Blue California’s Destination Flavors bring taste of vacation to hard seltzers

23 Nov 2020 --- Blue California has launched a new range of natural flavors with its Destination Flavors Collection 2021 for ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages, appealing to home-bound, health-conscious consumers.

Inspired by favorite globetrotting getaways, the Destination Flavors collection is positioned to “captivate consumer taste buds within an arm’s reach of a dream vacation.”

The range targets hard seltzer formulation, which is the “fastest-growing product in the alcoholic beverage category,” Kathy Oglesby, head of flavors and fragrances at Blue California tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

“We don’t foresee [hard seltzers] slowing down anytime soon. It’s not only mainstream – it’s ‘the stream.’ Health and wellness continue to be a consumer focus, as does the desire for great-tasting food and beverages made with clean ingredients.”

Hard seltzers’ lower sugar content and calories drive consumer demand for the category, with increasing recognition that the product is a “better-for-you alternative,” according to the company. 

Natural flavor pairings have been designed to remind consumers of far-away locations.“We are aware that health-conscious consumers are indulging in better quality treats with natural ingredients because they bring guilt-free variety and a little more entertainment to nights at home,” Oglesby explains. 

Traveling through taste
The line of “true-to-fruit” flavors is designed to help consumers “travel” using their imagination to places, such as Spain, Brazil, Japan, the Caribbean and Russia.

“With tighter restrictions on the pocketbook and travel these days, the desire to explore the world hasn’t stopped,” affirms Oglesby. 

“Consumers are curious at heart and searching for an ‘escape’ from their daily nesting at-home routines, leading them to want to experience flavors of the world.”

“Destination Flavors provide comfort to consumers who can’t physically travel yet are eager to go out like they once did,” says Oglesby. 

This summer, key suppliers highlighted that more consumers were using global flavors in snacking to “travel” the world during stay-at-home measures.

“Access to great-tasting alcoholic beverages can be an affordable luxury,” she adds.  

Example destination and flavor pairings include:

• Catalan Crush (Barcelona, Spain): Fragrant, succulent peaches.
  
  
• Arctic Gem (St. Petersburg, Russia): Ripe, shimmering fresh raspberries.
  
  
• Pacific Blossom (Tokyo, Japan): Sweet, tart cherry.
  
  
• Caipirinha Cool (São Paulo, Brazil): Natural, refreshing limeade.
  
  
• Thai Treat (Bangkok, Thailand): Aromatic, succulent mango.
  
  
• Aruba Ariba (The Caribbean): Tangy, sweet, juicy tropical blend.
  
  
• Aztec Adventure (Mexico City): Mouth-watering prickly pear.
  
  
• California Dreamin’ (San Diego, California): Zesty, aromatic citrus.

The range allows brands to mix and match flavors, producing more than 50 combinations to appeal to consumers looking for adventure.

Conjuring imagery around each flavor taps into Innova Market Insights’ number one Top Ten Trend for 2020: “Storytelling: Winning with Words,” which found that consumers are captivated by narratives surrounding their food and beverages. Hard seltzers are gaining traction as an alternative to conventional, sugary RTD beverages.

Limiting sugar
Blue California observes that there is a “genuine demand for healthier products with no- to low- sugar and calories made with natural ingredients, which is not going away.” 

Destination Flavors have been created to allow beverage brands to formulate refreshing with no added sugar. However, they are versatile enough to also taste good with sugar added, notes Oglesby. 

“Knowing that low sweetness products are the hardest to develop, we focused on the no sugar added opportunity – the highest bar for great taste. That’s possible because each Destination Flavor is uniquely designed to pair with natural taste modulation technology from our strategic partner SweeGen, which works beautifully with or without sugar added.”

Ready for take off
The Destination Flavors Collection is now available to hard seltzer brands. 

“We’ve made this collection to integrate into product lines very easily regardless of their process technology. This cuts down on formulation and commercialization time,” details Oglesby. 

Furthermore, the company is eyeing global potential for its hard seltzer flavors. 

“We see excellent expansion opportunities for hard seltzer in other markets too. That’s why we formulated Destination Flavors to meet global natural flavoring regulatory guidelines,” concludes Oglesby. 

By Missy Green