Malibu Pink RTD is bringing tropical vibes, with the perfect blend of coconut rum and guava flavour.

Beauty spent last summer trying to turn us all into guavas. For a while there, you couldn’t open your bathroom cabinet without being confronted by one. It was in the lip balm. It was in the blush. It was in toner, perfume and even self-tan drops. By mid-2025, with new guava products flooding her inbox, Cosmopolitan’s beauty editor declared it “Guava Girl Summer”. Vogue crowned “Guava Girl” one of the defining beauty archetypes of the year. Teen Vogue tracked the same vibrant pinks and greens across make-up, nails and fashion. So, it was only a matter of time before guava escaped the beauty aisle altogether, making its way somewhere arguably more useful: the fridge.

Malibu has taken the same sunny, juicy cues that made guava irresistible to beauty brands and finally delivered what we all actually crave from the fruit – that distinctive tropical flavour. At the start of 2026, they launched Malibu Pink – a pink-hued Caribbean white rum with tropical liqueur, flavoured with guava, coconut and pineapple flavours. And while that’s yet to hit Australian shores, they’ve actually done us one better: Malibu Pink RTDs are here. Turns out, taking that new rum, mixing it with bubbly lemonade, and canning it ready to go is an excellent way to make the guava trend work.

Holding a can of the Malibu Pink against a blue-sky background

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Why is everyone so obsessed with guava?

To be fair, this fixation didn’t come out of nowhere. We’ve spent the past few years enthusiastically turning food into seasonal identities (and crafting endless thinkpieces and Instagram carousels deconstructing it).

We all remember tomato-girl summer. Cherry everything. Mocha had its moment. By the time guava arrived, the internet was already extremely comfortable with the idea that a piece of produce could dictate your lipstick, outfit, holiday aspirations and entire disposition. Food-industry forecasters have been calling out guava, alongside the likes of mango and dragonfruit, as a flavour gaining ground across everything from smoothies to sorbets. And guava is particularly well suited to the job.

While already familiar to many Latino, Asian and Caribbean communities, guava hasn’t been thoroughly rinsed by the Australian mainstream in the way of, say, mango or passionfruit. Cut a guava open and you basically get an entire mood board in one fruit: vivid coral-pink flesh, green skin, something tropical, sexy and slightly unexpected. But the appeal of guava goes beyond colour – it’s escapism. It serves a vision of white-sand beaches, water as blue as Chris Hemsworth’s eyes, the carefree, optimistic sensation of turning on your out-of-office auto reply. And this is exactly what you want when the group chat has spent 11 weeks negotiating a night that works for everyone.

The summer drink that requires no work

If guava’s lure is that it instantly conjures something juicy, pink, tropical and escapist, the Malibu Pink RTD actually delivers that experience, rather than merely borrowing the aesthetic.

It’s that same mix of familiar and a little unexpected that makes it work. The coconut keeps things unmistakably Malibu, while guava takes it in a brighter, riper direction, and zesty lemonade cuts through with an uplifting finish. It’s light, sweet and refreshing, and comes in at 4.5% ABV.

But, oh, you want the aesthetics, too? Good news: it pours pink. The liquid itself is the most perfect bubblegum pink, like Barbie’s Dreamhouse had a baby with musk sticks. Guava Girl Summer is nothing if not committed to the bit.

A glass and a can of the Malibu Pink with ice

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Of course, we’ve all been singing the praises of cocktails in a can for some time now – there really is something to be said for a well-made drink that asks nothing of you beyond refrigeration. The Malibu Pink RTD takes all the work out of your hands, making it an easy proposition for the particular kind of summer socialising that tends to materialise with approximately 20 minutes’ notice: park catch-ups, barbecues, picnics, festivals, a friend saying “we’re all heading over there now” when you thought you were staying home. These are the missions it was designed for.

And this time there’s more of it. Malibu Pink RTD comes in the brand’s new 330mL can, with the larger format now rolling out across the full range – including Pineapple and Piña Colada.

After conquering our make-up bags, bathroom cabinets and Pinterest boards, guava has officially graduated to Happy Hour. Frankly, it was about time.