The most inoffensive way to consume alcohol. A drinker not a thinker. A carbonated Acai bowl by any other name

Hard seltzers faced much stigma in their climb to be Americas drink of choice, with White Claw being the breakthrough basic beverage, coming to dominate the market over the past two summers.

Hard Seltzers are a type of highball drink containing carbonated water, alcohol, and often fruit flavoring. They are differentiated from a more basic premix drink by virtue of a brewed base of rice and corn, giving them a depth of flavor and viscosity vodka and neutral grain spirits dont quite have.

Moving away from the trashy connotations of other malt liquor beverages like Mikes Hard Lemonade, American hard seltzers like White Claw have used sleek, gender-neutral branding and an implied promise that its virtuous (Eater) to replace Ros as the sunny drink of choice, seen in the hands of everyone from frat boys to hipsters.

Its not just a fiscal achievement, either; even if its not indicative of super deep change, as Vox reports, hard seltzers integration into macho culture, though it was initially done ironically, is a positive sign.

Theres a performative aspect of mens somewhat ironic enthusiasm for hard seltzer In doubling down on how much they love it, men get to embrace something theyre usually discouraged from enjoying. Todays male hard seltzer drinkers are just as aware of their chosen drinks reputation as they were in the Zima days, but the difference is that in 2019, its far more culturally acceptable to embrace it.

Eater also reports on this phenomenon, remarking at the tail end of Americas 2019 summer, The success of White Claw [is] indicative of the 2019 type of hypermasculinity that is currently en vogue.

Its a drink for a more evolved bro, the type of man who isnt afraid to talk about his macros or brew kombucha. The rise of crossfit alongside paleo and keto diets gave men permission to be more publicly and proudly health and image conscious than most of their predecessors.

Which isnt to say that smart branding by powerful beverage corporations has successfully solved gender inequality, of course. Its just that hard seltzer happens to fit neatly into societys current ideas about mens consumption habits.

Speaking of consumption: hard seltzer is now poised to blow up in Australia too, with the southern hemispheres summer imminent, and the steady pssst of ice-cold VBs and Pale Ales soon to be heard all over.

That and by the looks of it the sound of hard seltzer brands like FELLR, which FELLR director and co-founder Will Morgan tells DMARGE is sold out pretty much everywhere at the moment.

Its not a carbon copy of America though; in true Aussie style FELLR (available here at Dan Murphys) is nonchalant about all this gym bro and meme culture hype and aims to neatly fit into societys current ideas about casual coastal Australians consumption habits (i.e. the majority of the population), not just F45-ers.

Mr. Morgans business partner and FELLR co-founder Andy Skora tells DMARGE: When we first started talking, the initial [Aussie] reaction was: whats a seltzer?.

Theres been a huge turnaround, however, in the last two months, where it has gone from [practically] everyone not just knowing what it is to everyone buying it.

[The trend] started in lockdown a little bit but now there are so many brands jumping on board, media getting onto it, people recognising what it is, Mr. Skora tells us.

Summer has also helped.

Key to seltzers success in Australia, should it continue to blow up, is the style of drink, people understanding what it is, as well as valuing the health trends associated (think: low sugar, gluten free, keto, all natural).

Image: FELLR

On that front, there doesnt seem to be any danger of those values changing (by our reckoning the Bondi Byron Bali triangle would sooner implode).

Mr. Morgan tells DMARGE the craft beer boom aided too, getting people trying new things; [making them] more inquisitive.

There was no craft in this space nothing youd be proud to serve, Mr. Morgan tells us.

You wouldnt take premix to nice BBQ, or a nice dinner; we saw that gap there.

It takes us four weeks to brew the alcohol we dont just buy neutral grain spirits from god knows where.

As for whether hard seltzer will become the trademark drink of Australias evolved bros like it has in America, Mr. Morgan says: Its not necessarily for guys that are counting their macros like a gym buff, its for people from all walks of life.

People have heard of White Claw but were not important [enough for] that whole Tik Tok culture yet people just see hard seltzer as a healthy alternative.

As such, FELLR is made with trending Australian lifestyle choices like vegetarianism; going organic in mind, not just gym people counting calories.

Especially in coastal areas, people are really dialling in on their health and all aspects of it.

With just about a month since Dan Murphys launched their full seltzer range, only time (and pssts per capita) will tell where the hard seltzer trend lands down under.

Just remember: though hard seltzers are lower in carbs and calories than beer, alcohol is still alcohol

More here:
The 'Evolved' American Alcohol Trend About To Blow Up In Australia - DMARGE