Sales exploded to $4 billion last year, from about $500 million in 2018. Dozens of brands will compete to be the boozy, bubbly drink of the season. The NYT reports while White Claw and Truly — the Coca-Cola and Pepsi of hard seltzer — capture about 70 percent of the market, everyone wants in on the action, drawn by the staggering growth. Old-school beer companies, spirits giants, winemakers, and others are fermenting sugar solutions and adding seasonal flavors like watermelon, black cherry, and strawberry lemonade to create their own buzzy concoctions.
How flavored bubbly water with alcohol became a national phenomenon is partly due to social media videos that went viral and clever marketing that sold hard seltzers as a "healthier" alcohol choice.
'It's going to be a big summer for hard seltzer'
