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Boston Beer’s Jim Koch and Dogfish Head’s Sam Calagione both offer craft beer alternatives
Like them or not, hard seltzers are hot right now, while craft beer is fast losing its luster. And American Craft Beer shoots from the hip as to why this is happening.
Full Disclosure: American Craft Beer doesn’t love the hard seltzer segment to begin with. We’ve yet to taste one that we’ve enjoyed as much as an even the most mediocre craft beer, and we know that many brewing professionals echo are sentiments.
But the hard seltzer segment is growing at an incredible pace. And in an effort to meet growing consumer demand and shore up a bottom line that hasn’t been helped by COVID-19, many of those same professionals are now introducing their own branded hard seltzers.
So why are so many consumers transitioning from craft beer (as well as from the overall beer segment), to hard seltzers?
1- Beer Can Make You Fat
We think it’s fair to call this a ‘gut call,’ but how could this not be a major factor?
Many consumers have watched their bodies broaden in direct correlation to their love of craft beer. Women in particular seem to be cognizant of this reality and many of them are now leading the hard seltzer tide.
Beer comes with so many more calories than its drink competitors, which helps explain why the top three best-selling beers in the US are Bud Light followed by Coors Light and Miller Lite.
And even with more craft brewers than ever introducing lower calorie options, do any of them really offer the pleasure that comes with opening a can of Heady Topper? That defining New England IPA clocks in at 320 calories per 12oz can and Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stout packs a 450 calorie wallop.
Sure they’re both delicious, but still.
Especially, when typical 12-ounce hard seltzer has around 100 calories and at 5% ABV, can deliver more buzz than many low calorie craft beers.
2- Hard Seltzers Are Perceived As Healthier Than Beer
Even though beer comes with a number of health attributes, most people don’t associate beer drinking with a healthier lifestyle.
At the same time, the rise in popularity of hard seltzer has been fueled by the growing movement towards more health-conscious drinking habits and a preference for low-alcohol beverages, particularly among millennials.
Unlike so many beers, these carbonated water–based ready-to-drink [RTD] seltzers, are naturally low in carbs and the majority of them gluten free. And some of them are organic or infused with vitamins and antioxidants.
3- Craft Beer Is No Longer The Hot New Thing
Every new product has a life cycle. And no matter how much you love craft beer, one has to acknowledge that 15 years after its second emergence, craft beer has become middle-aged and its core audience even older.
It used to be every other media story was about craft beer, today not so much.
For many hard seltzer fans, craft beer has always been around. Now brands like White Claw, and whatever else is coming around the corner, are perceived as ‘the new kids in town,’ a youthful and more vibrant option to craft beer that’s less fattening (see #1), healthier in all kinds of ways (#2), and more exciting (at least for now), than the whole craft beer thing.
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Don’t blame us, we’re only the messenger…
You live long enough and everything comes back, the history of craft beer reaffirms that. But for now companies like Boston Beer and even Anheuser-Busch are thanking the gods they’ve a successful hard seltzer line.
