Infinite Mellons: The Story Behind Our Most Playful Collaboration Yet
Some collaborations begin with a contract. This one began with a conversation.
"What if..."
Those two words have a funny way of changing everything.
A familiar cocktail. A nostalgic album. A special tea. A tiny packet designed to rethink how people experience a night out.
A few sketches later from the brilliant minds behind The Aviary, Infinite Mellons was born.
For a limited time, Infinite Mellons brings together three Chicago brands—The Aviary, Madame Zuzu's, and Hi-Snaps—in a cocktail experience inspired by hospitality, music, and a healthy appreciation for melon.
Hospitality has always fascinated me for that reason. It asks people to care deeply about things that are, technically speaking, unnecessary.
Nobody needs floating honeydew melon ice.
Nobody needs a glass designed specifically for the way a drink evolves as it warms.
Nobody needs a bite of cantaloupe inspired by one of Grant's melon desserts.
And yet those are often the things we remember years later.
When the opportunity arose to collaborate, we weren't trying to make "a THC cocktail." That phrase actually feels too small. We were trying to create a moment.
The starting point was familiar enough: the Midori Sour. Bright, playful, unmistakably nostalgic. From there, the team began pulling it apart and rebuilding it through The Aviary's lens. Madame Zuzu's Litchi Blossom Tea brought a floral backbone. The cocktail was clarified and carbonated until it felt almost impossibly clean. Honeydew became tiny floating spheres of ice that slowly changed the drink as they melted. Alongside it came a cantaloupe bite inspired by a melon dessert from Alinea Tokyo, creating two completely different expressions of the same ingredient.
And in the middle of all of that, Hi-Snaps found its place.
People sometimes assume we created Hi-Snaps because we wanted to replace alcohol.
We didn't.
If anything, we created it because we love everything around drinking.
We love sitting at beautiful bars.
We love ordering something we've never seen before.
We love lingering over conversation when nobody is looking at their phone.
We love that tiny moment when the lights are low, the music is just loud enough, and someone places something in front of you that makes the whole table stop for a second. The ritual of drinking was never the problem, we just wondered if people deserved more than one way to participate in it.
That's why collaborations like this feel so meaningful to us.
The Aviary didn't treat cannabis as a novelty or a compromise. They treated it the same way they approach every ingredient: as another creative tool.
Guests can order the experience with Hi-Snaps, with shochu, or as a non-alcoholic cocktail. Nobody is asked to sacrifice the presentation, the hospitality, or the experience because of what's in their glass.
I have a feeling that's where hospitality is headed.
Not toward or away from alcohol, just toward choice. Toward creating evenings where everyone at the table gets to participate in the same sense of occasion, even if they're drinking something completely different.
Maybe that's what I love most about Infinite Mellons. Not the melon (although the melon is admittedly very fun). It's that somewhere between a sketch on a piece of paper and a finished cocktail served during Lollapalooza, three Chicago brands—The Aviary, Madame Zuzu's, and Hi-Snaps—ended up making something that feels distinctly of this moment.
Creative.
A little nostalgic.
Unexpected.
And hopefully the kind of drink you'll remember long after the last sip.
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Hi-Snaps is a pocket-sized hemp THC + CBD drink booster designed to make whatever you’re already drinking a little more fun. Just snap, squeeze, and sip to add a low, controlled dose to everything from sparkling water and Diet Coke to your favorite mocktail. Female-founded, zero sugar, zero calories, and made for better evenings, good company, and people who like to have fun without the next-day regret.