Long Island brothers launch canned cocktail company Flocktails

At their dad’s Garden City liquor store, Nick Mangia and his brothers, Anthony and Michael, would sometimes taste samples of the canned cocktails that came in. “We thought, ‘I think we can create something better,’” said Mangia, who grew up in Smithtown.

Their version — a riff on a vodka-spiked cranberry lemonade they’d sometimes sip before playing golf (“to loosen the nerves,” said Mangia, 28) — was called Dirty Birdie, at least at first, as they honed the formula to get it ready for prime time.

Eventually renaming their creation Flocktails, the brothers launched the fizzy Cranberry Lemonade last summer; many months and a foible or two later, Flocktails — emblazoned with a flamingo designed by Mangia — seems to be hitting critical mass. The liquor store at the Holbrook Costco has sold out of it twice, said Mangia, naming one of 16 local retail outlets and several bars where four-packs are selling for $12-$15.

Flocktails is gently carbonated, distinctly sweet and slightly tart. Spiked with vodka, each 12-ounce can chimes in at 7% alcohol, five grams of sugar and 170 calories. (By comparison, an 11-ounce can of Mike’s Hard Cranberry Lemonade is made with fermented malt and contains 235 calories, 31 grams of sugar and 5% alcohol).

The Mangia brothers divide the labor on their burgeoning enterprise: Nick handles design and marketing; Anthony, an accountant, “is the numbers guy,” said Mangia; and Michael, the youngest at 25, handles outreach, including the @drinkflocktails Instagram account.

Together, they have weathered some of the speed bumps of launching a new product. After the brothers came up with the initial flavor — assisted by their parents, Grace and Bob — they discovered that the first commercial batch produced was not the right formula. “We had 200 cases we had to dispose of,” said Mangia. “When we got our new batch, we said ’this is how it’s supposed to taste.’”

Mangia and his family are working on two new flavors, Peach Lemonade and Blueberry Lemonade, that they hope to launch soon. In the meantime, they continue to hold tastings around Long Island, growing in tandem with the canned cocktail market — which is expected to grow to at a rate of 11.6% year-over-year until 2032, according to Future Market Insights, eventually reaching $52.2 billion. “We’re very passionate about being in the business for 20 years,” said Mangia.