If you haven’t been on social media or the beach this summer, you may have missed the White Claw tidal wave. The fruity alcoholic beverage became an overnight hit, even though it's been around since 2016. The drink is made in different flavors from a blend of seltzer water, a gluten-free alcohol base, fermented sugars derived from malted gluten-free grains and flavoring. It's a line, along with Mike’s Hard Lemonade, owned by Mark Anthony Brands, Mandl’s company.
The hard-seltzer category has been growing incredibly fast. The space has seen triple-digit annual growth since 2016. It's believed that the group will continue rapidly growing, some estimate by about 300% in 2019. This is all a far cry from when Anthony von Mandl began in the wine business right out of college in the 1970s. He started selling wine from a small office and out of his car in Canada. White Claw looks like it will be a follow up to his success with Mike’s Hard Lemonade. This drink, which established a new category, was a big hit in Canada and later brought into the United States. The company said, “This summer, Mark Anthony Brands became America’s fourth largest beer company.” “The U.S.
Competitors have taken notice and are nipping at the heels of White Claw. The Boston Beer Company, best known for its Samel Adams brews, offers Truly, which is a similar drink. Big players, such as Anheuser-Busch InBev, Molson Coors Brewing, Constellation Brands and Diageo are all coming out with their own versions of hard-seltzer drinks.
There are also questions over whether this is just a hot fad, like Zima, which was a lighter alternative to beer that became a brief sensation, then quickly fizzled out.
Its the new zima, just totally different and nothing like zima at all