Hard sparkling waters and seltzers are now a trending category, with Boston Beer's Truly Spiked & Sparkling, Wachusett Brewing's Nauti Seltzer and Boathouse Beverage's Spiked Seltzer showing up on store shelves. The trend is permeating beverage categories beyond water as well. The sparkling trend has made a splash in the canned and bottled water space with a swath of companies - Nestlé's regional sparkling spring waters, National Beverage's LaCroix, PepsiCo's Aquafina and Bubly, Coca-Cola's Dasani and Glaceau's Smartwater and Ciel products among them - and consumer demand is going nowhere but up. “Sparkling water just so happens to be the conduit.' 'Our brand promise is powering productivity through clean caffeine,” Matt Matros, co-founder and brand director for Limitless, told BevNET. Other sparkling caffeinated water brands include Phocus, Wave Soda and a caffeinated variety of Sparkling Ice, which is scheduled to roll out in June. The company brought the lineup's six flavors to Expo West in March, with each offering 35 milligrams of caffeine per 12-ounce can. Limitless Coffee & Tea, a coffee roaster and retailer in Chicago, has introduced Lightly Caffeinated Sparkling Water, which is created by infusing caffeine removed when roasting the company's decaf coffees into carbonated water. According to BevNET, the rise of sparkling beverages parallels the decline of sugary sodas and other carbonated soft drinks spurred by consumer demand for healthier beverages. Sparkling water brands are enjoying such a boost in popularity that some companies are trying to differentiate their products by adding caffeine.

Bubbly caffeinated water