CRACK 'ER OPEN. Valley Water, local winery and distillery Infinity Beverage's new ready-to-drink canned spritzer, is making its debut before the end of the summer season.

About a decade ago, if you were to pop open a cooler at your neighbor’s summertime get-together, it probably would’ve had water bottles near the bottom, some cans of soda, and a couple of beer options nestled into the mound of ice keeping things cool. Today, you’re arguably more likely to see spritzers and seltzers at the top of the cooler – maybe even outnumbering the beer. 

Seltzers, spritzers, ready-to-drink cocktails in a can, and other non-beer alcoholic beverages popped off after 2020, and there doesn’t seem to be an end to their popularity in sight.

Eau Claire’s Infinity Beverages Wine & Distillery has offered a full line of bottled cocktails for awhile. Now, entering the final month of summer, Infinity is also entering the spritzer game, introducing its own ready-to-drink canned wine cocktail spritzer: Valley Water.

“Infinity fans have wanted canned wine again – we’ve heard repeated requests since our last iteration a few years back,” explained Infinity Beverages owner Matthew Rick. “I’ve been working on developing the perfect line of wine cocktail spritzers that are ideal for canned packaging.”

Valley Water is making its debut in the Cranberry Black Tea flavor, first made available to Infinity Club Members on July 30, and the public soon soon after on Aug. 13. At 7% ABV, the spritzer is made with all natural flavors and real ingredients, Rick said.

And if you’re curious what the difference is between seltzers and spritzers, it mainly has to do with the kind of alcohol featured. Wine spritzers are, as the name suggests, wine-based. Hard seltzers typically feature some sort of malt or liquor as their base.

“In our short 14-year history we’ve always had a knack for innovating, and this is just another example of pushing the envelope of the norm,” Rick said.

If its debut makes a positive splash with the public, he added, Valley Water will come in a variety of flavors. Keep up with Infinity Beverages online to find out where you can try out the new locally created spritzer before the season ends.

Find Infinity Beverages Winery & Distillery on Facebook or visit in person (3460 Mall Drive, Eau Claire) • View their product lineup at infinitybeverages.com