There has been a shift in the food and drink industry toward more health-conscious products. Since then, the company has been rebranded as Bon & Viv. By the following year, it had been bought out by Anheuser-Busch. SpikedSeltzer sold over 250,000 cases of their hard seltzers in 2015. This company was started by two men who were inspired by their wives’ affinity for sparkling water. You can still buy it in Japan, however.Ī new wave of hard seltzers appeared in 2013, led by the Boston-based brand, SpikedSeltzer. Despite a brief comeback in 2017, the drink isn’t in production anymore. The widespread mockery of this drink was enough to plummet its sales. Even David Letterman ridiculed Zima, using it in parody skits as a drink designed for feminine men. Many people viewed it as a drink for younger people who didn’t have much experience drinking. Old-school drinkers laughed at the idea of drinking seltzer with alcohol in it. Their campaigns had persuaded nearly half of all American alcoholic drinkers to try the drink. The drink was actually pretty successful, raking in high sales and making its way to major distributors around America.Ĭoors spent about $50 million in its first year marketing Zima. At the time, Coors was trying to compete with a budding wine cooler industry. The first major hard seltzer appeared on the scene in 1993, when Coors introduced a new drink called Zima. As a result, nearly every major beer brand in 2021 has put out at least one hard seltzer on its product line. Even before these brands had released their wildly successful seltzers, they were both established names in the alcohol industry.Įven beer is starting to lose market share to healthier, less alcoholic options like seltzer. White Claw is owned by Mark Anthony Brands, the owner of Mike’s Hard Lemonade, while Truly is owned by the Boston Beer Company. Both brands have been able to go viral online, getting thousands of people to share their products.
The popularity of these drinks has been spurred on by the use of hashtags and memes on social media. Another 35% of those sales are dominated by Truly. What is even more peculiar is that about half of those sales have come from just one brand: White Claw. This kind of explosion is rare for any new product, let alone an alcoholic beverage. Now, in 2021, some analysts have projected the spiked seltzer industry to reach $2.5 billion. By 2018, that value had risen to $550 million. The spiked seltzer industry generated about $3 million in 2015.
Now, seltzer is a legitimate competitor in the field, and tons of brands are racing to hop on the bandwagon. While some companies have attempted to release spiked seltzers in the past, none have gained as much traction as Truly or White Claw. Only in the past few years have seltzers begun to be accepted by drinkers worldwide, but now they are widely lauded for their taste and convenience. Hard seltzer is a relatively new product in the alcohol industry. The rest of their seltzers still abide by their standard nutritional profile. Recently, White Claw released a new version of their seltzer called “70” that contains fewer calories, zero carbs, and zero sugar. However, these drinks differ in their levels of sugar: Truly’s only contains 1g sugar per can, while White Claw’s contains two grams per can.
Both drinks contain just 100 calories and two grams of carbs, and they tend to come in slimmer 12 oz cans to differentiate them from beer. Both drinks are relatively low in calories, which is a huge appeal in the hard seltzer market. The alcohol used in hard seltzer is usually made from fermented cane sugar.Īside from flavors, the main difference between these two drinks is their nutritional profiles, although both include just a few simple ingredients, including citric acid and sodium citrate. That’s about as much alcohol as a Budweiser. White Claw: The Breakdownīoth drinks come in 5% ABV slim cans. As more drinkers begin to give this drink its respect, a recurring question is asked: which drink is better? Truly or White Claw? Truly vs. The hard seltzer trend is booming bigger than ever.