Texas is getting a new brand of hard seltzer, but this time with the nostalgia of Mexican aguas frescas.
Picadas is the first Mexican hard seltzer agua fresca that combines real fruit juice with cane sugar alcohol in three flavors: mango, lemonade and guava.
The brand, now available in 200 H-E-B stores in Texas, was founded in the city of Monterrey, Mexico, by Hugo Martinez, for whom aguas frescas were a regular occurrence in his family.
“I craved the agua fresca flavors I grew up with that none of the American ready-to-drink options really captured,” Martinez told The Dallas Morning News.
Martinez was born in Mexico and studied for an MBA at Stanford, and that’s where the idea for his business was born. The recipe is actually an adaptation of the one his grandmother used to make at home for her family.
The name of the drink comes from Mexicans’ taste for drinks “con piquete,” colloquial Mexican slang meaning “spiked” or “with alcohol,” so the natural name became “Picadas.”
In Mexico, the custom of drinking aguas frescas without alcohol is widespread. Aguas frescas of various fruits are found in businesses such as paleterías or from street vendors who offer them in the warmer months.
“The good thing about creating aguas frescas is that the possibilities are virtually endless. Anything fruit-based can become an agua fresca,” said Martinez, who plans to offer more flavors in the future, using other fruits like pineapple, kiwi or strawberry, as well as horchata (rice milk and cinnamon), tamarind or hibiscus.
Because they contain alcohol, Picadas offered an alternative to adults looking for a refreshing drink with just a hint of “piquete.”
Each can also contains a packet of salt, lime and chili powder to dip or “escarchar” a cup or the can, giving the drink a more Mexican touch.
After marketing the product in Mexico, Martinez partnered with Austin-based Redbud Brands to expand into the U.S. market, starting in Texas.
Each 12-ounce can contains 130 calories and 4.5% abv. Six-packs retail for $10.99 at H-E-B in Texas. drinkpicadas.com.
