Hard seltzer, also called spiked seltzer or hard sparkling alcohol water, is a type of highball drink containing carbonated water, alcohol, and often fruit flavoring. Typically, it is clear and colorless and has an AVB of 4–6%, which is lower than classic ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages. Hard seltzer was introduced to the U.S. market in 2013. Around 2018–2019, the category saw a spike in popularity. Representative brands include White Claw Hard Seltzer, Spiked Seltzer, Bud Light Seltzer, Truly Seltzer, Corona Hard Seltzer, and Smirnoff Spiked Sparkling Seltzer.
The market for Alcoholic Drinks is structured into retail sales for at home consumption and on-premise or foodservice sales for out-of-home consumption. The at-home market, also called off-trade market, covers all retail sales via super- and hypermarkets, convenience stores or similar sales channels. The out-of-home market, also called on-trade market, away-from-home market or HORECA encompasses all sales to hotels, restaurants, catering, cafés, bars and similar hospitality service establishments. Both the at-home and the out-of-home market are valued at retail selling prices including all sales and consumption taxes. The valuation of the out-of-home segment at retail prices means a significant change of the market definition in comparison to earlier iterations of the Consumer Market Outlook, as out-of-home consumption was valued at wholesale prices before. This means, market totals are not comparable to published data from prior years. The price per unit always references liters as a base unit. One liter of hard seltzer roughly equals 2 to 3 glasses (of 0.5 or 0.33 liters each).
