In 1996, as part of his company Mark Anthony Brands, von Mandl launched Mike’s Hard Lemonade - a brand of flavoured alcoholic lemonades. That was the start of his hard seltzer adventure otherwise known as White Claw.

White Claw was launched in 2016, when the Mark Anthony Brands company decided to create a new alcoholic beverage that nestles comfortably in the venn diagram of health, wellness, and convenience. The result was White Claw, a low-calorie, low-carbohydrate, and gluten-free hard seltzer.

When White Claw was launched, it took a couple of years before the brand blew up - all thanks to the power of social media. When users started posting photos and videos with the hashtag #clawlife on Twitter, the brand started to gain traction and eventually went viral. White Claw’s growth was so phenomenal that the brand became synonymous with the entire hard seltzer category, much like how the brand Frisbee became synonymous with the flying disc.

In 2019, it was reported that White Claw accounts for over half of all total seltzer sales and continued to be memed while being a party staple. In fact, White Claw was flying so quickly off the shelves that the manufacturer was struggling to keep it in stock. In that year, the hard seltzer brand had reported multiple shortages in bars and stores across the U.S., and even online.