How Hard Soda Became Such a Hot Category

Modern Packaging

Hard soda label designs have been an interesting mix.

On one hand, they contain classic elements that reflect the category’s play on nostalgia. On the other, labels have tried to capture consumer attention with hipper marketing.

Wild Ginger comes in a can featuring a buxom lady, perhaps of the classic pinup model, and of appropriate hair color. “I wanted something that was edgy, like it was a craft-beer label,” Grosser explains. “With Wild Root we developed a pissed-off-looking root beer mug. And it’s an old-school mug. When we first went to market these labels clearly defined who we are.”

“And I wanted something that people would be proud to wear on a t-shirt,” he adds with a laugh.

Not Your Father’s Root Beer embraces retro with its packaging. The layout, copy, cursive font, and old-timey photo all speak of the era of soda shops. Though the copy does spell out one aspect with the modern emphasis on craft and quality: “Ale With The Taste Of Spices.”

Best Damn Brewing labels are all about edginess, fun and humor. The presence of “Damn” in their name — in big bold lettering — is a modern touch itself.

The labels also have an asterisk besides the “Damn.” This leads the eye towards a line of humor towards the can’s bottom. For example, The Best Damn Cherry Cola asterisk leads to “Put A Cherry On Top Tap.”

“We want people to know our personality from the can,” Sattler says. “We are allowing people to have some fun.”

What’s Next

The hard soda boom has happened. What consumer has not yet tried one of these products, or the many others of the style?

So where does this suddenly hot category go from here?

Small Town Brewery launched Not Your Fathers Ginger Ale last November. That and Wild Ginger might be signs of things to come, as more breweries make ginger products. These can be enjoyed alone, or in the many craft cocktails currently popular, like Moscow Mules and Dark and Stormies.

If that’s the case, then costumers should heed the words of Grosser and understand the difference between ginger ale and ginger beer (which is what Grosser makes). “Ginger ale is lighter and more citrusy, while ginger beer is more on the spicier side,” he explains.

And you’ll likely see hard soda have a greater presence at appropriate events.

The 16-oz. cans from Best Damn Brewing lend themselves to “concerts and sporting events,” Sattler says, “places where people will have a nontraditional beverage. We will be leveraging our relationships at stadiums to drive awareness.”

So it is that hard soda has come back from our past to take a firm hold of a niche in our present.

Kyle Swartz is the associate editor of Beverage Dynamics Magazine. Reach him at kswartz@epgmediallc.com and follow him on Twitter at @kswartzz.