Coca-Cola is launching a hard seltzer brand. FOX Business’ Lauren Simonetti with more.
The Coca-Cola Co. is hoping to take a swig of the hard-seltzer market with the release of its first U.S. alcoholic offering in decades.
Topo Chico Hard Seltzer, marketed under the Topo Chico mineral water brand acquired by Coca-Cola in 2017 for $220 million, will debut sometime in the first half of 2021, according to Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey.
U.S. consumers can expect to see Topo Chico Hard Seltzer on shelves in the first half of 2021, according to the Coca-Cola Company’s CEO. (The Coca-Cola Company)
Quincey revealed the news to CBNC this week, months after Topo Chico Hard Seltzer was first announced.
“I think these innovations that we’ve seen, including hard seltzer, are a trend of the consumer looking for new things,” Quincey remarked on CNBC’s “Mad Money.”
CHEAP BOOZE, HARD SELTZER SALES SPIKE DURING COVID-19
The announcement echoes what a Coca-Cola spokesperson told FOX Business in July, of the brand’s aspirations to enter the U.S. hard-seltzer market in 2021, after first debuting Topo Chico Hard Seltzer’s debut in Latin American cities in 2020.
At the time of Topo Chico Hard Seltzer’s initial announcement in July, the beverage was described as “an experimental drink inspired by Topo Chico sparkling mineral water, which has been popular with many mixologists.”
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It’s no surprise Coca-Cola announced the new product this summer: The hard seltzer market surpassed $1 billion in off-premise sales during the week of the Fourth of July holiday, according to a July market research report from Nielsen.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| COKE | COCA COLA BOTT | 237.66 | +1.36 | +0.58% |
Interestingly enough, this is not the Coca-Cola Co.’s first stateside alcoholic offering. In the ‘70s, Coca-Cola acquired multiple wine brands – Monterey Vineyards and Taylor Wine – before getting out of the wine business by 1982, Forbes reports.
The Coca-Cola Co., meanwhile, does market an alcoholic beverage known as Lemon-Do in Japan, having debuted the drink in 3%, 5%, 7% and 9% versions starting in 2018.
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Fox Business’ Cortney Moore contributed to this report.
