Coca-Cola announced that it will launch a hard drive under its Topo Chico brand later this year.
The new drink will be sold in selected cities in Latin America. Topo Chico Hard Seltzer will launch in the United States in 2021, becoming the company’s first foray into alcoholic beverages in its local market for the first time since it solds its Wine business in the 1983.
However, from the moment Coca-Cola bought Topo Chico in 2017, the company seemed to understand the potential of the brand. Popular in Mexico and Texas as a soft drink, cocktail mixer, and occasional hangover cure, Topo Chico benefited from Coca-Cola’s distribution network and marketing dollars. Top Chico’s sales in the United States rose 39 percent to nearly $ 130 million in a 12-month period after Coca-Cola bought the brand.
The soft drink giant, aspires to be a “total beverage company,” said it will sell Topo Chico Hard Seltzer in “selected cities” in Latin America later this year.
Meanwhile, Hard Seltzer has also enjoyed a wave of popularity, with beverages like White Claw taking hold of consumers who want a low-calorie, not too sweet way to drink. Boston Beer Co., the maker of Samuel Adams, called its Truly Hard Seltzer a driver of sales growth when it reported profits last week. Meanwhile, Molson Coors Beverage Co. Coco-Cola is preparing to launch its own line called Coors Seltzer in the market.
Both sparkling water and hard mineral water are fast growing categories for the beverage industry. In 2019, the volume of the hard seltzer tripled, helping to reverse the declining trend of global alcohol consumption.
The trick for Coca-Cola, it seems, will be tapping into the popularity of Topo Chico without alienating the cult of the product it follows or undermining its mystique. Topo Chico’s natural gas mineral water comes from a limestone spring hidden beneath a mountain on the outskirts of Monterrey. Coca-Cola said it would share more details about Topo Chico Hard Seltzer closer to launch.
