Abita's Bayou Bootlegger Hard Root Beer

Abita's Bayou Bootlegger Hard Root Beer

Category - Alcoholic soft drinks, 5.9% abv

Available - From this week in Louisiana, nation-wide from next year

Location - US, nation-wide

Price - TBC

Abita Brewing Company, the Louisiana-based craft brewer, is to enter the alcoholic soft drinks market with the launch of a hard root beer.

Joining a raft of US brewers that have recently unveiled new alcoholic soft drinks, the company said Bayou Bootlegger Hard Root Beer is based on the Abita Root Beer it has been producing for 20 years. Abita makes more than 14,000 barrels of root beer a year.

"Our hard root beer is a decidedly adult take on the old-fashioned Abita Root Beer we've been brewing and you've been loving for years," said David Blossman, president & CEO of Abita. "It only made sense for us to enhance our already famous root beer with this fun, new twist."

In the wake of reportedly strong sales for Small Town Brewery's Not Your Father's Root Beer in the US, a number of brewers have launched their own alcoholic soft drinks. Anheuser-Busch InBev rolled out Best Damn Root Beer this month underneath a new brewing unit, while last month Small Town Brewery increased its portfolio with Not Your Father's Ginger Ale. 

In April, Abita was reportedly bought by a new private equity group, Enjoy Beer, that offers distribution, marketing and sales support to craft brewers looking to expand nationally.