Wine-based ready-to-drink brand Big Sipz is rolling out a new flavor, Blast Off Blue, to convenience stores across 48 states — and it marked the occasion by literally sending the product into the stratosphere in partnership with near-space flight company Filmed in Space.

The blue raspberry flavor carries a 16% ABV and is positioned as a sweet-tart, fruit-forward addition to a lineup already built around bold profiles. The c-store channel remains the brand's primary retail home, with distribution now confirmed across markets including California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Colorado, Nevada, Tennessee, and Arizona, among others.

The Marketing Play

The stratosphere stunt was designed to generate organic consumer engagement around a crowded RTD shelf set. Two influencer figures, Cole Steiner and Cenzo Hayes — co-founders of the apparel label Dirtbag Clothing — staged a live countdown rivalry to frame the launch as a high-energy cultural moment rather than a standard product drop. The activation reflects a broader industry pattern of beverage brands leaning on creator-economy partnerships to reach younger, convenience-channel shoppers without traditional media spend.

"Sending the product to the edge of space wasn't just about making noise around a new flavor," said Joey Parris, CMO at Patco Brands, the parent company behind Big Sipz. "This was about creating a moment people would want to engage with and remember."

RTD Wine in C-Stores

Blast Off Blue enters a rapidly evolving segment. Wine-based RTDs have gained meaningful shelf space in convenience retail over the past several years, competing against hard seltzers, spirits-based canned cocktails, and malt-based alternatives. For operators and buyers tracking ready-to-drink trends in the beverage alcohol category, the high-ABV positioning — 16% — is a differentiating factor that places Big Sipz closer to full-strength canned cocktails than the lower-ABV seltzers that still dominate much of the convenience cooler.

The brand's distribution footprint across 48 states gives it meaningful scale for a c-store-focused RTD play, and the blue raspberry flavor profile targets a nostalgia-driven consumer preference that has shown consistent traction in the flavored alcohol space. Retailers evaluating ready-to-drink and canned cocktail assortments will find the brand leaning hard into experiential marketing to justify cooler real estate.

Blast Off Blue is available now. A store locator and footage from the near-space launch can be found at bigsipz.com.

Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.