Neiburg: Embrace the fizz. Seltzer drinks are just fine

A few months back, on a trip to Wegman's outside of Philadelphia, my girlfriend Lisa guided us toward our usual final destination before we make our way to the cash registers: the soda section.

Her younger brother needed some more Pepsi, and she wanted some La Croix soda water. I don't drink soda so I never really pay attention during this part of our shopping trip. The meat counter is more my speed.

But something struck me as I looked up the aisle that housed the La Croix: How can there possibly be this many sparkling water brands?

Well, probably because I hadn't been paying attention. Apparently, Americans have been embracing the European-style of sparkling water at a much-higher rate than ever before.

Yes, as traditional soda sales have plunged over the last decade as consumers get more sugar-conscious, there has been a steady rise in carbonated water beverage sales. La Croix, the industry's titan of sorts, saw its sales jump from $65 million in 2010 to an astounding $226 million in 2015. It's no longer the humble Midwestern soda water company.

The Washington Post wrote on the subject two summers ago with an article titled: "How seltzer water became cooler than Coke."

Look, I'm not sure that will ever be true. The famous Mean Joe Green commercial, though I wasn't alive for it, is one of the coolest advertisements ever.

But I'm willing to concede that seltzer is having and has been having a moment. And it's probably not going away anytime soon.

And being that this is a weekly drink column: let's get to the obvious ... It was only a matter of time until this craze took the alcohol world by storm.

So here we are, in the midst of a seltzer revolution in which companies are launching seltzer brands with big flavors and low calorie counts. It's what everyone is looking for these days. And trust me, they're way better than the Lime-A-Rita, the oft-hated flavored malt beverage from Anheuser-Busch that is marketed toward women.

SpikedSelzter, Nauti Seltzer, Truly Spiked & Sparkling and White Claw Hard Seltzer are all growing in popularity and offer plenty of low-cal flavors made from natural ingredients. They're all readily available in many parts of the country, and housed in trendy cans in liquor stores up and down the Delmarva Peninsula. 

The brands are catching on enough that Smirnoff – the vodka brand owned by beverage conglomerate Diageo that had young people everywhere on an "ice" craze after launching Smirnoff Ice, a sugary, flavored malt beverage in the early 2000s – responded by coming out with a brand called Spiked Sparkling Seltzer. 

Restaurants around the country are taking notice too, incorporating more seltzer into their cocktail menus. Some are using it instead of ginger beer to make Moscow Mule's a trend the Columbus Inn in Wilmington was apparently ahead of a few years back.

But I, for sure, wasn't ahead of this one. That doesn't mean I'm not planning on catching up, though. Hot weekends are ahead, and canned spiked seltzer is on my horizons.

Some people need a little more pushing, though. Citing a survey conducted by Mintel in late 2015, Market Watch noted that only 7 percent of the 2,000 consumers surveyed said they think ready-to-drink alcohol beverages were high in quality. Twenty-eight percent said they'd be embarrassed to consume those types of drinks in front of other people. 

A good alternative? Mix it yourself, then.

READ MORE: Cans, both beer and wine, the latest way to streamline

I’m not afraid to say after a recent weekend at home in Pennsylvania, my parents sent me back to Delmarva with a care package. The bag, which was food-focused (Clif Bars and whatnot), featured one beverage: Sparkling Ice, a “naturally flavored, sparkling mountain water.” Pink grapefruit was the flavor.

I’m not sure I’ve ever given any indication that sparkling water is in my diet, and maybe it should be, but it left me thinking...  

What should I mix it with?