In the song “Flavor,” Maren Morris asserts her independence as she sings “I’m cooking’ up my own flavor/Even if it ain’t your style.” Although the singer’s song is an anthem to many about finding your voice, formulators in the flavored malt beverage (FMB) space are cooking up a host of flavors as consumers are eager to add more flavor to beverage alcohol.

Industry analysts highlight that FMBs have shown that consumers’ interest in flavor has favored the category’s performance.

“A steady rise of FMB indicates that flavor stays an important attribute to consumers for consideration,” says Christal Torres, senior manager of client insights at Chicago-based Circana.

Brian Sudano, CEO at S&D Insights LLC, Norwalk, Conn., echoes similar sentiments.

“Overall, FMBs, excluding hard seltzers, continued to experience strong growth in both dollars and volume in the mid-teens as consumers continue to move toward flavored products,” he says.

Sudano does note that despite hard seltzers declines, this is an improvement and could be a turn for the market.

“Hard seltzer continues to be the largest segment by a sizeable measure with declines in the segment beginning to moderate from double digits to mid-single digits,” he says. “The segment is positioned to possibly experience growth in 2025.”

Top beer seltzer centric (Brand family)

When broken down into sub-segments, Ryan Toenies, senior director of client insights at Circana, notes that traditional FMB sales were up 1.3%, hard teas increased 18.3%, but hard seltzers were down 8.6% in total U.S. multi-outlets for the calendar year, ending Dec. 29, 2024.

Given these numbers, hard teas look to be among the growth drivers for the category as well as malt-based ready-to-drink cocktails.

“Hard teas are evolving in new flavors, and brand offerings continue to do well,” Toenies says. “Brands like Cayman Jack continue to drive growth with new offerings plus 18.1% vs. [year ago] (YA).”

S&D Insights’ Sudano notes that The Boston Beer Co., Boston, and Mark Anthony Brands, Chicago, lead the FMB market with hard teas, the second largest segment, and have experienced strong growth. This performance comes as variety is keeping the category relevant for consumers.

“The trend toward easier to drink variety is driving innovation from cocktail blends to flavored teas,” Sudano says. “When viewed in context of the innovation occurring in spirit RTDs, most of the activity is occurring in tea and cocktail blends.”

Top flavored malt beverages (Brand family)

Sudano adds that this is showcased by new releases within FMBs, malt-based cocktails, and beer-centric hard seltzers.

“The FMB market saw launches and extensions in several segments to include tea, hard seltzer, and cocktail-inspired flavors,” he says. “Most innovation takes place in citrus blends and fruits like mango.”

Circana’s Torres also calls attention to tea and cocktail-inspired flavors, as exemplified by key brands.

“Iced teas, lemonades, Margarita-flavored products are driving growth, as demonstrated by Twisted, plus $132 million, plus 11.1% vs. YA; Arizona plus $44.6 million, plus 160.9% vs. YA; and Cayman Jack, plus $42.6 million, plus 18.1% vs. YA, contributing.”

All of this short-term growth leads to projections for a continuation of this performance.

Torres notes that the three-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for FMBs is 13.6% while beer seltzer centric is 11.8% for its three-year CAGR. “Expect FMB to continue to grow, while we can expect beer seltzer to continue to decline as consumers opt for RTD cocktails and more flavor-forward options,” she says.

S&D Insights’ Sudano also remains bullish on the future of the category.

“FMBs are expected to continue to grow in the mid-single digits lead by tea offerings,” Sudano says. “While certain brands reaching scale growing strong such as Cayman Jack and Clubtails.

“We expect hard seltzer to continue to improve and finish 2025 flat to down slightly lead by return to growth of White Claw and continued rollout of Happy Dad,” he continues. “When combined with spirit seltzer’s like High Noon, hard seltzers are projected to grow overall in the mid-single range on a dollar basis.”