2020 Q3 Iowa Spirits - 24

You can find mango, lime, ginger, lemon, cucumber, pineapple,
peach, strawberry, cranberry, lemon and ginger, acai and
pomegranate, cinnamon, pear, and many combinations of the above.
But you probably don't need all these statistics
to realize that we're in the middle of a spiked seltzer
boom. You only have to walk through a grocery
store, where the aisles are stacked with boxes of the
stuff. You've seen the social media posts where people give a shout out to their favorite seltzer. You may
even have heard millennials saying "Claw Is The
Law," in honor of White Claw. Hard seltzers are suddenly everywhere.

NEW, NEW AND NEW
New products are springing up all the time. White
Claw, Truly and Bon & Viv are among the most
successful and well-known brands. Hard seltzers
are typically made with flavored malt beverage

24 IOWA SPIRITS

(FMB) and are around 5% ABV. Other popular varieties include Four Loko, Natural Light, Smirnoff
and PBR. Each company puts its particular stamp
on the drink. Some are fairly traditional, while others are a bit out there. You can find mango, lime,
ginger, lemon, cucumber, pineapple, peach, strawberry, cranberry, lemon and ginger, acai and
pomegranate, cinnamon, pear, and many combinations of the above.
There are hundreds of brands to choose from, so
it's hard to know where to begin. Some brands are
natural and claim to be healthy. If the drink is colorful, rather than clear, there's more chance that it's
made with real fruit. Read the label to make sure.
What they all have in common is that they're fizzy,
fairly sweet, and usually refreshing. Spiked seltzers
are halfway between a soda and a mixed drink,
which makes it no surprise that young people love
them.
Hard seltzer isn't the only type of RTD. There are
canned cocktails, canned wine and many other permutations, but they're all convenient and ready-todrink. Some companies are producing RTDs in larger
containers, so it's not just a single-serving phenomenon. Jose Cuervo, Skinnygirl, Chi-Chi's, Bacardi,
and Cody Road, for instance, offer rum punch, margaritas, daquiris, old fashioneds and other classic
cocktails in 750 ml. bottles. Many wine-makers are
producing wine in single-serving cans and "juice
boxes" as well.

2020 Q3 Iowa Spirits

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