Entering the pre-mixed beverage category in Hong Kong is Chateau Highball, a premium ready-to-serve beverage range founded by three locally based entrepreneurs. After launching in Italy, Chateau Highball transforms the classic highball beverage into a celebratory drink in a ready-to-serve (RTS) format, designed to be poured over ice with optional botanicals.
SEE ALSO: Bacardi names new Australia and New Zealand chief
Established by Hong Kong-based Alex Schueli together with Daniel Zigal and Nicolò Barbuio, Chateau Highball offers a collection of RTS highballs in four flavours, a world-first in packaging for the highball category.
“My idea for Chateau Highball came about after I became fixated on a particular question: ‘Can I achieve that celebratory POP with anything except for Champagne or sparkling wine?'” Schueli tells Retail in Asia exclusively.
According to Schueli, the large-format highball “solves issues of consistency and speed of service and convenience,” elevating the “just add ice” approach.
Bottled in Franciacorta, home to Italy’s sparkling wines, Chateau Highball is presented in Champagne bottles and features fine distilled liquors to create highball classics such as Vodka Soda, Whisky Soda made with premium oak-aged Scotch and spring water soda, Gin & Tonic crafted with stevia to replace 80 percent of the sugars on the original tipple, and Tequila Soda, which is slated to launch in Hong Kong this summer.
“We focused on creating a health-conscious range of highballs that contain no stabilisers or preservatives,” Schueli says. “Our mixes are laboratory-created and formulated with absolute precision.”
SEE ALSO: Hong Kong and Macau track sharp surge in travel
On the brand’s future plans, Schueli shares: “Chateau Highball is already active in Italy and Hong Kong. We were thrilled to unleash our product at Clockenflap and celebrate Hong Kong being ‘back’ at that iconic event. Next up are Vietnam, Japan and Taiwan. After that, our sights are set on Thailand and down under in Australia.”