It tastes like a soda water, but with booze!

Imagine alcoholic LaCroix!

Thats how canned vodka sodas are usually pitched by friends, bars and liquor stores in Western Canada. These vodka sodas in cans with brand names like Nude , Nutrl and PYUR are marketed as low-calorie, refreshing and easy to drink alternatives to other alcoholic beverages. Right now in Canada, theyre a uniquely West Coast thing head to any beach or patio in Vancouver and youll spot the signature white cans.

I remember my first Nude a minimalist white can filled with low-sugar, low-calorie lime-flavoured alcoholic goodness. Fittingly, it was earlier this year at a screening of The Bachelor (Coltons season) at a friends Vancouver apartment, which felt like the ideal place to consume vodka soda in a can.

Last summer, stores across B.C. reported selling out of popular brands. And its continuing to grow. In the first quarter of 2019 alone, spirit-based coolers including these low-calorie vodka sodas were a $60-million industry.

Julius Makarewicz, CEO of Nude Vodka Soda, says that to date the company has sold over 24 million cans since launching in July 2017.

Ever since we launched, this whole boom of vodka sodas started happening, he told HuffPost. And now theres like 20 brands across Canada.

A status symbol

You might notice that all of the Western Canadian vodka soda brands look kind of the same a sleek white can, simple black lettering and clean-cut images of fruit to denote flavours.

Makarewicz claims his company was the first to use the white can, and say its meant to represent the drinks healthy aspects.

The whole concept behind the can is we made it as simple as possible, he said.

Yann Cornil, a professor at the University of British Columbias Sauder School of Business, says thats intentional.

The white symbolizes healthy and purity, he said. So [these companies] are trying to move away from that category as a vice.