Gen Z Is Fed Up With Fizzy Alcohol Drinks and Startups Are Cashing In: 'No Bubbles, No Troubles'

Bars are getting flatter. Vodka waters are replacing vodka seltzers, tequila and soda is now tequila and water. It turns out Gen Z is fussy about the fizz in their drinks.

Non-carbonated drinks made up 38% of new product launches in the $22 billion premixed drink market last year, up from 27% in 2021, according to Bloomberg. “Because there’s no bubbles, you don’t feel so full,” says Emily Aprigliano, a 26-year-old New Yorker who switched to canned cocktails after trying non-bubbly Surfside on a beach trip. “You can’t even taste the alcohol, so they just kind of go back easier.”

Surfside, made by Philadelphia-based Stateside Brands, is now one of the fastest-growing alcohol brands in the US, built around the trademarked slogan “No Bubbles, No Troubles.” Boston Beer followed two years later with Sun Cruiser, which is now propping up sales as its Truly seltzer brand slows down.

Smaller startups saw the shift coming even earlier. Jill Morrison started sipping spa water with a splash of vodka on a Dominican Republic vacation, then launched Mom Water with her husband in southern Indiana in 2021. “The competitive landscape is tenfold what it was five years ago,” says co-founder Bryce Morrison. The brand is on track to top 1 million cases this year.

Even hard seltzer giant Gallo is adapting. The company launched Lucky One Lemonade with Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, which sold 1 million cases in its first seven months, a sign the Millennial-era hard seltzer boom is waning.

Jonathan Small • Founder, Strike Fire Productions