The ‘alcoholification’ of soft drinks

In the other direction, the likes of hard seltzers represent the alcoholification of soft drinks – again, frequently with younger, alcohol-wary people as the core demographic .

The likes of Molson Coors, Carlsberg, Constellation Brands, and AB InBev have all developed hard seltzers in recent years .

Heineken’s Pure Piraña is a typical example: the fruit-based, 4.5% alcohol hard seltzer was launched in Mexico in September 2020, and Europe and Australia the following year . At the time, the Dutch brewing giant predicted that up to nine flavours could be released, but as of July 2022 Pure Piraña comes in only three flavours – red berries, grapefruit, and lemon lime .

Seltzers typically feature these kinds of flavours but can also house botanicals like green tea, while it is not uncommon to see the likes of CBD seltzers blended with botanicals like hibiscus, ginger, and ginseng.

In the opposite direction, non-alcoholic beverage firms have been launching hard teas, hard seltzers, and even hard sodas into alcohol channels .

Such a venture was undertaken by PepsiCo in Q1 2022 when, in partnership with Boston Beer, it launched hard Mtn Dew, a hard variant of its popular carbonated beverage, marketed as “the Dew you love, now with 5% alcohol” .

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“There’s a lot of initial trial,” said CEO Ramon Laguarta. “As always in these circumstances, we have to weigh it and see if it repeats and see really where the business stabilises.” 18

FMCG Gurus’ Hughes questioned how many hard seltzers were winning the repeat purchases vital to ongoing category growth .

“To me hard seltzer is a bit like bitcoin. Nobody knows what is going to happen with it,” Hughes said, while acknowledging the 20-year-plus presence of Pennsylvania-based hard seltzer category pioneer Mike’s Hard Lemonade.19

“Hard seltzer exploded during the pandemic, so some were saying in two years’ time hard seltzers are going to be as big as the beer market,” he added. “At the same time, major brewers were throwing away thousands of litres because they had over-produced hard seltzers. I wouldn’t put a bet on what is going to happen over the next five years.”