Are seltzers and ciders replacing beer?

This trend in hard seltzers and RTD cocktails has been around a while now. Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams) introduced the Twisted Tea in the early 2000s and Truly in 2016. In this regard, BBC are one of the pioneers. In the past several years major craft brewers have also introduced their own similar products.

I have been encouraged by the recent headwinds for hard seltzers, seeing sales declines since 2023 or so. I have seen loss of shelf space to seltzers in recent years, but this trend thankfully slowed down / stopped in the last couple of years. It also seems more beers showing up on shelves, from local producers especially.

 

People don’t wanna overthink their buzz. I guess I can relate since in my early 20’s I tended to optimize for ABV over flavor. Last 15 years or so I definitely enjoy the flavor and ritual more, but I see no lack of peers that just look for the highest ABV that goes down easiest.

 

At least in my store, this seems to come down more from distributors and corporate wanting it to happen than it does from actual sales.

 

Many members of this site don't like the ciders and seltzers moving in at the expense of the beer on store shelves, but this is also happening at small breweries, bars and restaurants. Every business has to make a profit, and the decision makers have chosen to offer a more diverse beverage line so as to make their customers happy and choosing a beverage other than water or other drinks that don't add as much to the customer's bill.

I'm going to guess that 10-15 percent of small breweries are even making ciders and seltzers and some are also making wine. Some of this in small breweries is also an attempt to provide alternative beverages for the non beer drinkers who are part of a group who visit their taproom. But it all comes down to making a profit to stay alive.

 

I am more okay with that than the NA bull shit, but Seltzers & Hard Waters can F off too for sure unless local. Breweries need to stay in business, so whatever keeps them afloat

 

I tried Mike's Hard Lemonade many years ago, it gave me agita.

Hard cider is doable in a pinch. I have NO interest in hard seltzer.

I'm doing my part in keeping shelf creep at a minimum. Cheers!

 

It's tough to compete with the low carbs in a seltzer without going too low on the alcohol content. I personally will always prefer a beer.

 

Yeah, at the local stores I frequent, craft is giving up shelf and cooler space to seltzers, ciders, and THC kiddie drinks. One store recently gave up about 30ft of craft shelf space to the kiddie drinks. Those should come in the little juice boxes with the push-in straws.

 

[5 years ago] Samuel Adams drops to 7.9% of Boston Beer Co.'s volume

 

I think the interest in hard ciders peaked maybe 5-8 years ago. There definitely isn’t interest in the more farmhouse artisanal “funky/sour” style hard ciders, they peaked out when wild ales peaked out. And the people who liked the sweet mass produced ciders mostly moved on to lower cal/lower sugar seltzers. Just my observations.

 

Beer will always be on the shelves. Another series of big trend waves will rise up and lots of seltzers and such will get pulled away by the tides. Who knows what the tide will bring in. Perhaps a new large-print EZ-to-read calendar for Sierra Nevada.

 

From my experience working in retail and spending a lot of time around beer, what shows up on the shelf is rarely just a reflection of what people want in a simple sense. There is always some level of influence from distributors, product mix decisions, and how quickly items are expected to move. That can make it look like one category is replacing another when it is often more about how space is being managed.

What I have noticed over time is that the type of store matters just as much as the trend itself.

Bottle shops that are built around beer tend to operate with a clear identity. Whether they are on the West Coast, in the mountain states, or here on the East Coast, there is usually a level of curation behind what gets brought in. Even when they carry cider, RTDs, or wine, those are typically added in a way that supports the shop rather than defines it. Beer still leads, and the selection reflects that focus.

Liquor stores are a different environment. They are not necessarily trying to be beer driven. They are working across spirits, wine, beer, and now seltzers and RTDs all at once. In that setting, shelf space is much more tied to margin, turnover, and relationships with distributors. That is where you are more likely to see beer lose space, not because it has lost its place entirely, but because it is one category competing with several others. I have seen this done well though. There is a liquor store out in Sheridan, Wyoming where Gene’s family runs the shop, and even within a full liquor model, there was clear intent behind what was selected. The beer was strong, and the spirits side included bottles that you would even have trouble finding in Philadelphia, or at least ones that people here would recognize and appreciate. That kind of approach still feels curated, even within a broader retail structure.

That distinction changes how I look at what is happening. When I see beer space shrink in a general liquor store, I do not read that the same way as I would in a beer focused shop. One is adjusting its overall product mix, the other is protecting a core identity.

The part that I find most interesting is how a store maintains that balance. It gives people options without diluting what the shop is actually about. A good beer focused shop, like The Bottle Shop on Passyunk Ave here in South Philly, can still bring in options for people who are not drinking beer without losing what makes it a beer destination. Once those additional categories start to take over the space and the decision making, the shop shifts into something else entirely.

So to me, it is less about whether seltzers and ciders are replacing beer, and more about where they are being placed and how intentionally that space is being used.

 

Truer words have never been spoken

 

Browsing the liquor store for craft beer isnt fun anymore. Between the shrinking craft beer sections with the non beer replacing beer and all the old beer in stock and seeing the same beers over and over again and barely anything new coming in. Better off going straight to the brewery if you wanna drink. The liquor stores just arent it anymore.

 

My top 10 best sellers on the alcohol wall year-to-date are a balanced mix between THC seltzers, ciders and IPAs/lagers, followed closely by a bunch of the NA options in the top 15.

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Oh, and I should note that my customers don't even look at alcoholic seltzers. It's THC or nothing.

 

I feel like this is very much a buyer/beer store problem, and not a craft beer problem. I'm rotating in "new" beers at my store every single week. The wall never looks the same one week into the next. It takes a lot of effort, and time, to get there though. So, I can see buyers/stores opting out of that work for the sake of having a stable inventory you don't have to pay attention to, but that definitely does a big disservice to the customer.

Not sure if you can talk to your local store's management/buyer and push them to do better?

 

If anything, I feel like I've seen the seltzer craze come and go. They've mostly been replaced by hard cocktails and such. There are obviously still some that are selling well, but the seltzer selection has probably dropped by 50% in the last 18 months.

Ciders feel like a geographic thing. In some places they're booming, but in other places (like Denver) they aren't big and they've never been big. Both the larger brands and the local ones. We have one of the best cideries in the country (Haykin) and you'd never even know it. Yet if you go to the northeast, northwest, or even 5 hours south of here in NM you'll see ciders flying off shelves and on most taplists.

 

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