source: Columbia Metropolitan Magazine
Jennifer McGehee, a beer buyer for Morganelli’s Party Store on Forest Drive in Columbia, has been connecting customers with their favorite alcoholic beverages for nearly a decade. The first hard seltzer she remembers seeing was Truly, from the makers of Samuel Adams beer.
“Then White Claw came in right after that and it just took over,” she says. “I first saw a White Claw that summer; I was literally floating down a river when a friend handed one to me.”
That was in 2017, and by 2019, “White Claw Summer” was proclaimed on social media by hard seltzer aficionados. User-created content reinforced White Claw’s message of a beverage that’s portable for youthful, outdoor fun and not targeted toward a specific gender. Major media outlets took notice.
The Wall Street Journal compared its viral trend power to the pumpkin spice latte. The Atlantic described White Claw as a symbolic response by millennials to years of being told coolness was found in fussy cocktails or complex IPAs. Jennifer says that after she saw her first White Claw, it became practically an instant hit in the Midlands — so much so she doubted its staying power.
“I totally thought seltzers were going to be a flash in the pan,” she says, but now even local craft breweries are concocting their own hard seltzers to have a beer alternative on tap in their tasting rooms. “They’ve become that popular. Seltzer’s not going anywhere. It’s here to stay.”
Somewhere between “flash in the pan” and “here to stay,” a booming company half a continent away began engineering a business pivot. As its plans unfolded, a patch of Midlands turf that had been curated for the right company at the right time met its moment. Now a 1.3-million-square-foot facility on Shop Road is producing can after can of fruity libations for all the White Claw Summers to come.
The logo on a can of White Claw Hard Seltzer depicts three cresting waves, a “white claw” in surfing dialect. The beverage inside hopes to evoke the refreshing spray of a crashing wave. It was introduced in 2016 by The Mark Anthony Group of Companies.
Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Mark Anthony was founded by Anthony von Mandl in 1972 as a wine importer. It has grown to encompass its own vineyards in addition to producing distilled spirits and ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages. Privately owned, its U.S. family tree includes Mark Anthony Brands, handling sales and marketing, and Chicago-based Mark Anthony Brewing, responsible for supply chain management and brewing.
For years, Mark Anthony Brewing had outsourced production of a beverage portfolio that also features Mike’s Hard Lemonade and Cayman Jack cocktails. As John Sacksteder, Mark Anthony Brewing’s president, explains it, the company relied solely on contract manufacturers to produce its product. The company would install its proprietary and patented equipment within its partners’ facilities, which allowed them to ensure the quality it demanded. Then White Claw took off.