Life of Reilley Distilling and Wine Company, headquartered in Nelson, celebrated its one-year anniversary in business only last week — and already its three kinds of vodka are selling in 65 outlets across 23 counties in New York state, with requests to expand to California, Arizona, Georgia and New Jersey. But the big news owners Ben and Shioban Reilley announced on social media on Aug. 4 was a different kind of landmark: the upcoming release of their new canned cocktail, “Disco Lemonade.”
The cocktail, which consists of Life of Reilley raspberry vodka and fresh lemonade soaked for 24 hours in locally sourced mint leaves, has been receiving rave reviews from Life of Reilley consumers for more than a year, and will be the first in a line of canned cocktail drinks to be released by the company starting in October.
“Disco for us is just a natural brand extension,” said Ben. “It is the answer to our customers who like our vodka and then ask, ‘What do I do with this?’ It’s on-demand cocktail.”
The Reilleys began their company in early 2014 and began producing handcrafted spirits out of their handmade, copper still on Aug. 4. They currently offer premium, vanilla and raspberry vodkas, which can be found in bars and liquor stores across New York state.
“The brand completely caught fire,” Ben said. “We are incredibly humbled by the reception we’re getting.”
Ben and Shioban can be found offering their vodkas at wine and food across the state, and are weekly fixtures at the Cazenovia Farmers Market. Last year, they noticed the trend that people who loved their vodka wanted ideas on how to make mixed drinks out of it. So the Reilleys started creating their own mixed cocktails from their vodka and offering them at the various food and wine events they attended.
“We have people who come to the farmers market just to see what our cocktail is,” he said.
Ben said he was concerned that, being a lemonade-based drink, Disco Lemonade would sell only in summer. They discovered, however, that it poured better during the winter. “That’s when we figured out it has legs year-round,” he said.
So they decided to take it to the next level.
“We are the first distillery in New York state to pre-mix a cocktail and put it in a can, that we know of,” Reilley said.
Disco Lemonade will come in four-can packs at an expected retail price of $9.99. Each can will contain 6.5 percent alcohol.
“The can was important in terms of a vessel,” Ben said. “It’s portable; it’s fun. You can take it to the beach, on a boat, on the golf course. It can go where other traditional packaging can’t. It’s part of the lifestyle — we’re very active and we hang out with active people.”
The official roll-out of Disco Lemonade is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 14, when Life of Reilley will do a “bar takeover” in Sylvan Beach. They have partnered with K-Rock radio, which has been doing commercials for the past three weeks, and from 6 to 8 p.m. on the 14th, Life of Reilley and K-Rock will be at the Sunset Grill in Sylvan Beach for the official kick-off party. The other bars in the town will be pouring Disco Lemonade from the Life of Reilley recipe, Ben said.
The official release for the canned cocktails will be in mid-October, Reilley said, because they are still waiting for federal government approval of their can label.
The October release is currently planned to include a “bar takeover” in all the bars in Cazenovia, and to encourage everyone to spend the night in a hotel or bed and breakfast in Cazenovia, Reilley said.
Future flavors of Life of Reilley canned cocktails are currently being vetted by Ben and Shioban, with the goal of picking three more for release starting on the first of the year. Ultimately, consumers will be able to mix-and-match four different cans into four-packs, much like Wegmans allows customers to create their own six-packs of beer, Ben said.
Life of Reilley canned cocktails will be available only in liquor stores, restaurants and bars because it is a liquor-based cocktail, Ben said.
“It’s just been so much fun,” Ben said. “I think that with the reactions we’ve gotten so far, people will seek it out.”
For more information about Life of Reilley Wine and Distilling and its Disco Lemonade, visit their website at lifeofreilley.net, or their Facebook page at Facebook.com/LifeOfReilley.
Jason Emerson is editor of the Cazenovia Republican. He can be reached [email protected].
