Town Branch Distillery launched Bourbonola Tropical Style, a Bourbon & Banana Seltzer that blends bourbon character with tropical flavor. 

Crafted with 2 shots per can of Town Branch Bourbon and layered with notes of banana, mango, citrus and a touch of honey, it is combined with a crisp, light sparkling body for an exceptionally refreshing experience. Bourbanola Tropical Style is available in select markets nationwide. (SRP $14.99 per 4pk x 355ml Slim Cans)

Bourbonola Prohibition Style & Bourbonola Tropical Style

If you already know Bourbonola, then you know it started with Bourbonola Prohibition Style — nearly 3-shots of Kentucky Straight Bourbon per can blended with a proprietary cherry cola to 12% ABV as a ready-to-drink beverage. If you don’t know 

The story begins in 1922, deep in the heart of Prohibition, when Lexington Brewing Co. was forced to pivot from beer to non-alcoholic beverages to survive. One of those creations was called Bourbonola, because while the government could regulate what went into the bottle, they couldn’t regulate the name on it.

Fast forward 100 years. While expanding its bourbon-based portfolio, the team at Lexington Brewing & Distilling Co. and home of Town Branch Distillery uncovered the forgotten Bourbonola name painted across an old brewery photo. The history was real. The assets still existed. Bourbonola was reborn.

Now the next chapter begins. Bourbonola Tropical Style, a bourbon-based tropical hard seltzer built around one of the world’s most iconic flavors: banana. Made with real Kentucky Straight Bourbon, it pushes Bourbonola even further into uncharted territory while staying rooted in whiskey culture. Just like Prohibition Style carries the year 1922 on its can, Bourbonola Tropical Style features 1876 — the year bananas exploded into American culture at the Centennial World’s Fair in Philadelphia. Exotic, unexpected, unforgettable. Sound familiar?

Alongside the launch of Tropical Style, both Bourbonola expressions are receiving refreshed packaging, including new outer cartons with a QR code to tell their historic origin story and updated artwork featuring each drink’s signature spirit animal. Bourbonola started by breaking rules during Prohibition. A century later, it’s still doing exactly that while making history. 

But Why Bananas?

The answer is actually pretty simple. For years now, innovation at Town Branch has centered around one core idea: bourbon-based or bourbon-inspired to celebrate its origin on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Bourbonola Tropical Style delivers both.

Built on a base of real Kentucky Straight Bourbon, Bourbonola Tropical Style is bourbon-based by design celebrating the native spirit of the United States. But it’s also bourbon-inspired in flavor. Anyone familiar with younger bourbons knows they often carry notes of banana, banana bread, baking spice, and sweet grain before extended barrel aging shifts those profiles to oak, caramel, and vanilla. To celebrate that vibrant younger bourbon character, and minimum 2-year-old bourbon at the heart of the drink — banana became the lead flavor.

But why else bananas? Because bananas are one of the most iconic fruits on the planet, with more than 100 billion consumed globally every year. They also have one of the greatest stories in food culture. Bananas exploded into American consciousness at the 1876 Centennial World’s Fair in Philadelphia, where the tropical fruit became an overnight sensation. Also, local legend in Kentucky’s sub-tropical climate tells of a fruit called the pawpaw which tastes like a tropical mixture of bananas, mango and pineapple. 

And now, 150 years later, banana is once again having a moment, this time behind the bar. Some of the world’s best bartenders are embracing banana in cocktails and as part of their beverage program, while the broader beverage category still has surprisingly few banana-forward offerings. 

“So we looked at the landscape and thought: why not bananas? The category is ripe for the picking.” Robert Krass, Managing Director at Lexington Brewing & Distilling Co., said in a news release “While developing Bourbonola Prohibition Style, we created our own cola from scratch using cherry, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, cocoa nibs, and kola nut. For Bourbonola Tropical Style, we approached it the same way — building our own seltzer using banana, mango, pineapple, lemon, honey, ginger, and sparkling water – full flavor.”

Read more: Town Branch Releases 6-Year Wheated Bourbon

About Town Branch Distillery

Located in Lexington, Kentucky, Town Branch Distillery is notable as the first new distillery to open in the city since Prohibition. It is part of Lexington Brewing & Distilling Co., the only brewery and distillery on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. For more details, visit www.lexingtonbrewingco.com.