WHERE IT STARTED

December 2022

We'd been sneaking drinks into music festivals in yogurt pouches for years — and it got us thinking. Every drink on offer in Australia had the same problems: low ABV, carbonation, expensive RTDs. We were hosting a NYE party and decided to trial a fix. We bought spout pouches and a hand filler online, mixed up 300 vodka oranges, and called them SLAMS. Everyone loved them.

GOING FOR IT

Early 2023

We pulled the trigger. Rebranded as QUICKY, hired a beverage expert, finalised packaging designs, and completed flavour development after three trips to Melbourne. A summer 2023 launch was looking real — then disaster struck. Our "QUICKY" trademark was denied in Australia (blocked by the Nesquik rabbit). Our only co-packing facility went bust. Our food scientist left us with 20 ingredients from 20 suppliers we couldn't reorder. Back to square one: no name, no packaging, no formulation, no facility.

BECOMING QUIPS

September 2023

We couldn't give up. Rebranded as QUIPS, reformulated the drinks with a new developer, and convinced a yogurt pouch facility to get an alcohol licence. Cal quit his job in banking. We got our first pouch samples, shot content, and locked in a February 2024 launch.

ANOTHER SETBACK

Mid 2024

The facility kept pushing dates — February became April, became June. In July they revealed that getting an alcohol licence would conflict with their halal certification and they were out. So we said f*ck it, and bought our own custom-built pouch filler. It would take six months to build. We signed with a co-packing facility to house and operate the machine.

THE FINAL RUN

January–May 2025)

The machine arrived in Melbourne in January. We ordered all ingredients and packaging and finally set a launch date: May 24. Then in March, facility three pulled out — machine at the port, thousands of litres of alcohol incoming, guests with flights already booked. We met eight facilities in a week, chose the most reliable, shipped the machine to the Central Coast, reformulated (for the fourth time), trained the staff, ran trials, and refused to push the launch back. The week before was chaos. We loaded the vans on Friday night.

WORTH IT

May 2025

3 years. 3 names. 4 production facilities. 4 food scientists. 1,000 packaging revisions. 10,000 flavour revisions. 1 million mistakes. The night before the launch party, we finally made the perfect drink.

WHERE WE ARE NOW

PRESENT

We sponsor festivals across the country, our drinks are ranging nationally across Australia, and we've dropped new flavours and collabs along the way. Quips has become the hottest RTD in Australia - and we're just getting started.