Truly Spiked and Sparkling Hard Seltzer is about to get a little extra – alcohol, that is. The Boston Beer Company’s president and CEO, Dave Burwick, confirmed the higher ABV version of the popular hard seltzer will be released in early 2021.

The announcement follows a successful trial run of Truly Extra Hard Seltzer in New York markets this summer. The extra hard seltzer contains an imperial strength of eight percent alcohol by volume. This summer’s initial trial featured two flavors, both new to the Trulyverse: Black Raspberry and Peach Mango.

By comparison, the 13 flavors of original Truly plus its four flavors of Truly Lemonade each contain five percent ABV. Truly Spiked and Sparkling is available in Citrus, Berry, Tropical, and the newest Lemonade variety 12 packs, each containing four unique fruit flavors, as well as a Rose’ seltzer.

The news of Truly Extra Hard Seltzer’s expansion follows a big summer and early fall for Boston Beer and its famous spiked and sparkling seltzer. The Sam Adams brewer announced that its third quarter earnings were up 80.6% versus the same quarter last year.

The brewery’s net income for the quarter totaled $80.8 million, an increase of $36.0 million from the same period last year. In September, Boston Beer’s co-founder and chairman, Jim Koch, made Forbes’ list of the 400 richest people for the first time. The creator of Sam Adams ranked 327th on the list with a net worth of $2.6 billion.

Boston Beer owes much of its dynamic growth to the success of Truly. Once seen as the Pepsi to White Claw’s Coca-Cola, its commitment to innovation may finally bring them the top spot in the hard seltzer space.

In addition to confirming the timeline for Truly Extra Hard Seltzer’s expansion, Burwick hinted at some other exciting new products in the Boston Beer pipeline.

“In early 2021, we will launch Truly Iced Tea Hard Seltzer, Truly Extra, a higher ABV version of Truly, and other new Truly flavors and package sizes, as we continue to lead innovation in the Hard Seltzer category,” said Burwick. “We believe that Truly Iced Tea Hard Seltzer, which combines the refreshment of hard seltzer with real brewed tea and fruit flavor at only 100 calories and 1 gram of sugar, will further strengthen our position in the category.”

Once seen as a pioneer of the craft beer space with Sam Adams Boston Lager, Truly Spiked & Sparkling was an early entrant to the increasingly crowded hard seltzer space, first hitting stores in 2016.Thanks to its willingness to adapt, Burwick noted how it is the only older seltzer (i.e. not introduced in 2020) to grow its market share during this most challenging of years.

“Since early in 2020, Truly has grown its velocity and its market share sequentially despite other national, regional and local hard seltzer brands entering the category. Truly is the only national hard seltzer, not introduced earlier this year, to grow its share during 2020. We will continue to invest heavily in the Truly brand and work to improve our position in the hard seltzer category as competition continues to increase.”

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