• by Steve Ellwanger , November 7, 2022

As it prepares to enter the alcohol category early next year, Monster Beverage Corp. is also planning to expand into canned waters.

The U.S. energy drinks leader said last week that Monster Tour Water will launch in the second half of 2023 in unflavored still and sparking variations.

Monster Tour Water was a popular item during Monster’s sponsorship of the Warped Tour traveling music event that ran from 1995 until 2019.

The company gave Monster Tour Water to Warped Tour musicians so that fans would see Monster-branded cans on stage—some of which have become collectables sold on eBay and other platforms.

The first Monster-branded alcohol beverage, The Monster Unleashed, will launch in Q1 of 2023 with 6% alcohol in the Mean Green, White Haze, Peach Perfect and Scary Berries flavors.

The Monster Unleashed launch will be handled via beer distributors by the craft beer and hard seltzer company CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective, which Monster acquired earlier this year.

The goal is for national distribution of the malt beverage by the end of 2023.

Within the CANarchy portfolio, Monster is planning to relaunch Wild Basin hard seltzer and introduce a light lager beer under the Dale’s brand.

“We also have several additional innovative alcohol beverage products under development and look forward to sharing use of those products at a later date,” Monster CEO Rodney Sacks said last week on a Q3 earnings call.

In January, Monster will launch a zero-sugar version of its original Green energy offering, which Sacks described as an “an indistinguishable zero-sugar analog” of the company’s leading flavor.

In the quarter ended Sept. 30, Monster posted record net sales of $1.62 billion—up 15.2% from the year-earlier period—and a decline in net income of 4.4% to $322.4 million.

The company’s alcohol brands had net sales of $26.8 million.

In channels tracked by NielsenIQ, Monster held a 37.3% share of the U.S. energy drinks category—ahead of Red Bull at 35.9%—in the 12 weeks ended Oct. 22.