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Key Takeaways
- Chelsea Handler partnered with women-owned ready-to-drink beverage company Owl’s Brew to enter the competitive alcohol market.
- The collaboration helped the brand secure shelf space at Whole Foods.
When asked why she wanted to start a drink brand, Chelsea Handler’s answer was simple: “I’ve always been motivated by Vodka.”
If you caught her 2025 special, you’ve heard the incredible story of how she ran a spiked lemonade stand in Martha’s Vineyard at the ripe age of 10 (don’t tell the MA liquor license board), saving up money to pay for her own first-class plane ticket the next summer.
“I always wanted to be a businesswoman,” Handler recalls to Entrepreneur. “My main focus as a young girl was ‘how am I going to get out of New Jersey and start a life of my own.”
Years later, after making her great escape and rising to stardom as a best-selling author and comedian, Handler returned to her roots, partnering with award-winning ready-to-drink brand Owl’s Brew to create her own signature cocktail.
You’ve vodka be kidding me
Handler had dreamt of her own spiked lemonade since she saw how lucrative the business could be as an entrepreneurial 10-year-old. But despite working with various companies over the years, she never found the right fit.
“Honestly, I was always working with men, and the flavors were never quite the right vibe for me,” Handler shares. “I wanted something smooth and not too overwhelming, but it always had a weird aftertaste.”
Then she found the founders of Owl’s Brew, Jennie Ripps and Maria Littlefield.
“When we first got into the alcoholic beverage space, we used to joke that it was the ‘year of 1,000 men,’ because it felt like we were the only women,” Ripps says with a laugh. The data backed up that feeling: just 4% of women in BevAlc hold C-suite positions.
Image Credit: Owl’s Brew
As they built Owl’s Brew, Ripps and Littlefield also built community. They launched the Wise Women Collective, a breast cancer awareness and support initiative, and created a boozy book club centered on women’s voices.
That’s how they connected with Handler, who had just released her latest bestseller, I’ll Have What She’s Having, which includes the lemonade stand story.
“We got an email saying, ‘Chelsea Handler wants you to make her vodka lemonade,’ and we were like, ‘Is this real?’” Ripps recalls with a laugh. Once they confirmed it was, the alignment felt obvious.
“So much of our brand is about authenticity and real stories,” Littlefield says. “To attach this incredible, true story to our product was a no-brainer. We just had to bring it to life.”
Soon after, she and Ripps set up a meeting with Handler in a New York City hotel room, squeezed in between stops on a whirlwind press tour—so, in other words, a fairly standard day in the life of Chelsea Handler.
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Are you there, Whole Foods? It’s me, Chelsea.
On the fateful day, the pair arrived around 9 a.m. with somewhere between 30 and 60 samples — depending on who you ask — half sparkling and half still, all handcrafted by Ripps, a certified tea sommelier, for Handler to taste. They hit it off immediately.
“It was so refreshing to have someone get it right the first time, rather than fighting an uphill battle,” Handler says. “The product they made embodies everything I want to represent, which is having fun in a responsible way.”
Today, you can find Chelsea Handler’s Vodka Lemonade in three flavors: classic, pink and mint. As for where to grab one, start wherever she is.
“They’re a big hit with my friends,” Handler says. “Sometimes you feel weird making your friends try your drink,’ but luckily for me, mine are always asking for it.”
She’s also woven the beverage into her ongoing High and Mighty tour, selling it at stops nationwide, where it’s been a smash hit. Beyond the tour, Owl’s Brew has gained traction at Whole Foods, expanding to roughly 200 placements, according to Littlefield. Ripps adds that the drinks are doing “incredibly well” aboard the Circle Line Ferry in New York.
Handler has come a long way from the 10-year-old who paid for her own first-class plane ticket with profits from her lemonade stand.
But in some ways, she hasn’t changed at all.
Key Takeaways
- Chelsea Handler partnered with women-owned ready-to-drink beverage company Owl’s Brew to enter the competitive alcohol market.
- The collaboration helped the brand secure shelf space at Whole Foods.
When asked why she wanted to start a drink brand, Chelsea Handler’s answer was simple: “I’ve always been motivated by Vodka.”
If you caught her 2025 special, you’ve heard the incredible story of how she ran a spiked lemonade stand in Martha’s Vineyard at the ripe age of 10 (don’t tell the MA liquor license board), saving up money to pay for her own first-class plane ticket the next summer.
