Stone Brewing

Stone's latest surprise is a line of canned margaritas.

Stone has thrown its longtime fans a few curveballs over the past couple of years, from its release of hard seltzers to its $165 million buyout by Sapporo USA in early September. Clearly, they are not done with surprises: Stone has now entered the canned cocktails field with its Buenafiesta Margaritas.

The margaritas join Stone’s “Buena” line, which includes the Buenavida Hard Seltzers and Buenaveza Salt & Lime Lager, but at 12.5% ABV, they are considerably more heavy hitting than the previous entries. According to Steve Gonzalez, Stone’s Brewing Senior Manager of Brewing and Innovation, that became part of the plan after sampling other canned margaritas. “We were disappointed in the lack of tequila taste — or real tequila for that matter — in so many of them, so making a tequila-forward margarita was a priority.”

Unsurprisingly, the search for the right tequila took Stone south of the border. “Our tequila supplier makes a wide variety of tequilas,” explains Lizzie Younkin, Stone’s Director of Communications. “They are based in the town of Tequila in the State of Jalisco, Mexico. Of the suppliers we sampled, this one had the most character. A little bit of sweetness, some complex resin-y character, and that agave flavor came through in a really special way. Some subtler notes of olive and an herbaceous quality are there as well.” The supplier, who remains unnamed, has been in the tequila business for more than 150 years and owns over 1000 hectares of blue agave farmland. Its tequilas come in between 52 and 55% ABV.

Stone brings you Old Town in a can.

Stone Brewing

Nearly two years of development has yielded four flavors of Buenafiesta Margaritas. Two flavors will be familiar to anyone who’s been to local Mexican restaurants: Classic Lime and Strawberry. Classic Lime has the feel and look of a standard margarita, with lemon, lime, and salt, and even a hint of orange liqueur. Strawberry is also similar to what you’d find down in Old Town, but refreshingly less sweet, thanks to aloe vera juice, which offers a bit of bitterness to cut through the strawberry.

The most interesting Buenafiesta options, however, are Passion Fruit and Pineapple Habanero. Passion Fruit is sweet like the strawberry margarita but offers a tropical taste and aroma. Additionally, the character of the passion fruit helps to bring out more of the tequila flavor than the other varieties. Pineapple Habanero is certainly the most complex of the four. Its 19 different ingredients include habanero, jalapeño, pineapple, lime and chili; the flavor was inspired by dishes such as the salmon tacos served in Mexico City and al pastor tacos found more locally, both of which feature pineapple chunks. Pineapple Habanero boasts a nice kick without being overly spicy, despite the habanero and jalapeño, and finishes smoothly without lingering heat.

Stone Buenafiesta Margaritas are canned and available in four-packs. It remains to be seen if Buenafiesta’s popularity will come close to matching that of Buenaveza Salt & Lime Lager, which Stone’s top-selling beer on draft. But at least the margaritas will be available year-round.