Hard root beer is just the start of the latest wave of alco-pops.
First it was the boomlet created by hard root beers, and now major brewer MillerCoors, best known for Miller Lite and Coors Light, plans to start selling Henry's Hard Ginger Ale and Henry's Hard Orange sodas in six packs and in 16-ounce individual cans to retailers across the country in January.
Backed with a national television advertising and digital marketing campaign, Henry’s will be aimed at Gen Xers who grew up drinking soda and now have more disposable income.
"This is a true white-space opportunity in the marketplace," Bryan Ferschinger, MillerCoors' director of innovation, was quoted as saying in news reports. "We're seeing very strong trends in craft sodas and other flavorful offerings with alcohol, and we see huge consumer appeal that will allow this to be a strong national play out of the gates."
Both sodas are sweetened with pure cane sugar and will be about 4.2 percent alcohol by volume, comparable to light domestic beers. While initially available in only two flavors, more are in the works, which the exec called a “hard soda platform. "Everything we see leads us to believe this is not a flash in the pan."
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