The world’s biggest selling alcoholic seltzer, White Claw, has been declared Supreme Brand Champion at the Inaugural Hard Seltzer Masters 2021.

The awards were chaired by The Spirits Business and assessed by a panel of leading spirits specialists.

The Supreme Brand Champions Award seeks to recognise brands that have found fresh and inventive ways to grow their market volume share. Since its launch in the US in 2016, White Claw has enjoyed growing success in Australia, Canada, the UK, Ireland and The Netherlands; with a number of European market launches announced ahead of summer 2021.

The brand has become a cultural phenomenon with fans, generating more than four billion impressions and 46 times more social media mentions than competing brands in the US. The iconic, global brand has proved to be America’s most successful new alcohol product in a generation, disrupting the alcohol industry with what is being coined as “the hard seltzer revolution”. In fact, in 2020, White Claw contributed over $1 billion in growth to the US hard seltzer segment, which was more than the next two largest beverage growth brands combined.

RTD volumes overtake spirits & wine in the US

White Claw, which is distributed in Australia by Lion, was up against more than 39 hard seltzers and 102 entries in the competition, and also picked up Ready To Drink Brand Champion, plus Gold medals for both its Mango and Black Cherry flavours.

Davin Nugent, CEO of Mark Anthony Brands International, said: “These awards are a major milestone in the White Claw journey. It is great to have the industry recognise White Claw’s superior taste, quality and customer experience. These globally recognised awards are a high point as Mark Anthony Brands International continues its growth globally. It is also important to recognise the crucial role of our distribution partners and more importantly, our customers who have helped White Claw become such a global phenomenon.”

Anubha Sahasrabuddhe, Lion Consumer and Brand Director said: “These awards are a major milestone in the White Claw journey. To now have the accolades and industry recognition to support White Claw’s superior taste and quality is something we are very proud of, both here in Australia and abroad.” 

The news follows White Claw’s recent limited edition launch of Black Cherry becoming its biggest selling flavour in Australia. Black Cherry is also a US fan favourite, delivering just under $500 million in sales in the 52 weeks to January 2021. 

Endeavour Group’s RTD Category Manager Lance Friedman said: “Customers are loving White Claw hard seltzers, and White Claw Black Cherry became the number one flavour of the range when it launched.

“Following the first summer of seltzers being established, we’re seeing consistent growth in the seltzer category despite the cooler weather. Customers have truly discovered and fallen in love with hard seltzers.

“New flavours such as White Claw Black Cherry help keep the momentum alive, Aussie customers are curious about the category and eager to discover more.”

Click here for the full Hard Seltzer Masters 2021 results.

Limited supplies of White Claw Black Cherry land in Australia