In the season of pumpkin spice lattes, a local brewery has found a different way to go basic. DC Brau, which has previously gotten inspiration for its beers from blues rock and 19th century D.C. brewmaster Christian Heurich, is adding something new to its fleet of brews: a quartet of fruity hard seltzers dubbed Full Transparency. It’s apparently the first spiked seltzer to come from a D.C. brewery.
Though hard seltzer has been around for years, its popularity bubbled over around the country this summer. Eater DC reported in August that area bars were selling out of White Claw and Truly, two of the most popular brands in this $550 million market. Budweiser, Anheuser-Busch, Corona, and Four Loko are among the big names to launch their own varieties. The spiked seltzer wave has also come with its share of eye-rolling snobbery: This summer, The Atlantic called it the beverage equivalent of “giving up.”
By the way, the term “spiked” is a bit of a misnomer, as the Daily Beast has pointed out: These drinks aren’t seltzer with a dose of a distilled liquor, they’re brewed from grain or sugar (being a brewed drink means it’s taxed differently from a distilled beverage, which makes it generally cheaper on the shelves).
DC Brau’s Full Transparency comes in four flavors, per a release: black cherry (a very common flavor profile for spiked seltzers, curiously); mango; raspberry limeade; and POG, a blend of passionfruit, orange, and guava popular in juice in Hawaii. Unlike many of its competitors, which serve seltzer in slender, tall 12-oz cans, DC Brau’s variety comes in the short, stocky cans familiar to beer drinkers.
One of the major selling points for spiked seltzer is its low calorie count and alcohol by volume. Like its sparkling competitors, Full Transparency clocks in at 100 calories and less than one gram of sugar per can, at 5 percent ABV. A typical beer averages at about 150 calories, and ABV can vary from 4 percent to the teens.
Cans of Full Transparency will be available at DC Brau starting Saturday. The company will roll out retail distribution later this month. Expect six packs and variety 12 packs.
This story has been updated to reflect that POG is a juice flavor popular in Hawaii.
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Lori McCue