Coca-Cola Entering Hard Seltzer Market With Topo Chico Hard Seltzer

The hard seltzer market has remained so hot in 2020 that everyone wants a piece—even companies that aren’t in the alcoholic beverage industry. None other than Coca-Cola is now throwing its hat into the ring, making this the first alcoholic product that will be sold in the U.S. by the company since it sold off its Wine Spectrum company in 1983. And the forthcoming hard seltzer will be found under the thriving Topo Chico brand.

Topo Chico Hard Seltzer will initially be sold in “select cities in Latin America,” before a planned U.S. launch in 2021. Topo Chico was acquired by Coke back in 2017, and has since seen its distribution spread across the U.S. Coca-Cola seems to have high expectations for the brand—hence, the decision to attach the new hard seltzer concept to it, as AB InBev did with Bud Light Seltzer.

A lineup of flavors for Topo Chico Hard Seltzer wasn’t immediately announced, but the first press image clearly reads “Tangy Lemon Lime” as its flavor. Coke stated that it would share more details on the brand closer to launch.

Hard seltzer has continued to surge in sales, sucking energy out of both the domestic macro beer scene and the stagnating craft beer scene in the last few years. The volume of the hard seltzer field more than tripled in 2019 according to IWSR, and the solidification of brands like White Claw and Truly as market leaders (especially the former) has led to an unceasing array of imitators launching hard seltzer-adjacent products, such as the now-surging High Noon Sun Sips. It’s fair to wonder how much more room there really is in this particular market for new brands to find a major foothold, but you can bet that Coca-Cola will have the distribution clout to put its brand under consumers noses.

We’ll let you know more details on Coke’s sudden entry into the hard seltzer field when the information emerges.