There ain't no laws when you're drinking White Claws. Or in this case, there ain't no claws, because America is drinking them dry. The hard seltzer brand has been a break-out star this year in the alcohol world, inspiring White Claw Summer 2019 and a whole lotta memes, t-shirts, and water cooler conversations. But it all might be over soon, or at least slowing down. According to the brand, White Claws are running out at an alarming speed.
Is White Claw Running Out?
The White Claw craze began in 2016 when Mike's Hard Lemonade maker Mark Anthony Brands launched the spiked seltzer. It was the same year that Anheuser-Busch bought SpikedSeltzer which led to Bon & Viv. It's around the same time that Brewing company Boston Beer started selling their version of seltzer water, named Truly.
At first, the new malt beverage was a hard sell for beer drinkers who draft craft beer and loved a good IPA. Today, the hard seltzer market is growing strong as people search for low-calorie and gluten-free alternatives. Now, bars across the country are selling White Claw Hard Seltzer as an option.
But all good things have to end (or slow down) at some point. According to White Claw, sales of the drink grew 283% to $327.7 million in July compared to the same period last year. That's a lot of spiked black cherry seltzer. And get this, 55% of all hard seltzer sales for the week of July 4 were White Claws. That's a huge hold on the market.
"We are working around the clock to increase supply given the rapid growth in consumer demand," Sanjiv Gajiwala, White Claw's senior vice president of marketing, told CNN Business. "White Claw has accelerated faster than anyone could have predicted."
There's no concrete date when all the stock will return to normal, however, Gajiwala shared that they are "allocating product to our distributor partners to keep all markets in stock the best we can and will continue to do so until we get back to our normal safety stock position."
So if you see a White Claw sitting alone on the grocery shelf, buy it. You might not know when you'll see it again next.
