Wine judge lists 12 best hard seltzers
As a wine judge, I used to spend countless days locked in rooms with sommeliers and winemakers sniffing, sipping and debating the complexity of cabernet. We wore white lab coats and rattled on about oak and aromatic esters. How strange it seems now. ¶ These days, I’m locked in a condo with my family, and I drink hard seltzer in my yoga pants. I still love wine, especially with food. But I do not debate the appeal of light, fruity, low-calorie spiked seltzers, which have experienced a meteoric rise since White Claw and Truly entered the market in 2016. They paved the way for dozens of competitors, from heavyweights like Bud Light Seltzer to artisanal brands like Sebastopol’s Ficks.
I may even represent a part of tion that is drinking less wine — about 12%, according to a recent Wine Intelligence study — in favor of beer and hard seltzer. At their best, hard seltzers are light and refreshing. Consumed ice cold, they are crisp and highly chuggable, with a hint of fruit, like a spiked La Croix. At their worst, or when they start to get warm, they can taste like saccharin and stamps.
Tasting every brand out there is impossible, but being in a pandemic lockdown for the past five months, I’ve tried many. Below are my 12 favorites out of some 36 hard seltzers. I judged them on taste and crushability. And I may have even debated a few aromas with my virtual panel.
WHITE CLAW LEMON » A classic. You get exactly what you expect: A clean burst of fresh lemon with almost no aftertaste.
FICKS HARD SELTZER GRAPEFRUIT » My favorite among grapefruit options for its racy tartness. Mainstream hard seltzers are clear, but Ficks’ farm-to-fizz seltzer the U.S. wine-drinking populais cloudy, with real grapefruit pulp. Hit this with some tequila and lime for a skinny Paloma.
KONA SPIKED ISLAND SELTZER PASSION ORANGE GUAVA » From Kona Brewing Co., this one’s delightfully light and clean with passion fruit-orange-guava aromas and flavors that will transport you to Maui. No metallic, fake sugar taste. I went back and tasted it at room temperature. Still good.
BAREFOOT PEACH NECTARINE » Reminds me of my wine days. Wine coolers, that is. Barefoot uses white wine as the base for its 70-calorie seltzers, and the stone-fruit flavors are refreshingly dry to off-dry.
TRULY MANGO » More like mango candy than fresh-peeled mango, but that wouldn’t stop me from tossing one back on a hot day near a body of water.
SOMA HARD SELTZER BLACK CHERRY » From the brewers at San Francisco’s 21st Amendment
Brewery, this just-released unfiltered craft seltzer is crisp and clean, with aromas and flavors of dark cherry. The name is an homage to the SOMA neighborhood they’ve called home for 20 years. They make three other flavors, too: guava and passion fruit, mango, and black cherry.
BON & VIV CRANBERRY » Before there was White Claw, there was
SpikedSeltzer. It hit the market in 2013 and was eventually sold to Anheuser-Busch InBev, which rebranded and released it as Bon & Viv in 2016. I appreciate the true-to-fruit tartness of this cranberry seltzer. So will vodka cranberry lovers.
WHITE CLAW BLACK CHERRY » One of White Claw’s top-selling original flavors, this smells like Hubba Bubba Gushing Grape bubble gum and is a bit on the sweet side compared to the SOMA black cherry, but still pleasant and quaffable.
BAREFOOT PINEAPPLE PASSION FRUIT » At 4% alcohol, this is another winner from Barefoot. Sipped by the pool, this can’s tropical flavors will transport you. I almost considered pairing it with something fried and coconut-y.
SOMA HARD SELTZER WATERMELON » It’s Hell or High Watermelon without the wheat beer! The best of the watermelon seltzers we tried. And we tried a lot.
TRULY PINEAPPLE » Not as solid as the Barefoot pineapple-passion, but still juicy and chuggable. It’s a good (not great) one. Truly tends to be sweeter in general than other brands.
KONA SPIKED ISLAND SELTZER STARFRUIT LIME » Abundant, juicy lime coupled with bright apple makes this a highly crushable option. Beer brewers clearly know how to spike seltzer.