• by Teresa Buyikian , October 15, 2025

One canned cocktail brand is leaning on its “real spirits” to tempt customers this Halloween.

Cutwater’s new “real spirits inside” campaign highlights the brand’s actual spirit ingredients, such as tequila, vodka, rum, gin and whiskey.

The highlight of the effort, in addition to social content, is a contest that rewards winners and their guests with their own spirited adventure: an overnight stay at Cleveland’s Franklin Castle, reportedly a haunted home.

Winners also receive a tour with Franklin Castle historian William G Krejci, a cocktail tasting experience, Cutwater swag, dinner and a ghost investigation led by ghost hunter Steve Gonsalves with paranormal-hunting tools.

The contest closed earlier this month, with the overnight stay taking place Oct. 15.

The campaign continues throughout the month with related social content, seen here, which consists of Halloween recipes, short films and other themed posts. Additional posts will consist of content from the guests’ stay at the Franklin Castle.

The brand has also turned its San Diego tasting room and kitchen into a “Ghost Ship”: an immersive nautical-Halloween experience that features themed cocktails and Halloween merchandise.

Cutwater is currently the top selling spirits-based canned cocktail, and the number two ready-to-drink cocktail on the market, per Circana.

The brand launched in 2007 as a project within Ballast Point Brewing and was purchased by Anheuser-Busch in 2019 in order to expand its "beyond beer" portfolio, with original founder Yuseff Cherney remaining the company’s master distiller. The name Cutwater is derived from the Black Skimmer seabird, which is known to “cut" into the water to catch fish.

The brand’s expansive 50,000 sq. ft. San Diego-based production facility, restaurant, and tasting room marks the first distillery to open in the city since Prohibition.