IT’S not a hard sell – a sweet alcoholic drink that will make you merry for a fraction of the calories of beer or wine.
No wonder Americans have gone crazy for hard seltzer – the boozy fizzy water now making its way across the pond.
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Generating 4.4billion (£3.5billion) in sales a year in the States, big brands such as Corona are now jumping on the hard seltzer bandwagon and trying to get us hooked too.
But are they any good? Hayley Minn puts eight cans through a hard test and marks them out of five.
Deap, 4%, 96kcal, 12 x £28, deapwater.com – Score: 4
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IN terms of taste, the blueberry and lime one was my favourite, with its punchy, fruity flavour and a tangy aftertaste.
It was deap-ly refreshing, and I could definitely drink it all night.
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However, at £2.33 a can it is the most expensive, aside from Corona.
The brand also stock a pear and thyme flavour, as well as raspberry and lemon.
SERVED, 4%, 95kcal, 6 x £15, serveddrinks.co.uk – Score: 4
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SINGER Ellie Goulding co-founded this brand and having tried her cocktail cans previously – and loved them – I had high hopes for this.
On the whole, it didn’t disappoint.
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While I found the raspberry flavour very sharp and too sweet, the peach and lime offering were delicious.
It tasted like a 7-Up, with the right amount of sweet peach.
High Water, 5%, £12 for 29, drinkinghighwater.com – Score: 3
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I FOUND these were a lot sweeter than the others, and had less of the bitter sparkling water taste.
The flavours ranged in calories from 93 to 99kcal and my favourite was the lemon and elderflower, which was refreshing.
The mango and peach combo was a bit too sweet for my liking, and the cucumber and mint was too bitter.
Bodega Bay, 4%, 96kcal, 12 x £25.99, bodegabay.co.uk – Score: 1
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SADLY, I really didn’t like the cherry or apple flavours.
The former was so sickly sweet and the latter tasted like cinnamon, for some reason.
If you are a fan of drinking Cherryade or Appletizer though, you might like these.
On the other hand, the elderflower flavour was more drinkable, and had more of a balanced flavour.
Berczy, 4%, 75kcal, 12 x £26.95, berczydrinks.com – Score: 5
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THE lemon and lime was so refreshing and tasted just like lemonade.
It was by far my favourite of all the hard seltzers I tried, but the brand’s other flavours didn’t quite live up to it.
In the passion fruit and tumeric combo I could taste the turmeric too much, giving it a strange, sweet and savoury taste, although I got more used to it with every sip.
DRTY, 4%, 83-89kcal, 12 x £24, drtydrinks.com – Score: 1
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THERE are three flavours from this hard seltzer brand – White Citrus, Raspberry Rose and Mango Passion.
I only tried Mango Passion, and it really was quite unpleasant.
It just tasted like bitter sparkling water with an artificial mango aftertaste.
I would be really intrigued to see if the other flavours are any better.
Arrow Town, 5%, 12 x £27.95, arrowtowndrinks.co.uk – Score: 2
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WITH these being the drinks with the fewest calories of 36-38kcal, I was curious to see if they would still taste good.
Unfortunately, they don’t. The elderflower and lime offering had a strong starting floral taste, then it turned sour.
The Tropical seltzer tasted of artificial banana and Red Berries were sickly sweet. These just weren’t to my taste.
Corona Tropical, 4.5%, £2.75 at Sainsbury’s – Score: 4
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AT £2.75 for just a 330ml can, this is the priciest one I tried.
It is also the most calorific – at 116-125kcal depending on the flavour.
But these were, by far, the best tasting ones.
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The pineapple and mango flavour was lovely, while the raspberry and lemon mix was sweet and fruity.
My favourite had to be the guava and lime seltzer – it tasted like strawberry and lime cider.
