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| Cartons of White Claw, Truly and Bon & Viv spiked seltzer are on display at the Round The Clock Deli in New York -- the alcoholic beverage is all the rage in the United States (AFP Photo/TIMOTHY A. CLARY) |
New York (AFP) - Health-conscious American millennials have found their drink of choice: alcoholic carbonated water that is lower in calories and carbs than beer and wine.
A hard
seltzer craze is sweeping the United States as Generations Y and Z pursue
healthier lifestyles, influenced by viral trends on Instagram and YouTube.
US sales of
the bubbly booze, also called spiked seltzer, have soared almost 200 percent
this year compared to 2018, according to research firm Nielsen.
"It
has replaced other canned alcoholic drinks for me," says Hannah Stempler,
a 25-year-old living and working in New York.
Stempler
drinks White Claw, the brand at the forefront of America's beverage fixation
this summer.
The company
said sales were up over 265 percent on-year at the beginning of September and
that it holds 61 percent of market share.
Truly,
another brand, saw sales spike 163 percent in Q2, according to Macquarie market
research.
From
beaches and parks to house parties and boat trips, youngsters were seen
drinking White Claw across the Big Apple and other major cities.
Panic even
struck this month when shopkeepers and retailers reported shortages and the
manufacturer said it was working overtime to keep up with demand.
Stempler,
who works in television, told AFP that one of the reasons she drinks it is
because she is "health-conscious."
A 12-ounce
can of White Claw contains 100 calories and a maximum two grams of carbs. It is
also gluten-free.
An average
beer, in comparison, usually packs 140 calories and five times the number of
carbohydrates.
Beer
slowdown
The hard
seltzer has five percent alcohol, which comes from fermented sugars. That
equals the strength of Budweiser but is considerably less than the 12 percent
commonly found in wine.
Alcoholic
sparkling water comes in several flavors, including mango and cherry, appealing
to customers seeking convenient, ready-to-drink cocktails on the go.
Sanjiv
Gajiwala, White Claw's senior vice president of marketing, thinks young
consumers are turning to hard seltzers because of their moderate alcohol levels
and variety of tastes.
"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 AFP.
White Claw
sales have surged every year since it launched in 2016 but seems to have
captured the imagination this summer in part thanks to YouTube influencer
Trevor Wallace.
A video of
him drinking White Claw has been watched more than 2.5 million times in two
months. The clip spawned memes and hashtags that went viral on social media.
The trend
for hard seltzers, which include malt beverages, is shaking up the US alcoholic
drinks industry and fueling a slowdown in overall beer sales, analysts say.
Beer
manufacturers are rolling out their own seltzers to try to lure customers away
from White Claw and Truly.
Anheuser-Busch,
which makes Budweiser, has launched Natural Light Seltzer.
Fad?
Aaron
White, of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, is pleased
youngsters are mindful of what they drink but warns that fewer calories does
not mean less alcohol.
He worries
that people may consume more alcohol because fruity seltzers don't taste like
traditional booze, and is especially concerned by the Four Loko brand's plans
to launch a seltzer with 14 percent alcohol by volume.
"The
alcohol is the drug. Everything else is just the way it's delivered,"
White told AFP.
Other types
of drinks have been the subject of similar crazes in the past, notably wine
coolers in the 1980s and Zima, a malt beverage that was all the rage in the
90s.
Rob Fink, a
29-year-old living in New York, believes spiked seltzer is here to stay but
says it won't usurp beer and other liquor for him.
"There's
a time and place for both," he told AFP.
The
alcoholic soda industry is worth $550 million and could grow to $2.5 billion by
2021, according to a UBS analyst recently quoted by Business Insider.
Gajiwala
notes that White Claw has not even reached six percent of American households
yet.
"There
is a great opportunity for us to continue to grow," he said.
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