It’s not just a drink – it’s a lifestyle, fans say. White Claw sales have surged 320% since last year, even as the brand was briefly ‘cancelled’

White Claw has become the obsession of the summer.

The alcoholic sparkling water is selling out at bars and grocery stores across the US. Colorful cans are popping up on beaches and picnics and barbecues. Fervor for the seltzer, which sports the tagline “Made pure”, has resulted in memes, T-shirts, tattoos and viral videos.

It’s not just a drink – it’s a lifestyle, fans say. There has been a 210% increase in spending on alcoholic sparkling water in general compared to last year, according to a Nielsen study of supermarkets and liquor stores, and White Claw is the top brand. Its sales have surged 320% from last year.

The drink is so popular some bars and grocery stores are having trouble keeping it on the shelves, said Jason Barry of the New York alcohol distributor Big Blue Beer Company, which provides alcohol to more than 500 businesses in the city. While other companies, including Smirnoff and Corona, now sell their own varieties of the drink, White Claw is the most popular.

“It seems like White Claw did not properly gauge the demand because a lot of companies are having issues keeping it in stock,” he said. “We are getting calls from people we have never worked with before because their usual distributors have run out. It’s in very high demand.”

The Claw craze comes as young Americans seek healthier, lower-alcohol lifestyles. A 12-oz can of White Claw contains 100 calories and 2 grams of carbs – by comparison a Heineken has 142 calories and 11g of carbs. It is 5% alcohol, lower than the average of 12% for wine and average of 37% for liquor.

But as high as the viral White Claw wave crests, it may face some headwinds. Earlier in July, an image that appeared to show a tweet from the White Claw account supporting “Blue Lives Matter,” the hashtag in support of a pro-police countermovement to Black Lives Matter, went viral.

The image is likely doctored. White Claw told the Guardian the tweet is fake and it is working to investigate its origins. It declined to comment further. The tweet does not exist in an archive of White Claw’s account or on internet archives of its Twitter account at that time.

But some White Claw fans were quick to label the brand “cancelled”.

“Drink responsibly” has taken on a new meaning as millennials place more importance than past generations on the political views of the brands they consume. Several studies have indicated members of Generation Y and Generation Z are more likely to change their habits in preference to companies that endorse social causes they support.

Billy Agan, owner of the bar Eli’s Mile High Club in Oakland, California, said he had just ordered a large case of White Claw when he saw the tweets making their way around social media.

“I am in a market where people want to buy consciously and there is pressure to keep an eye out for this kind of thing,” he said.

In 2018, Agan stopped selling Modelo after it was reported the company that owns the Mexican beer was involved with water privatization efforts. Previously the bar stopped carrying Bulleit whiskey after that company was accused of homophobia.

p e n d e j a (@swampdaddyx) they may have deleted the tweet but if I see you drinking white claw now you’re a bootlicker and you can’t change my mind pic.twitter.com/mM9KZJKAVA

Consumers now resonate with brand messaging and beliefs more than ever, echoed Ari Lightman, a professor of digital media and marketing at Carnegie Mellon University, and the preoccupation with brand beliefs is compounded by the quick-moving nature of social media.

“In this weird world we work in, with hyper real time consumer sentiment, understanding how information flows from consumer group to consumer group is important,” Lightman said. “That means sometimes disinformation flows, too – and even if it’s not factual, it’s critical for brands to understand it.”

It is tough to work in marketing in the age of social media,” he said. “This is what happens in a world of disinformation, opinionated comments and fake news.”

Meanwhile, it appears the potential threat to White Claw’s popularity has already passed. White Claw and Truly, another popular sparkling water brand, sold the equivalent of 1.4m cases during the week of 4 July this year, or roughly 102,000 barrels’ worth of product.