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Each generation has had its own way of hydrating. Louis XIV insisted that spring water be transported by mule from Châteldon in Auvergne; In more recent times, no backstage shot at Fashion Week seems to be complete without a bottle of Fiji somewhere in the frame.
The latest water brands to make waves are making drinks that behave more like beers or energy drinks. They’re provocative, flashy and canned, and they’re an increasingly vocal part of a single-use water market in the United States that’s worth $34.4 billion and growing.
Market leader liquid death – tagline: “Murder Your Thirst” – comes in a tall cabinet with twisted heavy metal styles. It launched in 2019 with still water sourced from the Austrian Alps, before diversifying into sparkling water. Today, it’s a $1.4 billion hydration brand spanning plain water, iced teas, mineral water and electrolyte powders, plus products ranging from Liquid Death watches and hair pomades to sweatshirts and cat toys.
The brand was conceived by Californian graphic designer Mike Cessario after he noticed fans backstage at Vans Warped Tour drinking water from Monster Energy cans. “A lot of the brands that are in the alternative space are really unhealthy,” he told Diner in 2021. “It’s a bunch of cheap, disgusting beer and energy drinks. “We wanted to give people permission to participate in this great brand of rock ‘n’ roll without having to consume something disgusting.”
Liquid Death contains nothing more toxic than H2O, but it cultivates a harmful image. He is known for his tongue-in-cheek marketing and funny, often gory videos and memes. Its viral content has made it one of the most followed beverage brands on TikTok, while partnerships with counterculture celebrities like Machine Gun Kelly and skateboarder Tony Hawk have also helped build its credibility among Generation Z.
Liquid Death positions itself as an environmentally friendly brand: “Death to Plastic” is another of its mottos. But although its fans still consider it underground, you can now buy it in Tesco (at three times the price of Evian: a box of Emperor’s New Clothes?).
Following in the wake of Liquid Death is the canned water brand. no beer – a carb-free, alcohol-free, flavorless “beer” that is joyously absurd. Derived from local water sources in the US and packaged in a livery reminiscent of Budweiser, it “allows the consumer to immerse themselves in the fantasy world of good old beer without any of the drawbacks that come with alcohol,” says founder Dillon Dandurand, former investment banker and co-founder of the bean-based pasta brand bramiwhich is made from the “superbean” lupini, rich in protein and low in carbohydrates.
“Feeling comfortable drinking water in a social setting is not the only problem Not Beer solves,” he says. “The main thing is that your current water options are boring and hardly provoke any emotion. Not Beer is your fun water option. It evokes those feelings that alcohol companies sell us: fun, relaxation, confidence, inclusion.”
Fresh from the UK grime scene arrives Dripa canned water from rapper and TV personality Big Zuu (“Drip” means clothes,” he says. “If you’ve got drip, you’ve got style.”) Drip doesn’t explicitly court the beer market (Big Zuu is Muslim), but at Like its peers, the company aims to be a lifestyle brand, producing video, music and street art collaborations under the title Drip Curates Also keen to promote its eco-credentials, it can be traced back to its origins in the chalky South Downs. , in the south of England. I blind-tested it against some competitors and it was good: pure and polished. Meanwhile, my nine-year-old son enjoyed strutting around the house brandishing the flashy black and gold can, like some kind of prototype.
“Hydration has become an aspiration,” says Joanna Lowry, head of strategy at brand agency Protein. She cites the rise of the Stanley Cup, the $900 Dior water bottle, and “a wave of new luxury water filtration systems like Walter and Endless Rhythm” as testament to that. “Drinking canned water is a way to lead a life of personal optimization while maintaining a countercultural spirit.” It’s a little depressing to think that today’s version of hitting The Man is equivalent to drinking water and paying three times the price for it. But we must applaud the evil genius of the brands that did it this way; They are the new homeopaths.
It is well documented that an increasing number of adults are reducing their alcohol consumption. It is estimated that between a fifth and a quarter of young adults are now teetotal. And the phenomenon of water canned as beer is just one example of the rise of substitute drinks that offer teetotalers a non-alcoholic soft drink with an adult positioning. A corollary of this trend is the rise of hop water, especially in the US: sparkling mineral waters flavored with hops, giving them a citrus bitterness vaguely reminiscent of a beer.
Sierra Nevada Hop Splash, $23.28 for 12 cans
Jump weight Classic, $36.99 for 12 cans
On a recent trip to Whole Foods in New York, I found coolers full of hop water from established brewers like Sierra Nevada and Lagunitasas well as independent brands such as Jump weight, which comes in a variety of fruit flavors, studded with nootropics. (In case I bought Sierra Nevada Hop Splash, which turned out to be a great midday refresher.)
“Hoppy water-type products meet many of the same requirements as root beer or mocktails due to their zero ABV content, and also align with the rise in sparkling water consumption over the past 10 years” says Mary Guiver, director. category merchant for Beer in Whole Foods Market.
The British craft brewer Northern Monk launched the UK’s first sparkling hop water, Holy Hop Water, in 2021, and it proved so popular that the brewery now produces four variants flavored with Citra, El Dorado and Sabro hops. The Citra simple variety wonderfully quenches thirst; I drink it a lot at home. “It’s available in bottle shops for the traditional craft beer drinker, but we also know that it’s also drunk by non-alcoholic drinkers,” says head brewer and co-founder Brian Dickson, “as well as bands and people who play sports.” .”
This blurring of boundaries in water is something we’re seeing more and more in beverages across the board, a phenomenon driven by a new generation of consumers who are comfortable with definitions in general being much more fluid. Which makes a trip to Whole Foods much more exciting, but also a little more confusing. So the next time you reach for that can in the refrigerator, be sure to read the fine print.