Hard Root Beer Market Exploding

August 24, 2015 – You know a trend is serious when The Wall Street Journal has a big article on the front page of its Business & Finance section.  The most amazing bit of news is that Small Town Brewery, maker of Not Your Father’s Root Beer has catapulted to sixth place in the craft beer charts based on sales according to IRI, a retail tracking service.

We wrote about Not Your Father’s Root Beer back on July 22 http://www.wineandspirits.com/root-beer-beer-summers-latest-craze/ and at the time noted that Boston Beer, maker of Samuel Adams also was working on a root beer flavored beer.  Their Coney Island Hard Root Beer is being rolled out nationwide this month.

Will the craze for “flavored beer” or “hard soda” – whichever you prefer to call it – prevail?  We’re heard that Anheuser-Busch is “watching the market closely” but while they watch, MillerCoors is introducing Henry’s Hard Ginger Ale and Henry’s Hard Orange soda.  Their target audience is GenXers who grew up drinking soda.  Didn’t everyone?  In any event, they appear to be ripe to switch to something hard while satisfying their sweet tooth.  The hard sodas from MillerCoors contain 4.2 percent alcohol and are sweetened with pure cane sugar.

But, as The Wall Street Journal speculates, the root beer tsunami might be waning.  They quoted one retailer who claimed he was buying six cases a week of Not Your Father’s Root beer in May but it dropped to a case a week in July to nothing in mid-August when the story was written.

With cool weather on its way, we’ll just have to wait and see.