Even though most people don't associate hard seltzer as a flavored beer, the popular summer drink is capturing a sizeable part of the alcoholic beverage market locally as well as nationally.  According to Nielson Research, fewer than 10 percent of hard seltzer buyers identify the drink as a type of beer.  Two-thirds consider hard seltzer as its own category.  Alex Stodola, an owner of  Stodola's IGA in Luxemburg, says the tropical flavors are even more popular this summer, and the product is flying off the shelf.

Stodola adds that the hard seltzers have cut into the hard lemonades, as well as the traditional beer and wine markets.  Hard seltzers sales totaled $1.5 billion in 2019 and are projected to increase dramatically as it becomes a more year-around beverage of choice.