Following a US study tour, Hard FIZZ CEO Wade Tiller has given his verdict on the top trends likely to impact the Australian RTDs market.

Tiller and his team visited a wide range of alcohol retailers, including Whole Foods Market, Costco and Trader Joe’s. They also met with distributors including Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits and attended the Expo West Natural Products Expo.

A report compiled by Hard FIZZ following its visit has identified tequila-based beverages and ‘better for you’ drinks as seeing the most growth in the United States and predicts they will lead innovation in the category in Australia over the next three to five years.

It has also pinpointed pineapple as being a flavour of choice across most spirit ranges, followed by other trending flavours include guava, passionfruit and coconut.

Zero sugar and low sugar is now a major differentiator, with retailers expanding shelf space for these offerings, and a massive surge in ‘flavour driven by juice”.

Brands with better-for-you positioning are outperforming traditional sugary RTDs, growth is also occurring in higher ABV RTDs (8-10%), with the rising trend of “drinking less but better.”

“Tequila based RTD’s are surging, outpacing vodka in terms of growth [in the US],” the report says.

“[Australian] retailers see this as the next big wave. Vodka RTD’s remain strong [in the US], holding a significant share, but growth is slower compared to tequila.”

Tiller said the US is generally a year or two ahead of Australia when it comes to what’s trending in alcohol, so he expects tequila based RTD’s to soon dominate bottle shops Down Under.

“Watch this space. At Hard FIZZ, we always innovate with purpose so the insights we gained from this trip will dictate what blends and flavours we put out in the coming years.

“The US is the trendsetter with alcohol – what they do, the world generally follows so if their market is loving tequila at the moment, you can assume it’s on its way here too.”

Hard FIZZ is the brainchild of Grammy-nominated music producer, DJ FISHER and his podcaster wife, Chloe, along with fellow DJ’s Tigerlily and Brooke Evers, surfer Laura Enever, TV chef Hayden Quinn and surf wear guru, Joel Scott.

The brand launched on the Gold Coast in 2020 and, in the past 12 months, it has generated $12 million in sales, moving three and half million cans and more than one million litres in volume.

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