Hard seltzers, spiked seltzers, and their ilk have been marketed as lighter than traditional alcoholic beverages. In the 2010s, the hard seltzers started to pop up, with names like White Claw and Truly, both of which launched in 2016. Advertisement"During the pandemic, hard seltzers really blew up, and I think hard seltzers are one of those ones that were perceived as a little bit of a better-for-you option," said Kaleigh Theriault, an associate director of beverage-alcohol thought leadership at NIQ, a market research firm. The market got saturated, and people started to realize there could be a lot more to canned alcohol than beer and hard seltzers. "So companies are having to innovate more and more, and that has led to some higher-ABV canned cocktails."

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