Ain't no laws when you're drinking...Obora? The first Czech hard seltzer hits the market

Move over pivo: the fruity alcoholic beverage that's seeing record-breaking sales abroad, is now available in the Czech Republic.

Tom Lane

Written by Tom Lane Published on 11.01.2021 15:24:00 (updated on 11.01.2021) Reading time: 2 minutes

Fruity American-style alcoholic "hard seltzer" à la White Claw has made its debut on the Czech market.

The beverage is usually a fruity flavor mixed with soda or sparkling water and alcohol, a low-fat alcoholic drink with around 100 calories per can.

According to the food and drink website Vitalia, Czech beermaker Obora Brewery will be the first manufacturer in the country to produce the beverage which is seeing record-breaking sales in the U.S. The Obora seltzer hit the market in mid-December.

The drink was made famous by the "White Claw" brand and took off on social media with a video by comedian Trevor Wallace where he says, “ain’t no laws when you’re drinking Claws."

The Obora seltzer, which hit the market in mid-December, comes in tangerine flavor and is packaged in a slim can.

The Obora website says about the drink: "It's from the brewery, but does it look like soda? What is it? Hard Seltzer. If you haven't guessed, don't despair. It is not very well known in the Czech Republic and Seltzer Obora is the very first Czech Seltzer that you can taste. We decided to make the first batch of this sparkling specialty with tangerine flavor. So cheers."

Many people turn to hard seltzer as a 'healthier alternative' to other alcoholic drinks, with some giving up alcohol as part of dry January or trying to consume healthier cocktails as part of New Year's resolutions. But experts point out that hard seltzer is still alcohol, a drink without real nutritional value, which, if consumed in excess, carries the usual risks.

Brandy Rand from IWSR, a data firm that specializes in the analysis of the alcohol market told ABCNews in Australia about the rise of the beverage:

"It was the summer of 2019 that hard seltzers exploded in America — both by volume and consumer awareness, but hard seltzer consumption in the US is not marked by season. It's a year-round phenomenon, and has continued triple-digit growth through COVID."

Obora can currently be ordered in the Czech Republic from the brewery's e-shop while it is also available in some Prague pubs. The brewery also sells the more traditional lagers and IPAs.

The price for one half-liter can of hard seltzer is CZK 55 when bought from their website, with the minimum order a purchase of CZK 530.

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