When Canadian hockey fans think of Bob McKenzie, any number of titles probably come to mind.

The Original Hockey Insider would likely be first. That would be followed by, in no particular order: NHL Entry Draft guru, TSN World Junior Championship stalwart, Free Agent Frenzy and trade deadline news-breaker, The Quiz panelist, best-selling author and Hockey Hall of Fame writer.

And, of course, “The Bobfather.”

Apologies for the long-windedness, but it’s a pretty extensive list.

Now TSN’s self-described Semi-Retired Insider can add another designation to the register. “Booze mogul?” McKenzie said when searching for the additional title. “I don’t actually believe that, but it’s a catchy title. So, I would facetiously call myself a booze mogul right now.”

That’s because McKenzie, along with his son, Shawn, has partnered with the Ace Beverage Group to produce Bobby Margarita, the latest entry in the rapidly growing ready-to-drink (RTD) alcoholic beverage market. As the name suggests, it is essentially a non-carbonated margarita in a 473-millilitre can. It comes from the recipe McKenzie himself has perfected over the past five years, one that began with the purchase of a blender that ultimately led to his Bobby Margarita persona.

The product is being introduced to the Alberta market on Dec. 9 and should start appearing on shelves early next week. It will be available in Nova Scotia beginning in January and in Ontario and Saskatchewan by April, 2022.

McKenzie actually didn’t have his first margarita experience until 1993. In Dallas to cover the Stars’ first home game after relocating from Minnesota, McKenzie joined a group of hockey writers for dinner at Mexican restaurant, something hard-working hockey scribes have been known to occasionally do when they’re not tirelessly and meticulously honing their craft. Pitchers of margaritas were being ordered and McKenzie took part and liked what he tasted.

Fast-forward more than two decades to a night when McKenzie found himself at TSN’s studio covering the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs. With some time to kill before that night’s games, McKenzie went to a Best Buy, where his eye was drawn to the Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville Frozen Concoction Maker.

“And I was like, ‘Oh, that looks like fun,’” McKenzie said. “You’re at the end of April, beginning of May, and you’re working every single night, you’re dreaming of fun in the summer. So, I thought, ‘This looks really cool. I’m going to get that.’ Then I forgot about it until I went on vacation.”

After searching Google for a good margarita recipe, with a big stick tap to Martha Stewart, Bobby Margarita was born. And it took on a life of its own, with McKenzie signing off as Bobby Margarita on social media in the hours after Free Agent Frenzy closed each July 1.

McKenzie and his son had thought about a merchandising line bearing the name, but it was all fun, idle chatter until one of Shawn’s college friends who works at Ace Beverage Group reconnected with him in March, 2021. They discussed the concept, and it was brought up the food chain. The company was keen to partner with McKenzie to develop a line of ready-to-drink margaritas.

“When the opportunity was brought to us and it was Bob McKenzie, we were really excited to work with Bob,” said Keith Walker, vice-president of marketing for Ace Beverage Group. “He’s a very talented marketer because he built a brand before he had a product. He built the persona of Bobby Margarita. It’s been incredibly difficult to build brands over the years. Consumers go with what they trust, what they know, and people really trust Bob. He got the name The Hockey Insider based on trust and having credible information.”

In what should come as a surprise to no one who knows them, both Bob and Shawn were very involved in the process, from developing the formula for the drink to creating the look of the product. “He’s not a silent partner by any means,” Walker said.

The McKenzies did multiple tasting panels to develop the recipe and were heavily involved in the can design and logo. The same way McKenzie would be loath to put out a bogus trade rumour, he takes a similar pride in developing a drink that bears his name. Part of that was insisting the drink not be carbonated.

“I thought that if I was going to do this, the taste had to be something I would taste and say, ‘Mmm, that’s really good,’” McKenzie said. “If I couldn’t have done that, I wouldn’t have done it.”

McKenzie is hopeful and confident the product will do well, both with hockey fans and those who have no idea who Bobby Margarita actually is. Apparently, those people exist in Canada.

When you think about it, though, there is an entire generation of Canadians who associate Tim Horton with coffee and donuts, not bone-crushing hits, and Stanley Cups. Is McKenzie worried that one day hockey fans will forget about The Hockey Insider and remember him only as a booze mogul?

Not terribly.

“I’d be all right with that,” McKenzie said.

Ken Campbell is a freelance hockey writer based in Toronto. His work can be found at kencampbell.substack.com.