Beer may be the most popular alcoholic drink on the planet, but—besides water, of course—there’s one bevy that beats it for the world's most consumed: tea.
Even in the United States, where we famously chucked crates of it into the sea, the favored beverage of our colonial antecedents remains widely popular, especially when iced. Tea is deeply embedded in regional cultural practices.
Boston Beer, somewhat ironically, launched the hard-tea party 25 years ago with its Twisted Tea brand, and that sweet malt beverage with a hint of lemon and 5 percent ABV is still the exemplar of the category. But just because Twisted Tea dominates IRI charts and C-store sets doesn’t mean it’s pointless to launch your own product.
Hard iced tea can fit into any craft brewery’s portfolio, whether as a taproom option for the beer-shy, a play for shelf space at the retail level, or yet another creative outlet for the flavor-obsessed. Let’s take a closer look at the how and why.