Latest news with #WhiteClaw
San Francisco Chronicle
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
We taste-tested High Noon. Does America's most popular spirit live up to the hype?
In case you haven't noticed, High Noon is everywhere. Gallo's canned vodka seltzer is the top-selling spirit by volume in the U.S. — meaning more of this stuff is sold than Tito's or Jack Daniel's. When my colleague Jess Lander and I learned that extraordinary fact, we knew we had to write about it. What we discovered in our reporting was a whole subculture devoted to Nooners, as the drink is known to some of its dearest fans, spanning golf clubs, Barstool Sports and basically every bar in the Marina District. Nearly every source we interviewed for the story said that they believe High Noon is a superior product to competitors like White Claw and Truly. The vodka-based drink is also more expensive than its malt-based competitors, due to the fact that spirits are taxed more highly. I outed myself long ago, in the hard seltzer infancy period of 2019, as a White Claw detester. When Jess and I set out to write this story, I had never actually tasted High Noon, but I was eager to see if I could in good conscience jump on the bandwagon. So we conducted a tasting at the Chronicle newsroom. I bought a couple cases of High Noon and enlisted colleagues from various newsroom departments — including several representatives of Gen Z — to sample eight flavors with me. (According to its website, High Noon comes in 26 different flavors.) The good news is that the session was nowhere near as punishing as the blind hard seltzer tasting I organized back in 2019, when I subjected my colleagues Janelle Bitker, Soleil Ho and Paolo Lucchesi to 38 hard seltzers that were uniformly terrible. The bad news is that I found the High Noons mostly undrinkable, and my colleagues, even the Zoomers, largely agreed. 'This tastes like if you dropped two cherry Starbursts in a Perrier and left it overnight,' said Chronicle culture critic Peter Hartlaub of High Noon black cherry. Copy chief and native Minnesotan Linda Houser observed, 'This one will sell in the Midwest.' 'Bubblicious cotton candy flavor' is how investigative reporter Susie Neilson (a Pulitzer finalist!) characterized the raspberry iced tea. These drinks shouldn't taste that sweet, based on their nutrition facts (2.6 grams of sugar per can for the non-iced tea variations we tried), but they all smelled like candy, and several of them tasted like candy too. The pineapple variation reminded us of a gummy bear; the watermelon was like a Jolly Rancher that had melted in the sun. The High Noon iced teas tasted downright cloying, despite the fact that they have zero grams of sugar. We had to assume — though could not verify, since ingredient labeling is not required for alcohol — they had been jacked up with an artificial sweetener like Stevia. Some colleagues liked the lemon iced tea, which graphics reporter Harsha Devulapalli likened to a spiked Arizona, in a good way. By far the best of the flavors we tried, in my opinion, was grapefruit, which restaurant critic MacKenzie Chung Fegan accurately described as a ringer for pamplemousse La Croix. It had a not-too-artificial grapefruit smell, was pleasantly tart and wasn't too sweet. I'd drink it. But if given the choice, I'd rather mix vodka with soda water and squeeze a juicy slice of grapefruit into it.
San Francisco Chronicle
6 days ago
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
How a California wine company created the nation's bestselling spirit
It's America's unofficial beverage of beach days, tailgates, frat parties and music festivals. Its tagline is simple: 'real vodka + real juice.' But this slender can of High Noon, with its cheery yellow sun set against a blue sky, is the surprising growth vehicle for the largest wine company in the country, a product that's rewritten the rules of the alcohol industry. Launched by wine giant Gallo in 2019, High Noon had by 2022 become the top-selling U.S. spirit by volume, dethroning vodka powerhouse Tito's. High Noon — 'Nooners' to its most avid followers — has expanded to 14 flavors, plus a line of tequila seltzers and hard iced teas. Last year, its production grew 13.5% to just under 25 million cases a year, according to alcohol industry publication Shanken News Daily. High Noon's meteoric rise may seem remarkable for a wine company, but it speaks to a calculated strategy developed over decades. The winery that the Gallo brothers started in Modesto in 1933 has diversified in recent years and quietly grown into a spirits behemoth. Fueled by the success of High Noon and New Amsterdam vodka, which Gallo founded in 2008, it's now the second-largest spirits producer in the U.S. That shift has proven useful, since spirits, driven largely by canned drinks, is the only type of alcohol whose consumption is growing. As the wine industry continues to flounder — per capita wine drinking in California hit a 30-year low during the last fiscal year, according to state data — High Noon could be Gallo's ticket to riding out a global downturn. Make it vodka High Noon did not start as a hard seltzer. But in 2018, as Gallo executives watched the exploding popularity of seltzers White Claw and Truly, they wanted to get their own product to market quickly. It was October, and Gallo chief commercial officer Britt West set an ambitious goal of launching something by Memorial Day. But creating a new brand and trademark would take longer than that, and West didn't want to simply lob the product onto an existing brand, as had been done by breweries like Corona, with its Corona Hard Seltzer. Luckily, Gallo already had a brand at the ready. The company was market testing a traditional vodka called High Noon. 'We said, 'That's the perfect name,' said West, 'so let's stop doing that test.'' What set High Noon apart from the rapidly growing competition was that it was made with vodka. White Claw and other hard seltzers get their alcohol from malt, making them more similar to beer than to a cocktail. 'Consumers didn't really understand what the alcohol type was, what the base was,' said West of hard seltzers. When he was out at bars, he'd ask seltzer drinkers what they thought the alcohol was. Most of the time, they'd say, 'Vodka, right?' There seemed to be a notable lack of transparency. 'The insight (was) really very simple,' West said. 'If people think it's vodka, why don't we make one that actually is vodka?' That decision looked like 'a risky move' to Ron Alvarado, founder of the San Francisco hard seltzer brand Ficks. Being spirits-based meant that High Noon couldn't be sold in certain retail environments, like any grocery store or gas station in Texas. And because a vodka-based drink would be taxed higher than a malt-based one, High Noon would be meaningfully more expensive than its competitors: A 12-pack costs $25.99, as opposed to $20.99 for a 12-pack of Truly and $17.49 for White Claw. 'But the way the category has changed, it's been a smart bet for them,' Alvarado said. Vodka sounds more 'premium' than malt liquor. 'They've clearly carved out this niche as a higher-quality product.' That first summer, High Noon took off in popular destinations like the Jersey Shore and the Michigan lakes. West had been wise to rush: Within a year, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and the hard seltzer category boomed. Retail sales jumped 160% between 2019 and 2020, according to NielsenIQ data. By 2021, roughly two to three new hard seltzer products were launched each day in the U.S., said Marten Lodewijks, president of alcohol beverage data analyst IWRS Americas. The pandemic presented problems, too: West recalled having to air-freight cans from Malaysia during the because of an aluminum shortage in the U.S. But High Noon was 'the right beverage for the right time in that scenario,' he said, perfect as people spent time outdoors hiking, golfing and picnicking. In the summer of 2021, High Noon's sales were up over 300% from the previous year. In 2022, they surpassed $1 billion. Targeting the tailgate In June 2023, an old-timey sailboat pulled into the Boston Harbor flying a High Noon flag. Onboard were 342 cases of the company's newest product — vodka iced tea — an homage to the 1773 Boston Tea Party, in which protesters tossed 342 chests of British tea into the harbor. Cheeky marketing stunts like this one — a stark departure from the wine industry's often stodgy approach — have been a cornerstone of High Noon's success, especially among younger generations. Last year, a 'Baywatch' spoof featured a buff, shirtless and heavily oiled High Noon 'Lifestyle Guard,' whose job is to rescue not lives, but parties. Arguably the brand's most powerful marketing engine is a strategic partnership forged in its early days. In 2020, High Noon initiated a sponsorship with Barstool Sports, one of America's largest sports media companies. 'We started thinking, where do spirits have a hard time going?' West said. The answer: 'Tailgating. You need ice, you need a cup, you need glass, which isn't convenient and it's heavy, and you need mixers.' He wanted to target venues where 'beer really, really wins,' he said, converting dedicated sports-fan beer drinkers to High Noon drinkers. Barstool has a core audience of 21 to 30 year olds, said West, and does an annual college tour centered on tailgating. 'As a young brand, we felt we didn't have quite the money and the budget to immediately be highly relevant,' he said. 'Beer advertising dollars are big dollars. We didn't have the money to go head-to-head with those Super Bowl sponsorships, so we had to be clever about it.' The partnership exploded in visibility, fueled by personal endorsements from Barstool founder Dave Portnoy, who has regularly claimed to be 'the face of High Noon.' The company has its own 'El Pres' High Noon variety pack, a reference to Portnoy, plus a Nooners merchandise collection of T-shirts, hats, swim trunks and can coolers. Last month, High Noon launched a spin-off product, Lucky One Vodka Lemonade, a reference to Portnoy's dog. More recently, High Noon has found a surprising new market: golfers. In 2024, it became the official spirits-based hard seltzer of the PGA of America and the PGA Championship, one of the sport's four majors. The partnership, which includes a High Noon clubhouse on the tournament course, came just as golf is experiencing a major revival, largely due to the popular Netflix docuseries 'Full Swing.' High Noon also launched a giveaway with NBA player-turned-golf podcaster J.R. Smith and a collaboration with trendy golf apparel company TravisMathew. 'Golf is traditionally associated with an older audience, but it's continued to get more diverse in people who play and watch,' said Luke Reissman, PGA of America's senior director of global partnerships. 'It's gotten younger, it's become cooler and there are more content creators and influencers than ever. High Noon has a younger following and an energetic marketing vibe, so when they reached out to us, it was a pretty easy thing for us to get excited about.' At Bay Area golf courses, High Noon has largely replaced the light beers that golfers would previously have toted through the course. It's the most popular drink order at Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City, said clubhouse manager Bob Mazer, outselling the most popular beer almost two to one. He attributes its success to the fact that High Noon seems to have transcended other seltzer brands' associations with specific demographics. 'Hard seltzer used to be a woman's beverage, a college kid's drink,' Mazer said. But with High Noon, people — even middle-aged male golfers — 'aren't embarrassed to drink it.' Just another fad? Despite High Noon's success so far, history is not on its side. While the hard seltzer category is relatively new, the concept of 'ready to drink' (RTD), industry lingo for pre-packaged mixed drinks, 'has been around for decades,' said IWSR's Lodewijks, pointing to past fads like Mike's Hard Lemonade, Smirnoff Ice and Gallo's Bartles & Jaymes wine cooler. 'They would spike for a short period and then come back down,' he said. 'There's a general concern that RTDs may do the same thing.' Zima, a malt-based drink whose meteoric rise in the 1990s mirrors that of High Noon, provides one of the most sobering history lessons. MillerCoors grew the clear beverage to 1.3 million barrels at its peak, only to fall two years later to around 400,000, undone apparently by its women-centric marketing approach. It was the highest-profile casualty of what came to be known as the decade's 'clear craze,' a trend that bears several similarities to hard seltzer. West is acutely aware that the wave High Noon has been riding may not last forever. With new product types 'it's like a gold rush, everybody jumps in,' he said, 'and then at the end of the day, the top one, two, maybe three brands survive.' The shakeout has already begun. Ficks, for one, discontinued its hard seltzer brand last year due to increased competition, now focusing solely on its cocktail mixers. But if any hard seltzer brand is likely to survive, High Noon is surely one of them, and Gallo is going all in. Although it has produced spirits since 1975, when it introduced E&J Brandy, it's High Noon that has transformed the nation's largest winery into its second-largest spirits producer. Since creating High Noon, Gallo has made other spirits investments, like acquiring the RumChata brand in 2021, and while Gallo is certainly not divesting from wine — the company produces an estimated 25 million cases of High Noon and 94 million cases of wine — the spirits focus has put it in a much stronger position as wine consumption declines. Gallo's strategy looks somewhat similar to that of wine conglomerate Constellation, which in April sold off many of its lower-priced wine brands as it shifts its focus to beer, the one category in which the company is experiencing growth. Lodewijks believes hard seltzer is more likely to have staying power than the fads that came before it. RTDs now represent 8% of all alcoholic beverage servings, he said, and spirits-based RTDs like High Noon are the fastest-growing segment within it, up 16% from 2023 to 2024. (Malt-based RTDs were down 3%.) If part of Zima's downfall was the fact that nobody knew exactly what the product was made of — its motto, 'zomething different,' seemed only to exacerbate this confusion — High Noon has the advantage of a clear message. It's vodka and soda. When choosing an RTD, Lodewijks said the flavor, not the brand, is what matters most to consumers, and the general consensus seems to be that High Noon tastes better than the alternatives. Most of the hard seltzers out there 'are overly sweet and kinda miss the mark,' said Brett Frost, owner of the San Francisco bars the Summer Place, Wizards & Wands and Moez Tavern. 'High Noon in my opinion has the best balance.' Some Bay Area bars have stopped carrying any hard seltzer other than High Noon. Lake Merced Golf Club discontinued White Claw; Marina Lounge in San Francisco did away with Truly. Now, Marina Lounge owner Kevin 'Sully' Sullivan said he goes through six to seven High Noon cases a week. 'The younger crowd, they're definitely enjoying it,' said Sullivan, who is in his 60s. 'But the older folks are catching on too.' As he spoke on the phone to the Chronicle for this story, he admitted he had cracked open a High Noon vodka iced tea. 'Do I think it will last forever? Probably not,' said Frost. 'However, people seem to love it at the moment, so we have to adapt with the times.'
Buzz Feed
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
7 Tips For Being A Great Cookout Guest, From A Pro
Memorial Day is right around the corner, which means it's almost time for one of America's greatest seasonal traditions: a cookout that starts at 2 p.m. and somehow ends 10 hours later with someone falling asleep in a lawn chair holding half a warm White Claw. (To be clear: I live for it.) No matter how big, small, or chaotic your Memorial Day barbecue is, it's undoubtedly a sacred summer ritual, and one that can go south fast if guests don't know how to act. Whether you realize it or not, you've definitely committed a cookout "sin" or two. That elaborate rack of ribs you brought par-cooked for the host to finish on the grill? It threw off their entire grilling schedule, even if they ultimately stole the show; actually, that made the host even madder. When you showed up 15 minutes early to "help," you actually sent your sister-in-law into an anxiety spiral as she raced to set out the cocktail station. For all the Ina Garten and Martha Stewart books on hosting dinner parties like a pro, rulebooks on good "guesting" are harder to come by and mistakes are shockingly easy to make. To save us all from our worst selves, I called in Casey Elsass — the cookbook author, recipe developer, and certified bring-something-to-the-party expert. His new cookbook, What Can I Bring?, is full of dishes meant to travel and enhance any food gathering you're going to, from holiday cookouts to intimate dinner parties; think pickled potato salad, show-stopping Jell-O shots, and a seven-onion dip that'll have people fighting over the bowl of Ruffles. Here are seven easy ways to avoid the biggest Memorial Day cookout mistakes as a guest, according to someone who literally wrote the book on being a good one. Match the dish you bring to your your arrival time. You know who you are, even if you sometimes need a stark reminder. "Be honest about what kind of guest you are," Casey told Tasty. "If you're always on time, bring appetizers. If you're reliably late, bring a drink. If you're stopping by later, bring dessert. If you're bringing nothing else, bring a present." This is a judgment-free zone — no one is asking you to change who you are. Just be honest with yourself and plan accordingly. Why show up 30 minutes after dinner with a sad pasta salad when you could show up at the same time with an ooey-gooey cobbler (or Casey's Birthday Suit Cake) and steal the show? On the subject of arrival time, don't show up early, no matter how "polite" you think it may be. According to Casey, an early guest is just "someone you have to host before you're ready." Getting a party started never goes according to schedule when you're the host, and the last thing they want is to feel obligated to entertain when things are still mid-setup. "If you're truly trying to help," Casey says, "shoot them a text first." Ask the host if they even want (or need!) help in the first place. Some will emphatically say yes, some will politely pass, but it's not up to you to decide what your host does or doesn't need. Room temperature is almost always the way to go. Cookouts are hotbeds of chaos, and I'm talking literal heat, with cooler innards slowly turning into lukewarm puddles and complicated grilling Tetris to ensure everything's perfectly hot when it's time to serve. The last thing a host needs is you showing up with a lukewarm casserole and a dream. "The best guests show up with a dish that's ready to go without needing a shelf in the fridge or a rack in the oven," Casey says. "If your favorite recipe is an exception to this rule, just clear it with your host ahead of time so they're in on the plan." Sure, your piping-hot baked brie might be amazing as a party app. But if it throws off the entire flow and turns the host into a makeshift sous chef, it's not the move. Stick to room-temp, low-maintenance dishes that can hang on the table for hours and still taste great. (Casey's book has too many to count.) In the era of Google Docs, there's no excuse to show up with six bags of chips for one bowl of dip. In other words, check in with your host about the menu ahead of time. This note is valid for guests and hosts alike: be smart about planning! If you're the guest, don't make assumptions. Even a quick text check-in with the host can save the cookout from a cooler of only hard seltzers or a dessert-less end to the evening. If you're hosting, give your guests a sense of what else you need by sending out a spreadsheet or list with what's already covered and what else you'd love to have. "Make sure your guests know what to bring and check that any gaps in the menu are covered," Casey recommends. Don't expect the host to supply everything you need to succeed. "Besides having your food ready to go, make sure you pack everything you need," Casey says. "Their home is not your Williams Sonoma. Serving utensils, a big bowl, or special cups are your responsibility.' If you're bringing a salad, bring tongs. If you made a cake, bring a knife — or, "just ask ahead of time so you know you're covered," he added. Don't expect your host to MacGyver a solution when you roll in with a plate of food and some vibes. Don't like to cook? Bring a disposable camera. According to Casey, it's a hit every time. "Every birthday, backyard, cocktail, surprise, holiday, pool, and housewarming party absolutely needs an analog presence," he says. "Make it known that there's a camera up for grabs and let everyone go nuts." Guests love it, and nothing says "core memory" like a blurry film photo of someone mid-cornhole toss. Casey's pro tip: "Develop the pictures digitally and send a download link to the other guests so you can all relive the night a week later." In that instance, you're not just a good guest — you're the fun guest. The importance of a "thank you" cannot be overstated. This one's deceptively simple, but it matters more than you think. "I once had a friend over for a dinner party and two business days later, there was a card sitting in my mailbox simply saying thank you," says Casey. "It's a small but impactful gesture." For new (or new-ish) friends or an important event, thank-you cards are always appreciated. For close friends, you can be more casual. "Don't be awkward and send your besties an earnest card (mail them the most inappropriate Hallmark card you can find)," Casey said. Instead, just a simple, sincere text speaks volumes. Now that you've mastered all these rules, there's one last job that's critical to keep in mind, and it might be more important than any piece of cookout etiquette to begin with: Really enjoy being with people. Casey's idea for What Can I Bring? was born out of the pandemic: "I spent years taking for granted how easily we could get together, then suddenly it wasn't an option anymore," he told me. "I said the title as a joke in a group chat, and then was like, Hold on, that's a great idea." As chaotic as they can be, get-togethers like Memorial Day cookouts can be the perfect opportunity for you, as a guest, to really show up for people and soak in some genuine connection. After all, the one golden "guesting" rule, above all else, is that thoughtfulness is everything, whether you're showing it through the food you bring or the vibes you contribute. Casey puts it best: "The moments you look forward to all week, and then remember for a long time after, always have food at the center." Hungry for more? Download the free Tasty app for iOS and Android to explore our library of 7,500+ recipes (including hundreds fit for a cookout). No subscription required!
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Yahoo
Former Nevada GOP chair asked Florida police officer if her judge friend could get rid of DUI charge: report
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Nevada's former Republican Party chairwoman, Amy Tarkanian, was arrested in Florida for DUI after failing field sobriety tests, including having a blood-alcohol level of .268, according to her arrest report. Tarkanian, 48, was taken into custody following a crash on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in the parking lot of an apartment complex in Bradenton, which is about 45 miles south of Tampa. A worker at the apartment complex said he received some complaints about an SUV in the middle of a road with a woman slumped over the wheel. The worker told the Florida Highway Patrol that he attempted to wake her, documents said. 'When he woke her, she looked at him, took her foot off the brake, then accelerated forwards into a parked, unoccupied vehicle,' the report stated. The worker said he called the police because he could smell a 'strong odor of alcohol' coming from Tarkanian. Police documents said an empty box of White Claw seltzers was found in the SUV, and Tarkanian was transported to the hospital due to being 'highly intoxicated, not injured.' The officer who arrived at the hospital to talk with Tarkanian also reported that she smelled of alcohol and had watery, bloodshot eyes. Tarkanian told the officer she was taking anti-alcohol medication due to addiction and that she had consumed four White Claws around 11 a.m. Documents said that when discussing the DUI with the officer, Tarkanian asked if her friend, a judge, 'Can get rid of that?' Court records show Tarkanian had a previous DUI conviction in Las Vegas in 2008 and completed the court's requirement to take part in DUI school and a victim impact panel. Jail records show that Tarkanian was released from the Manatee County Jail on April 5. Tarkanian is married to Danny Tarkanian, the son of the late Jerry Tarkanian, a UNLV Runnin' Rebels coach who took the basketball team to the NCAA championship in 1990. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Miami Herald
12-05-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
How one brand is transforming the THC soda industry
The alcohol industry has seen some major changes over the last decade that you may have noticed. First, there was the overwhelming adoption of White Claw in 2019, which you could hardly miss if you went anywhere where drinks were being sold. It seemed everyone was holding that white can with the colorful strip at one point in time; it was simply the drink of choice for a while. You may have been bewildered as to what the fuss was all about if you actually tasted one - seltzer and a whiff of fruit air freshener was definitely the effect one got - but hey, it was trendy, right? While White Claw's luster has come and gone, it paved the way for canned ready-to-drink cocktails like no other product - and not just alcohol-infused options, either. In fact, it was only about a year after White Claw's big debut that another trend started to gain a major foothold in the beverage market: THC seltzers. Related: Struggling whiskey company closes operations, no bankruptcy yet These drinks often contain a small amount of Delta 9 THC - typically less than 10 mg - and can be sold legally in many states, depending on their laws. People really embrace the drinks as an alternative to alcohol that allows them to enjoy themselves and relax, not to mention skip the traditional hangover. Consumers are clearly enamored with these drinks for a myriad of reasons, from seeking out a healthier alcohol alternative to experiencing new ways to chill. The global cannabis beverage market hit an astonishing 2.04 million in 2023 and is projected to hit 117.05 billion by 2032, according to Fortune Business Insights. It's clearly a market with a great runway, so it's no wonder so many new businesses are jumping into the mix. That said, a lot of THC drinks on the market don't taste great (think: hempy or weedy) or are hard to consistently find at your local liquor store. So while there's great potential for the product, there are still many problems to solve. That's where Plift comes in. Image source: Shutterstock While many people want in on the burgeoning THC soda industry, co-founder Todd Harris, one of the three people behind the brand Plift, has a much more personal reason for founding his brand. "I was an alcoholic," says Harris, who told TheStreet that his mother also struggled with alcohol dependence. Years of drinking and masking in social situations eventually wore down Harris' battery, making him turn to recovery and abstinence. It was then that he began to consider THC sodas, first consuming them and then deciding to build Plift with co-founders Glenn McAfresh and Andrea Slinde. "The name is one letter short of 'Uplift,' because it's missing you," Harris said. Related: White Claw creator adds a whole new alcohol line The Black-owned brand has been on the market for only three years but has seen great success. Harris thinks that's due to a mix of factors, one being that the drinks actually taste good. All three flavors are based on classic cocktails, making them recognizable to consumers and appealing to drink. Another thing Harris cares deeply about is making Plift accessible to all markets. At $9.99 for a six-pack, it's an affordable product, and it can also be found through beer and wine retailers. Total Wine also carries it, making it easy for many people to find. Today, Harris says that since swapping out his alcohol use for cannabis sodas, he's been a much better father, spouse, friend, and business partner, and has increased awareness of his social battery. But perhaps best of all, Harris was able to introduce his mother to the world of cannabis sodas, which he says she now reaches for instead of alcohol. "If nothing else comes from this business, I helped an alcoholic of 50 years to change," Harris said. The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
