As one of the premium fruit flavored carbonated drinks, the best hard seltzer has a potential customer base who are looking for a lighter solution to beer and wine. Recently, this drink is increasingly popular in Asia – Pacific countries. Moreover, the presence of F&B giants makes the race hotter than ever.
Unique flavor trends for Hard Seltzer
Alcoholic beverages contain unique, innovative ingredients and flavors that can interest consumers and prompt them to try new brands and services. 58% of adults in the US say they love trying new flavors with eye-catching packaging on the shelf.
In particular Hard Seltzer, producers are pushing to innovate offering adventurous and intoxicating flavors that can help drinkers experience novelty and excitement. Some of the flavors include:
Dynamic flavors in 2022
- Black cherry
- Cardamom
- Hazelnut
- Hibiscus
- Hojicha
- Peppermint
- Burnt Lemon
- Charred Lemon Zest
- Meyer Lemon
It can be seen that the above flavors are fruit products with a slight sour taste, suitable for low alcohol drinks like Hard Seltzer. These flavors will give the user a feeling of refreshment, coolness and rehydration.
New combination of fruit flavors
- Rainbow Sherbet
- Blood Orange Yuzu
- Sour Gummy
- Rocket Pop
- Salted Watermelon
- Finger Lime
- Lucuma – peruvian
- Mikan
- Prickly Pear
- Calamansi
These names are very strange and ignite our curiosity! These will be very interesting flavors for customers who love to explore and don’t mind the new sensations that Hard Seltzer brings!
Classic and always-loved flavors
- Apricot
- Basil
- Black currant
- Blueberry
- Coconut
- Coffee
- Cucumber
- Elderflower
- Guava
- Strawberry
- Tangerine
- White peach and yuzu
- Lavender
- Lemonade
- Lychee
- Mango
- Maple
- Passion fruit
- Persimmon
- Spicy hard cider
- Pomengranate
Although flavors may change with trends, the base flavors remain unchanged. About half of consumers choose fruit flavors indicating that classic flavor groups remain a good starting point for product development.
Predict 2023 with herbal flavors
- Eucalyptus
- Lemongrass
- Tarragon
- Vanilla bean
- Mint
- Ginger
- Cilantro and coriander
- Cinnamon
- Chilli
- Cherry blossom
- Orange blossom
Hard Seltzer is a drink that is constantly innovating and creating, especially in taste. Suppliers are all trying to compete with competitors with the most unique, unpredictable and curious flavors for users. Keeping up with the 2023 flavor trends to develop your best hard seltzer is essential!
Difficulty in specifying the product
Through the research and development of soft drinks, it has been shown that hard seltzer is increasingly opening fire on many different lands. Therefore, specifying product types is one of the goals that businesses need to aim to reach potential markets.
The flavor of the product and the way it is packaged are important factors in a customer’s purchasing decision. While some hard seltzer brands have switched to glass bottles to differentiate themselves, in most of the market today canned packaging is dominating.
Moreover, with the design from aluminum cans with extremely eco-friendly characteristics, it will be easier to be recycled than products made from glass. That further highlights consumer concerns about the durability of product packaging.
The brand race of businesses in the hard seltzer market is constantly hot. At the same time, businesses face two psychological obstacles of consumers when launching. First of all, in terms of presentation, diners often have a preference for bottled beer rather than canned beer.
Second, hard seltzer has relatively high research and development (r&d) costs, so the price is also high because it is a premium drink, while a liter of regular beer will be cheaper. This may be the biggest barrier in conquering young customers. Because, they often have the mentality of choosing products with “cheap price but can drink a lot” due to tight budget.
Therefore, specifying product types is one of the top concerns that businesses should not ignore, to focus on the target market as well as to reach each customer file.
Hard Seltzer Growth Prediction in 2023
Industry experts are sure that hard seltzer has seen its last days, but Americans are still buying millions of cases. This time, however, the growth of hard seltzer has stopped; for the first time ever, 2021 will end with a decrease in hard seltzer sales compared to the previous year. This isn’t a sign of the end, but a sign that hard seltzer has reached its equilibrium.
Even if hard seltzer does experience a slight decrease in sales, it would still be on the same level or slightly surpass the rest of the flavored malt beverage market it belongs to, generating billions of dollars annually.
An expert predicts that the hard seltzer market will resemble the overall beer market: the majority of sales will be taken up by a few major brands (White Claw, Truly, and Bud Light Seltzer), while smaller brands will be successful locally or regionally, for example Astra Hard Seltzer in Ohio (with an anticipated 11% increase in 2022) or Two Robbers in the Northeast (with a 0.3% increase). This doesn’t mean that seltzer is doomed, as the next few years are likely to witness the category settling into a mature and sustainable future.
It’s been 3 years since Hard Seltzer started to be noticed and developed by big companies, it is no longer a nascent market. Now, beverage businesses all want to jump into this market to earn huge revenue. However, the best hard seltzer at companies has reached the peak and reached the saturation stage, businesses need to grasp the future trend to attract and retain consumers!
