Fruit is good. But is there more?

Black cherry, lime, grapefruit, raspberry, lemon, mango. At this point we’ve tried them all, and likely have our brand preferences for each. And though we love these hard seltzer flavors, the ones that brought us into the fold, there is still a question lingering somewhere in the back of our minds: is fruit all there is? Will it be fruit and only fruit, forever?  Or can hard seltzer expand beyond fruit flavors?

The wonderful answer is yes. Thanks to the ingenuity and creativity of craft brewers, we’re seeing non-fruit recipes and traditionally fall flavors slowly enter the marketplace.  Braxton Brewing recently announced Vive Pumpkin Spice hard seltzer, and while pumpkin is technically a fruit, we think of it a fall vegetable for cooking and pies.

With new craft breweries getting into the hard seltzer game day by day, the possibilities are endless. It’s not hard to imagine flavors like carrot, bell pepper, celery, and tomato eventually appearing alongside our trustworthy fruity classics. Additionally the inclusion of herbs like cilantro, parsley, basil, and sage are bound to join our fruit counterparts for lunch-y seltzers. Where there’s a will, and a market demand, there’s a way.

Meanwhile, craft brewing companies like New York’s Evil Twin Brewing are taking things even further. For instance, take a look at one of their newest offerings from their Evil Water brand: Hard Cola Seltzer. With a 4.5% ABV, Evil Twin describes the drink as: “Fermented on real cane sugar and brewed with cola syrup. Drinks like cola candy. Dry and Effervescent.” For Evil Twin, cola is just the tip of the iceberg. Their Evil Water brand also includes exciting flavors like marshmallow, gummy bears, maple, cherry cola, chocolate egg cream, and salted caramel.

Root beer hard seltzer is on the menu at Local Craft Beer in Tehachapi, California.  It’s produced by 5 Star Hard Seltzer and has mixed reviews on Untppd.  Periodic Brewing from Leadville, Colorado has released a Root Beer flavored Hard Seltzer, formulated with their house-brewed root beer. And Kinney Creek Brewery in Rochester, MN, has a 5% ABV root beer hard seltzer in their Med City Seltzer lineup.  It’s hard not to imagine combining it with your favorite ice cream to make a boozy and sparkling Root Beer Float. Or using Evil Twin’s Hard Cola or Hard Cherry Cola for a cola float. Hard seltzers has officially entered the world of dessert.

Options like these are part of why the hard seltzer industry is so flexible in accommodating a variety of tastes. As craft beer companies continue incorporating new ideas for strange yet desirable flavor profiles in their hard seltzer lines, the possibilities for making seltzers the new drink of choice for drinkers of the world increase. And while fruit will always be there, our options are growing at a rapid rate.

James Granatowski
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