By the looks of new products hitting the shelves, there is a canned cocktail and other lightly alcoholic drink craze currently sweeping the country.
In the last two months, Coca-Cola KO released hard versions of both the zero-calorie Fresca soft drink and its Simply Juice Brand while Pepsi (PEP) added a fourth flavor to its hard Mountain Dew line.
Numbers from beverage tracking company IWSR found that premixed cocktail sales grew by more than 50% between 2019 and 2020 and, worth $25 billion now, the market is slated to expand by a CAGR of over 20% until 2030.
"Consumers in developed countries have become more health-conscious, thereby switching to low alcohol flavored drinks," reads a market report from Grandview Research.
"They usually contain a low amount of alcohol, ranging from 4%-7% along with added flavors like lemon, cranberry, orange, and passion fruit, which eventually attracts health-conscious consumers."
Is a Breakfast Beer Something You Have In College (And Never Again)?
St. Patrick's Day may be behind us but, at least for the people working at Guinness, that's no reason to stop drinking beer. The iconic Diageo (DEO)-owned beer brand was hoping to get in on that market with a breakfast beer known as Guinness Breakfast Tea Amber.
Guinness
Sold in four-packs of 16-ounce cans for a limited time around the annual celebration of Irish heritage, the drink has both regular Irish Breakfast Tea and a beer base from the brewery's American Amber Ale.
At 4.8 alcohol-by-volume, it is a light drink — even if, for many, beer is best saved for after breakfast.
"One customer talked about growing up in Dublin across from St. James Gate with fond memories of his mom having tea and the smell of the brewery wafting through the window," Guinness Head Brewer Sean Brennan told Thrillist. "The combination of sweet wort with bold tea flavors sparked our idea to brew a beer just like that."
Breakfast Beer, Beer Lollipops ... What Is Happening To Beer?
If you think you're seeing a lot of beer-adjacent products come out lately, you're right. This week, Coors Light (TAP.A) announced that it'll sell beer-flavored lollipops for the popular college basketball play-off tournament known as March Madness.
While food and beverage brands have always tied new product releases to holidays and social phenomenons, the game seems to have amped up lately, as different brands try to outdo one another with more and more outlandish creations.
The media buzz generated by each product ultimately helps the companies stay top of mind.
"We wanted the tea to be really prominent," Brennan said. "The tea has sort of a pungent, brisky, malty flavor that balances well with the caramel notes of an amber."
