JOY JUICE
First Mexican hard aguas frescas brand splashes into 200 H-E-B stores across Texas
Picadas is now available at 200 H-E-B stores.
San Antonians take their aguas frescas seriously. Look at the controversy when TikToker Gracie Norton called the beloved drink “spa water.” Still, locals are not likely to argue should one want to throw in a little booze.
Now entrepreneur Hugo Martinez has taken beloved Mexican flavors out of vitroleros and into cans with Picadas, a line of hard aguas frescas. Each can combines real fruit juice with cane sugar alcohol for a product that’s sure to take Fiesta by storm.
Martinez conceived the brand while completing an MBA at Stanford University. A fan of seltzers, he realized the category was missing a taste of home. After returning to Monterey, Mexico in 2021, Picadas was born.
“I became a seltzer enthusiast when I took my first sip, but I was searching everywhere for one with Mexican flavors. Tamarindo, Limonada... the stuff I grew up drinking,” Martinez explains via a release. “Coming from Mexico, we never sacrifice flavor.”
The name comes from the phrase “con piquete,” Mexican slang for “spiked.” Each 12-ounce can rings in at 130 calories with 4.5 percent alcohol by volume. The drinks can be enjoyed alone or amped up with tequila or mezcal.
Currently, the line is available in three flavors — mango, limonada, and guava. Every six-pack, retailing at $10.99, comes with a packet of spicy chile-lime salt to dress the rim. Texans can stock their fridges at 200 H-E-B stores statewide.
The bright pink reusable tote bag has rainbow straps.Photo courtesy of Sanrio