Freedom Juice · Napa, California
What is sparkling agave wine?
Short answer
Agave wine is what you get when you ferment the sugars from the agave plant and stop — instead of distilling the result into tequila. Sparkling agave wine is that fermented liquid, carbonated and canned. Freedom Juice is one: blue weber agave, fermented in Napa, infused with real fruit, 7% ABV, gluten free, nothing distilled in it.
It starts the same way tequila does
An agave plant takes years to mature. When it's ready, the leaves come off and what's left is the heart — the piña, which looks like an enormous pale pinecone. That heart is cooked and crushed to release its sweet sap, called aguamiel, or honey water.
Ferment that sap and you have an alcoholic liquid somewhere in the range of 5 to 8% ABV. Everything up to this point is identical to how tequila is made.
Here's where the road forks, and the fork is the entire category.
From plant to can
Stop here
You have agave wine. Add fruit and carbonation and can it, and you have sparkling agave wine.
≈ 5–8% ABVKeep going
Run it through a still and the alcohol concentrates. You have tequila.
≈ 40% ABVMost agave wine on a shelf isn't like this
Here's the part nobody explains. If you've bought a canned margarita lately, there's a good chance agave wine was the alcohol in it — and that it got there for a regulatory reason rather than a flavor one.
In much of the United States, what a store is allowed to sell depends on its license. A grocery or convenience store with a beer-and-wine licence can't stock spirits. So producers of ready-to-drink cocktails build them on a fermented base instead of a distilled one, which lets the finished can sit in far more stores. Agave wine is a popular base because it comes from the right plant and tastes the part.
Those products are usually fortified: the fermented agave gets blended with blanco tequila to push it up to roughly 20–24% ABV, and then it's mixed down into the final drink. It functions as an ingredient, not as a beverage.
Freedom Juice isn't fortified. Nothing distilled is added to it. What's in the can is the fermented agave itself, infused with fruit and carbonated, finishing at 7% ABV. The agave wine isn't an ingredient hiding inside the drink — it is the drink.
How it compares to what's next to it in the cooler
| What the alcohol is made from | Distilled? | Typical ABV | Contains grain | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sparkling agave wine | Fermented agave sap | No | 5–8% | No |
| Hard seltzer | Fermented cane sugar, or a malt base | No | 4–6% | Often, if malt-based |
| Malt beverage / flavored malt | Fermented barley malt | No | 4–8% | Yes |
| Canned margarita (RTD) | Usually fortified agave wine, sometimes tequila | Partly | 5–12% | No |
| Tequila | Fermented agave sap, then distilled | Yes | ~40% | No |
Why it's gluten free
There's no barley, wheat or any other grain anywhere in the process. A malt-based seltzer starts life closer to beer than most drinkers realise; agave wine never touches a grain at all. That's why the gluten free mark sits on the Freedom Juice can.
What it tastes like
Cleaner and less sweet than most people expect. Fermented agave has a faintly vegetal, mineral quality underneath — the same character you'd recognise in a good blanco tequila, without the heat that distillation brings. Carbonation lifts it, and the fruit sits on top rather than burying it.
Is it actually wine?
Not in the grape sense, no. "Wine" here describes the method rather than the fruit: something fermented and left undistilled. It's the same use of the word you'll find in cider, mead and sake territory. How any particular product is classified for licensing and tax depends on how it's made and on the state you're standing in, so the rules vary.
Common questions
Is agave wine the same as tequila?
No. They start from the same plant and the same fermentation, then split. Tequila is distilled, which concentrates the alcohol to around 40% ABV. Agave wine is not distilled, so it stays in the range fermentation produced — Freedom Juice finishes at 7%.
Is agave wine stronger than beer?
Slightly, usually. Most beer lands between 4 and 6% ABV. Freedom Juice is 7% in a 12 oz can, so one is a little stronger than a standard beer and nowhere near a shot of spirits.
Does agave wine contain tequila?
Sometimes. Many agave wines sold as a cocktail base are fortified with blanco tequila to reach roughly 20–24% ABV. Freedom Juice is not fortified — no distilled spirit is added to it.
Is agave wine gluten free?
Yes, when it's genuinely agave-based. No grain is used at any stage. Freedom Juice carries a gluten free mark on the can.
How many calories are in agave wine?
It varies by producer and by how much fruit and sugar is added after fermentation. We'd rather point you at the panel than guess at a number — ask us at [email protected] and we'll tell you exactly what's in ours.
Where can I buy sparkling agave wine?
Freedom Juice ships from Napa, California — a 6-pack is $17.76. You can also find us pouring at beer and wine festivals across California and Arizona; the schedule is here. Retailers and distributors can ask for specs and pricing at [email protected].
Now go taste one.
Liberty Lime is sharp and dry. Auntie Sammy's Strawberry is fruit-forward without the syrup. Six cans, $17.76, shipped from Napa.