Untappd is excited to announce its virtual Go 'Hard' festival presented by Half Time Beverage featuring your favorite drinks with just a little kick in the teeth.

Step up your seltzers, light up your lemonades, turn up your teas, and amp up your meads. Showcasing over 11 hard beverages, our newest fest means it's time to either Go 'Hard' or Go Home.

According to the Brewers Association, the not-for-profit trade organization that represents over 5,400 independent craft breweries in America, sales of hard seltzer grew 140% year-over-year in a four week period ending July 12th, 2020. 

"The sustained growth we've seen in categories like hard seltzer and mead show they're not trends," said Kenny Gould, Creative Director at Untappd. "In general, I think we're seeing increasing consumer demand for beverages that are refreshing and easy drinking, but lower in ABV than a cocktail or glass of wine." 

If you're looking for more proof that hard beverages are here to stay just check out their performance on Untappd. 

"Only four months into 2021, the number of Untappd check-ins across hard styles is already 10% higher than the number of check-ins throughout all of 2020," said Talia Sperra, VP of Events at Untappd. "We embrace the phenomenon and want to celebrate it with our brewery partners and the Untappd community." 

If it seems strange for a company more typically associated with beer to be throwing a "no-beer" festival, consider that other types of beverages currently represent some of Untappd's highest rated products. 

Evil Water, a subsidiary of New York's Evil Twin Brewing, comes in a variety of dessert-inspired flavors like "Raspberry, Blueberry" and "Cream Soda," which hold ratings of 4.3 and 4.34 out of 5, respectively. And Smooj, a spinoff of Michigan's HOMES Brewery that produces a line of fruit-infused "smoothie seltzers," currently holds the app's top spot for a nano brewery in the United States, with a 4.498 out of 5 on almost 12,000 ratings. 

"Since many of these categories are so new, I wanted to find brewers and products that I knew Untappd users would really enjoy," said Britt Burke, Manager of Event Operations at Untappd. "I went through our database and reached out to producers with some of the highest ratings." 

Consumers in 30+ states are now able to purchase a box of of the follow 11 hard beverages:

Products Included in the Go 'Hard' Box 

1. BONUS ADDITION (added at no additional charge): Willie's Superbrew Ginger & Lemon Hard Seltzer

2.  Smooj Piña Colada Hard Seltzer 

3. Smooj Strawberry Banana Hard Seltzer 

4. Untitled Art Prickly Pear Guava Hard Seltzer 

5. UPDATED FLAVOR: Evil Water Key Lime Pie Hard Seltzer

6. Superstition Meadery Fuzz Fuzz Peach and Vanilla Session Mead 

7. Boulevard Brewing Cherry Blossom and Lime Hard Seltzer 

8. Graft Cider Birds of Paradise Moscow Mule-inspired Cider 

9. Farmhaus Cider Co. Daily Dry Cider 

10. Artisan Beverage Cooperative Ginger Libation Ginger Beer 

11. Decadent Brewing x Half Time Beverage Shirley Temple Lemonade

12. Reverie Brewing Company x SOUND Tea x Half Time Beverage Pinkies Up Sparkling Hard Tea 

Plus, you'll also get access to two virtual sessions for a full weekend of livestream brewer led guided tasting, Q&A sessions with our feature breweries, exclusive merch deals, and more from 7:00 to 10:00pm EST on July 9th and 10th.

For those unable to attend, all content will be uploaded to Untappd's YouTube page after the event. Because of the nature of the beverages, all products included in the Go 'Hard' box are naturally gluten-free. 

Ticket sales end on June 10th, 2021. So, what are you waiting for!? Go grab your tickets right now.