Topic Archives: Hard Seltzer
Truly releases Hot Wing Sauce flavored hard seltzer
Truly Hot Wing Sauce Hot Seltzer was released in a handful of states this week.
If you had to double-check the calendar to see what day it was, so did we. Truly Hot Wing Sauce Hard Seltzer is a thing. This looks like something a brand would post on April Fool’s Day.
Ahead of “The Big Game” Truly debuted a limited edition Hot Wing Sauce flavor, only available online and instantly selling out. Best we can figure, it’s like you dipped your hot wings in a hard seltzer.
Want to take your big game watch party to the next level without shelling out $10,000 on tickets? Truly has you covered with their weirdest, wildest, “who’s ready for some damn football” -est flavor to date: Hot Wing Sauce! This limited edition batch of hard seltzer was created to complete your game-day food spread as the football season comes to a close — get it while it’s hot (or, uhh, cold).
Four 16-ounce cans will run you $24 if there is a re-stock, available to ship in California, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Florida.
Bale Breaker Brewing adds 3 more hard seltzers in variety pack
Bale Breaker Brewing is expanding their YOXI Hard Seltzer line with a new variety pack.
Until now, the brewery only has one hard seltzer – YOXI Lime Agave Ranch Water since August 2021. Now, with the addition of the YOXI Hard Seltzer Variety Pack, the brewery tacks on three more flavors – Paloma Ranch Water, Spicy Mango, and Strawberry Citrus.
The variety pack includes three of each:
Paloma Ranch Water – Inspired by West Texas’s favorite cocktail, our ranch water is made with real lime juice and agave for a craft hard seltzer that is crisp, light, and packed with flavor.
Paloma Ranch Water – Our Paloma ranch water is made with real grapefruit juice and agave. Inspired by the classic Guadalajara cocktail made from tequila and grapefruit soda.
Spicy Mango – Made with real mango puree and sea salt, our intensely fruity spicy mango craft hard seltzer has a crisp, light finish with a hint of heat from real cayenne powder
Strawberry Citrus – Packed with real fruit flavor, our strawberry citrus craft hard seltzer gets its pink hue and crisp, light finish from real blood orange puree and hibiscus flower.
Each hard seltzer is made with real fruit, 100 calories, and 4.5% alcohol by volume. Bale Breaker YOXI Variety Packs will be available at the brewery’s Yakima and Seattle locations starting March 4th. Select retailers shortly after.
Style: Hard Seltzer
Availability: Year-Round
Debut (Variety Packs): March 2022
4.5% ABV
Dill pickle hard seltzer is here, thanks to Shiner
Spoetzl Brewery, makers of Shiner Beer has one of the weirdest hard seltzer flavors for you yet – dill pickle flavor.
In August of 2020, Shiner debuted their Straight Shooter lineup of hard seltzers, with your standard fruit flavors like raspberry, peach, and grapefruit. However, if you want to stand out, especially in the seltzer category, you have to do something unique. So pickles it is.
Something we’ve learned over the years, pickles are pretty polarizing. They are in the same category as raisins, peas, or mustard. There is no “pickle” middle ground. So already, a dill pickle flavored hard seltzer is a challenge.
Shiner Juicy Dill Pickle Hard Seltzer is actually made with real pickles, incidentally the brewery’s 6th brewmaster Jimmy Maurice’s family recipe. The brewery says the final flavor is a blend of sweet and sour dill pickle, with notes of dill, coriander, and spice.
Let’s get weirder.
Each can of the special edition seltzer has a QR code that takes the drinker to picklemode.com where they will find a “magical, animated pickle” that will tell you your future. Yes, the Oracle Pickle to help you make life decisons.
Incidentally, November 14th is National Pickle Day. There really is a day for everything these days.
Shiner Juicy Pickle Hard Seltzer is available in 12-ounce, 6-packs for $7.99 for a limited time. It should pair well with a Jameson shot.
Style: Hard Seltzer (w/ Dill Pickles)
Availability: 12oz Cans. Limited Release.
Distribution: TX, FL, LA, AR, GA, PA, OK, KS, IL, WI, ND, SD, NM, NV
Debut: November 2021
4.5% ABV
Bud Light launches Pumpkin Spice Hard Seltzer
Just when you thought you’ve seen pumpkin everything as fall rolls around, just wait. Bud Light Pumpkin Spice Hard Seltzer hits shelves September 6th.
This hard seltzer mimics Starbucks infamous “PSL,” featuring flavors of pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. If that’s not enough, this seasonal flavor is joined by Toasted Marshmallow, Maple Pear, and previously released Apple Crisp. Each dressed in a flannel laden fall variety pack.
This summer, Bud Light debuted a Red, White, & Blue “Retro Summer” seltzer variety pack with Cherry Limeade, Blue Raspberry, and Summer Ice. All three were fairly sweet, but the Blue Raspberry was the clear winner there.
In the past few weeks we have seen some weird Frankenstein-like beverage announcements, including Hard Mtn Dew, brewed with the help of Boston Beer Company, and Flamin’ Hot Mtn Dew, a non-alcoholic, spicy, mostly likely gut slaughtering soda debuting online today.
Bud Light Pumpkin Spice Hard Seltzer and all its fall buddies are 5% alcohol by volume, 100 calories per can.
Whether or not you want to drink drink it in public is up to you.
Bud Light Seltzer Fall Variety Pack
New Realm Brewing’s new Alpha Water is a fresh take on hard seltzer
Face it, hard seltzer is here to stay. We almost dismissed it as an odd summer trend a few years ago, and now the seltzer industry is valued over $4 billion dollars. Alpha Water is one of the newest boozy water brands hitting the market and it’s worth checking out.
Atlanta-based New Realm Brewing opened in early 2018 with a state record-breaking 20,000 barrel annual capacity. That same year, New Realm purchased Green Flash Brewing’s Virginia Beach location, renovating as New Realm Virginia Beach early that fall. Within the first year, the brewery was operating at near capacity across the board.
Taking tanks away from beer to make anything else would have seemed like a bad business move, but you can’t ignore hard seltzer anymore.
“I didn’t know what the heck I was doing,” Mitch Steele, brewmaster & co-founder says, mid-chuckle.
That’s pretty much the response we’d expect from Mitch. His brewing has had such an impact on craft brewing in America and the last thing we thought we’d be asking him about is fermenting fruity dextrose water. The man literally wrote the book on brewing IPA.
New Realm Brewing’s foray into hard seltzer wasn’t just done because it’s a hot new trend.
“Demand for something that wasn’t beer was in high demand in the restaurant, but Georgia law prevented us from selling anything else but what we make,” Mitch says. Ultimately that means you have to make a cider or a seltzer.
So how do you switch gears from IPAs and pilsners to hard seltzers? Well, when Google didn’t help, Steele asked around. “One of our suppliers had an employee that worked in hard beverages in Wisconsin for years,” he tells us. “After a 2+ hour phone conversation with him, I had enough direction to get started.”
From there, it was test batch after test batch, trying to get the yeast right and the flavoring on point. Plus, figuring out what flavors to run with. All in all, New Realm tested over 15 different hard seltzer flavors. The most popular, which was the first chosen to be packaged, is Acai & Blueberry, along with Citrus Punch, Cucumber and Lime, and Black Cherry.
Lemon Hopburst, while loved by the brewers- apparently failed to impress amongst taproom attendees.
Unlike some seltzers, these flavors are quite memorable. The cucumber doesn’t walk a fine line with tasting like pickles, the blueberry aroma is fresh and bright, and the Citrus Punch over ice is simply a win. Honestly, that flavor could and should be in its own 12-pack.
Hard seltzers were a weird notion from the start, but as we have come to find out, are here to stay. Just like IPAs, hard the seltzer world is becoming the “wild west” of flavors.
Alpha Water gets it right.
Oh yeah, we took it to Vegas too. PICS: Beer Street Journal
Topo Chico Hard Seltzer arrives with four flavors
Topo Chico Hard Seltzer has arrived.
While the mineral water from Monterrey, Mexico has been around for more than a century, the national obsession with it seems more recent. Bartenders love it for cocktail making (think Gin Fizz or Palomas), other folks swear it cures hangovers.
Topo Chico was always popular in border states like Texas, but distribution was unfortunately limited. All that changed in 2017, when soda giant Coca-Cola acquired Topo for $220 million. The rest of the United States finally got a taste of what the “extra bubbly” water was all about.
For those who love Topo Chico, but thought it lacked alcohol, your prayers have been answered.
Molson Coors Beverage Company has the production contract for Topo Chico Hard Seltzer, brewed under the “TC Hard Seltzer Company” out of Tempe, Arizona. Topo Chico states the hard seltzer is created with the same Monterrey water that has made the beverage so famous.
Four flavors are available on the official launch date of March 29th – Exotic Pineapple, Strawberry Guava, Tangy Lemon Lime, and Tropical Mango. Each 12-ounce can contains 2 grams of sugar and is 4.7% alcohol by volume. Additionally, 24-ounce cans will also be available at launch (which jacks your sugar content to a whopping 4 grams.)
When it comes to Topo Chico the flavor and bubbles it what sets it apart. The hard seltzer is no different. The flavor is bold and flavorful, finishing almost creamy. At times you almost forget it’s hard seltzer. Topo entering the seltzer market could have simply been a money-maker by putting the Topo name on the can, but as we’ve found – you get Topo and great flavors.
Topo Chico Hard Seltzer will be available in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Florida, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon and Texas, plus six cities, including Boston, Chicago, New York City, Northern New Jersey, Seattle, Washington, the District of Columbia and Vancouver, Canada.
Great Divide launches Whitewater Craft Hard Seltzer
Colorado’s Great Divide Brewing Co. is expanding its business model this week to include hard seltzer. Introducing Whitewater Craft Hard Seltzer.
It’s no secret that hard seltzer continues its sales domination into 2020. As major brewing companies jump in the game, America’s craft breweries continue to expand the portfolio. Great Divide has decided it was time.
Within the week, 12 packs of Whitewater will start hitting shelves everywhere Great Divide is sold. Initially, four flavors are available at launch – Mango + Ginger, Pomegranate + Lime, Ruby Red Grapefruit, and Wild Berry.
After months of in-house ingredient mixology, Great Divide Innovation brewer and team found the perfect blend of crispness and fruit.
“The timeline to dial in the production side of Whitewater, from fermentation through flavorings, was a meticulous process that our teams deliberated over. With it being such a neutral product like a pilsner, there is nothing to mask any unwanted flavors and no room for error. The end result speaks for itself: an incredibly clean and smooth beverage with potent, natural flavors shining,” says Rau.
Great Divide Whitewater Craft Hard Seltzer will be available year-round in 12-ounce cans. Additionally, Mango + Ginger in 19.2 ounces in late March.
Style: Hard Seltzer (w/ various fruit flavors)
Availability: 12oz Cans, 19.2oz Cans, Draft. Year-Round.
Debut: Late March 2020
?? ABV
