Hard MTN Dew, the flavored malt beverage (FMB) from Boston Beer Company and PepsiCo, is expanding its lineup for the first time since launching with Livewire, an orange citrus flavor inspired by the soft drink flavor of the same name.
Like its Hard MTN Dew compatriots, Livewire is 5% ABV, with no caffeine, no added sugars and 100 calories per serving. The offering will be available exclusively in single-serve 24 oz. cans.
The addition comes almost exactly a year after the launch of Hard MTN Dew, which is produced and marketed by Boston Beer and distributed through PepsiCo’s wholesale entity Blue Cloud Distribution. The four debut flavors – original MTN Dew, Baja Blast, Black Cherry and Watermelon – are available in 24 oz. single-serve cans and 12 oz. variety 12-packs.
Livewire will be available across Hard MTN Dew’s footprint, which is now 11 states. The brand is expected to expand into a total of 15 states over the “next couple months” and 25-30 states by the end of 2023, but the final number will come down to state “approvals,” Boston Beer CEO Dave Burwick said last month during the company’s Q4/full-year earnings call.
Hard MTN Dew has faced several hurdles in expanding its distribution footprint due to regulatory delays and arguments that Blue Cloud’s connection to PepsiCo infringes upon the three-tier system. Regulators have denied licenses to Blue Cloud in Kentucky, Georgia and Indiana. Complaints were also filed in Virginia and Nevada last year by Blue Ridge Beverage Company and Premium Distributors, a subsidiary of the Reyes Beverage Group.
The National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) has also persistently raised concerns over the soda producer using its existing relationships with retailers, as well as “slotting fees” practices that are prohibited in bev-alc, to give better placement to the product. The NBWA has also expressed concerns that the FMBs are being sold around products marketed toward children, such as Hot Wheels and Kool-Aid. In Virginia, lawmakers are considering legislation to regulate how and where alcoholic versions of non-alcoholic products such as MTN Dew, Fresca, Simply Lemonade and other products are merchandised in retail stores.
Boston Beer seems to be counteracting this latter narrative with a “Definitely Over 21” party to celebrate the launch of Hard MTN Dew Livewire. The launch event is a “spring break bash” for consumers 55 and older, held at a retirement community in Florida, in an attempt to prove “just because you’ve surpassed the legal drinking age doesn’t mean you have to stop having fun.”
Hard MTN Dew is the No. 1 FMB in sales-per-point-of-distribution, “ahead of Twisted Tea, ahead of Mike’s [Hard Lemonade], ahead of everything,” Burwick said last month.
“The repeat rates are as high as anything we’ve seen in beyond beer launches in the last couple years,” he said. “So on a below-average distribution footprint, the brand is performing well.”
In the four weeks ending January 28, Hard MTN Dew held a 1.1% dollar share of the total hard seltzer segment, according to NielsenIQ data analyzed by financial services firm Jefferies.
Still, Boston Beer expects Hard MTN Dew to be a small volume contributor in 2023.
PepsiCo isn’t letting the rollout hurdles diminish its interest in bev-alc. The soda giant has made a licensing deal with FIFCO USA to produce a 5% ABV version of Lipton iced tea, which will also be distributed through Blue Cloud. PepsiCo reportedly pitched the collaboration to Boston Beer first, but the beer company declined, as the product would be in competition with Twisted Tea, Boston Beer founder and chairman Jim Koch said during Beer Marketer’s Insights’ Beer Insights Seminar in November.