Ben Stiller Launches His Own Soda Brand: Stiller’s Soda

There’s a new drink to enjoy while you rewatch Zoolander or Night at the Museum for the twentieth time, and it comes from the lead actor and comedy icon who stars in each film franchise.

Today, actor and Emmy-winning director Ben Stiller announced that he’s entering the food and beverage industry with his own soft drink line, Stiller’s Soda. The brand evokes nostalgia through its simple design featuring vintage-style text — with “Stiller’s” in bold letters across the front of each can — and the three debuting flavors, root beer, lemon-lime, and Shirley Temple.

The artisanal soda market is a competitive landscape today, but Stiller’s Soda aims to fill a gap and become a “classic soda for a new world,” according to a press release from the brand. The drinks are low in sugar and calories — each can contains 30 calories and seven grams of sugar — but it does not intend to compete in the probiotic and prebiotic soda market.

At the same time, each soda contains extra vitamins, with every serving providing 20 micrograms of Vitamin D, 91 milligrams of Vitamin C (or 93 milligrams in the lemon-lime flavor), and 2.4 micrograms of Vitamin B12. (In contrast, a can of regular Coca-Cola is not a significant source of any minerals.)

Stiller’s new product aims to balance classic flavors with health-conscious appeal, without veering too far from tradition. In an exclusive quote for Food & Wine, Stiller explains that “People still love soda — they just want one that feels right for today. For me, it started with Shirley Temples as a kid, and even now, that first sip still takes me back.

“With Stiller’s Soda, we kept it simple: great taste, nothing weird, just added vitamins to make it a little better for you — but with the fizz and flavor we all remember. It’s soda you can actually feel good about and made for everyone to enjoy.”

I managed to get samples of Stiller’s Sodas, and what’s most notable about their flavor is that the drinks’ sweet backbone still tastes like a typical soda. These soft drinks use a mix of cane sugar, stevia leaf extract, and monk fruit extract to deliver the sweetness you expect from a soda while keeping the sugar content relatively low.

Because real cane sugar is used — and is listed second on the ingredient list, indicating it’s one of the two main ingredients by weight — you don’t get the lingering, artificial aftertaste that stevia and monk fruit can often impart.

All three of Stiller’s Soda’s initial flavors deliver the tasting notes they promise, but I’m partial to the lemon-lime and Shirley Temple. Each of these contains real juice, which adds more refreshing, natural notes than you’ll find in many other fruit-forward sodas.

If you follow Ben Stiller on social media, you might have noticed some recent hints about his upcoming launch. The Severance executive producer teamed up with fellow actor, friend, and advisor to Stiller’s Soda, Justin Theroux, to create a humorous campaign for the beverage line’s launch. 

In a press release from Stiller’s Soda, Theroux notes that “It was an easy yes when he approached me with this idea. Stiller is on a mission to bring soda back to its roots while modernizing it for everyone — soda novices included.

“And true to who he is, the campaign is no exception, poking fun at himself and the larger celebrity brand landscape to get the message across that Stiller’s is offering good, classic sodas to the people.”

The actor and director is launching the soda in his hometown of New York City first, where it will be available at select retailers. Stillers Soda is also available for shipping nationwide via Amazon. The brand plans to expand quickly, appearing on Walmart shelves within the next few months, followed by a nationwide retailer expansion next year.