Despite being less than three years old, Surfside has established itself as a force to be reckoned with within the beverage alcohol industry. Founded in 2022, the Philadelphia-based hard tea and lemonade brand was an instant hit in its home market, with drinkers clamoring to get their hands on the bubble-free booze. But it didn’t take long for the love to spread elsewhere.
In Surfside’s first year on shelves, cans were only available for purchase in seven states; by the end of 2023, that number had increased to 48. Now, fans of Surfside can enjoy the brand’s lineup of vodka-spiked teas and lemonades in all 50. But where did the brand come from and how has it been able to find such explosive success in such a short time?
From its beginnings in a Pennsylvania basement to partnerships with professional sports teams, here are eight things you should know about Surfside.
Surfside may not have hit the market until 2022, but the vodka used in each can has been around since 2015. Despite having its own brand name and identity, Surfside is a facet of Stateside, a vodka company founded by Philadelphia natives Matt and Bryan Quigley and Clement and Zach Pappas. Just like Surfside, Stateside is extremely popular in its home state, earning the title of Pennsylvania’s top-selling state-made spirit. The brand got even more popular with the release of Stateside Vodka Soda in 2021, which is now available in seven distinct flavors.
Despite now being a full-fledged distilling operation, Stateside Vodka actually started in a basement. After graduating from college in the late 2000s, Matt and Bryan Quigley got to work pursuing careers in entrepreneurship and finance, respectively. However, in 2013, both brothers found themselves living back home in Pennsylvania pondering their next career moves. That’s when the idea of starting a vodka company came up. Despite not knowing much about distillation, they were determined to learn, so they purchased distilling equipment, set it up in their parents’ basement, and started running small batches through the still. Eventually, they were forced to give up their at-home operation, though the brothers were able to continue their education through a distilling fellowship at Michigan State University. After completing their fellowship, the Quigleys refined their business plan and got to work on their new product.
Armed with a business plan, the Quigley brothers set out to secure funding to make their company a reality. They met with approximately 50 potential investors before they were finally — and serendipitously — connected with Clement Pappas, who received the proposal through a friend while attending a birthday party. Pappas previously worked as CEO of a third-generation juice company in southern New Jersey, though had signed a years-long non-compete in non-alc upon selling the business in 2011. Spirits production proved to be the ideal way for him to get back into the beverage business without violating his agreement. So Clement, along with his own brother Zach, attended a meeting with the Quigleys, drank a bit of vodka, and later joined the team as investors and co-founders. Years down the line, Pappas’s knowledge of the juice business would come in handy when the time came to develop Surfside.
Despite the success of Stateside Vodka and its accompanying lineup of hard seltzers, the four co-founders realized there was a huge gap in the market. The way they realized this? By looking at the trash littering the streets of Philadelphia. As Matt explains, if you’re ever curious about what the people of your city are consuming regularly, look at the ground. In Philly, you can bet you’ll find your fair share of empty Wawa and Turkey Hill iced tea bottles. But when the founders went to explore the alcoholic iced tea category, they found an enormous market that only really had a few key players. Moreover, the majority of these brands were made from a base of fermented malt, not spirits, further opening the door for a vodka-based hard tea to step into the spotlight.
Packaged at just 4.5 percent ABV, each flavor of Surfside comes in at 100 calories with 2 grams of sugar and 3 grams of carbohydrates per can — almost exactly that of already beloved brands like High Noon and White Claw. Surfside was also able to align itself with familiar brands through its packaging: tall, slender, 12-ounce cans. But Surfside stands out for a very specific reason: a clear lack of carbonation. According to the co-founders, the idea of a non-carbonated product came from the fact that most of the alcoholic drinks consumed outside of the ready-to-drink world are fizz-free, but there aren’t many options in cans. “When you look at what spirits-based drinks people choose outside of RTDs, many are non-carbonated,” Bryan says. “But at the same time, we knew that 100-calorie, full-flavor, and low-sugar options in the RTD space would attract drinkers.”
A huge part of Surfside’s success can be attributed to the brand’s partnerships with professional sports teams across the country, especially the Philadelphia Phillies. Before Surfside’s launch, Stateside Vodka had a long-term partnership with the Major League Baseball team, which made it relatively easy for the founders to persuade those at Citizens Bank Park to stock Surfside when it launched in 2022. Phillies fans loved Surfside so much that the Iced Tea + Vodka was the top-selling item at Citizens Bank Park for the 2022 season. The next season, fans drank even more, pushing Surfside into the No. 1-selling spirits brand position, beating out brands like Tito’s and Casamigos.
Surfside’s success at Citizens Bank Park allowed the brand to partner with other teams in the MLB, including the Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Guardians, and Pittsburgh Pirates. Surfside is also the official RTD Vodka Iced Tea and Vodka Lemonade of Minor League Baseball and has partnerships with six teams across the NBA and the NHL. Currently, Surfside has partnered up with 11 professional sports teams and has plans to double that number in 2025.
When Surfside hit shelves in 2022, there were just four flavors available: Iced Tea, Peach Tea, Half & Half, and Lemonade. A year and a half later, the brand followed up its flagship release with two new teas, Green and Raspberry, and three new lemonade flavors, Raspberry, Strawberry, and Black Cherry. The Green Tea proved to be a particularly popular flavor, with the lineup extending even further to include Peach Green Tea, Mango Green Tea, and Green Tea & Lemonade in January 2025. The most recent brand extension also saw the introduction of Surfside Longboard, resealable, 700-milliliter single-serve cans currently aimed at stadiums and convenience stores. “The Longboard” is currently available in five flavors: Iced Tea, Half & Half, Green Tea, Lemonade, and Strawberry Lemonade.
In April 2024, Surfside made headlines as the fastest-growing canned cocktail in the United States — and for good reason. In 2023 (the brand’s second year on shelves) case sales soared past the 1 million mark and Surfside ended the year with 563 percent growth year-over-year. Things barely slowed down last year. According to Impact Databank, Surfside grew its case sales from 1.2 million in 2023 to a whopping 4.9 million in 2024, ending the year with 360 percent dollar sales growth year-over-year. It’s that figure that earned Surfside the title of 2024’s fastest-growing alcohol brand off-premise.
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