Duvel USA-owned Boulevard’s beyond beer offshoot Quirk is tea-ing up a 2025 innovation slate that touches on hot trends in the fourth category.
Quirk Hard Tea (4% ABV) will roll out in early 2025 with a standalone lemonade tea offering and a variety pack, executives announced to wholesalers during Duvel USA’s virtual wholesaler summit last week.
“Quirk Hard Tea will meet the opportunity to expand the Quirk franchise even further, finding new occasions and consumers,” VP of marketing Ali Bush said. “These teas offer a significantly different drinking experience than our seltzers, with a rounder mouthfeel and increased sweetness and a near imperceptible level of carbonation.”
Quirk Hard Lemonade Tea will be available in 12 oz. can 12-packs, 19.2 oz. single-serve cans, and will be joined by a 12 oz. can variety 12-pack with Lemonade Tea, Peach Tea, Pomegranate Tea and Raspberry Tea.
The new product’s points of differentiation include a green tea base, cane sugar and real fruit juice. Each 12 oz. serving checks in at 100 calories and has minimal carbonation, so it’s “big on flavor, but very light on the bubbles,” Bush said.
“We believe with your partnership, we can do once again with Quirk Hard Tea what has become Quirk’s calling card: offer a differentiated entrant to shoppers who prioritize craft and quality and earn success with distribution, display and awareness focus,” she added.
Boulevard is making Quirk Hard Tea the brand family’s No. 1 priority in terms of expanding distribution, EVP of sales and marketing Bobby Dykstra told Brewbound. Brewery leadership is asking wholesaler partners to place Quirk Hard Tea with other hard teas at retail, not in the hard seltzer section where other Quirk offerings go. Its fermented cane sugar base will help it stand out from other hard teas, which are typically flavored malt beverages (FMB), he added.
Expanded distribution aside, the overall top priority for Quirk is the brands’ Berry & Botanical Mix Pack, a year-round hard seltzer pack featuring Strawberry, Lemon and Basil; Blackberry Sage; Cherry Blossom and Lime; and Blueberry, Lemon and Lavender. Berry & Botanical is available in 12 oz. can 12-packs and 24-packs and is the brand’s best selling SKU.
“Despite soft trends in overall seltzer, Quirk continues to deliver, with our success coming from both impactful innovation and our brand pillars,” Bush said. “Powerhouse packs Berry & Botanical Mix and Raspberry Rocket Pop continue to gain volume year-over-year, and our draft business is actually outpacing package and gaining the attention of national chains.”
Of Quirk’s other year-round 12 oz. can variety 12-packs, the Whip Mix Pack (Pineapple Orange Whip, Peach Apricot Whip, Strawberry Banana Whip and Raspberry Lime Whip) is “firmly No. 2” and “belongs in all Midwest cooler sets,” Bush said. No. 3 Fountain Fizz Pack (Lemon Thyme Limeade, Black Cherry Vanilla, Ginger Grape Fizz and Clementine Cream Pop) follows. After “strategic reconfiguration,” the Splash of Citrus Mix Pack (Watermelon, Salt and Lime; Pear Yuzu; Mango Punch; and Passionfruit Orange) returned to growth this summer.
Dollar sales of the Quirk brand family increased +3% in the 52-week period that ended August 10, according to NIQ data provided by 3 Tier Beverages. The overall hard seltzer segment’s dollar sales declined -11.7% in the same period.
Since Quirk’s debut, it has grown to be more independent from its parent Boulevard brand, and the size of the Boulevard logo on Quirk packaging has shrunk, Bush said.
“It’s evolved a little bit over the last five years,” she said. “It used to be higher up in the hierarchy in our brand system, but we really have seen Quirk emerge as its own standalone brand. Slowly, that ratio is shifting a little bit as Quirk becomes such a trusted and known brand throughout the Midwest.”
Bush posited that Quirk’s dedication to unique flavors and quality have set the brand apart in a segment that was once crowded with fast-followers.
“We’ve always been very, very invested in the quality, first and foremost, and a key differentiator is real fruit juice – that was not a widespread element in hard seltzer when we launched Quirk in 2020,” Bush said. “I’ve seen some adopters of that now, but that was a real lightbulb moment for us.”
Similarly, consumers have appreciated the brand’s embrace of nostalgia-driven flavor, such as those in the Whip Mix Pack and Raspberry Rocket Pop, which is modeled after the popular red, white and blue popsicles sold from ice cream trucks for decades, she said.
Raspberry Rocket Pop (4% ABV) is available in 19.2 oz. single-serve cans from March through August and in 12 oz. can 12-packs and on draft from April through August. The limited-release sold 100,000 case equivalents in 2024, Bush said. Raspberry Rocket Pop Booster (8% ABV) is available in 19.2 oz. single-serve cans year-round.
In August 2025, Quirk will dip into nostalgic summer treat flavors again with Rainbow Sherbet Hard Seltzer, which will be available in 12 oz. can 12-packs and on draft.
“What we know about the Quirk and overall beyond beer consumer is innovation is a priority,” Bush said. “We’ve introduced family extensions each year that expand the Quirk shelf in a strategic and incremental way and respond to shifting consumer preferences.”
Quirktails, the band’s cocktail inspired FMB offshoot that launched in early 2024, will see its first variety pack roll out in February 2025. The Be Your Own Bartender variety 12-pack will be available year-round and includes 12 oz. bottles of Raspberry Lemon Drop, Pineapple Breeze, Mango Mandarin Marg and Dragon Berry Daiquiri.
Dragon Berry Daiquiri is exclusively available in the pack, while the other three flavors are available year-round in 12 oz. bottle 6-packs.