Blaze Pizza launches a new crust made with Mango White Claw as hard seltzer sales continue to explode
- Blaze Pizza is launching a pizza crust made with Mango White Claw, the chain announced on Tuesday.
- The White Claw Pizza crust will be available at 40 of the chain's locations on Thursday only.
- The crust is supposed to be crispier than an average pizza crust, and slightly fruity.
- This pizza launch comes as hard seltzer reaches record consumption levels, capturing over 10% of the alcoholic beverage market for the third week in a row.
Blaze Pizza is taking food-alcohol pairing one step further and putting Mango White Claw in its pizza crust.
The chain will allow customers to order any pizza with White Claw crust on Thursday only at 40 select locations, a Blaze Pizza spokesperson told Business Insider in an email.
This announcement comes as hard seltzer sales shoot through the roof. Hard seltzer accounted for 10.1% of all alcoholic beverage sales for the week ending on June 6, according to Nielsen data. That's the third week in a row that hard seltzer has captured over 10% of the market. And compared to the same week last year, sales are up 255%.
"Like our pizzas, White Claw is crafted with simple and clean ingredients, and the brand has an irreverent attitude," Blaze Pizza's executive chef, Brad Kent, told Business Insider in an email. "While sipping on a Mango White Claw, I thought, 'Why not make dough with this instead of filtered water?' Turns out it tastes great! After combining a few of our fresh ingredients, the final recommended topping list offers a balance of spicy and tangy, with a bit of tropical sweetness to balance it out."
So what effect does hard seltzer have on pizza dough? According to a Blaze spokesperson who's tried the new product, the White Claw makes the crust "a bit more crispy."
Kent recommends pairing the crust with red sauce, shredded mozzarella, pepperoni, red bell pepper, pineapple, jalapeño, and an arugula finish. To find out if a Blaze Pizza near you will serve White Claw crust, check here.
In the meantime, it looks like those who shrugged off hard seltzer as a passing fad may have to eat their words, maybe in the form of a White Claw Pizza.