Gen Z breaks up with bubbly booze as flat cocktails surge

At bars and college parties across the country, traditional alcoholic beverages are going flat. Vodka waters are replacing vodka seltzers. Even tequila is being mixed with water instead of soda.

Fizzy drinks, as it turns out, make young people feel kinda gross.

More companies, from startups to big alcohol brands, are catching onto Gen Z’s distaste for carbonation. Last year, fizz-free beverages accounted for 38% of newly launched products in the $22-billion U.S. market for premixed drinks. That’s up from 27% in 2021, according to alcohol research firm IWSR.

After first trying Surfsides at a New Jersey beach a few years ago, Emily Aprigliano switched to the canned cocktails as her go-to drink on a night out. Tequila sodas and vodka cranberries weren’t as easy on her stomach as the new hard teas and lemonades.

“Because there’s no bubbles, you don’t feel so full,” says the 26-year-old analytics manager in New York City. “You can’t even taste the alcohol, so they just kind of go back easier.”

The trend isn’t exclusive to booze; bubbly water sales are also on the decline. But with U.S. alcohol consumption at a historic low, capturing this shift is critical if the industry is going to win over the next generation of drinkers. A recent Gallup poll found that just half of Americans ages 18 to 34 are drinking, down from 58% three years ago.

Those who do imbibe say they’re looking for healthier options, including low-calorie and sugar-free beverages, without all the potential side effects that come with beers and seltzers.

“Suddenly everyone has acid reflux,” says Britt West, chief commercial officer of wine and spirits maker Gallo. “They believe that by drinking these drinks without carbonation, they don’t feel as bloated; it doesn’t give them heartburn.”

Aprigliano says she and her boyfriend stuck with Surfsides at a recent event even when they cost $13 a pop. “I was like, whoa, that’s a little expensive, but I would pay for it because I actually enjoy it,” she says.

Philadelphia-based Stateside Brands plays up the lack of bubbles in its marketing for Surfside, which has become one of the fastest-growing alcohol brands in the U.S. The family-owned company has even submitted a trademark for its slogan, “No Bubbles, No Troubles.”

Two years after Surfside debuted in 2022, Sun Cruiser hit the market from Boston Beer Co. The brand has similar flavors and also contains 100 calories per 12-ounce can, 4.5% alcohol by volume and “no bubbles.” Boston Beer told investors in July that Sun Cruiser is rapidly growing sales in places like bars and restaurants. That’s helping make up for sluggish demand for other products, including Truly seltzers and Dogfish Head beers. Boston Beer’s shares have fallen 10% this year, compared with a 13% gain for the S&P Midcap 400 Index over that time.

Reflux on the rise

Alcoholic or not, carbonated drinks can have an impact on how someone feels, especially if they have an underlying digestive problem. Traditional soda brands have been in decline for years outside of zero- or low-sugar options, or new formulas with things like probiotics.

Researchers estimate that about 20% of people in the U.S. suffer from gastroesophageal reflux disease, marked by chronic bouts of acid reflux. The condition has become increasingly common due to rising rates of obesity and sedentary lifestyles.

Nicé Toriz, a gastroenterologist in Minnesota, knows some of the telltale signs that someone is drinking too many bubbly drinks.

“I have patients that are coming in and they’re complaining about bloating, and I know they’re drinking a lot of carbonation,” she says. The bubbles “can aggravate acid reflux in some individuals,” she adds.

That’s because carbon dioxide weakens the muscle that keeps stomach acid from rising up through the throat. If untreated, acid can permanently damage the esophagus and lead to respiratory problems and tooth decay. Carbon dioxide can also build up in the stomach and cause it to stretch, which causes that feeling of being bloated.

Elle Stankiewicz, 29, and her husband decided to quit bubbly alcoholic drinks last year after they struggled with acid reflux symptoms. The change has made Stankiewicz feel much better.

“When I was drinking carbonated drinks, I would get full really easily and my stomach would hurt,” says Stankiewicz, a business manager in Boston. She had been drinking as many as five carbonated beverages per week, including nonalcoholic options. Now when she’s looking for new drinks to try, Stankiewicz says she intentionally seeks out those without fizz.

Jill Morrison was inspired to start her own beverage company after a vacation to the Dominican Republic. She had tired of the sugary taste of drinks at the bar, so she started sipping on spa water with a splash of vodka. The flavor was such a hit that after Morrison and her husband returned home to southern Indiana, they launched a fruit-infused vodka water startup in 2021 that they called Mom Water. The couple added a tequila version called Dad Water two years later.

“The competitive landscape is tenfold what it was five years ago,” says Bryce Morrison, co-founder of Mom Water. He adds that younger drinkers account for the majority of the brand’s fans, helping it grow more than 10% annually with expectations to reach over 1 million cases this year.

Big Alcohol ditches bubbles

As is often the case in the alcohol industry, innovation starts with smaller manufacturers and then bigger brands have to race to catch up with new products or buy their way into the market.

Sazerac, one of the oldest spirits companies in the U.S., introduced Svedka Vodka Water in June made with vodka, natural spring water and fruit flavors. Each 12-ounce clear plastic can has 90 calories and is 4.5% alcohol by volume.

Ready-to-drink beverages are the lone bright spot among alcohol categories, raising the stakes for companies to find a winning brand as demand shrinks across the industry. In the 52 weeks ended Aug. 9, premixed cocktails were the only alcohol category that grew, expanding 32% in dollar sales over that time, according to Circana data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.

Sales of premade cocktails surpassed plain vodka last year, and are quickly gaining on hard seltzers. With the rise of noncarbonated options, hard seltzers’ share of alcohol sales fell around 4% over the three months ended Aug. 9, the steepest decline among booze categories tracked by Circana.

Global spirits powerhouse Suntory Holdings was so persuaded by the U.S. shift to noncarbonated cocktails that the company decided to introduce a fizz-free version of one of its biggest seltzers as it sought to expand in America. The new drink is made from Japanese green tea vodka and whole fruit.

“The category has changed an awful lot over the last 10 years, and you’re seeing a lot of growth in the spirit-based seltzer as opposed to malt- or sugar-based seltzer,” says Davin Nugent, global president of ready-to-drink beverages at Suntory Global Spirits. “More consumers are looking for the perception of a better-quality product.”

High Noon’s new look

Gen Z’s breakup with bubbles has been a particular concern for Gallo. The company had breakout success with High Noon, among the largest hard seltzer brands in the U.S.

West, Gallo’s chief commercial officer, took a tour of America’s university towns a few years ago to see how the youngest legal-age drinkers were imbibing. As he waded through crowded bars at the likes of the University of Georgia and Texas A&M University, he was struck by how no one was drinking bubbles.

West knew that High Noon needed to make a change. But the company’s first attempt at a fizz-free product didn’t catch on. The spiked iced tea, launched in 2024, was confusing to customers who expected all High Noons to be bubbly.

The next year, Gallo launched Lucky One Lemonade in partnership with Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy and his rescue pit bull, Miss Peaches. The pup was already an internet star, and her portrait appears on every can with the new brand’s logo. In a much smaller font near the bottom, it reads: Adopted by High Noon.

“We are not the first or even second mover in this space,” says West. “We’ll have to be patient in terms of our growth expectations.”

Lucky One sold 1 million cases in its first seven months, reaching that milestone faster than the original High Noon, according to a company spokesperson.

Brown writes for Bloomberg.