Remixt: Nexba founders launch first alcoholic drink into a Hard Solo summer

The company behind sugar-free soft drink Nexba has launched its first alcoholic beverage, in the hopes of disrupting this summer’s ready-to-drink mania with a new wine-based punch.

Goodness Group Global debuted Remixt on Wednesday, with its tropical and cranberry apple flavours now available at First Choice Liquor stores nationwide.

Remixt is billed as a mixture of wine and fruit juice and contains Goodsweet, a proprietary sweetener blend already used by Goodness Group Global in its Nexba soft drinks.

The new beverage comes in at 8.5% ABV, putting it between full-strength beer and the average red wine.

Remixt also eschews cans and bottles for a 1-litre Tetra Pak format, a move designed to bolster Goodness Group Global’s overall sustainability and its hopes of attaining B Corp certification.

Drew Bilbe, co-founder of Goodness Group Global, said Remixt is targeting health-conscious consumers avoiding excess sugar — like the company’s original Nexba drink.

“We knew that with our natural sweetener IP, we have the opportunity to basically make a ‘better for you’ alcohol, in a space that we’re really comfortable and proud to represent,” he told SmartCompany.

Alcohol taxes a critical factor

Remixt’s arrival on Australian shelves coincides with the rise of Hard Solo, the alcoholic lemon squash variant of the soft drink Solo, which has won over drinkers and earned the ire of Australia’s alcohol advertising watchdog.

While Hard Solo has secured attention from the media and many of Australia’s first-time drinkers, Bilbe pointed overseas to show the growth of drinks like Remixt.

“This category of wine-based fruit punch, in particular in the US, is experiencing explosive growth,” he said.

“The growth of wine-based punch over there is actually outpacing the growth of seltzers.”

The brand is now chasing a youthful audience through its tie-in with Australian DJs Husky and Minx, who have created bespoke playlists based on each new flavour.

A carton of Remixt. Source: Supplied

Remixt’s foundational ingredient — wine — also gives it a potential advantage to price-sensitive consumers.

As it stands, distillers pay $100.05 in tax for every litre of alcohol in spirits and excisable beverages under 10% ABV, a category that includes RTDs.

Beer attracts a lower tax rate under the excise scheme, with brewed beverages attracting an excise of between $10.14 and $59.06 per litre of alcohol.

For wine, the tax system is different altogether, making wine, and especially cask wine, are some of the most tax-efficient alcoholic beverages in the Australian market.

Drinks like Hard Solo “fall under the RTD tax, so they are incredibly expensive for a consumer,” Bilbe said.

Remixt is “offering something which is fully under a different category, and is therefore much, much more affordable and accessible to the masses,” he continued.

“It’s a really, really mainstream product without breaking the bank and taking all the notes out of your wallet.”

While Remixt will battle RTDs for supremacy at parties this summer, Bilbe is also clear the drink has little in common with traditional cask wine.

“I think when it comes to the perception of wine in a bag, in a box — which is a little bit different [to Remixt], but I can see how consumers would see a parallel — We’re really trying to position this as a fruit punch rather than a straight wine-in-a-box,” Bilbe said.

Support from David Koch and Pat Cummins

Goodness Group Global has raised $4 million in capital through its Series B round to date, the company says.

Big-name investors include finance expert and former Sunrise host David Koch, and Australian men’s cricket captain Pat Cummins.

Bilbe says neither was directly involved in the Remixt launch, although they are “heavily involved in Goodness Group and really supportive of the direction, everywhere we go”.