Chris Colby - How to Make Hard Seltzer: Refreshing Recipes for Sparkling Libations

BY CHRIS COLBY

Brewers Publications

A Division of the Brewers Association

PO Box 1679, Boulder, Colorado 80306-1679

BrewersAssociation.org

BrewersPublications.com

Copyright 2020 by Brewers Association

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the publisher. Neither the authors, editors, nor the publisher assume any responsibility for the use or misuse of information contained in this book.

ISBN-13: 978-1-938469-65-7

ISBN-10: 1-938469-65-8

Ebook ISBN-13: 978-1-938469-66-4

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020941048

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the Library of Congress.

The following is for reference only:

Name: Colby, Chris

Title: How to Make Hard Seltzer: Refreshing Recipes for Sparkling Libations

Identifiers: ISBN: 978-1-938469-65-7; EISBN: 978-1-938469-66-4

Subjects: seltzer; cocktails; homebrew; low-carb; sparkling; craft-brewed

Publisher: Kristi Switzer

Technical Editor: David Wilson, Kris Kalav, Richard Dee Moore

Copyediting: Iain Cox

Indexing: Doug Easton

Art Direction and Production: Jason Smith

Interior and Cover Design: Danny Harms

Cover Photo: Luke Trautwein

To scientists everywhere who have fought to bring light to the darkness.

I STARTED HOMEBREWING IN THE MID-2000S when I was in my 20s. I fell in love with the creativity and the community that came with it. My first homebrew was a 100% extract wheat ale from a Mr. Beer kit. Within six months I was brewing with grain and adding all kinds of crazy ingredients to my recipes. Fifteen years later, I sit as one of the cofounders and chief brand officer of Denizens Brewing Co., and I am also on the board of directors for both the Brewers Association and the Brewers Association of Maryland. Producing 3,000 barrels a year, Denizens is a small, craft brewery. I have been selling craft beer for over six years now and have a pretty good impression of what consumers are drinking. Guess what? Everyone who drinks alcoholand I mean everyonedrinks hard seltzer.

Hard seltzer is one of the more lighthearted and fun drinks to enter the alcohol beverage space in a long time. Some of the most ardent craft beer fans love hard seltzer, myself included. People who love ESBs love hard seltzer. People who love fruited sours love hard seltzer. People who love oatmeal stouts love hard seltzer. People who love IPAs (hazy or otherwise) love hard seltzer. People who hate beer love hard seltzer. I could go on, but you get the point.

I have always believed that the more people who engage with the craft beer industry the better it will become. That includes drinkers and brewers alike. Why would we not jump on the opportunity to make and sell hard seltzer and potentially bring in new fans of our products? Who knows, maybe a new hard seltzer customer will like it so much that they will try one of our beers and enjoy that too? Craft brewers making hard seltzer is a win-win for everyone. We can bring so many more people to the craft brewing world by making this delicious beverage. Consumers can continue to support locally made products while enjoying imbibing a drink with lower calories, if that befits their lifestyle. And craft brewers do not have to concede the hard seltzer consumer market to multinational conglomerates.

At Denizens, adding hard seltzer to our core lineup has not detracted from our beers but has, in fact, complimented them. Just because we are making hard seltzers popular with drinkers does not mean we have to stop making great beer. We want all customers to feel welcome, and part of our mission is to offer flavors for every drinker. Everyone has a seat at our table, including hard seltzer fans.

If you are a brewery owner you should be paying attention to the rise of hard seltzers. After all, you are running a business and you want to make sure that you are making the products that consumers want to drink. And if you are brewing at home, why not add a new challenge? I know the thing that I love most about homebrewing is learning new recipes and challenging myself to make new styles.

The numbers tell a story. Hard seltzer is a skyrocketing category in the alcohol beverage space. In fact, according to Nielsen, hard seltzers highest grossing week ever was the week leading up to July 4th, 2020. Generally speaking, consumer trends are showing that sales of low-calorie and gluten-free options are growing. Being a low-calorie, light, and easy-drinking product, hard seltzer is the number one choice of drinkers who are carb conscious.

Adding hard seltzer to your lineup is not only a short-term play, but in the long term it will ensure your brewerys success. We should all be making the products that our customers want to buy if we want to survive. For those of you who are still skeptical about adding hard seltzer to your product list, here is the good news: there are still people who want to drink beer. I am not arguing that we should stop making beer. I am arguing that our industry should not miss out on a vast group of folks who would drink our products if we simply added hard seltzer to our lineups.

If you picked up this book then you are at least curious about hard seltzers and thinking they are something you may want to try and make. Hard seltzer is a simple drink, but very easy to mess up when brewing it. I wish this book existed when we started making seltzer two years ago. Our team at Denizens spent a year honing recipes, production processes, yeast choice, carbonation levels, and flavor profiles before releasing our first version. You will find in the following pages an enormous amount of information to help you get started and perfect your recipes. The author, Chris Colby, is a long-term and avid homebrewer, has a formal education in biology and chemistry, and has been writing about beer and brewing for 20 years. You should listen to him.

I will say it again: hard seltzer is the fastest growing category in the alcohol beverage space, period. It has been experiencing double-digit growth for years now and there are no signs of it slowing down. And yet, until now, there have been no books or training materials on how to actually make it. That is what this book is for. You are about to read the only book solely dedicated to crafting hard seltzer. Not only will you find recipes and discussions of production processes, raw materials, and ingredients, but also a rundown of the regulations involved in classifying and labeling this new product. If you are a homebrewer, this book also includes recipes and brewing process tips aimed specifically at you.

I am looking forward to trying all the delicious versions of hard seltzer you all come up with. I cannot wait to toast one with you!

Julie Verratti

Co-Founder/Chief Brand Officer, Denizens Brewing Co.

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I D LIKE TO THANK EVERYONE involved in this project, including all the brewers who took time out of their busy schedules to talk to me about their processes. Id like to thank everyone who worked with the manuscript, including the reviewers Dee Moore (Pretoria Farms Cooperative), David Wilson (Alaskan Brewing Company), and Kris Kalav (ATPGroup); and the copyeditor, Iain Cox. Id also like to thank Kristi Switzer (Brewers Association) for giving me the opportunity to write this bookand my upcoming book on science and brewing. And finally, Id like to thank my wife for putting up with me.