White Claw's Wine Origins

A story about how Anthony von Mandel built a beverage empire starting from a small wine importing business to creating Mike's Hard Lemonade and White Claw.

"I met this guy at a cocktail party in my neighborhood. He said he was in the beverage space and mentioned names like Mission Hill Winery. Turns out he's worth $8 billion and owns Marc Anthony Group.

He started a wine importing business in Vancouver, made enough money to buy Mission Hill Winery, which had dirt floors and only a few barrels of wine. He took on tons of debt but turned it into a solid business.

Then he hit it big trying to diversify - he started Mike's Hard Lemonade in the 90s. People would have fights in liquor stores over the last bottles. The idea was men were too embarrassed to drink coolers, so they made a cooler they wouldn't be embarrassed to drink.

He later started White Claw, which was the same idea but healthy. They did $4 billion in revenue in 2020. The craziest thing is he owns 100% of the business and has no debt, despite almost going bankrupt multiple times. He did it all himself - no VCs, no investors."