The idiom “there’s a new sheriff in town” denotes the arrival of a new authority figure coming into power to shake things up. Within the beer seltzer centric category, hard seltzers and lower ABV drinks remain hot. For the 52 weeks ending June 13, hard seltzers generated dollar sales of $4.3 billion in multi-outlet and convenience stores, a nearly 70% year-over-year (YoY) growth, Information Resources Inc. (IRI) data states. Yet, for that same time period, spirits seltzer centric brands grew 184% while amassing sales of $101 million. This triple-digit growth suggests that spirits seltzers is “shaking things up” as it looks to unseat the king of the alcohol beverage category growth.
There’s no doubt that consumers love their lower alcohol, lower sugar and calories fizzy drinks, but what’s the difference between hard seltzers and spirits seltzer-centric brands?