Basic ingredients of this new category of alcoholic beverages

Hard seltzer is an alcoholic drink that has dramatically risen in popularity recently. Brands like White Claw and Truly are inspiring established brands such as Corona and Bud Light to launch their own hard seltzer brands. With an over 200% increase in popularity last year alone, many are curious about what exactly makes up a hard seltzer beverage.

Definition

Seltzer is defined as carbonated water. Hard seltzer is, quite simply, alcoholic carbonated water. Most hard seltzers have an alcohol content ranging from 4 to 6 percent by volume (ABV), the equivalent to many light beers and mainstay big domestic brand beers.

Ingredients

Alcohol

Alcohol is considered an ingredient by many of the big brands.  The type of alcohol in hard seltzer varies. In many hard seltzer products, alcohol is produced by fermenting cane sugar to which fruit flavors are added. Alternatively, the alcohol in hard seltzer can be malted barley, and some control states even demand that it be malted barley, else end up in a different distribution category.

Flavoring

The types of ingredients used to flavor hard seltzer can vary, too. Some contain natural ingredients for flavoring, while others use artificial flavorings and sweeteners with the goal of creating a low-calorie drink.  Sometimes the added flavors are organic concentrates.

A common recipe for hard seltzer consists of purified water mixed with cold fermented corn syrup, natural flavors, sodium citrate, and malted rice. This is the recipe used by the original hard seltzer, referred to as Spiked Seltzer at the time (now Bon & Viv Spiked Seltzer).

After the success of their original hard seltzer, White Claw came out with White Claw 70 as a low-calorie alternative. It contains only seltzer water, alcohol base, natural flavors, and citric acid. It is notably missing corn syrup or cane sugar, but it also avoids using controversial artificial sweeteners as a substitute.

Several brands produce and advertise their particular hard seltzer as being completely organic. These include similar ingredients to others with the exception of “natural flavorings”. Instead, organic hard seltzers like Maha will use real fruit juice.

Aiden Gentson
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