White Claw contains alcohol that is a gluten-free malted alcohol base derived from fermented sugars. This means the alcohol is essentially a form of malt liquor, made by fermenting sugars from gluten-free malted grains. The malt base is filtered and clarified so it doesn't have the flavor of beer, but it legally falls under the category of malt beverages rather than distilled spirits like vodka or rum. White Claw typically has about 5% alcohol by volume (ABV), similar to light beer. The alcohol base is combined with seltzer water and natural fruit flavors to create the hard seltzer beverage.