2020 is shaping up to be a monumental year for the alcohol industry. This follows a 2019 that somewhat defined the hard seltzer industry. With alcohol consumption climbing and facing one of the hottest summers on record, brewing companies were in desperate need of a cool and refreshing new beverage that would spike interest and widen consumer bases. Seemingly out of nowhere, a groundbreaking new drink arrived: White Claw. The bubbly hard seltzer spread like wildfire, and soon the brand could be found on clothing, room decor, and social media across the world. The alcohol industry has never been the same.
The hard seltzer boom was kickstarted by a seemingly innocuous man named Anthony von Mandl. Von Mandl actually started his career as a struggling salesman importing German wines, sometimes peddling the bottles out of his own car. As von Mandl looked to expand across the beverage industry, he turned to a little known drink style invented in 2013: spiked seltzer. Von Mandl laid the groundwork in the late 90’s with his famous Mike’s Hard Lemonade. Selling out almost instantly in Canada, the drink still brings in over a billion dollars in sales annually. Its success is due in part to the non-traditional consumer. “25% of guys didn’t particularly want to drink beer, but couldn’t be seen holding anything else in their hand,” von Mandl said in a 2006 interview. Hard seltzers are beer-like enough that you could bring it to a barbecue without feeling out of place. That feeling is exactly what von Mandl was looking to emulate when he created White Claw, and its popularity has triggered a viral outbreak of similar seltzer drinks.
Sanjiv Gajiwala, White Claw’s senior vice president of marketing, thinks young consumers are turning to hard seltzers because of their flavor variety. “Millennials are consumers that grew up on 10 different flavors of Gatorade and cuisines from around the world. When they come to the legal drinking age, they are looking for more,” he told one reporter. Other executives seem to agree.
Casey O’Neill, the innovator behind Truly Seltzer, White Claw’s major competitor, felt that “many more people who were looking for a beverage that simply didn’t exist.” Her drink prioritizes health, another draw for Gen X and Gen Y consumers. A 12-ounce can of White Claw or Truly contains 100 calories and a maximum two grams of carbs, and both are gluten-free. An average beer, in comparison, usually packs 140 calories and five times the number of carbohydrates.
Bon & Viv, a hard seltzer heavyweight from Anheuser-Busch, features similar low caloric and carb inputs. Their drink could actually be considered the original hard seltzer; the recipe was passed down from creator Nick Shields in 2013 through company mergers until it landed in the lap of the Bud Light brewing conglomerate. They’ve since expanded flavors and offerings to meet millennial demand, even rolling out a Natty Light seltzer for hard-core fans of Natural Light beers.
Hard seltzers may have been the drink of 2019, but data shows they are here to stay. Sales grew by 250% over 2019, and they continue to outperform malt liquor and other beer and wine alternatives. White Claw expects to top 3 billion in sales by the end of 2020, hoping to double that by 2024. The seltzer boom redefined millennial drinking culture, and its lasting impact will endure through Generation White Claw.
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