABV in a 200-milliliter plastic orb. That’s one aspect of their appeal: BuzzBallz are part of a recent wave of high-alcohol RTDs courting younger consumers, and of the most popular RTDs in the U.S., BuzzBallz are the booziest.

The brand rapidly skyrocketed to success. In 2010, its first year in business, BuzzBallz recorded a net $100,000 loss, but it turned a profit the following year. Two years in, BuzzBallz hit $2 million in revenue, and by 2024, its estimated annual income hovered around $500 million.

From its early stages as an MBA project to getting acquired by a beverage alcohol powerhouse, here are seven things to know about BuzzBallz.

The founder conceptualized BuzzBallz while poolside.

The bright idea for BuzzBallz came to Merrilee Kick while she was employed as a schoolteacher. In 2009, Kick was grading papers beside her pool in Dallas and wanted a drink but didn’t want the hassle of making a cocktail and serving it in a glass while lounging outside. When Kick looked at a decorative, crystal snowball on a nearby table, the idea for a premixed cocktail packaged in a ball sealed with a lid came to her.

The idea for the metal pop tab opener came from a walk through Walmart.

Kick claims no one had packaged a beverage into a small bulb before, so she had to do some boots-on-the-ground research to get the brand going. After thinking of the initial idea, she decided upon her next innovation for the BuzzBallz product design at Walmart. While walking through the aisles, Kick picked up a can of tennis balls, noticed the metal pop tab cap, and decided to replicate that for her RTDs. Now, BuzzBallz are sealed with a metal pull tab similar to most canned beverages.

Early development for BuzzBallz happened in MBA courses.

Kick’s then-place of employment, Plano West Senior High School, offered to fund her studies in an MBA program. She accepted the educational stipend and leveraged the programs’ courses to conduct market research for BuzzBallz. It was during this period that Kick decided to launch her product as single units. “I went to liquor stores, I went to bars,” she told Forbes. “One of the things I learned that I didn’t like was that everything had to be bought in four packs or six packs.”

Cows helped fund BuzzBallz’s early loans.

Getting BuzzBallz off the ground was not without its trials and tribulations. Kick attempted to acquire loans from banks around Dallas to no avail, with many bankers citing her status as a female entering a male-dominated industry as a reason for not accepting her applications. That is, until she included her old car and her mom’s cows as collateral on one loan application. Those were deemed enough and helped fund manufacturing costs for her product.

The brand offers two distinct product lines.

BuzzBallz’s offerings are split into two categories: Cocktails and Chillers. Cocktails are spirits-based concoctions, whereas chillers are made from orange fruit wine. The brand’s Cocktails line pulls from already existing recipes for flavors like the Lime ’Rita, which is a Margarita, and new ones like a Hazelnut Latte. The spirit can be anything from rum to tequila to vodka. The wine-based Chillers offer similar, vibrant flavors like Chili Mango and Strawberry ’Rita.

BuzzBallz’s core flavors — such as the Lime and Strawberry ’Ritas, Berry Cherry Limeade, and Cran Blaster — are available as both Cocktails and Chillers, with other specialty flavors limited to one line or the other. Products from both lines come in 15 percent ABV and roughly 250 calories, though the count may differ by flavor.

Sazerac acquired the company in 2022.

In 2022, Kick sold BuzzBallz to its now-owner Sazerac. Terms of the transactions were not disclosed upon the deal’s announcement. Multiple publications estimated a purchase value of $500 million, though that figure has not been confirmed or denied.

BuzzBallz was the official premixed cocktail of Spirit Airlines.

BuzzBallz launched a partnership with Spirit Airlines in 2017, becoming the carrier’s official premixed cocktail. Spirit offered the Tequila ’Rita and Lotta Colada flavors on flights for $11, a markup from the brand’s average sub-$5 retail price. The duo became a popular odd couple online, with BuzzBallz and Spirit Airlines fans posting about the offering on social platforms like Reddit. The partnership ended when Spirit Airlines shuttered earlier this year.

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