Jaime Polisoto has seen a lot of changes in her 20 years in the beverage alcohol industry.
In a recent talk with CSP on alcohol innovations and trends, the director of innovation at FIFCO USA, Rochester, New York, said there’s a lot of gray area among segments nowadays.
Polisoto, who worked on the on-premise side of the business before moving to the brand side, recalls the “old days” of premium light beer and vodka drinks, which transitioned into a focus on growth via craft beers.
Just a couple of years ago, however, the business transitioned again to “this no-flavor, low-flavor seltzer segment,” she said. “And now we’re into this area where it’s like anything and everything: Every flavor, every type of spirit, any type of cocktail is now ready to drink in cans or in bottles in the category.”
These changes have happened quickly, Polisoto said, because consumers’ taste profiles are evolving quickly.
“It’s a very cool time to be in the business where you can innovate with all these amazing ingredients.”
“Consumers want a lot of options and choices,” she said.
One aspect of ready-to-drink cocktails that interests Polisoto is consumers’ willingness to include alcohol in their overall wellness lifestyle.
“In the past, people were looking for things like diet and no calories,” she said. “Now people are looking to balance that lifestyle while still indulging in alcoholic beverages—but maybe they’re looking for better ingredients or no sugar or things like that.
“They still want to drink, but they want to make really great decisions for themselves that balance out their well-being,” she said, adding that FIFCO USA will introduce a Seagram’s Escapes product in early 2024 catering to this consumer mindset.
“It’s not about dieting, it’s about indulging in a way that makes people comfortable about their wellness,” she said. “It’s more transparency. Instead of high fructose corn syrup, you use cane sugar. You know where it’s coming from. That’s how we see things shifting.”
Flavors, Options
Evolving tastes are leading today’s innovations, Polisoto said. “The heart of any successful innovation is capturing and closing out the consumer needs,” which today is more flavors and options—and is based on the occasion: barbecue, restaurant, ballgame, she said.
“Those type of things keep us on the supplier side on our toes to constantly keep up on the changing flavors,” she said.
Polisoto said she was at her daughter’s softball game recently and overhead another mom tell her children they were getting ice cream after the game.
“The mom asked the kids what flavors they want, pineapple or something else,” she said. “That was, for me, way out there. It was such an ‘aha’ moment to me because never as a child would I have chosen pineapple as an ice cream flavor.
“It has to be a great liquid for people to want.”
“But that’s just the evolving taste of consumers,” she said. “People are growing up with all this worldly knowledge of all these different tastes that we at certain points didn’t have. And now that’s how people are growing up, and when they enter the alcohol phase, they want those flavors to come along with them.”
Part of this evolution is thanks to advances in technology, she said.
“Stuff is coming out now that’s so consistent and perfect out of all these major breweries,” she said. “I know our brewery is just so consistent. So, when you do put a flavor into something, the flavor can be the hero as opposed to what’s beneath it.”
Polisoto then dove deeper:
Hard Seltzer
“Hard seltzer came into the category fast and furious about 2015,” Polisoto said. “It was something new, and consumers went there. Companies were mimicking what was happening in the seltzer non-alcoholic offering, like La Croix.”
The recent release of Mtn Dew with alcohol is one example of this, she said.
“This trend brought new consumers into our overall bubble of alcohol-flavored malt beverages, which is incredible,” she said. “I think what has happened now is it’s just evening out and will consistently be part of our overall choices for consumers.”
Malt-Based Drinks
There is a flavor and cocktail explosion in malt-based drinks being driven by a couple of factors, she said.
“People want what they see at restaurants, but they can’t make it at home,” Polisoto said. “But now with technology and all these delicious flavors, you can buy it in a convenient version you can bring to a party.”
Examples include “teas, mixed cocktails, vodka sodas, stuff that is easier and more convenient to pick off the shelf and make at home.”
When it comes to a spirit-based versus a malt-based beverage, Polisoto said, “In the consumer’s mind, those are very similar,” because while ready-to-drink cocktails are technically all spirit-based, “people are using these words interchangeably across the category right now. It’s hard to pinpoint the definition of one or the other.”
Zero Alcohol
While a few brands have launched zero-alcohol products, Polisoto thinks other companies are watching to see how well they do.
“How you create zero sugar and really great tasting is definitely a one plus one equals two equation,” she said. “You have to get to that number two to make the consumer want to buy it.”
Polisoto also said it’s interesting to look at the cross-pollination between non-alcohol and alcohol beverages, such as SunnyD and the aforementioned Mtn Dew.
“They come in with such great brand awareness,” she said. “It’s interesting to watch to see the longevity of those brands.”
Influencers
Another trend Polisoto sees is influencer-backed products.
“What’s really interesting on those, again, it has to be a great liquid for people to want,” she said. “We know through multiple research in the industry, consumers will buy items that people they follow on social media or celebrities will endorse or do drink themselves.
“It’s not a huge thing right now, but I think we’re going to continue to see small niche brands come in and out based on influencer support.”
“People want what they see at restaurants.”
Polisoto said she doesn’t think any trend is on its way out because “everything has a rhyme or reason or a place or occasion where people would drink it. People are so open to trying new things that there’s so much excitement about getting something new out there.
“It’s a very cool time to be in the business where you can innovate with all these amazing ingredients,” she said. “Ingredients that flavor houses are going out and finding in the middle of orchards. And you can smell it and taste it, and you can make it into an RTD—and you know consumers are out there ready and willing to try what you have.”