City Brewery making light hard lemonade for Hornell

0 Comments | La Crosse Tribune, Jun 20, 2003 | by Cahalan, Steve

The City Brewery in La Crosse has begun making a new product, Bull's Eye Light Hard Lemonade, under contract for Hornell Brewing Co. of Lake Success, N.Y.

"We'll launch it at Airfest this weekend," said Jon Reynolds, the La Crosse brewery's director of marketing and sales. It and other products made at City Brewery will be sold at a beer tent Saturday and Sunday at Deke Slayton Airfest at the La Crosse Municipal Airport.

The brewery also will serve as a "master distributor" for the new product in western Wisconsin and in all of Minnesota and Iowa, Reynolds said Thursday. That means distributors of City Brewery. products in those areas will distribute the new product.

The LaCrosse brewery also makes other products for Hornell, such as AriZona ready-to-drink teas and Mississippi Mud beer.

Reynolds said Bull's Eye Light Hard Lemonade will appeal to weight-conscious consumers because it is low in carbohydrates, and has one-third less calories than competing beverages because it's made with Sucralose - a sweetener that is made from sugar but has no calories. Bull's Eye also is lower in alcohol content - 3.2 percent alcohol by weight, compared with 4 percent for most so-called "malternative" products, Reynolds said.

"It's got the essence of lemon and a hint of grapefruit," Reynolds said of the new product, which is being made only at the City Brewery. Six-pack bottles of Bull's Eye should be available next week in area stores, and Bull's Eye should be available in cans and kegs in July.