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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u201cSince releasing SeltzerMax we have definitely seen an increase in sales,\u201d says Tani, who anticipates even more demand from breweries as they continue to produce seltzers alongside beer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More and more breweries are already taking advantage of these types of new products to open themselves up to new consumers. \u201cThe [hard] seltzer world is a very big world,\u201d laughs Torie Berkel, head of marketing at Second Chance Beer Company. That\u2019s why they tapped into it by launching an entirely new brand of hard seltzers, as opposed to a one-off here and there. Called Slim Chance, Berkel outlines their \u201cfarm-to-seltzer\u201d vision for the new brand that also nurtures a partnership with The Ecology Center, an environmental and educational nonprofit in San Juan Capistrano. By relying on a direct line with the farm for organic produce, Slim Chance will likely be limited to seasonal flavors and retain a cap on production\u2014but it\u2019s a sacrifice on behalf of sustainability that Second Chance seems happy to make.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s far from a compromise on the business side; by diversifying their offerings, Second Chance also stands to diversify their consumer base\u2014a seemingly obvious and increasingly necessary step for breweries to take in order to survive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They\u2019re not the only San Diego brewery to fully embrace the seltzer craze. Mikkeller\u2019s own line of hard seltzers\u2014dubbed \u201cSally\u2019s Seltzer\u201d as a nod to one half of their iconic character duo Henry and Sally\u2014launched in January 2020 in response to craft consumers\u2019 changing demographic. \u201cIt\u2019s a perfect change of pace for any type of drinker\u2014and a cool opportunity for us to connect with a wide demographic,\u201d explains founder\/CEO Mikkel Borg Bjergs\u00f8. \u201cIt also fits with our desire to be inclusive and reach as many people as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Traditionally, beer drinkers are assumed to be overwhelmingly white, male, and bearded. Compared with the Brewers Association\u2019s 2019 industry look at racial and gender data for craft brewery employees, that assumption reflected back towards consumers holds true. But seltzer drinkers come from a myriad of backgrounds, and prove to be remarkably loyal (possibly due to the fact that there are far fewer hard seltzers commercially available than craft beers). It\u2019s the same David and Goliath game as in beer; White Claw and Truly retain nearly absolute control over the flavored malt beverage (FMB) segment, which includes hard seltzers, with third-place finisher Twisted Tea brands lagging by over $200 million in year-over-year off-premise sales according to IRI data from last month.\u00a0 Smith and his wife Haley McHenry, marketing manager at Belching Beaver, both laugh when they admit they enjoy hard seltzer as well as craft beer. \u201cWe were all looking for something alternative that wasn\u2019t so calorie-heavy. We all enjoy our IPAs and our beer, but we\u2019re like \u2018this is getting a little crazy.\u2019 We\u2019re now in our mid-thirties and we can\u2019t drink eight IPAs in a day anymore. We wanted something that we could make and offer and we felt like this was a good opportunity to offer something different that we could drink all day and not feel super guilty about it.\u201d The bells aren\u2019t tolling quite yet to mark the death of beer, but breweries aren\u2019t ignoring the fact that the longtime champion of craft doesn\u2019t quite have the same pull as it used to. Usurpers in the form of hard seltzer, hard cider, and ready-to-drink cocktails are approaching the castle gates and sometimes, coming from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":24057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-24053","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego-beer-beverage-news","8":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/IMG_7574-Edit2-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdtr4y-6fX","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/partywater-28-of-478.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1\")
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Another local brewery who has gone all-in with a full brand launch into the seltzer space is Belching Beaver, with their \u201cFruiture\u201d line of hard seltzers that feature real fruit with flavors like pineapple & mango and raspberry & blackberry. \u201cWe saw that there was a shift in the market, and in all reality, that\u2019s what we do as our business. We don\u2019t just make what we want to make because that\u2019s what we want,\u201d explains Troy Smith, brewmaster at Belching Beaver. \u201cWe try to make products that are going to fulfill our needs and our customers\u2019 needs, so then we can play and make the things we want.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/BB-HARD-SELTZ-12PK-AUG-20203.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1\")
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That tug towards more health-conscious consumption has given rise to numerous alternative alcoholic beverages like cider, kombucha, and more. While hard seltzer remains separate from beer in the FMB category, the lines between formerly siloed segments in alcohol blur more by the day. There are hard cider seltzers, hop-flavored hard kombuchas, and every conceivable fusion one could think of. And as the core craft beer demographic continues to age, while new drinkers assess their options, brewing businesses should look at every way they can adapt and deliver.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"