Guy Fieri’s hair isn’t the only thing spiked in his life.
The Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives host created Flavortown Spiked, a line of malt beverages with Two Roads Brewing Co., PEOPLE can exclusively announce. The first flavor to launch the brand is a hard fruit punch, which Fieri describes as “adult Kool-Aid — but not as sweet.”
“You can’t say fruit punch and not smile. And you can’t say Flavortown and not smile. And hopefully you can say Guy Fieri and think good times,” the Food Network star tells PEOPLE of deciding on the debut flavor.
Six-packs of 12 oz. cans will be sold starting in late November for $12 everywhere Two Roads is sold. (There will be a location finder on flavortownspiked.com.) More spiked punch flavors and hard teas will rollout in 2024.
PEOPLE got a first taste of the spiked fruit punch and Fieri’s description is spot on. It tastes like the nostalgic drink but more hand-crafted. Rather than overly sweet, it’s refreshing and fruit-forward. You can truly taste the fresh cranberry and citrus notes. The boozy-ness is subtle, even with 6% ABV.
Fieri, who also runs the Hunt & Ryde Winery (named after his sons) and co-owns Santo Tequila with Sammy Hager, has been heavily involved with Flavortown Spiked all the way down to approving the color red used on the cans.
“I don’t want to do things to make money,” he says. “I want to do things to make it great.”
Two Roads, a Connecticut-based brewing company, pitched Fieri and his team on the idea via email and once they all got together in person, it was a match made in heaven. “They’re a riot and they’re real. They’re as authentic as they come,” says Fieri of the Two Roads executives.
Fieri estimates he tasted over 100 versions until they got it right. And once they did, “everybody lost their mind,” he says.
The all-star chef even went so far as to taste test it on the Direct TV technician who was fixing his TV service when the samples first arrived. “He goes, ‘God, this is good. As soon as they come out, I’ll buy,'” Fieri recalls the technician saying.
“He’s just a random guy,” laughs Fieri, “but it’s legit.”
