Beenleigh Distillery is shaking up the RTD category with the launch of Hard Orange Crush, which blends the nostalgia of orange soft drink with today’s evolving flavour trends.
Crafted with Australian orange juice and delivering a 4.5% ABV, the new release from Australia’s oldest-operating distillery rolls out nationally this month.
Hard Orange Crush builds on the success of Pineapple Crush — one of the top three RTD launches in bottle shops for FY25, based on scan sales across select banner groups.
Beenleigh’s data also shows one in three consumers who purchased Pineapple Crush repurchased it within 12 weeks.
“We saw a clear opportunity to create something nostalgic yet fresh — a throwback flavour with mainstream appeal,” said Beenleigh Distillery Brand Manager Will Sullivan.
“Orange is one of Australia’s most-loved soft drink flavours, yet barely touched in RTDs. We crushed it with Pineapple,
and with Hard Orange Crush, we’re confident we can crush it again.”
Flavoured premixes now account for more than half of all ready-to-drink sales in Australia, with citrus among the fastest-growing segments. Yet despite orange consistently ranking among the top five soft drink flavours in supermarkets, it remains largely untapped in the RTD space.
“We see this as a strategic move into a space that’s been overlooked for too long,” said Sullivan.
“With Hard Orange Crush, we’re bringing something new to shelf, recruiting the next generation of drinkers and reinforcing that Beenleigh isn’t just participating in this category — we’re leading it.”
Next big trends in Australian RTDs