Waterloo Gin rolled out its Prickly Pear & Rose Gin nationwide this fall, and if you're watching the premium gin category, this one's worth your attention. The Texas Hill Country distiller, now owned by John Paul DeJoria, is leaning hard into regional botanicals with this 94-proof pink expression that retails at $34.99 per 750ml.
The gin layers prickly pear, rose petals, and hibiscus over Waterloo's base nine-botanical blend—juniper, lavender, grapefruit, pecan, orris root, coriander, anise, ginger, and licorice root. The spirit uses limestone-filtered Texas spring water, which the brand says creates a distinctive minerality. Tasting notes point to lavender on the nose, grapefruit and pecan mid-palate, with juniper holding the structure.
Waterloo positions this as a crossover play—approachable enough for a simple gin and tonic, complex enough for craft cocktails. The packaging follows suit: embossed glass bottle, wood-finished cork, soft rose hue that photographs well. That matters when you're trying to move premium spirits through retail and on-premise accounts that care about shelf appeal and Instagram moments.
The brand suggests serves like a White Negroni or their signature Waterloo Southside (gin, lime, simple syrup, muddled mint). Distribution is live through select retailers and direct online.
Pink gins aren't new—everyone from Beefeater to Malfy has a version—but Waterloo's betting that Texas provenance and DeJoria's distribution muscle can carve out share in a crowded category. The real test will be velocity once the novelty wears off and bartenders decide if the flavor profile earns its place in the well or back bar.
