Blake Lively has launched an alcohol-free drink range that pays tribute to her late father

Blake Lively has launched a new range of non-alcoholic mixers, named in honour of her late father.

In various posts to her Instagram on Thursday, 23 September, the actor unveiled the “secret project” she’s been working on for three years.

Named Betty Buzz, it is a selection of sparkling drinks in five different flavours that can be drunk alone or mixed with alcohol.

“I’m mortified that I’ve spent three years obsessing over the exact bubble size and quantity for the perfect, highly explosive pops,” she wrote in one story.

“Think of all I could have accomplished in the amount of times I tried 17 versions of Meyer Lemon club Soda,” she said.

Meyer Lemon Club Soda is one of the five flavours – the others are “lemon lime”, “grapefruit”, “ginger beer” and “tonic water”.

The brand’s name was inspired by Lively’s late father, Ernie, who died in June.

“My dad’s name was Ernest Brown Jr but he was known as Ernie Lively. He gave up his last name when he married my mom and any success, he, or I, experienced has been in a name that isn’t his,” she explained in a press release.

“So when I was working hard to build this company, I wanted any success to be in a name that was meaningful to him. Betty was his mom and his sister’s name. Also, Ernie would not be the best name for a mixer,” she added.

The concept of a non-alcoholic drink was inspired by Lively’s own decision to not drink.

“Over the past many years of mixing but not drinking cocktails, it became clear mixers are the unsung heroes of the drink world and deserve just as much love as alcohol.

“The amount of time I’ve spent on Betty Buzz is shockingly bad bandwidth management,” she joked.

Lively is the latest to join a growing list of celebrities who have ventured into the drinks industry.

Earlier this year, supermodel Kendall Jenner announced that she had created her own Tequila brand, 818.

In November 2020, Elon Musk launched Tesla Tequila and sold out within hours.

Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds is also in the alcohol business, having acquired a stake in gin brand Aviation American Gin in 2018.

Elsewhere, former couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are currently embroiled in a legal battle – being dubbed the “war of rosé” – over their French vineyard.

This week, Pitt filed legal papers in a Luxembourg court accusing his estranged wife of “systematic obstruction” of his management of Château Miraval.

Both Pitt and Jolie have a 50 per cent stake in Quimicum, the holding company that owns the vineyard.

According to papers seen by Page Six, Pitt has claimed that Jolie sold her stake to an anonymous buyer for €1.

He alleged that she did not honour a prior agreement to offer him the chance to buy it first and that the sum is “not serious” given the value of the vineyard.

Read More

This is the perfect dessert to use up your leftover apples

Rick Stein’s seabass might look impressive, but it’s deceptively simple

Rick Stein is ripping up the rulebook in his new cookbook

Consuming dairy food could prevent a heart attack, new research suggests

How a baker from a tiny Scottish island became a TikTok star

One third of British people now drink plant-based milk, according to report