Sazerac to Launch 15% ABV Fruit-Flavoured 99 Shots at 99p

Sazerac is releasing a product called 99, a 15 per cent alcohol by volume shot sold in 50ml bottles for 99p each. The fruity flavours include banana, black cherry, watermelon, pink lemonade and apple. It goes on sale in off-licences next week.

The launch event is scheduled for Tuesday at Birmingham University campuses. It will use a fake ice cream van called the 99 Liquor Whip. 99. BuzzBallz came to the UK in 2022 and is now estimated to be worth £739 million.

The UK government banned the sale of colourful, fruit-flavoured disposable vapes last summer. A 50ml bottle of 99 at 15% ABV contains the same alcohol as one-fifteenth of a 750ml bottle of wine. Cathy Walker, who has worked in schools for more than 20 years and has daughters aged 16 and 14, said the products would appeal to children.

“These products have been designed in a way that will inevitably appeal to kids with bright colours and a super cheap price tag,” she stated. Harriet Rye, the mental health lead at Calderstones School in Liverpool, expressed similar concerns. “Those bottles look incredibly enticing, and at pocket money prices.

Just the kind of thing that would appeal to the teens I work with and, I’m sure, my own daughters. Very worrying,” she said. Jack Bradford, an 18-year-old sixth-form student from London, offered a different perspective.

“Every generation has had its drink. This one could be ours. If teenagers are going to drink, they’re going to find a way. There’s nothing they can do,” he said. Lorenzo Farronato, EU marketing director for Sazerac, defended the marketing approach.

“[We are a] brand that has always celebrated bold flavours, throwback culture and a sense of playfulness … While the campaign playfully references familiar British cultural imagery, the experience itself is unmistakably alcohol-led, centred around flavoured spirit shots and adult consumers of legal drinking age,” he stated. The article was published on Friday May 15 2026.

The product arrives as videos of young Britons drinking BuzzBallz have racked up millions of views since its UK arrival. Sazerac says the 99 Liquor Whip van aims to tap into Gen Z nostalgia for the 2000s while targeting only those of legal drinking age.