This puts White Claw into a category the alcohol industry generally refers to as “flavored malt beverages,” or FMBs. A few brands achieve this alcohol through the fermentation of regular old cane sugar, but the biggest brands (White Claw, once again) are getting their alcohol from the fermentation of malted barley. Rather, the standard 5% ABV in hard seltzer brands comes as the product of fermentation, making them more closely related to beer than they are to hard spirits.
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Hard seltzers, however, aren’t made that way. That would essentially make them canned mixed drinks. Especially given that hard seltzers such as White Claw are so often compared to mixed drinks like a vodka soda, the most natural assumption for the consumer would probably be that hard seltzers are simply sparkling water, mixed with a bit of high-proof neutral spirit (like vodka, or grain alcohol) and fruit flavoring. Truly defining hard seltzer is harder than it initially sounds, because hard seltzers probably aren’t quite what you assume them to be. What exactly defines a hard seltzer? How are they made? And why did they catch fire and become so incredibly popular, seemingly overnight, with sales that continue to surge even through the pandemic? This summer, it might well be the most popular and most commonly misunderstood beverage on the market. It’s just another part of the seltzer mystique a willingness to look past the fact that most people have no idea how they’re made or defined. over the last few years, few drinkers seem to understand what they truly are at all. Because despite how phenomenally popular the hard seltzer category-and White Claw in particular-have become in the U.S.
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That’s part of the allure of hard seltzers-they’re meant to be uncomplicated beverages with easily accessible flavors that don’t require any thought or contemplation.īut ask that same person to explain what exactly hard seltzers are, and you’re likely to run into some confusion or misinformation.
#WHITE CLAW ALCOHOL PERCENTAGE SERIES#
Check out every entry in the series to date.Īsk your average drinker to describe hard seltzer as a category, and they’ll probably use the word “simple” at some point. Unfortunately for this guy, White Claw Surge will only be sold in individual $2.99 cans, so no dice on that 24-pack.Cocktail Queries is a Paste series that examines and answers basic, common questions that drinkers may have about mixed drinks, cocktails and spirits.
![white claw alcohol percentage white claw alcohol percentage](https://shefinds-uat.ctpusdev.com/files/2019/09/white-claw-top-photo-1.jpg)
"Also give me a 24 pack and let’s get cracking." There is no way this ends well," tweeted another. "White Claw Surge dropping as Americans are getting vaccinated is Thanos getting that last infinity stone. "WHITE CLAW SURGE GONNA DESTROY ME THIS SUMMER IM SO HYPED," tweeted one excited seltzer fan. My Moderna vaccine and the 8% ABV White Claw Surge meeting up in my system this summer: /ydNGbb9nSq- Jackie Morrisette April 13, 2021 But mostly, people took the release as inspiration to plot their chaotic post-vaccine summers. (While we're on the subject of Four Loko, let's not forget that the brand has its own version of hard seltzer with a whopping 12% ABV.) Others were reminded of Surge sodas from the 1990s. Some on Twitter have compared the new beverage to Four Loko, the infamous hangover-in-a-can with up to 14% alcohol - its recipe also used to contain caffeine until the FDA deemed it a "public health concern" in 2010. Fortunately, the truth is much more fun and comes in blood orange and cranberry.īut that being said, I think we need to discuss the implications of a 2021 White Claw Surge Summer. When I first heard the term "White Claw Surge," I assumed it was a catchy term coined for young spring break partiers causing a surge in COVID-19 cases in the United States.