[vishnu]

Here in the states these so-called "hard seltzers" are all the rage, the guys at White Claw seemed to have kicked it off and are now making more money than god. All the beer brewers are scrambling to grab a piece of the market... 🥸

[robespierre]

Here in the states these so-called "hard seltzers" are all the rage, the guys at White Claw seemed to have kicked it off and are now making more money than god. All the beer brewers are scrambling to grab a piece of the market... 🥸

Short memory... don't you remember Zima?

I remember reading many years ago that "alco-pop" was formulated differently in Europe than in the US due to liquor tax rates. Apparently drinks like Smirnoff Ice are made with distilled alcohol in Europe, but are malt beverages (beer) in the US, as was Zima. Not to sound elitist, but I can't stand the stuff and am heartened by any news it is in decline, as Sgt.Barnes suggested is happening in Germany. In the US there was a scandal around an alco-pop called Four Loko which was caffeinated, which made it very popular for a time with young people who wanted to dance. The taste was execrable but it did "perform as advertised" in that way.

[vishnu]

Short memory... don't you remember Zima?

I remember reading many years ago that "alco-pop" was formulated differently in Europe than in the US due to liquor tax rates. Apparently drinks like Smirnoff Ice are made with distilled alcohol in Europe, but are malt beverages (beer) in the US, as was Zima. Not to sound elitist, but I can't stand the stuff and am heartened by any news it is in decline, as Sgt.Barnes suggested is happening in Germany. In the US there was a scandal around an alco-pop called Four Loko which was caffeinated, which made it very popular for a time with young people who wanted to dance. The taste was execrable but it did "perform as advertised" in that way.

Yes, Zima for sure, and Mike's Hard Lemonade has been around for quite a while too, but those White Claw guys seem to have taken it to a whole new level. I am not a an of the stuff either, likely it will go the way of those putrid "wine coolers" that were all the rage for like one weekend back in the 80s. 😆

[sgt_barnes]

I hate this crap because it's booze marketed to kids, so I really hope you are right right, vishnu.

In the early 2000's, this stuff ("like "Smirnoff Ice") was all the rage in Germany, and obviously it was consumed even by 12 y.o. As a consequence, they forbid selling it to people younger that 18, and taxed it hard (like one Euro per bottle).

It is not clear that this caused the decline of those beverages, but the decline is evident: Total amount of this tax collected dropped from 10 Million Euros in 2004 to 1 Million in 2014 (Source: Wikipedia). The Swiss are taxing that stuff even more (nearly doubling it's price), but the Austrians do not. Since the decline is visible in all three countries, it might not be a result of the tax.