John Cena, Sarah Jessica Parker Get Into the Cocktail Business

(Bloomberg) -- Sarah Jessica Parker and John Cena are part of a group of celebrities co-founding a premixed cocktail brand as the race for the next big celebrity drink heats up.

The brand, Thomas Ashbourne, is debuting this month with a variety of ready-to-drink cocktails, each with celebrity partners attached to them for both product development and promotion.

Parker’s drink is a cosmo, the cocktail her “Sex and the City” character made famous. Cena has an old fashioned. Actresses Rosario Dawson, Ashley Benson and Vanessa Hudgens have a margarita, and rapper Playboi Carti has a wine and vodka drink. The cocktails cost about $22 for a 375-milliliter bottle or $30 for a four-pack of 200-milliliter cans on Thomas Ashbourne’s website. In-store prices will be about $16 and $26, respectively.

Financial terms weren’t disclosed, though all of the celebrities have equity in the operation.

“These are not influencer deals, and these are not promotional or pay-for-post or anything like that,” Thomas Ashbourne Chief Executive Officer Cara Kamenev said in an interview. “It was important to us that everyone came at it with an ownership mentality.”

Celebrity-linked drinks have been a hot category in recent years with several spirit brands finding success, such as Dwayne Johnson’s Teremana tequila and Peyton Manning’s Sweetens Cove bourbon. Beverage giant Diageo Plc has spent as much as $1.6 billion to acquire two of the biggest players in this space: George Clooney’s Casamigos tequila and Ryan Reynolds’s Aviation gin.

Kamenev, a former executive at L’Oreal SA, said Thomas Ashbourne plans to add more cocktails alongside more celebrities, and some deals are already lined up, although she declined to share details. The company is privately funded and isn’t in active discussions with additional investors. 

Already Made

Premixed cocktails were the fastest-growing part of the spirits market last year, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. trade association, with demand fueled by Covid-19 restrictions keeping more bar-goers at home. 

Cena, an actor and pro wrestler, says he spent the last 18 months developing the old fashioned with Thomas Ashbourne. He credits his interest in bourbon to his days on the road for World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.

“I got a lot of my business education after the events, being able to sit with the people I’ve watched and admired and we’ve shared beer and bourbon and a bunch of stories,” said Cena. “That actually brought me here.”

The cocktails are set to be introduced by midsummer in 10 states, including New York, New Jersey, California and Texas. Retail partners include Albertsons Cos.’ flagship and Safeway groceries.

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