It’s just water in a can. How did Liquid Death become a billion-dollar brand?

return2ozma@lemmy.world to Not The Onion@lemmy.world – 362 points –
It’s just water in a can. How did Liquid Death become a billion-dollar brand?
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Apparently their market is recovering alcoholics that want to feel like they're holding a beer can when they're out with friends.

That's... actually pretty cool. It tells me the water itself is actually not the product, it's the can design. They're essentially selling a way of overcoming the very real social anxiety alcoholics can go through when they give up booze, but don't want to give up the social lives they've built around drinking.

I was all ready to hate on this, but if it's actually legitimately helping people stay off alcohol while maintaining a social life, then I can't really fault it.

Non-alcoholic beer exists and is available in cans. They even figured out how to make it taste like the "real" thing.

As someone who doesn't drink alcohol anymore but still loves the taste of beer, I highly recommend it!

Non-alcoholic and near-zero-ABV beers don't comport with a lot of people's sobriety.

Neither does being around other people when they drink, but some of us prefer not to close ourselves off to the rest of the world rather than making adjustments to make it easier to have a good time without getting drunk.

Just because some people are absolutists doesn't make you any more drunk from drinking beer with the alcohol content equivalent of a ripe banana (0.5% ABV) or less.

It's not about being an absolutist; it's about understanding every person's sobriety is unique. I think you should focus on growing some empathy.

I have plenty of empathy. Maybe don't say that every person's sobriety is unique as a way to invalidate a part of mine.

I understand that some people would consider the taste a trigger that might make them want to drink regular beer. That's how I feel about the smrll of cigarette smoke, even as I'm simultaneously repulsed by it.

For some of us, though, being able to have the pleasant taste without getting drunk makes it easier to stay sober than having no other source for it. It works for me and it works for A LOT of other people too.

What brand(s) comes closest to tasting good, in your experience?

I have no personal experience but I've heard people say that Heineken 0.0 is a good one

Athletic Company is good. People like the Heineken one. I don't drink those, though. I like a nice Hoplark or a nicer sparkling water (like Liquid Death) when I'm at an event where alcohol is prominent.

A lot of the ones I drink are only available in Denmark, but the Dutch Bavaria and the German Perlenbacher make non-alcoholic beers that taste great and (especially in the case of Perlenbacher) are actually cheap too!

Of the more pricey ones, Italian Peroni and Danish Mikkeler also have some delicious non-alcoholic ones.

There's tons of others too, especially if you (unlike me) don't mind a moderately to very hoppy taste. Those are just off the top of my head 🙂

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