Hard Seltzer

About

Hard Seltzer refers to a canned alcoholic beverage meant to replicate vodka and seltzer water. The drink rose in popularity in summer 2019, inspiring a host of articles and memes about its commonality and mass appeal.

History

According to AdAge,^[1] Nick Shields, then hard seltzer brand manager for the Haffenreffer beer brand, conceived of the alcoholic seltzer water product after seeing "five women order vodka sodas, one after the other" at a dive bar in Westport, Connecticut. Shortly after, he packaged a vodka seltzer-type drink in a can under the name SpikedSeltzer. In 2016, Shields sold the idea to Anheuser-Busch.

That year, competitor White Claw launched. Within three years, White Claw accounted for "over half of all total hard seltzer sales total."^[2]

In 2019, the popularity of hard seltzer saw releases from various other alcoholic beverage brands, including Natural Light, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Four Loko and more.

Permanently 8% ABV. Much like that tattoo.

Our new Stronger Seltzer with 8% ABV is now available in Texas, Arizona, California and Montana.

Find it near you: https://t.co/Hsn8JSvQyf pic.twitter.com/ax4PEYlC1c

— Pabst Blue Ribbon (@PabstBlueRibbon) August 13, 2019

Online Reaction

In 2019, as the popularity of drink exploded, fans and critics of the brand began posting ironic memes and parodies. Many of these tend to mock the perceived stereotype of the hard seltzer customer, which tend to be represented as white middle-class men and women in their 20s.

White Claw Memes

There are several Instagram accounts devoted to jokes about White Claw, such as whiteclawgang^[6] and itsawhiteclawsummer^[7] (examples below, left and center, respectively).

On June 25th, 2019, comedian Trevor Wallace released a parody video entitled "*drinks White Claw once*," mocking the common reactions to those that enjoy the drink. The post received more than 2 million views in less than three months (shown below).

Four Loko Hard Seltzer Memes

On August 13th, 2019, the alcoholic energy drink brand Four Loko announced a hard seltzer line. That day, they tweeted, ^[3] "Hard Seltzers ran so we could fly." Within one week, the tweet received more than 99,000 likes and 26,000 retweets (shown below).

Following the release, people joked about the intensity of the hard seltzer, which is 14% alcohol by volume compared to the other 5% alcohol by volume seltzers. That day, Twitter^[4] user @SpenserHarvey tweeted, "Me: 'I mean it’s just a spiked seltzer right?' *buys two Four Loko Sour Seltzer with a Hint of Blue Razz* Me 48 hours later and in Panama." Within one week, the tweet received more than 3,000 likes and 600 retweets (shown below, left).

On August 14, Twitter^[5] user @bvorwerk tweeted, "white claw: 'only 100 calories and 5% ABV hehe girls night!' four loko seltzer: '14% who’s ready to die.'" Within one week, the tweet received more than 187,000 likes and 24,000 retweets (shown below, right)).

Twitter user @glassofsapphire tweeted a video of a man laughing at the idea of a 14% ABV being too much. The tweet received more than 2 million views, 200,000 likes and 50,000 retweets in one week (shown below).

“Isn’t 14% too much?”

Four loko CEO: pic.twitter.com/XNZ2IFnY7P

— J. Barrientos (@glassofsapphire) August 14, 2019

Search Interest

External References