How to premix a Hard Lemonade like a Pro!

Sometimes in the alcohol industry it feels like the wheels turn full circle.  In 1993, a South Australian publican and small brewery owner Duncan MacGillivray introduced the world to hard Lemonade by brewing the first batch of Two Dogs Lemon Brew which blew up like a balloon and went on to become available throughout the world.  Two Dogs Hard Lemonade from downunder paved the way for other hugely popular Hard Lemonades of the time such as the Hooper's Hooch brand in the UK and Mike's Hard Lemonade in Canada and the USA.  While the Australian Original Two Dogs Lemon Brew may have long since gone from fridges across Australia in the space of the past year we have seen Hard Lemonade return from oblivion and make a thirsty impression on drinkers downunder!

Here we are going to share how to premix a Hard Lemonade like a Pro! taking some brewspiration from the highly successful Ready to Drink (RTDs) Hard Lemonades recently launched in Australia.  Modern drinker tastes change and younger adult drinkers are actively exploring more convienent and controlled options to enjoy reponsibly. It is important that modern Australian Craft Brewers and Distillers meet the needs of the discerning drinkers of today.

Time to squeeze the lemon and suck the juice as they say!

We did some initial market leader scanning and ingredients analysis to come up with a simple whiteboard formula that you can choose to use and adapt to develop your own Hard Lemonade.

BeerCo Hard Lemonade

Vital Stats:

Batch Size: 1,000 Litres

Target ABV: 5%

Target Brix: 5% (note: some market leaders are low sugar sweetened with 951 Sucralose and others use cane sugar to reach their sweetness targets).

Target pH: <4

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, Neutral Spirit, Sugar, Lemon Conc/Juice, Lemon Vlavour, Citric Acid (330), Sodium Citrate (331), Sodium Benzoate (211)

The first ingredient after carbonated in your Hard Lemonade is the Neutral Spirit or ethanol!  There are three main suppliers of this ingredient to local craft distillers in Australia:

• Sugar Cane ethanol from Wilmar Australia
• Grape Based ethanol from Tarac
• Grain Based ethanol from Manildra Group

For the purposes of our recipe we are going to assume your using 95% Neutral Cane Spirit. You can just as interchangeably use neutral grape or neutral grain spirit from your local preferred ethanol supply partner(s).

1. Spirit: Safely add 43.2 Litres of 95% Neutral Cane/Grape/Sugar Spirit into your mixing tank filled with approx. 888 Litres of Sterile RO Carbonated Water.
2. Lemon: If you have access to freshly squeezed or crushed lemon juice go right ahead and use this to dose your Hard Lemonade.  If not, you can source some Concentrated Clarified Lemon Juice | 55-62 Brix available on our B2B Marketplace and add 30 Litres or 3% of the total volume. There will be some sweetening from the 55-62% Brix to factor into your equation for Brix as well. 
3. Flavour: We also recommend some Lemon | Vlavour™ | Citrus limon to help make the Lemon flavour pop and sustain it in the package over the shelf life of your RTD.  Lemon | Vlavour™ | Citrus limon is a Vacuum Distillate flavour extraction from fresh Australian Grown Eureka Lemons that is remarkably "true to type". Lemon Vlavour™ has a floral sweet lemon sherbet nose with preserved lemon finish. Rich pallet with full, true to type, pallet due to the use of whole Australian eureka lemons as raw material. Long finish with limoncello, aromatic oily depth.  Usage Guidance: Typical addition rates: 0.5 to 5g per 1 Kg of finished beverage (0.05% - 0.5%).  We recommend you do some base bench or lab trials before making up your full batch to teste your lemon juice, flavour, sweetening, and acidity regulator levels. For this recipe we recommend starting with 5 Litres of Lemon Vlavour™.
4. Sweeten: You will need to add either Sugar or Sweeteners to bring up the Brix level to an acceptable sweetness to offset the Lemon tang!  Here, our recipe will use Sugar and Concentrated Clarified Lemon Juice | 55-62 Brix to provide the necessary sweetness to 5% Brix.  You can adjust upwards the sugar content or use natural Sweeteners to bring up to the level that your palette and drinkers like the most.  Add 32.6 Kg of BeerCo Manufacturers White Sugar and disolve into Lemon flavoured neutral spirit.
5. Acidity Regulators / pH Control: it is very important when you are premixing premium package spirits or RTDs that you lower the pH of your beverage for product stability and to help sharpen the taste and bring out the fresh crisp citrus flavours.  For this recipe we are going to recommend two acidity regulators Citric Acid (330) and Sodium Citrate (331).  Sodium Citrate, a natural salt of citric acid, adds a sour taste and serves as a preservative in many foods. Commonly found in soda, it is used to regulate acidity, stabilize, and enhance flavor. Sodium citrate buffers carbonated drinks and intensifies their flavor, and it also creates a longer-lasting taste in lemony beverages.  In soft drinks, the optimal ratio for its combination with citric acid is 0.04-0.19 parts sodium citrate to 1 part citric acid.  For this recipe we are going to recommend 0.5Kg or 500g of Citric Acid (330) and 0.1Kg or 100g of Sodium Citrate (331).  Measure the pH and make sure your below 4 pH for product stability and adjust dosages according to taste and balance.
6. Preservatives: You must use preservatives in any ethanol based Hard Lemonade to assist with preservation of taste over time but most importantly to reduce the risk of fermentation in your package product.  Unless you can pack asceptically and/or tunnel pasteurise your Hard Ginger beer you must mitigate any risk of natual yeast and bacteria in the atmosphere infecting your beverage and causing a natural refermentation in your package product.  The most commonly used preservative is 211 or Sodium Benzoate. Sodium benzoate is a salt of benzoic acid that is found naturally in cranberries, prunes, plums, apples, and other fruits. It is soluble in water and works against yeast and bacteria. It is generally believed that Sodium Benzoate is safe and harmless, and is often used as a preservative in food. Dosage Guidance: 150ppm is normally sufficient for shelf stable beverages. 15g per 100ml will get you 150ppm per mL so a dosage of 150g for 1,000 Litres of Hard Lemonade should be sufficient.
7. Colour: Some market leading Hard Lemonades use colour to bring up the bright yellow colour associated with lemons and lemonade.  If you choose to add colour we recommend considering Carthamus Extract or Safflower which is a natural yellow colour.

In summary, our suggested starting whiteboard for an ethanol Hard Lemonade could look like this:

We cannot stress highly enough the importance of doing small scale bench or labl trials before you dial up to your full batch production.  You can do a division to 10L and then even split your base out to 10 x 1L before flavour dosing, pH balancing and preservative to make sure your happy with the taste of the beverage.

BeerCo.com.au would like to reiterate that we are not product development specialists or new beverage designers and also recommend if your new to premix premium package spirits that you consider engaging with an industry professional to formulate your RTDs so they hit the high mark when they hit the market.  You only get one chance to make a first impression as they say!

If you need help with anything or wish to discuss the wide array of adjuncts and aids and fermentables for your next Hard Lemonade please do not hesitate to reach out to us at Service@BeerCo.com.au or call us on +61 490 501 392 and have a great Brewing and Distilling and Selling week!

References and Further Reading and Knowledge Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Dogs

https://mulebritannia.substack.com/p/hoopershooch

Beam Suntory’s most successful Aussie RTD goes global Drinks Digest, 19 Feb 2024

IWSR Drinks Market Analysis How is the hard lemonade trend evolving?

Saint John's Wort, Anatomy of a Trend: White Claw and Mike’s Hard Lemonade 2 July 2020

Marketing Week The taste of Two Dogs is a bad joke 19 Jan 1996