Last week, we introduced the first of three trends we expect to shape the year in bevalc. While Amaro came first, Americans may find our second watch-worthy trend more familiar…
Hard Tea
Throughout the hard seltzer boom and reality check, and now with spirit based RTDs having their (more fundamentally enduring, in our minds) moment, hard tea, that OG of FMBs, kept quietly chugging along.
Make that, Twisted Tea kept chugging along, growing chain sales 185% on an already huge base from 2016-2021 and expanding its dominant share of category.
The numbers don’t lie, are available to all who care, and add up to a category heating up with new, and in some instances, differentiated competition that stands to not just take share, but grow the segment.
Our client Loverboy, for one, offers a clean ingredients take on teas and more grown-up taste profiles – the kind that speak to women – and got chainwide distribution at the likes of Kroger and, most recently, Total Wine & More. Last year also marked the brand’s first C-store availability, driven by first-ever 19.2 oz cans.
Newer, fledgling brands are staking out turf, some spirit based. Our eyes will be on stack-outs and cold boxes, spying how much share of space formerly occupied by hard seltzer sprawl will go to adult tea.
Stay with us next week for our third and final trend prediction for 2023.