R&B Star Boosts Local Lemonade

On the uppermost shelf in a display refrigerator of 3 Brothers Mini Market on the corner of Chapel and Beers Street, there’s the most recent flavor of the Gorilla Lemonade brand: the limited edition Pina Colada. 

Its existence, which began Aug. 8 in a collaboration between Grammy award-winning artist Eric Bellinger and the creators of New Haven’s Gorilla Lemonade, owes itself to a combination of sheer thirst, serendipity, a dash of entrepreneurial flair, and a generous helping of mutual interest and affection. 

The story begins in the wee morning hours in early February when Bellinger and his team arrived at the Cambria Hotel for a performance at Toad’s Place the next night. The R&B powerhouse was in town as part of his Around the World Tour. Everyone was parched. In the refrigerator of their rooms were bottles of Gorilla Lemonade. Each cost eight dollars. 

“Lemonade is my all-time favorite drink no matter what, so went for it, and it was incredible, and we drank one and then another and another and we were like ​‘Man, we’re going to have to get more of these,’” Bellinger recalled in his signature velvety smooth voice when reached at his home in Los Angeles.

That night, Syx, a rapper and artist mentored by Bellinger, as well as his tour manager, tagged Gorilla Lemonade on Instagram. Co-founder Kristen Threatt replied, offering to bring over a box. ​“They came to the hotel the next day, they showed love, and gave me some of their merch,” said the Roc Nation artist, including a letterman jacket. 

It was an example of the enterprising chops that’s had Threatt, along with co-founder Brian Burkett-Thompson, building Gorilla Lemonade from a concoction in Burkett-Thompson’s kitchen in February 2022 to a beverage supplier contract with Yale in March 2023 to its promotion by such figures as U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro and Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley to the popular drink currently being carried by 200 stores across Connecticut and 35 nationwide.

It was also, to hear Threatt tell it, ​“an authentic relationship off the bat. We just clicked.” 

Bellinger invited the lemonade founders to his gig at Toad’s Place. ​“It was dope,” Threatt said. A few weeks later, Bellinger pinged him. We ran out, he said. Send more. For the rest of the tour, ​“we made sure they kept our refrigerators full,” Bellinger said. 

Sometime in the spring, Threatt reached out, challenging Bellinger to come up with his own flavor. Among those he taste-tested: honey lavender mint. Jogue, Inc., the full-service flavor company based in Plymouth, Michigan, that has produced lemon, strawberry, blueberry, pineapple, and watermelon blends for Gorilla Lemonade, sent him a bottle. ​“It tasted like Robitussin,” he said, laughing. ​“Nasty,” said Threatt, who then suggested Pina Colada.

“It was fire,” Threatt said. Bellinger’s take: ​“a tropical escape in a can that no passport requires.” 

Going forward, Bellinger said, there are plans for more collaborations, particularly ones that involve work in the community. Bellinger has placed an emphasis on paying it forward, mentoring the next generation of R&B artists. He’s also been featured in the Father Noir series, which focuses on celebrating Black fatherhood. 

With a tagline of community over competition, Threatt and Burkett-Thompson’s company likewise has become a model for parlaying its profits into giving back to the neighborhoods that raised them. The company donates 25 cents from every bottle sold to fund Thanksgiving food drives for people experiencing homelessness, support for community members who have fallen on hard times, and Christmas toy drives for families, as well as an annual summer camp to teach kids the fundamentals of entrepreneurship. 

“In terms of what we can do, this is just the beginning,” Bellinger said.