In a word, Millennials, 63% in general, 53% on Drizly. While Drizly drinkers lagged in hard seltzer compared to Millennials, that pattern was flipped when it came to Gen X, where 30% of Drizly buyers ordered hard seltzer vs. 24% of the population in general. Thirteen percent of Drizly Baby Boomers ordered hard seltzer, more than three times the 4% of the population in general that drinks hard seltzer. What about the next generation of drinkers, the Gen Z crowd? Some 9% of Gen-Zers in general buy hard seltzer, but only 4% of Drizly buyers do.
Nothing grows to the sky, and so it’s to be expected that after eight feverish years of growth — the category as we know it debuted in 2013 –would level off a bit.
The rise continued as hard seltzer reached a 19 percent share of beer sales on Drizly in 2020 and a 21 percent share in 2021. Over those three years of growth, hard seltzer held a 2.6% share of overall sales on Drizly in 2019, a 3.4% share in 2020, and a 3.3% share in 2021.
“Retailers should focus on the top brands that have solidified their position—like White Claw, Truly, and others—and keep an eye when these brands release new flavors and test how they do on their shelves,” says Liz Paquette, Drizly’s head of consumer insights. “Beyond that, retailers can round out their shelf space by keeping an eye on new innovations that are gaining traction—Topo Chico hard seltzer was a new product last year and has already broken into the top five brands—as well as local craft offerings that are popular in their region.”
The top three brands — White Claw, Truly and Bud Light — over the past 12 months are the same as in the previous 12 months. Corona has fallen from number four, being replaced by Topo Chico, while Upslope fell from number eight. One of the biggest changes is that the early market leader Bon V!V has dropped out of the top 10 best-selling brands on Drizly (previously number five), as has Smirnoff Seltzer (previously number six) and Oskar Blues Brewery’s seltzer (previously number 10).