A DIY distillery with a prohibition past? Tequila with a grassroots connection to Jalisco, Mexico?!
An award-winning brand for lazy drinkers?!
From smooth booze to surprising news, keep watching for the real truth about Cutwater!
Even though the Cutwater name is synonymous with boozy cocktails that take minimal effort,
the brand was actually born out of a brewery. Founder Yuseff Cherney became fascinated with
distilling as a hobby while working as the head brewer and COO at Ballast Point Brewing. The
facility already had the canning operation, so he just needed to figure out the distillation aspect.
"And we were scratching our heads going we need to do something with that."
In 2007, Yuseff built his own DIY distiller, made out of a beer fermenter, to create his first
batches of liquors. He then spent years making distilled spirits as an extension of the brewery.
Yuseff finally turned his side gig into a full-time endeavor in 2015, when he
and Ballast Point founder Jack White sold the brewery to Constellation Brands for $1 billion.
Yuseff used the money to open Cutwater the next year. Since then, the brand has continued to grow,
and was bought by Anheuser-Busch in 2019, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Even though Cutwater Spirits has made it big in the booze world, Yuseff still keeps the
operation tight-knit. He remains a familiar face at the Cutwater production facility,
overseeing all efforts to innovate the brand while making sure it stays true to its roots.
Cutwater is a monumental company for many reasons,
but it stands by one lofty claim that makes for a great fun fact – and no,
it's not that dogs are their demographic. But Yuseff Cherney did tell Pacific San Diego in 2019:
"We claim the title of first distillery in San Diego since Prohibition."
And it's worth noting that even though it wasn't officially a brand until 2016,
Cutwater and Ballast Point's make-shift distillery were well-known for years prior.
In fact, back in 2014, the San Diego Reader reported that the brand's Fugu
vodka was Ballast's biggest seller for locals.
It's legitimately difficult to keep up with all of the offerings in Cutwater's lineup. The brand is
constantly introducing new flavors and mixing up its products to keep customers interested.
Sure, there are the classics, like vodka soda cans in lime, grapefruit, watermelon,
and cucumber flavors, but that's just scratching the surface. If vodka is your drink of choice,
you can also try Cutwater's canned versions of a White Russian, bloody mary, and vodka mule.
"Just about every spirit you would have to enjoy in one of
your favorite cocktails, we make right here."
If you prefer tequila, but want to skip the salt rim, the brand offers canned margaritas in several
flavors, including pineapple, lime, peach, mango, and strawberry. Cutwater also makes tequila sodas,
a paloma cocktail, and a variety of flavored ranch waters.
For the rum drinkers, Cutwater offers mojitos in three flavors: mint and lime, passionfruit guava,
and mango watermelon. It also makes a canned version of a mai tai, rum punch, and piña colada.
And to round out the roster of cocktails, Cutwater makes a canned gin and tonic, whiskey mule,
and Long Island iced tea, so there are plenty of options to pack in your cooler.
A few of the brand's offerings, like their Long Island iced tea and White Russian,
contain 13.2 percent and 14 percent ABV, alcohol by volume, respectively.
Even some of the margaritas, like the lime and mango flavors,
mask a hefty 12.5 percent ABV. That means a can or two can sneak up on you quickly,
leaving you with a headache the next day if you aren't careful.
However, not every can of Cutwater is loaded with booze. The brand offers a few lighter options,
like its gin and tonic with 6.2 percent ABV,
as well as the vodka soda lineup, which all contain 5 percent ABV.
Even if ready-to-drink cocktails aren't for you, Cutwater is a distillery, after all,
and also sells its own line of spirits to enjoy. The brand covers the basics, including vodka, rum,
gin, tequila, and whiskey — but it doesn't just stop at the classics.
Cutwater also sells flavored spirits, including vodka infused with horchata,
habanero, or hibiscus. There's also a line of rums in several different flavors.
Cutwater gets in on the mezcal game with reposado and joven varieties,
to accompany its line of blanco, reposado, and añejo tequilas.
And for those looking for something even more unique, the Opah herbal liquor is a small-batch
dark spirit with flavors of licorice and cinnamon that will warm you up from the inside out.
Tequila experts may be quick to wonder how a San Diego distillery
makes its own line of the traditionally Mexican spirit. Tequila, by definition,
has to be distilled from the blue agave plant, which is native to the Jalisco region of Mexico.
The folks at Cutwater are well aware of the customs behind their spirits,
so they didn't cut corners to come up with a strong line of tequila.
The brand has a partnership with the Orendain family in Jalisco,
who have been making tequila for nearly a century, to produce the Cutwater line.
Depending on whether the tequila is aged or not, Cutwater even ships its own whiskey
barrels to Jalisco, making the brand a part of the process while still sticking with tradition.
Cutwater uses 100% blue agave that's cooked in traditional brick ovens,
and bottles the finished tequila right in Mexico before shipping it to San Diego and beyond.
In the past couple of years, Cutwater has really expanded its category of tequila-based offerings,
as evidenced by its large array of canned margaritas and ranch waters. The move was
based on data showing that people could not get enough of Cutwater's original tequila product.
In 2020, sales for the brand's classic tequila margarita grew 190 percent.
And last year, the drink had the third highest rate of sale
across the entire canned cocktail market, noted Bar Business Magazine.
Drizly also reported that Cutwater was the online alcohol retailer's second best-selling ready to
drink cocktail brand in 2021, just behind High Noon. And Cutwater's original margarita rose
from No. 9 to No. 4 on Drizly's best-sellers list in 2021. With that in mind, it only makes sense
that Cutwater would build on the momentum with new flavors and recipes for its margaritas and more.
"Wanna drink?" "Sure." "Margarita?" "Great."
Cutwater is clearly not afraid to experiment with imaginative ways to shake up the liquor business,
but taking risks naturally leads to failures sometimes.
In a 2020 Forbes interview, Cutwater founder Yuseff Cherney was specifically
asked if there were any recipes he's tried that were absolute duds. He said:
"Plum schnapps made from local plums may have been the worst thing we have ever tried to do."
Yuseff said plums don't produce a lot of juice, so it was a tough task.
Therefore, Cutwater plum schnapps never made it past the testing phase. But Yuseff said he
doesn't mind the mistakes because it reminds him and his team that quality control is the
most important factor. On the other hand, he also told Forbes that Cutwater's line of Bali
Hai rums was one of the trials that ended up being a pleasant surprise for the brand.
Considering that Cutwater's founder made the transition from brewer to distiller,
he tends to incorporate the same mindset when crafting canned cocktails. For him, making spirits
was a natural transition from making craft beer. Yuseff Cherney told The San Diego Union-Tribune:
"This was the next step in the alchemy of turning water into something with alcohol in it."
"Well, if this doesn't work we can always use it to make moonshine." "You're not that far off."
And because Yuseff is so knowledgeable about both the beer and canned cocktail industries,
he was able to turn that wisdom into business success. He added:
"We decided to make real,
spirit-based cocktails that contained the very liquor we made in our distillery."
Not only does Cutwater have the product line and customer reviews to boost its credibility,
but the brand also has quite a list of accolades. As of June 2022, Cutwater has received more than
2,000 awards for its various ready to drink cocktails, mixers, and spirits.
The wins come from events and organizations like the San Francisco World Spirits Competition,
the Denver International Spirits Competition, the ASCOT Awards, and more.
Some offerings in Cutwater's portfolio have been awarded more than others. Cans like the
lime margarita, vodka mule, and tiki rum mai tai have received more than 30 awards apiece.
The Bali Hai gold rum has received more than 40 awards, while the brand's Devil's
Share small-batch whiskey and bourbon have garnered more than 70 awards each.
And Cutwater's standard vodka and gin have each racked up more than 60 awards.
Yet somehow, it feels like the brand only has more success coming.
The Cutwater brand has grown from a side hustle to a nationally recognized company,
and with that has come a lot of jobs for a whole lot of people.
According to the company website, Cutwater counts more than 100 employees as part of its crew.
This large team of workers spans a range of sectors, including administration, operations,
distilling, quality control, retail, sales, marketing, and more. Nearly every employee,
from the head of sales to the floor staff at the Cutwater Tasting Room,
has a smiling photo listed on the site, which says a lot about the culture of their workplace.
If you're in the vicinity of San Diego, Cutwater has a tasting room where you
can sample the brand's extensive offerings. The menu includes Cutwater's widely available canned
products and more. You can get a range of classic cocktails made with Cutwater's bottled spirits,
such as an espresso martini, old fashioned, or negroni. Or, yeah, whatever these are!
The cocktail list also includes signature, specialty drinks you can only get in the
tasting room, like seasonal mules and frozen treats. And if you're overwhelmed by the options,
the tasting room has quite the to-go menu, so you can take the experience home with you.
To entice you even more, Cutwater Tasting Room's food menu features
dishes infused with some of the company's most popular drinks.
For example, the appetizer menu includes loaded fries with pork marinated in
Cutwater's bloody mary, and sourdough bread with Cutwater Bali Hai dark rum nutmeg butter.
Other items include a citrus salad & Tequila Soda, and the Devil's Share Burger.
You may remember Cutwater's hilarious ad during the 2022 Super Bowl that markets the
RTD cocktails by embracing the power of laziness. It was the first Super Bowl commercial for the
brand and paid homage to Apple's "Here's to the crazy ones" ad, according to PR Newswire.
It features people showing off comically innovative life hacks to work smarter and not
harder, like walking the dog on the treadmill or using a massage gun to tenderize meat.
The idea behind the ad is that Cutwater RTD cocktails give you the same great results
with way less effort – so you can spend the extra time doing things
you actually love — like sitting on the couch and watching the Big Game.
It was certainly a fitting commercial for a day that celebrates snacking in front of the TV,
an experience that would likely be even better with a Cutwater drink in hand.
It seems like Cutwater will never stop dreaming up new ways to make drinking cocktails more
interesting and fool-proof. For the summer season,
the brand sells frozen cocktail popsicles that are as tasty as they sound.
In the original pack, you get a mix of flavors like lime and strawberry margarita, vodka mule,
rum and cola, and gin melon. The company also sells a margarita pack for the tequila lovers,
with flavors like lime, pineapple, mango, and strawberry. The popsicles sneak in a
whopping 7 percent ABV apiece, so they're the perfect adult treat for a hot day.
And if you're looking for a fun pairing for a ski trip, or even just a snow day in the backyard,
Cutwater also sells "Heaters" to warm you up on cold days. They're labeled as a "high proof
mixer" containing 40 percent ABV, and are meant to be mixed with hot water to create the perfect
warming cocktail. The choices include a whiskey hot toddy, vodka apple pie, and hot buttered rum.
If you've made it this far, and ended up thinking of a cocktail Cutwater has yet to can,
be patient. The brand is always expanding its offerings to appease every kind of drinker.
For example, to kick off summer 2022, Cutwater launched a bunch of new products,
including 12-ounce slim cans and variety packs. Two notable additions were the ranch
water mixed pack and the rum mojito mixed pack, each with eight cans in three flavors.
Cutwater also added slim versions of some of its classic cans, like the vodka sodas in various
flavors, to mix it up for summer. Considering how many products Cutwater has developed, there's sure
to be something to hold you over while you wait for the brand to make your next favorite flavor.