Sometimes media releases land on my desk that I am sure are designed solely to make my head explode.
This is one such release.
I have no idea how Hard Iced Tea tastes, but from the media release taste doesn’t seem in anyway relevant. The marketing offers a hodgepodge of confused and unsustained claims that seems to want to make it appeal to beer drinkers, while at the same time trashing beer and making vague claims of its own ‘healthfulness’.
The marketers want to make it sound like beer (it “has similar characteristics to beer”), but at the same make it sound nothing like beer. I’m not sure where any comparison to beer could come from as, apart from being made on brewing equipment, it has no common ingredients to beer. After speaking with Managing Director Andy McCutcheon, I understand that it is made by steeping tea in a hot sugar solution and then fermenting it. Consequently it is taxed as an RTD, rather than beer.
Despite wanting to claim similar characteristics to beer, it also want to differentiate itself from beer which apparently has “high levels of carbohydrates, sugar and gluten”. While beer does indeed contain gluten, it is actually comparatively low in carbohydrates. The most disappointing thing about this claim is that the hard iced tea is produced at Mt Tamborine Brewery, whose owner is involved in the iced tea company. It seems an odd strategy to trash one product to boost another.
Even so the carb story seems quite confused for Hard Iced Tea too. The media release just claims that it is “without the high levels of carbohydrates” found it beer, while the website landing page claims to it is “low carbs” and “low sugar”, then the About Us page claims that it contains “NO carbohydrates”. Finally the Facebook page claims it has “75% less carbs than a ‘low carb’ beer and 50% less sugar”. There’s something for everyone there.
It will be most interesting to see how they go with their claims about the drink’s antioxidant qualities. The media release claims the product retains “the antioxidant qualities that tea is famous for”, the webpage claims that it is “naturally antioxidant rich” and the Facebook page states it “contains all of the antioxidant goodness that tea is famous for”. When I spoke with Andy McCutcheon and asked whether the product had been tested for its antioxidant properties, or whether he was just relying on the perceptions of tea as being antioxidant rich, he advised, ” I don’t know the volume of antioxidants in it”.
Irrespective of the volume of antioxidants that actually inhabit the product, the Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code prohibits making claims about the therapeutic benefits of alcoholic beverages. The quantities of antioxidants in any alcoholic beverage will be so low that before they can have any therapeutic affect, you will consume an unhealthy amount of alcohol. Of course, the ABAC scheme is a quasi-regulatory system for alcohol advertising and their decisions are only binding on members. So we’ll never know whether saying “as consumers become increasingly conscious of their health” this is a “pure, naturally refreshing and healthful way to enjoy an alcoholic beverage” breaches their guidelines.
I can’t be bothered going on. I have wasted enough time on this already and the more that I think about this the more I despair and want to sit and suck my thumb while I quietly rock in the corner. No doubt it will be successful.
Media Release
In the face of slumping beer sales globally, it seems the (Brisbane) Queensland based, ‘Hard Iced Tea Brewing Company Pty Ltd’ have met the growing needs of consumers sophisticated palates with the release of their new, World first, patented alcoholic beverage range called, ‘Hard Iced Tea.’®
Unlike other malt based tea flavoured beverages available elsewhere. – ‘Hard Iced Tea’® is made from, well…TEA.
Its unique manufacturing process produces a unique and refreshing taste experience that has similar characteristics to beer – but without the high levels of carbohydrates, sugar and gluten present in cereal grain based drinks – all the while retaining the antioxidant qualities that tea is famous for.
With an increasingly health conscious population ‘Hard Iced Tea’® now provides a sustainable alternative in the alcoholic beverages market that appeals to a much wider consumer audience, including the 75% of women who are currently not beer drinkers.
A recent visit to the brewery from Asian singing sensation Olivia Ong catapulted awareness of ‘Hard Iced Tea’® to 250,000 of her fans in a Facebook frenzy that continues to drive consumer demand for the product amongst retailers, where response at the bar has been overwhelming and is now capturing between 10% – 12% of beer market share.
With that sort of an impact in a global beer market worth USD$525 Billion, it’s no wonder they have been fielding enquiry from companies such as Coca-Cola Amatil and Woolworths Liquor Group here in Australia while garnering interest amongst potential overseas licensees in Europe, North America and Asia.’
Last week, Managing Director Andy McCutcheon announced, the company has recently agreed to a commercial arrangement with Australian Trade Partners Pty Ltd for national distribution of their products in Australia.
Their website is horrid. Flash! Autoplaying music! It’s like they don’t even realise that it’s the 21st century
Firstly, thank you for publishing our press release to your viewers and I take on board some of your editorial comments.
I apologize if it seemed like an attack on the beer community – there could be nothing further from the truth.
When looking at the alcohol beverages industry, our products are not a beer, cider, wine or spirits and as such you are correct in pointing out that we are taxed as an RTD. Having said that, when trying to position our products across the vast array of choices available to consumers who had not previously tasted the product the endearing question always prevailed, ‘What is it like’? The answer
however, was somewhat complex – even for the ATO.
We aren’t made from plants of the graminae family and so clearly by definition we are not a beer. We are also not made from crushed apples or pears or other fermentable fruits and so therefore not a cider. We are not made from crushed grapes and have no appellation and are therefore not wine and we are not made from corn, potatoes, rye grain or sugar cane and our product is not distilled from a mash therefore we are not a spirit, liqueur or brandy – but then again neither is ‘ginger beer.’
We are however manufactured in the same facilities and with much of the same processes as beer and the resultant products hue looks like beer, holds a frothy head like beer, is carbonated like a beer, has the same alcohol content as a mid-strength beer at 3.5% and indeed is served and consumed alongside beer – so whilst it’s not beer, it certainly carries many similar characteristics – but accurately not composition.
So what makes us different?
As suggested, beer is relatively low in carbohydrates from residual simple sugars or maltose when compared to a lot of other beverages perceived as healthier alternatives. There are currently many low carb beers on the market averaging 0.9 – 1.9g per 100ml totalling 2.97g-6.27g per serve – yet ‘Hard Iced Tea’ contains .85g per 330ml serve and so to provide a relative comparison of products side by side I think when done in that context it is appropriate to claim more accurately that ‘beer has more carbohydrates than tea – but certainly less than other beverages.
The carbohydrate argument is somewhat of a mute- point as carbs are assessed differently on the glycaemic index depending on who you ask – however most consumers have been conditioned to believe that ‘low-carb’ represents a healthier choice, when more accurately they should pay more attention to kilojoules opting for ‘low alcohol’ rather than ‘low carb.’
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/drinkers-exploited-by-lowcarb-beer-myth-20101210-18rlc.html
That said, while consumers continue to use the ‘low-carb’ measuring stick to assess their choices in alcoholic beverages and the industry continues to move in that direction, I don’t see why we shouldn’t uphold our rightful place in the carbohydrate race?
On the question of antioxidants, there has been exhaustive research to substantiate the presence of antioxidants in tea, especially green tea – but there has also been exhaustive research showing far more antioxidants in the skin of grapes used to produce red wine and many consumers extol the
virtues and health benefits of a glass of wine?
Realistically, I think people buy ‘Hard Iced Tea’ because it tastes great, it’s refreshing and it goes down easy – but then everyone makes that claim too?
Mate – I respect your editorial comments and our press release was not meant to target any group or indeed one group within the alcoholic beverages community, we were simply trying to say what we were – and say what we weren’t in an attempt to describe our entirely new beverage to consumers who have no base line to work from in the framework of what is currently available.
We make plenty of beer at MT Brewery and I drink every one of them and so do many others.
What’s interesting, is that when we serve ‘Hard Iced Tea’ in the taster trays – many people come back to buy tea not knowing what it is, how it’s made or what’s in it – purely on taste alone. No healthful claims and no slick sales job – just taste.
I really look forward to you trying it and if you are ever at the brewery I’ll shout you one myself!
Cheers
Andy McCutcheon
Andy –
Thanks for taking the time to reply. My first suggestion is that you sack your marketing company and write your own media releases in future. You’ve given a much more no-nonsense, clear explanation of the product and the rational here than they gave in the release and “people buy ‘Hard Iced Tea’ because it tastes great, it’s refreshing and it goes down easy ” is a pretty good reason to try it.
Re: “while consumers continue to use the ‘low-carb’ measuring stick to assess their choices in alcoholic beverages and the industry continues to move in that direction, I don’t see why we shouldn’t uphold our rightful place in the carbohydrate race?”
Fair enough, you have a product to sell, but the ‘carbohydrate race’ relies on ignorance to continue. Your release just contributes to this disinformation by describing beer as having ‘high levels of carbohydrates’ simply to play on what you knew as the negative perceptions of beer. If you look at the site you’ll see we’re fairly consistent in our approach to this. We seek to educate and inform readers rather than spread nonsense about carbs.
All the same, I’d be happy to take up your offer to debate it further over one at the brewery.
Matt
I think we beat the
I’ve been making hard tea for months… it’s called Gunnamatta and although it is not endorsed by a “singing sensation”, it does have a quote from Paul Kelly on the label.
That was meant to say “I think we beat them to it!”
Our press release would state that it tastes like your granny, or something your granny might drink. We’d write it in comic sans.
Hi Stu;
Unfortunately, our products are worlds apart. You are making beer flavoured with tea instead of hops – we are making an alcoholic beverage exclusively from tea. there are several malt based tea flavoured beverages in the marketplace – I’m glad to see consumers at least enjoy yours, social media forums report that the other ones taste like, ‘nail polish’
Well done and keep up the good work!
while the gunnamatta is a great beer and tastes quite similar to”tea”, it is a beer at the end of the day and i personally would prefer mt tambourine breweries version due to its flavour similarity to a cider which suits tea flavour more than a malt hop mix. they are both impressive beverages but the mt tea is extremely unique and caters for the much wider female market. hopefully you both inspire every brewer to have a play in this area and maybe even collaborate one day…
Gross I’ll pass on that HIT
I applaud Andy and his team on their product, and look forward to a taste test very shortly. As the saying goes, don’t knock it till you try it, it could very well be something your taste buds enjoy
Thanks for the comment Simone. I don’t think I knocked the product at all and even mentioned that it was likely to succeed. It is a clever concept that is coming along at the right time. I did however criticise the factually inaccurate claims about beer and also the unsupported and inappropriate claims about the healthfulness of the alcoholic tea based on the indeterminate level of antioxidants in the product.
its actually very nice, in my opinion, although my brother didn’t like it my girlfriend did. its more similar to a cider than a beer but lacks that overpowering sweetness I find with most commercial ciders, more of a slight dry finish. from memory it was served with mint leaf.i had a chat with the owner at the time (back in march), they were very much focussed on the Asian market which are mad tea lovers. there is a massive gap in the alcoholic tea market in aus and they have definitely nailed the taste profile. the owner had originally said dan Murphys was soon to stock it but I’ve yet to see this happen..compared to most microbrewers ive met this guy is far more professional business wise and understands the market / marketing to it which can be a rare mix of traits in Australian brewing (exception ofcourse lc and coopers for example).