Recent research suggests beverage alcohol is losing relevance as younger legal-drinking-age (LDA) consumers experiment with abstinence, moderation and new ways to get a buzz. Although this framing is directionally right, according to an NECG proprietary survey of LDA Gen Zs it’s strategically incomplete. 

The results of the NECG survey challenge the retreat narrative, with 76% of respondents reporting that they drink weekly. Moreover, when they go out, 68% consume three or more drinks on each occasion, and roughly one-third report drinking five or more on a typical night.

This is not a generation abandoning beverage alcohol, NECG says, however, it is changing the intent and format. Forty-eight percent of respondents identify hard seltzers as their drink of choice, and another 36% prefer hard teas or hard lemonades — outpacing traditional beer, it notes. 

“‘Healthier than other options’ rank just behind price as a key reason for selection, even though total consumption levels remain meaningful,” the company says. “The shift is less about drinking less and more about drinking differently. 

“Beverage alcohol remains the preferred social substance overall, though cannabis is a meaningful secondary lane, particularly among males,” it continues. “Importantly, the data suggests cannabis is situational rather than broadly substitutive. The larger structural shift is happening within beverage alcohol itself: lighter, flavored, ready-to-drink formats now define the default.”

Leaning into this structural shift, Crooked Pop, a spiked soda brand designed to bring transparency and clean ingredients to the beverage alcohol category, unveiled its signature lineup of hard sodas.

After building Bai into a household name and selling it to Dr Pepper, Ben Weiss founded Crooked Pop, introducing a new approach to ready-to-drink (RTD) alcohol, powered by Organic Super Dry Alcohol (OSA); a proprietary fermentation innovation developed over four years, the company says. Derived from ancient grains including quinoa, amaranth, millet and cassava, OSA creates a clean, neutral alcohol base without the need for distilled spirits, malt brews or artificial enhancements, it adds.

“Before Bai, you couldn’t find a great-tasting soft drink that wasn’t loaded with artificial ingredients and sugar,” Weiss said in a statement. “Today, the same problem exists in the hard soda category. It’s flooded with artificially flavored malt brews and distilled spirits stripped of flavor and mouthfeel. Crooked Pop isn’t just a new hard soda brand. We’re creating an entirely new RTD category powered by zero-sugar, USDA-certified Organic Super Dry Alcohol.

“Today’s hard soda aisle looks like the soft drink sector did 15 years ago — sweet, artificial and stuck in the past,” Weiss continued. “Crooked Pop is a wholly new and game-changing formulation. We went back to the drawing board, using ancient grains and fermentation to create the first clean, USDA-certified Organic Super Dry Alcohol.”

According to NECG, Gen Z isn’t rejecting beverage alcohol, but instead these younger LDA consumers are optimizing it for price, taste, portability, and perceived wellness. 

“In a market where volumes are under pressure, that distinction matters,” the company says. “The strategic question is whether existing portfolios and innovation pipelines reflect the formats, cues, and occasions this cohort now expects.”