Stateside is betting on its vodka again after a banner year for its canned cocktails

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By Molly McVety PhillyVoice Staff Business Food & Drink Provided Image/Stateside Brands Stateside Brands has launched a new marketing campaign to promote its vodka product. Co-founder Matt Quigley says Stateside is finally giving the product the 'time it deserves' after building its Surfside and Super Lyte brands into massive successes. Read More Stateside Brands is reinvesting in its vodka spirit with an aesthetic "refresh" that aims to bring a sleek, Americana style to the design of its vodka bottles and merchandise. President Matt Quigley said the rebrand has been a long time coming for his Philadelphia-based company, noting Stateside finally has the time to give its vodka the "time it deserves" after giving much focus to its Surfside and Super Lyte brands. But the company still intends to ride the wave of those wildly popular canned cocktails by bringing some new products to stores in the coming months. MORE : Collingswood to allow alcohol sales for the first time in 153 years after voters end its dry town status "Our vodka is the genesis and defining product of our organization," said Quigley, who co-founded Stateside. "We finally are giving the brand the time to build this world around that product. I think it would have probably happened years ago, but Surfside and its brother Super Lyte kind of stole the show for six-plus years." Titled "The New American Classic," the marketing campaign was created in partnership with Quaker City Mercantile and roots itself in a "quiet, modern" look, Quigley said. It uses traditional American motifs with a slightly rustic, Ralph Lauren-esque feel. In one promotional photoshoot, a group of five young adults pose on the steps of a Philadelphia brownstone with a vintage stereo and Stateside vodka bottle resting nearby. T-shirts, varsity jackets, baseball caps and sweatshirts are available on the company's website in similar red, white and blue themes. A 750 ml vodka handle, sold in a limited-edition bottle designed with the words of the Declaration of Independence, also is available for $19.99. Provided Image/Stateside Brands Stateside Brands launched a new campaign, titled The muted campaign is a far cry from the neon blues and greens on Super Lyte cans or the bright, striped design of Surfside's packaging, but Quigley said the look is meant to serve as a callback to the inception of the company in a Philly basement in 2013. "This is a sophisticated, upscale type of product that has a nostalgic aspect, but is also rooted in somewhat of that Americana-type vibe — hence, the name Stateside," Quigley said. "We're proud that it is an American-made product. We're from Philadelphia, the birthplace of America. So, the ethos hasn't changed at all. … We just never had a chance to explore where we wanted the brand to grow." Despite its role as the company's "foundational" product, Stateside's vodka sales have been largely eclipsed by the ready-to-drink craze that has taken over the alcohol industry. In 2025, the company sold 50,000 cases of 9-liter Stateside vodka. "Vodka sales have continued to ebb up, which I think is a testament to the product itself," Quifley said. "It's been years of us unfortunately not giving it the marketing attention it deserved. ... We think the sky is the limit. I think our near-term goal right now is to get it up to 100,000 cases, which I think will happen in 2027." Meanwhile, Stateside expects to sell 17 million cases of Surfside, its iced tea, lemonade and vodka cocktail, this year. Quigley said the company also expects to sell more than 4 million cases of Super Lyte — the canned cocktail that combines vodka with a Gatorade-type electrolyte drink. Super Lyte hit the market in March, and Stateside signed about two dozen partnerships for Super Lyte this year, Quigley said. Its success came on the heels of Stateside's deal with Comcast Spectacor and the Cordish Companies, which changed the name of the Xfinity Live! sports bar in the South Philly sports complex to Stateside Live! last fall. Super Lyte comes in four flavors: blue chill, orange, lemon-lime and fruit punch. A second variety pack is expected to hit shelves by April. It will include four new flavors: arctic cherry, berry blue frost and grape. "We're well in front of the nearest competitor," Quigley said. "But, we just want to maintain our pace so we are realized as the first 'shaker' in the space." Next April, Stateside will roll out Playa Vida, described by Quigley as Surfside's "tequila cousin." The cocktail will come in lemonade and limeade flavors. Similar to Surfside, Playa Vida will have no carbonation and total 100 calories per can. Quigley said some of the nation's largest retailers and distributors already have picked up the product. "There's been a lot of (ready-to-drink cocktails) that have come and gone in the tequila space, but none have really had staying power," Quigley said. "No one's put out a tequila RTD that has no bubbles in it as one of the defining characteristics of their brand. … We're really excited about it." Last month, Stateside began testing its new brand, Purple Tiger, a 10% ABV canned grape soda available in limited markets in Pennsylvania and Kentucky. An orange soda equivalent is scheduled to be released in February. "At this point we're testing, learning and figuring out the perfect shelf price (for Purple Tiger,)" Quigley said. "We've always thought that this product was perfectly designed for convenience store markets. … So, we're just making decisions as we continue to receive feedback." Ryan Cormier/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images Stateside's Super Lyte canned cocktail sold around 4 million cases in the first nine months after launching. Stateside credits much of the success of Super Lyte and Surfside to the passion of the company's Philadelphia-area customer base and distributors, who Quigley says are great for testing new products or ideas. He also likened the company to an athlete that may not be a "superstar," but has the determination to be great. "You'd have to be living under a rock to not understand the attitude of the Philadelphia community and culture," he said. "We're going to continue to work our (butts) off, make incredible products and listen to the feedback that we're getting. … But, we were willing to grind our fingers to the bone to set up a business and grow that to an organization, because we just wouldn't sleep." Excitement about new product launches aside, shifting marketing focus to Stateside's original product (their "first kid," as the co-founder put it) is a personal endeavor for Quigley. "We started this whole thing with saying 'this is what Stateside vodka means to us,' how we think of it looking out," he said. "We went through those processes of how to refine what we've always been trying to say, never had the time to do it. …We were having so much fun." Molly McVety PhillyVoi