They’re known for being sober-curious — but a bite-sized new booze trend reveals that Gen Z hasn’t quite fully broken up with alcohol just yet.
As the cost of going out on the town climbs ever higher, Zoomers who love the nightlife have found a new way to pregame affordably — they’re turning to tennis ball-sized Buzzballz canned cocktails for a potent, 15%-20% ABV punch that only costs them between $3 and $4.50.
Why nurse a $20 cocktail when you can efficiently chug a small jug of “Berry Cherry Limeade” before your Uber arrives?
The trendy drinks, typically found by the cash register in liquor stores and gas stations, deliver a lot in a tiny package, can be downed in a couple of sips and they cost far less than an equivalent-strength drink at a bar.
And as a generation that embraces fitness and wellness, these youngins aren’t willing to waste calories unless they feel the effects.
Despite not being a Gen Zer, content creator Gizzelle Cade understands the hype, describing the buzzy drink as an “elite pregame drink and chaser” after feeling drunk from just one of them in a viral TikTok video.
“Let’s be real, the economy is crap,” she told The Post. “So it’s better to pre-drink instead of getting cocktails at an event. I was skeptical at first, but they really do get you buzzed.”
She pointed out that each flavor “almost has a personality, which makes them really fun and memorable. The flavors and colorful packaging make them perfect for social media.”
Cade is among a slew of people online helping fuel the drink’s popularity, which was founded by a Dallas schoolteacher in 2009, by filming taste tests, ranking flavors and chugging them before a night out.
One creator jokingly shared a video of himself sitting in a stool while holding a BuzzBallz with overlay text that reads, “Preparing for my Netflix documentary about why I love BuzzBallz so much.”
Other videos show fans of the colorful drinks standing in a liquor store trying to convince their friends to buy an entire case for a day at the beach.
High ABV aside, Jess Scheerhorn, president of BuzzBallz, thinks young drinkers are drawn to the ready-to-drink cocktail because of the brand’s marketing strategy.
Scheerhorn told The Post that Buzzballz gets its consumers’ attention through retail, seasonal activations, paid media, PR and social.
“At its core, BuzzBallz has always been about authenticity, bringing people together and unapologetic fun,” she told The Post. Despite the binge-drinking trend, the brand “encourages responsible enjoyment.”
Sure, the brand knows a thing or two about marketing. But the obsession with these boozy drinks points to a bigger issue, as Gen Z is doing away with “casual drinking” and instead drinking to “blackout,” or in more mature words, get inebriated.
A 2023 Gallup survey found that adults under 35 engaging in drinking dropped from 72% in 2001-2003 to 62% in 2021-2023.
But statistics also show that high ABV drinks, particularly ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages, have surged in popularity.
Gen Z’s commitment to high-alcohol content has been consistent, from the rise of BORGS (Black Out Rage Gallons), where liquor and food dye are mixed in a gallon jug, to the surge of canned cocktails like Cutwater — another viral ready-to-go cocktail offered in over 29 flavors with ABVs as high as 13%.
Ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails made up 20% of the distilled spirits market in 2024 and their revenue is projected to grow from $903 million to $2.11 billion by 2030.
Cutwater has been ranked as the No. 2 spirits-based canned cocktail brand in the U.S., after High Noon.
Their growth, much like BuzzBallz, is fueled by the hype around high-ABV drinks with lower price and smaller size.
And Gen Z can’t resist a viral trend, especially the “Cutwater Challenge” that requires chuggers to finish a four-pack.
The canned cocktails are being coined the modern-day Four Loko, a boozy brand that debuted in 2005 and contains 12% to 13.9% ABV — the equivalent of drinking about five to six standard beers at once.
“I thought I could handle something that’s in a can. You get a pack, thinking you are going to be so chill, and everything’s going to be fun, but after 4 of them, you don’t know what’s going on,” influencer Gage Briney posted after completing the “Cutwater Challenge.”
Briney told The Post, “After about 3 (Cutwaters) I’m ready to throw my ass in a circle and after 4 I’m ready to crawl upstairs to order Taco Bell, but hoping I don’t pass out before I remember I ordered that Taco Bell.”
Cutwaters were created with the intention to be diluted with water, hence the name, but that doesn’t seem to resonate with drinkers.
“I need my Cutwaters pure so I can get drunk on less. It’s called economics,” a content creator commented. Memes of intoxicated people are going viral as well, with the caption “me after one Cutwater.”
“Who told you to put pain and agony in a can?” said another user who reportedly blacked out after drinking two.
And the “BBC Challenge” has taken high-content drinking to an even scarier level, where young drinkers challenge themselves to chug a BuzzBallz, a Beat Box, a juice-based alcoholic drink that can go up to 11% ABV, and a Cutwater all at once.
“I’m going to drink this whole thing and be back in an hour,” one creator said in a viral video, later showing herself feeling the effects of the drink, as she put it simply: “My head is banging, don’t do it.
