Hard seltzer, the viral soda that sweeps thanks to YouTube arrives in Spain

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Fourth of July in any city in the United States.

Thousands of people prepare to celebrate the national holiday.

In the patio, a barbecue with hamburgers and dogs and a fridge with ice, beer and, since 2018, a drink called Hard Seltzer.

It is literally "strong carbonated water", although it can be defined as a flavored soft drink with alcohol.

Some resemble its flavor to vodka with soda although it has much less alcohol.

Looking back, it is reminiscent of the flavored sparkling water that was sold in US pharmacies and stores.

A product that in the 80s "was sold for the first time in

", says Brian Joseph, author of

, a book that collects the history of this drink.

The birth of this

version

is located in a US brewery that marketed it for the first time in 2013 under the

Sales were growing in normal figures for a product that did not even have a category of its own in the market.

But in 2019 this drink exploded.

A year earlier there were only 10 brands in the US that marketed this drink.

And the pace does not stop.

The growth was so rapid that even the

echoed it, calling the summer of 2019 "the summer of the Hard Seltzer."

The figures from the consulting firm Nielsen corroborate this: sales progression in three-digit figures,

in 2019. Translated into numbers: from June 2019 to June 2020, sales of this drink amounted to

dollars .

Part of the success is in the public that consumes the majority, the

.

And like many of the trends in this generation, its origin is in social networks.

The explosion occurred with a video of the well-known youtuber Trevor Wallace.

The

in which he parodied White Claw, a brand with 60% market share, made the phrase

so popular

that policemen in some US counties launched statements denying it.

Trevor tried unsuccessfully

Meanwhile,

embraced it as a generational drink: it

(just over a dollar per can), low in calories (less than 100 per can), gluten-free, and has about the same alcohol as a beer.

In addition, it is consumed equally by women and men.

The elaboration of this drink is

: a fermentable sugar such as fructose that is cooked in water and to which a yeast is inoculated to generate alcohol and then carbonate it before being bottled.

The flavor can be given with natural extracts or directly using fruit in the first of the steps.

Given the synergies with the brewing process and the fact that the cake is getting bigger and bigger, it didn't take long for the big American brewers to want a piece.

, and that is the best seller: White Claw.

In our country, brewers are also making the drink, but in this case artisans.

are among the first three to make it using their facilities.

"It is a logical evolution to have a brewery", says David Frá, from

.

The Valencian company is immersed in the creation of its first cans, which will go on the market in September.

The 425,000 investment required for the launch was raised through

in less than two hours.

The question is whether it will triumph in Spain as in the US or will it be a mirage

One of the strengths of these breweries is their flexibility in

And the hard seltzer is no exception.

"Since we have been making beer, we have been curious to do new things," says Roman Jove, from Madrid's Peninsula, who has just launched his first drink of this kind under the Wave banner.

These three companies have been investigating processes and flavors for several months, although the pandemic, as in almost all areas, delayed their initial plans.

Peninsula had planned to release it in June, and Malaga's Savis at Easter.

Both have done so several weeks behind their initial idea.

The great unknown is whether the drink will conquer the Spanish palate

Frá is betting yes: the first print run of his drink will be 150,000 cans.

At the moment, he has the difficult task of making himself known and liked by an audience that

, but wants to drink something with alcohol in his leisure time without reaching the glass.

The good thing for them is that, as Jove says, "it doesn't compete with beer."

"The target audience is someone who does not seek the gastronomic experience of an artisan beer,

" he explains.

So casual that it is not necessary to serve it in a glass, it is drunk directly from the can.

The other big question is

, as the North Americans have done.

Small producers have it clear: "Yes, and they will do it earlier than when they entered the craft beer sector."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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