OnTap Magazine

A bout 25 years ago, my dad came up with an idea that he reckoned was going to make us rich: alcoholic water. ey make non- alcoholic beer, he said, so why not alcoholic water? We laughed at him, in much the same way that we laughed at his idea to create a circular snooker table. Turns out he was actually a bit of a visionary. It’s just that his idea came a couple of decades too soon. Fast forward to 2020 and the biggest beverage trend to hit the US in years is hard seltzer – otherwise known as zzy alcoholic water. Hard seltzer’s astronomic rise really began in 2019, with sales increasing by 200% in the USA over the course of 12 months and pundits predicting equally impressive growth over the next three years. In 2019 there were festivals dedicated to it, blogs inspired by it and there was even a shortage of the country’s biggest brand, White Claw, leaving thirsty millennials in a panic. Even the pandemic didn’t seem to slow the growth of the category, with hard seltzers tallying $1 billion in sales between 7 March and 30 May, 2020, compared with $1.5 billion in all of 2019, according to a report by Nielsen. LOW CARB AND GLUTEN FREE Although the beverage appears to have a wide customer base, its popularity is largely being credited to health conscious 20-somethings and others seeking to live a low-carb lifestyle. At about 100 calories per can and with around 2g of carbs per serving, it does indeed provide a slim-line and generally gluten-free drinking experience. Whatever people’s reasons for drinking it, hard seltzer has become a growth category like no other in the alcohol industry. And the rst to embrace this have been brewers. In the USA, hard seltzer is taxed in the same way as beer, meaning that brewers can produce and sell without any need for an extra licence. While craft beer is still experiencing growth in the USA, this growth has slowed down considerably and brewers are justi ably looking for alternative ways to attract new drinkers. And you can understand the appeal – hard seltzers can be produced in a much shorter time frame than beers, being ready to sell within a week. at said, some brewers have commented that hard seltzers can actually be quite tricky to make – there is no high hop character, big alcohol or full avoured maltiness to hide behind. Some do use malt though, starting out with a mash that any brewer would be familiar with. More commonly, the alcohol is derived from fermented cane sugar. In the States at least, they are never made with vodka or a similar spirit. One of the earliest producers, Spiked Seltzer, was bought out by AB InBev in 2016 and since then, other breweries have jumped on the bandwagon. Boston Beer Company – known for their Samuel Adams brews – owns one of the country’s largest hard seltzer brands, Truly. Perhaps most interesting is how the large breweries have aligned their hard seltzers with their existing beer brands: AB InBev released Bud Light Seltzer in a range of avours, Constellation launched Corona Seltzer late last year, using the same font and design as for the famous beer brand, and Miller Coors unveiled Coors Seltzer, complete with the iconic blue mountains logo. SELTZER FOR SOUTH AFRICA So what about the rest of the world? Is hard seltzer set to catch on outside of the US? e answer is yes, almost undoubtedly – and it will likely be in places with thriving craft beer scenes. e UK started to see a seltzer boom last summer, with the local launch of White Claw acting as a huge catalyst. Australia is likewise seeing increased interest in hard seltzers and in 2020 the rst few versions hit South African shelves. e rst hard seltzer to debut on the South African market was Savage Sparkles in early 2020. “We sold our rst case to Loco Liquor Blairgowrie in March 2020, right before lockdown,” says Savage Sparkles co-founder Jono Marcus. “Worst timing ever!” Jono had been working in various sectors of the US alcohol industry for seven years. Shortly One positive aspect of lockdown was that it gave us time to develop the product Jono Marcus launched Savage Sparkles in 2020 after seeing the huge popularity of hard seltzer in the USA ontapmag.co.za | Autumn 2021 | 41