To fill a growing need in the hard seltzer industry, the Blue California Flavor and Fragrance division has created a low sweetness hard seltzer-focused flavor collection for 2021. The collection, Destination Flavors, takes inspiration from fruit flavors around the globe.

Blue California’s flavors stand out two-fold. First, these are low sweetness flavor solutions — some of the most difficult types of flavor products to produce. Secondly, Blue California is dedicated to sustainability. This means their ingredients are all-natural, plant-based, free from artifacts, non-GMO and create close to zero demand for petroleum products.

With that said, let’s take a trip through the 2021 Destination Flavors! 

2021 Destination Flavors

  • Catalan Crush – Peach, inspired by Barcelona, Spain. 
  • Arctic Gem – Raspberry, inspired by St. Petersburg, Russia
  • Pacific Blossom – Cherry, inspired by Tokyo, Japan. 
  • Caipirinha Cool – Lime, inspired by Sao Paulo, Brazil.
  • Thai Treat – Mango, inspired by Bangkok, Thailand
  • Aruba Ariba – Tropical blend, inspired by the island of Aruba in The Caribbean.
  • Aztec Adventure – Prickly pear, inspired by Mexico City, Mexico
  • California Dreamin’ – Citrus blend, inspired by San Diego, California. 
  • Highlights  

Aztec Adventure

This flavor stands out, first and foremost, because prickly pear is one of those fruits that most people have heard of but have never actually eaten. There’s been a trend in health food and beverage for the last few years to bring semi-obscure fruit flavors into American households (think acai, dragon fruit, goji berry), and I’m surprised prickly pear hasn’t taken off more! The Blue California rendition had a warm, ripe melon-like flavor, more akin to a honeydew or Italian cantaloupe than a watermelon. Watermelon has been a popular flavor choice for hard seltzers, and I think that the market would love more melon-type flavor varieties — especially because they can pair so well with citrus and fresh herbs!    

Aruba Ariba

This flavor is perfect for consumers who can’t choose between pineapple, lime or mango when they open a new variety pack. I myself have been known to create my own blends and experiment with hard seltzers by adding fresh citrus, herbs, specialty sodas and the like to spice up one-note hard seltzer flavors. This would be a nice option for a hard seltzer brand that doesn’t want to take up too much space in their variety pack with different tropical fruits. The blend was nicely balanced, without a fruit dominating the room (or, I should say, glass!). Side note: I mixed the rest of this sample with a little bit of white rum, and it was delicious.   

California Dreamin’

This one was my personal favorite simply because you can taste each distinct citrus fruit — lemon, lime and orange. I think a lot of brands get citrus blends very wrong, and they end up tasting just kind of sour without capturing the unique qualities of each fruit. We use different citrus fruits when cooking for a reason — they add certain elements that can elevate a dish. Lemon is bright and fresh, lime is sharp and zesty and orange is tangy, sweet and warm. Much like the Aruba Ariba tropical blend, the flavors in California Dreamin’ are nicely balanced. I had a fun time trying this flavor, thinking about each fruit and letting the flavors play around together!  

Takeaways

Blue California has put together some really standout zero sugar flavor options. My mom is a diabetic cocktail lover, so she and I are always looking for new zero sugar products for inventive and fun cocktails. Unfortunately, many zero sugar beverages have off flavors that are bitter, cloying, lingering and just plain unpleasant (I’m looking at you, diet cola). I thought these Blue California flavors did an excellent job of delivering flavor and a hint of sweetness, without lingering and without those well-known after tastes associated with sugar-free beverages.

Besides allowing your hard seltzer to be more accessible to people with diabetes, people on low carb/low sugar diets, or health-conscious people watching their caloric intake, zero sugar options can also eliminate the risk of hard seltzer products refermenting after packaging. If sugar is back added and there is still residual yeast in the product, refermentation can cause overwhelming off flavors. 

On another note, clear hard seltzer brands can rejoice — all the Blue California flavor samples come mixed with plain seltzer water and are totally clear, with no detectable colors.  

All in all, Blue California’s Destination Flavors collection is truly worth checking out, especially if your brand wants to go the zero added sugar route with a hard seltzer product. You can request 2021 Destination Flavor samples by filling out a form on Blue California’s website.

Stephanie Meade
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