Talking Rain will be the latest sparkling water brand to join the growing industry of hard seltzer. The Seattle area-based beverage company recently launched the new Sparkling Ice hard seltzer beverage, Spiked, in August 2020.
This new addition to the already popular Sparkling Ice line of fruity, tasty drinks will initially be sold in variety12-packs with each of the cans containing 12 ounces of sparkling water, fruit and alcohol (4% AVB).
Sparkling Ice will still pack in that sweet, fruity taste with original flavors ranging from Strawberry Citrus Smash and Cherry Lime Cooler to Ruby Fizz and Lemonade Refresher. Each Spiked beverage houses 80 calories, with only 1 gram of carbohydrates, and absolutely no sugar.
Chris Hall, the beverage company’s CEO, said in a Talking Rain press release that the brand is ‘confident that the new Sparkling Ice Spiked will satisfy your hard seltzer cravings and quickly become your go-to beverage for everyday entertaining, outdoor grilling and weekend escapes.” Hall added that he and his employees at Talking Rain are not simply looking to be the next sparkling water brand to join this trend, but are more interested in “shattering the expectations of what everyone has come to expect from hard seltzer”.
If Hall’s expectations come to fruition, Talking Rain should take a significant percentage of the $3.5 billion in sales of hard seltzer that is expected in 2020. However, the competition will be fierce. Topo Chico, which is owned by Coca-Cola, is looking to join the field in 2021 with its Hard Seltzer while Polar, a Massachusetts-based company, has already entered the competition. Its new offering was released in 2019 with the help of collaborator Harpoon Brewery.
Spiked will initially be released in select markets with, presumably, plans to go national if initial sales go well. Those lucky markets that will receive the initial opportunity to try this product before everyone else gets their hands on the new hit beverage are Seattle; Portland, Ore.; Southern California; Minneapolis; Des Moines, Iowa; Tampa, Fla.; and Buffalo, N.Y.
Talking Rain is based in the Seattle suburb of Preston, 20 miles east of the Emerald City. It was founded in 1987 in Seattle proper before moving to its current location five years later. Sparkling Ice, launched in 1992, is the beverage company’s best selling offering to date. One of its more recent product launches to gain national recognition and incredible favor with communities all over the USA was their caffeinated line, Sparkling Ice +Caffeine, which was released in 2019.
Talking Rain Beverage Company is also very well known for its incredibly vital social impact mission which courses through the heart of its beverages.
In partnership with Honor Flight Network, the company launched the nationwide ‘Cheers for Heroes’ campaign to highlight local frontline workers who risked their lives during the COVID-19 outbreak or the current Hometown Beautification Project going on in several cities across the country.
Talking Rain remains a powerhouse in the sparkling flavored water field with sales of $630 million from July 2019 to July 2020 outpaced all of its competitors. While the industry as a whole saw a 17% bump in sales year over year, Talking Rain beverage brands including Sparkling Ice outpaced the competition seeing a whopping 22% increase.
