Altia launches new SAY Vodka Seltzer

The two megatrends driving the growing hard seltzer trend are health and ease. Natural ingredients, low sugar content and lightness in terms of alcohol content are the essential elements of hard seltzer drinks. “People want to avoid excessive sugar intake and its negative consequences. Instead they prefer drinks that taste fresh and are easy to serve and enjoy straight from the can,” says Altia's Consumer Insight Manager Milla Sorsakivi.

SAY Vodka Seltzer is the result of Altia’s own product development. “We tested both the concept and products among consumers in several rounds in order to understand which product elements they value the most,” Sorsakivi tells us.

According to Altia's Product Development Manager Laura Koivisto, in addition to flavour, the other important factor that came up in consumer research was low sugar content, though this did not mean the products had to be entirely sugar-free. Consumers also favoured natural ingredients. “Creating a completely sugar-free product that is also really tasty is challenging. We worked hard to find the right balance between flavour and sugar content,” explains Koivisto.

How do you make a tasty hard seltzer?

SAY Vodka Seltzer drinks are made in Finland using Finnish spirit and Finnish groundwater. “High-quality grain spirit, produced at our Koskenkorva distillery from locally grown barley, forms a strong base for the SAY Vodka Seltzer. As a vodka-based drink, hard seltzers are fresh, soft and easy to enjoy. The vodka base also gives a lot of room for the actual flavour profile,” says Global Brand Ambassador Mikael Karttunen from Altia's innovation team.

“There are many vodka seltzers with a sugar content exceeding 20 grams per litre. In our SAY Vodka Seltzers, it’s 12 grams. This is a level that adds fullness to the flavour but doesn’t linger as a dry aftertaste. The alcohol content of SAY drinks is at the reasonable level of 4%, which increases the lightness and freshness of flavour and, of course, decreases the calorie intake. The carbonated drink does not contain any preservatives, artificial colours or sweeteners,” Karttunen explains.

According to Koivisto, as the selected flavours are sweet in themselves, they do not require a lot of added sugar. “The exotic guarana complements the freshness and citric fruitiness of orange. Strawberry, on the other hand, is always popular among Finns, and it makes a good pairing with the sophisticated and fresh raspberry,” Koivisto says.

The visual appearance of SAY Vodka Seltzers is very colourful and perky. “Hard seltzer producers worldwide are adopting more colourful approaches, following the trend of bright, even cartoon-like visuals in craft beers,” Sorsakivi notes.

SAY – WHAT YOU WANT

SAY Seltzers are available in grocery stores across Finland from the beginning of April.

More information:

Marianna Salonen Brand Manager marianna.salonen@altiagroup.com