This New Red Bull Is Carnaval In A Can, But You Won’t Find It At Walmart

Like our stateside Mardi Gras, Carnaval packs a huge amount of dancing, feasting, fun, and more dancing into just a few days before the restrained Lenten season. Logistically speaking, that’s a lot of fun―and samba outfit feathers―to pack into a little time. Lucky for Brazil, they’re rumored to be getting a little help this year from Red Bull, who are supposedly releasing a Carnaval-themed flavor in early 2027―only in Brazil (but there’s still time to book a ticket).  

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Decoding the Festive Flavor…

While we highly doubt anyone who goes to Carnaval really needs help getting into the festive spirit, the idea of a Carnaval flavor is just perfect. The flavor itself is “Frutas Cítricas,” or “Citrus Fruits,” with no other indication about the flavor except that it should combine acidity, sweetness, and freshness―which basically sounds like a mélange of citrus fruits.

Guessing the flavor based on citrus-like fruits that are native to Brazil would take, well, it would take until actual Carnaval. So we won’t do that. And even though we might not get to taste it, we do have high hopes, since we got an early taste of Red Bull’s Winter Edition Pistachio & Berries and it was a surprisingly complex wintry treat. Based on the Carnaval can―a rich lemony yellow with multicolored all-caps “Carnaval”―it’s a safe bet there’ll be a brighter flavor profile, with softening rounder fruit notes for a bit of sweetness and some energizing, thirst-slaking tang. 

Hitting Brazilian Shelves in…?

At the moment, of course, the Carnaval is just a rumored, or more technically “leaked” rumor of a flavor, with a probable release date sometime in early 2027. Actually, since Carnaval ends on Ash Wednesday, it’s easy to backtrack: Ash Wednesday next year will be February 10th, which means they should be seeing cans of Red Bull Carnaval very early in the new year. With a party as big as Carnaval, I wouldn’t blame anyone if party planning and marketing to consumers began at the stroke of midnight on January 1st.

The flavor will also be available in sugar-free and will join an internationally available Red Bull “Editions” line which also includes flavors like Pitaya (that’s dragon fruit), Coconut, Acai, and Watermelon. We do have Coconut Berry, Watermelon, and a flavor called Tropical available in the United States, and since Red Bull only describes its flavors as “tropical,” it’s anyone’s guess as to whether Tropical mimics anything in the Brazilian lineup. 

That said, this flavor could be worth the cost of a flight ticket.