If you are an entrepreneur drink maker looking to carve yourself a space in the alcoholic drink sector, it can be a real challenge. While the well-established big names won't be toppled from the throne by a budding new drink entrepreneur, you can still break into the market with a unique drink that is on-trend right now, such as a delicious hard seltzer.

All of the well-established drinks companies focus on innovation and creating a new market for their drinks. They never sit on their laurels and take their marketplace domination for granted.

If there is anything you can learn from the 'big boys' is that it can be easier to break into the market with an innovative new drink that is on-trend and give yourself the time and space for your new drink to establish itself.

You only need to look at the hard seltzer craze to see that you can debut a new drink and grow a new market for it. For example, Spiked Seltzer was launched in 2013, but its sales were initially slow. However, the popularity of alcoholic seltzer drinks slowly grew until they suddenly became massively trendy in 2018.

Hard seltzer craze still peaking

Since the trend for hard seltzer exploded in 2018, this market segment has grown to take over ten per cent of the beer marketplace and is currently worth over 4 billion dollars in the US alone. As with most modern drink trends, what becomes a hit in the US soon spreads globally, and hard seltzer sales are skyrocketing across the UK and Europe.

The success of any new drink is based on the desire to create something different. Hard Seltzers did just that and appeals to a market of young adults that now are more health-conscious than previous generations.

Young people today want drinks with lower alcohol and sugar content but that is refreshing and taste excellent. Hard seltzer fits the bill perfectly!

With a new generation of drinkers that are also more environmentally aware, drinking from aluminium cans is a preferred choice because these cans are infinitely recyclable and create a low carbon footprint.

Providing fun and variety

One of the most appealing things about hard seltzers is that they inject a bit of fun into the drinks market. A drink that is fun and accessible appeals to young people. You can develop seltzer drinks in a wide range of popular flavours and colours to offer variety.

Because of their lower alcohol content, drinkers can indulge in a few different hard seltzer flavour combinations at parties without paying the price for it, with a major hangover the next day.

Hard seltzer drinks have been able to bring good sales for their manufacturers and a lot of fun for their consumers. But the doors are still very wide open to new drink entrepreneurs that want to find their niche in this marketplace.

For anyone hesitant to enter a trending market with a new drink, most hard seltzer brand sales had an almost 100% growth over 2020. Market experts predict that the desire for lower-alcohol drinks such as hard seltzer will continue to rise into the future.

Appealing to Millennials

There is no doubt that hard seltzers have shaken up the drinks marketplace and are now one of the fastest-growing sectors right now. Because hard seltzer manufacturers can experiment with new flavours and more appealing packaging, they are being snapped up by Millennials with a thirst for different flavours sold in environmentally-friendly packaging.

Packaging your new hard seltzer drink in aluminium cans is good because they are lighter to carry than glass bottles, more eco-friendly than plastic bottles, and infinitely recyclable. This makes them ideal for your customers to take them to music festivals and live events, which are popular haunts for Millennials.

Modern drink consumers, especially the younger demographic, have taken hard seltzers to their heart and have been clamouring to try different flavours and new product launches ever since.

A fertile ground for new drink development

You only need to check to see what the big names are doing to see that you have plenty of opportunities to bring a new drink to the market. For example, Pepsi has jumped on the exploding market with their own hard seltzer drink development.

A great angle to take for your new drink development is to focus on the health benefits of your product. Low-alcohol, sparkling water, and healthy natural fruit flavours will also appeal to a more health-conscious customer base.

Providing a drink that ticks all the right boxes is something that most young drinkers will get behind. With clean eating and clean living on the agenda, a drink that uses premium natural ingredients such as organic fruit juices and water with low alcohol content and no added sugar is very appealing.

Getting professional help with your new drink

If you have an idea for a new drink that you would like to bring to market, then you can get all the help and support you need from our professional drink development team at David Berryman Ltd.

We can work with you to perfect your recipe, help you with your aluminium can sleeve design to grab the attention of your target market, and create a small run of cans to test the market.

Whether you have an idea for a new hard seltzer drink, an energy drink or a sports nutrition drink that is either still or carbonated, we can help you through every step of the process.

Need tips on choosing your Hard Seltzer Drink Flavours?

Why not contact our team at David Berryman Ltd. to see how we can get your new drink development off the ground and into the hands of your ideal customers.

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