They muddled. They Googled. They watched countless YouTube how-to videos. And in the end, Jennifer Binney and Larissa Nordyke brewed up Summer Club – a sleek line of ready-to-drink spritz beverages now found at bars, hotels and even at UH sporting venues.
“It started during COVID,” Binney recalled. “At the time, Larissa was my daughter’s volleyball coach and she reached out about a possible collaboration.”
Binney’s response? “Are you texting the right person?”
“We would meet and just throw out ideas,” Binney said. “Nothing was really sticking until we thought of a canned spritzer, which no one was doing at the time.”
Together, they identified this gap in the market for high-quality, Hawai‘i-inspired canned spritz drinks. Using Binney’s kitchen as a test lab, Nordyke recalled “the beakers, the scales, the frozen lilikoi, the guava puree” that they experimented with to find the right balance of flavors and formulation, a process that marked the humble beginnings of what would become their growing beverage brand.
Summer Club participated in this year's Makers' Market.
“We’re probably on Version 10.5 now,” quipped Nordyke, who played beach volleyball for a year at UH.” We want to keep improving and evolving.”
Despite having no experience in beverage manufacturing, Binney and Nordyke saw it as a challenge and not a barrier – an opportunity to learn, adapt and build something uniquely their own from the “can” up.
A UH Mānoa alumna, Binney earned degrees in Liberal Studies and Pacific Island Studies, and credits UH with shaping her sense of community. “UH gave me a foundation – not just academically but culturally,” she said. “The friendships, the alumni, the professors and the values I learned there continue to influence me today.”
Nordyke brought her own UH experiences to the mix – discipline from collegiate athletics and a drive to take bold swings.
Those lessons came full circle when Summer Club partnered with Sodexo to sell their beverages at UH sporting events – an opportunity that felt, as Binney and Nordyke described, “like coming home.”
Since then, Summer Club’s growth has been steady and strategic. A partnership with Hyatt Regency now brings their products to properties across Maui, Kaua‘i and Waikīkī. Looking ahead, Binney and Nordyke plan to launch in California and Texas this year, expand into 10 additional U.S. states by the end of 2026, and ultimately enter markets in Japan and Canada – scaling strategically while keeping their island roots at the core of their brand.
For Binney and Nordyke, success isn’t just about shelf space, it’s about staying connected to Hawai‘i. “We always knew we wanted to take our brand beyond Hawai‘i,” Nordyke said. “There’s a kind of transportationalness to what we do – it captures the essence of Hawai‘i, and now we’re bringing that feeling to the world.”
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