Stone Brewing Company’s entry into the $4.5 billion hard seltzer segment — Buenavida Hard Seltzer — is now available in Southern California.
Announced on April Fool’s Day, Buenavida Hard Seltzer is, in fact, a reality. Whereas the vast majority of hard seltzer brands are available in sleek (slim) cans, Stone’s hard seltzer will be sold in “custom-molded” 12 oz. glass bottles.
Buenavida Hard Seltzer (5% ABV, 100 calories) is sold in variety 12-pack bottles with four flavors: Mango, Black Cherry, Mandarin, and Watermelon & Lime. The seltzer has been available since April at all of Stone’s taprooms and pubs, including its World Bistro & Gardens locations in Escondido and Liberty Station, and Stone Brewing Napa.
National distribution could follow in 2022 if the line is successful.
The product is made with cane sugar and natural flavors. The custom-molded bottles leave a “stamp of the Live Buena Sugar Skull,” a take on Stone’s gargoyle logo, when pressed into sand.
Stone’s entry into the segment comes as off-premise dollar sales of hard seltzers have decelerated year-over-year against tough COVID-19 comps and a reopened on-premise channel. Off-premise dollar sales of hard seltzer offerings are up 23.1% year-to-date through July 10, according to NielsenIQ. However, sales have slowed to +8.8% over the last four-week period.
The hard seltzer segment so far has played out as a two-company race between Mark Anthony Brands’ White Claw (38.1% market share, according to Fintech data) and Boston Beer Company’s Truly Hard Seltzer (29.8%). Bud Light Seltzer sits in third with 9.1% share of the segment. Combined, those three brands make up 77% of the segment.
Overall, hard seltzer holds an 8.2% share of the beer category and 3.3% of the on-premise, according to Fintech InfoSource data.
Buenavida Hard Seltzer line extends Stone Buenaveza Salt & Lime Lager brand, a Mexican-style lager that Stone launched in 2020. Off-premise sales of the lager are up 277%, to more than $1.9 million, year-to-date through July 20, according to NielsenIQ data shared by 3 Tier Beverages. Up against the tough year-ago comps, portfolio-wide dollar sales of Stone products have declined 11% year-to-date, according to NielsenIQ data shared by 3 Tier.
The press release for Buenavida Hard Seltzer also addresses Stone co-founder Greg Koch’s well-chronicled past “skepticism” of the hard seltzer segment.
“I remember mentioning the idea of a hard seltzer during my first Stone Town Hall meeting as CEO last year and the silence from the audience was … deafening,” Stone CEO Maria Stipp said in the release. ”Clearly, I hit a nerve.”
The company went on to say hard seltzers have evolved beyond “poolside, boats and beaches” to “dinner tables and cocktail bars, as well as backyards.”
“Cheers to our brewers who proved that hard seltzer isn’t defined by mediocrity,” Koch said in the release. “I was full on skeptical. I fully acknowledge having openly mocked the category, as I felt we wanted no part in the buffoonish culture that’s been so strongly associated with it. But there’s a new era [of] quality hard seltzers out there, and that’s where Stone belongs. We believe Buenavida Hard Seltzer is more refined.”