Spiked seltzer?

[bhughey]

Spiked seltzer has become quite popular as of late, so much so, that it's surpassed craft beer sales. Being such a "summer style" beverage - I think it would be a big seller, especially on Caribbean itineraries. Personally, I love it as a beer or wine alternative.  Anyone else hoping X adds it to the alcoholic beverage options?

[Iamcruzin]

Just order a bottle of sparkling water or seltzer and a shot of flavored vodka or ask them to make the drink the way you want it.

[bhughey]

4 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

Just order a bottle of sparkling water or seltzer and a shot of flavored vodka or ask them to make the drink the way you want it.

Jokingly, I said to my husband before posting the topic - that this would be the first response I would get ;). While an ok alternative, it has more alcohol and takes a little more time to prepare vs. handing over a can.

[Iamcruzin]

21 minutes ago, bhughey said:

Jokingly, I said to my husband before posting the topic - that this would be the first response I would get ;). While an ok alternative, it has more alcohol and takes a little more time to prepare vs. handing over a can.

Recently we were invited to a party and we were going to take along some White Claw. When we saw the price our jaw dropped. We already dink La Croix sparking water on a daily basis so we just grabbed that and purchased a bottle of flavored vodka and were able to make it as strong or as weak as we liked plus you can garnish it. I'm not washing glasses on a cruise ship and I'm not preparing the drink and since I already paid the gratuity in the drink package I'm good with ordering it this way.

[dolittle]

46 minutes ago, bhughey said:

Spiked seltzer has become quite popular as of late, so much so, that it's surpassed craft beer sales. Being such a "summer style" beverage - I think it would be a big seller, especially on Caribbean itineraries. Personally, I love it as a beer or wine alternative.  Anyone else hoping X adds it to the alcoholic beverage options?

I have never had it I know it is very big now .It is nice to see you on this site I met you on the Silhoutte crossing way back .Glad to see you are still cruising .A while back I saw your post  about your dog I hope it worked out for you.

[gatour]

1 hour ago, bhughey said:

Spiked seltzer has become quite popular as of late, so much so, that it's surpassed craft beer sales. Being such a "summer style" beverage - I think it would be a big seller, especially on Caribbean itineraries. Personally, I love it as a beer or wine alternative.  Anyone else hoping X adds it to the alcoholic beverage options?

I am guessing you are comparing growth of sales vs actual total sales.

 

Let's say spiked seltzer sold 100 cans, while craft beer sold 1000 cans during the same time frame (for sake of argument the month of June).

 

Then in July, the spiked seltzer sold 200 cans/bottles, while craft beer sold 1200 cans/bottles.

 

While you can say that the spiked seltzer doubled their growth in sales (100%) and craft beer increase their sales by 1.2%, at the end of the day they each sold an additional 200 cans.

 

Will spiked seltzer continue its growth to match 1200 can/bottles (or more) that the craft beer industry has already established.  Who knows.

 

Will X add setzer to their offerings, who knows.  It took years for the major cruise lines to offer anything resembling craft beers. 

 

 

[bhughey]

1 hour ago, dolittle said:

I have never had it I know it is very big now .It is nice to see you on this site I met you on the Silhoutte crossing way back .Glad to see you are still cruising .A while back I saw your post  about your dog I hope it worked out for you.

 

Nice to hear from you! I remember you! I'm so touched that you recall the post about my boy, Cooper. He will always occupy a sacred part of my soul. Best dog ever...

Our fur babies are still a giant part of our lives and even though "goodbye" will most likely always be a part of the story ... nothing compares to the joy of sharing life with these unwavering, true hearted creatures. 

 

Glad to see you are still cruising as well! We have a couple journeys on the books in the near future and not stopping anytime soon! 🙂

[bhughey]

1 hour ago, Iamcruzin said:

Recently we were invited to a party and we were going to take along some White Claw. When we saw the price our jaw dropped. We already dink La Croix sparking water on a daily basis so we just grabbed that and purchased a bottle of flavored vodka and were able to make it as strong or as weak as we liked plus you can garnish it. I'm not washing glasses on a cruise ship and I'm not preparing the drink and since I already paid the gratuity in the drink package I'm good with ordering it this way.

I've created something similar as well. Walmart has the white claw for $13.99/12 pack, which is fairly reasonable. Personally, I enjoy the ease of popping the can and not fooling with ice/mixing the proper ratio. But again, not a bad solution.

 

The whole spiked seltzer phenom is fairly new to me... I am a big IPA drinker and red wine lover. The calories and heaviness of beer have caught up to me in middle age, so I've switched over to the white claw, truly, etc. for a change of pace. 

[bhughey]

1 hour ago, gatour said:

I am guessing you are comparing growth of sales vs actual total sales.

 

Let's say spiked seltzer sold 100 cans, while craft beer sold 1000 cans during the same time frame (for sake of argument the month of June).

 

Then in July, the spiked seltzer sold 200 cans/bottles, while craft beer sold 1200 cans/bottles.

 

While you can say that the spiked seltzer doubled their growth in sales (100%) and craft beer increase their sales by 1.2%, at the end of the day they each sold an additional 200 cans.

 

Will spiked seltzer continue its growth to match 1200 can/bottles (or more) that the craft beer industry has already established.  Who knows.

 

Will X add setzer to their offerings, who knows.  It took years for the major cruise lines to offer anything resembling craft beers. 

 

 

 

I was referencing this article I had seem recently 

 

https://www.cbs58.com/news/hard-seltzer-brand-white-claw-surpass-nearly-all-craft-beer-brands-in-sales

 

And this 

https://vinepair.com/articles/hop-take-beer-sales-white-claw/

Edited August 12, 2019 by bhughey

[trafficlaw]

6 minutes ago, bhughey said:

 

I was referencing this article I had seem recently 

 

https://www.cbs58.com/news/hard-seltzer-brand-white-claw-surpass-nearly-all-craft-beer-brands-in-sales

 

And this 

https://vinepair.com/articles/hop-take-beer-sales-white-claw/

Beth, stop using hard facts to support your argument! Everybody these days enjoys a knee-jerk visceral argument that has no connection to reality.

[Iamcruzin]

7 hours ago, bhughey said:

I've created something similar as well. Walmart has the white claw for $13.99/12 pack, which is fairly reasonable. Personally, I enjoy the ease of popping the can and not fooling with ice/mixing the proper ratio. But again, not a bad solution.

 

The whole spiked seltzer phenom is fairly new to me... I am a big IPA drinker and red wine lover. The calories and heaviness of beer have caught up to me in middle age, so I've switched over to the white claw, truly, etc. for a change of pace. 

That’s a good price. It’s 8 for $18 at our beer distributor. The Walmart’s here don’t really sell to much food and they don’t sell beer, wine coolers or hard Lemonade products.

[gatour]

22 hours ago, bhughey said:

 

I was referencing this article I had seem recently 

 

https://www.cbs58.com/news/hard-seltzer-brand-white-claw-surpass-nearly-all-craft-beer-brands-in-sales

 

And this 

https://vinepair.com/articles/hop-take-beer-sales-white-claw/

 

22 hours ago, trafficlaw said:

Beth, stop using hard facts to support your argument! Everybody these days enjoys a knee-jerk visceral argument that has no connection to reality.

First article  referenced an anecdotal comment from one store.

 

The second article referenced a 200% sales increase with no mention of the base level and the new level of total sales.

 

Craft beers had been around for several years, before the cruise lines even thought about stocking a few.

 

Also keep in mind that there are fads (remember wine coolers?), where do they stand now.  They had exponential growth, and then crashed and are almost non-existent.

 

I have no game in this in regard to seltzers vs craft beers, as I am a wine drinker.  Major corporations do not turn on a dime.  While you may love a particular product and it may popular in your local watering holes doesn't make it popular to the general population.

[bhughey]

15 hours ago, gatour said:

 

First article  referenced an anecdotal comment from one store.

 

The second article referenced a 200% sales increase with no mention of the base level and the new level of total sales.

 

Craft beers had been around for several years, before the cruise lines even thought about stocking a few.

 

Also keep in mind that there are fads (remember wine coolers?), where do they stand now.  They had exponential growth, and then crashed and are almost non-existent.

 

I have no game in this in regard to seltzers vs craft beers, as I am a wine drinker.  Major corporations do not turn on a dime.  While you may love a particular product and it may popular in your local watering holes doesn't make it popular to the general population.

 

All you have to do is google - "spiked seltzer popularity" and dozens upon dozens of recent articles reference the "fad" - I'm not making this up. I could add links all day...
And yes, I remember wine coolers quite fondly... don't count them out of a comeback! History does tend to repeat itself.

https://observer.com/2018/07/spiked-seltzer-popularity-demographics/

https://daily.sevenfifty.com/whats-fueling-the-rapid-growth-of-hard-seltzer/

https://www.wmagazine.com/story/spiked-seltzer-trend

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/21/dining/drinks/hard-seltzer-alcohol.html

https://fortune.com/2019/05/31/hard-seltzer-drinks-rose/

 

[ECCruise]

The sales figures aren't even close.

 

Spiked seltzer sales (from one of the cited articles)

Sales of hard seltzer have now exceeded $585 million for the 52 week-period that ended on March 23, 2019, according to Nielsen

Retail sales of craft beer rose 7% in 2018, to $27.58 billion, according to the Brewers Association, a trade group representing thousands of small, independent brewers.

 

That is a ratio of about 40 to 1.  

[ECCruise]

On 8/11/2019 at 10:39 PM, trafficlaw said:

Beth, stop using hard facts to support your argument! Everybody these days enjoys a knee-jerk visceral argument that has no connection to reality.

Yes.

Please check facts.  Cited above. 😎

[bhughey]

I'm merely suggesting that popularity has soared... The links below compare the rise of hard seltzer vs. craft beer in recent months. Three of the following are from beer-focused publications.

https://www.brewbound.com/news/nielsen-off-premise-beer-sales-flatten-in-2018-as-hard-seltzer-sales-near-500-million

https://www.goodbeerhunting.com/sightlines/2019/7/29/monthly-beer-sales-have-already-peaked-not-so-for-hard-seltzer

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/consumer-products/brewers-switch-seltzer-craft-beer-slows

https://www.craftbrewingbusiness.com/business-marketing/did-you-know-white-claws-hard-seltzers-alone-are-outpacing-sales-of-all-craft-beer/

 

Edited August 13, 2019 by bhughey

[ECCruise]

40 minutes ago, bhughey said:

I'm merely suggesting that popularity has soared... The links below compare the rise of hard seltzer vs. craft beer in recent months. Three of the following are from beer-focused publications.

https://www.brewbound.com/news/nielsen-off-premise-beer-sales-flatten-in-2018-as-hard-seltzer-sales-near-500-million

https://www.goodbeerhunting.com/sightlines/2019/7/29/monthly-beer-sales-have-already-peaked-not-so-for-hard-seltzer

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/consumer-products/brewers-switch-seltzer-craft-beer-slows

https://www.craftbrewingbusiness.com/business-marketing/did-you-know-white-claws-hard-seltzers-alone-are-outpacing-sales-of-all-craft-beer/

 

Some of us were reacting to your original post: Spiked seltzer has become quite popular as of late, so much so, that it's surpassed craft beer sales.

Being from "Beer City USA" (Asheville NC) I would be MORE than happy to see spiked seltzer overtake craft beer (though it will not happen in the next 5-10 years).  It would keep the millions and millions of beer tourists away from Asheville that clog the roads, make hotel prices $400 plus per night and make reservations at favored restaurants on the weekends nigh impossible. 🍺🥺

Edited August 13, 2019 by ECCruise

[bhughey]

12 minutes ago, ECCruise said:

Some of us were reacting to your original post: Spiked seltzer has become quite popular as of late, so much so, that it's surpassed craft beer sales.

Being from "Beer City USA" (Asheville NC) I would be MORE than happy to see spiked seltzer overtake craft beer (though it will not happen in the next 5-10 years).  It would keep the millions and millions of beer tourists away from Asheville that clog the roads, make hotel prices $400 plus per night and make reservations at favored restaurants on the weekends nigh impossible. 🍺🥺

 

Perhaps I should have said "spiked seltzer has made a dent in craft beer sales in recent months - and the craft beer industry is taking note".
 

As I mentioned, I LOVE craft beer - and live just "down the road" in Charlotte, which also has a huge beer scene, (and went to school at WCU!), so certainly no stranger to the popularity of the craft in our state, and nationwide. Buuuuttt... the craft beers pack on the pounds, so the spiked seltzers are a nice "day drink" with low cals and not a lot of sugar.

Edited August 13, 2019 by bhughey

[AnJ]

On 8/11/2019 at 7:47 PM, bhughey said:

Spiked seltzer has become quite popular as of late, so much so, that it's surpassed craft beer sales. Being such a "summer style" beverage - I think it would be a big seller, especially on Caribbean itineraries. Personally, I love it as a beer or wine alternative.  Anyone else hoping X adds it to the alcoholic beverage options?

So, all the comparisons and comments aside, and going back to the original question, yes, I would love to see spiked seltzer added to the bars. 

 

On 8/12/2019 at 5:46 AM, Iamcruzin said:

That’s a good price. It’s 8 for $18 at our beer distributor. The Walmart’s here don’t really sell to much food and they don’t sell beer, wine coolers or hard Lemonade products.

And the Walmart’s here do sell food products and I just saw the case yesterday for $10..

[Paulras]

Ok, the retorts about percentage sales growth are just ridiculous. And as usual, doesn't answer the question. Seriously, why even respond? 

 

All I know is that every party or BBQ that I've been to over the past year, the majority now bring spiked seltzers. So I'd be surprised if we don't see it soon. I want it on my next cruise! 

 

PS - my family owns an old neighborhood "shot n beer" bar. We don't even take credit cards but we've had Truly for a while now and it sells. 

 

[ECCruise]

2 hours ago, bhughey said:

 

Perhaps I should have said "spiked seltzer has made a dent in craft beer sales in recent months - and the craft beer industry is taking note".
 

As I mentioned, I LOVE craft beer - and live just "down the road" in Charlotte, which also has a huge beer scene, (and went to school at WCU!), so certainly no stranger to the popularity of the craft in our state, and nationwide. Buuuuttt... the craft beers pack on the pounds, so the spiked seltzers are a nice "day drink" with low cals and not a lot of sugar.

I totally agree that it is making a dent.  And likely will continue to do so.  And I agree about the high caloric content of almost all beers.  

I have no interest in drinking spiked seltzer water. Tastes like fruit soda to me.  Nor do I have any interest in high gravity beers.  I drink beer to sample varied tastes.  A Lambic is nothing like an IPA which is nothing like a Hefe etc.  And I would drink it even if it didn't give a buzz.  

But would boozy seltzer water sell on ships.  Yes, I think it would.

Edited August 13, 2019 by ECCruise

[bhughey]

2 hours ago, Paulras said:

Ok, the retorts about percentage sales growth are just ridiculous. And as usual, doesn't answer the question. Seriously, why even respond? 

 

All I know is that every party or BBQ that I've been to over the past year, the majority now bring spiked seltzers. So I'd be surprised if we don't see it soon. I want it on my next cruise! 

 

PS - my family owns an old neighborhood "shot n beer" bar. We don't even take credit cards but we've had Truly for a while now and it sells. 

 

My brother is a miller lite kind of shot n beer guy...always has been... and even he likes the spiked seltzers!

[bhughey]

This just popped up on my google news feed. I hope PBR takes this nationwide 🙂

https://www.google.com/amp/s/people.com/food/pabst-blue-ribbon-pbr-hard-seltzer/amp/

[kayehall]

Hard seltzers are very popular in our bar.  After trying several different brands, White Claw is what we decided on.  However, Bud just came out with their version and people seem to like it better.  We are carrying both right now.  With all these new brands coming out, it is hard to keep up with the cooler space.  I would think they would go over well especially during the day around the pool!!! 

[kayehall]

Oh and back to the original question, does Celebrity offer these with the classic bev pkg?