It’s April Fool’s Day but this is no hoax. Stone Brewing Company is launching a hard seltzer line.
In fact, Buenavida Hard Seltzer is now available on draft at all of Stone’s taprooms and pubs, including its World Bistro & Gardens locations in Escondido and Liberty Station, and Stone Brewing Napa.
Buenavida Hard Seltzer (5% ABV, 100 calories, 2g carbs) will roll out in four flavors — Mango, Black Cherry, Mandarin, and Watermelon & Lime — this July in Southern California. National distribution is planned for January 2022, barring Stone being unable to meet demand in its home market.
Variety 12-packs will be exclusively packaged in glass bottles, eschewing the popular 12 oz. sleek can model set by leaders of the segment, Truly Hard Seltzer (Boston Beer Company) and White Claw (Mark Anthony Brands).
In a press release, Stone Brewing co-founder Greg Koch noted his previous disinterest in the hard seltzer space, which generated $4.1 billion in off-premise sales in 2020, according to NielsenIQ.
“The category as a whole confused me, and I struggled to see why we would want to play in a space that seemed to overtly espouse a philosophy of mediocrity,” he said.
However, Koch came around to the notion of a Stone-branded hard seltzer line as a byproduct of the company’s “environment of free-spirited innovation that didn’t allow the low expectations of preconceived notions to drive the bus.”
“Surprisingly, perhaps more to me than anyone, I’m fine with it even though I know that I’m likely to get merciless sh*t over us releasing a hard seltzer … and perhaps deservedly so with all the fun I’ve poked at the category,” he added. “There’s no question that IPAs, sours, saisons, porters and pale ales are more my jam, so you’re prolly not going to see me being a big hard seltzer consumer. However, what our brewers delivered gives new meaning to the category and I’m all in on raising that bar.”
Stone joins a seemingly endless list of new entrants to the hard seltzer segment, including craft brewers New Belgium (Fruit Smash); non-alcoholic beverage brands Spindrift, Sparkling Ice, and new product lines from segment leaders, such as Truly (Punch, Iced Tea), White Claw (Iced Tea) and MIke’s Hard (Lemonade Seltzer), Molson Coors’ Vizzy (Lemonade), Anheuser-Busch’s Cacti and many, many more.
Stone has previously used the Buenavida name on its Salt & Lime Mexican-style lager. The extension to hard seltzer marks the latest makeover of Stone’s brand portfolio since Maria Stipp took over as CEO, including building around Buenavida Salt & Lime Mexican-style lager; Features and Benefits, a 95-calorie, 4% ABV IPA; Neverending Haze IPA; and limited-edition Dayfall Belgian White. Stipp didn’t deny Stone’s possible entry into hard seltzer while appearing on a recent edition of Brewbound Frontlines.
“We have the full realization that many existing Stone fans may not gravitate towards our efforts to up the ante on what has largely been a category void of flavor, personality, character and soul. And there exist many who are not currently Stone fans who will find the seltzers are to their liking. Both are OK,” Koch said in the release. “While we take on new categories of drink, Stone will continue to focus on its full range of beers, including our famous IPAs. After all, we all deserve better.”
Stone recently completed the reorganization of its sales and marketing teams. Tom McReavy took over as senior vice president of sales earlier this week, while former wine, spirits and cannabis executive Erin Smith took over as vice president of marketing in early March.