Bethany Biron/Business Insider
- As hard seltzer fever continues to sweep the nation, three new brands hit the market in the past two weeks alone, clamoring to capture a piece of a market anticipated to reach $2.5 billion by 2021.
- Members of Business Insider’s retail, transportation, and careers teams conducted a hard seltzer tasting of nine brands, spanning a collective 34 flavors.
- White Claw was the near-unanimous winner. Here’s what we thought.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
It’s hard seltzer’s world this summer, we’re just living in it.
Seemingly overnight, this bubbly alcoholic concoction has become a nationwide sensation, prompting a smattering of memes and a legion of unabashed "bro" fans. Though brands like White Claw and Truly established themselves as early favorites within the hard seltzer canon, within just two weeks three new products have joined the market: Natural Light Seltzer, Pabst Blue Ribbon Stronger Seltzer, and Four Loko Seltzer.
With such an abundance of hard seltzer at our disposal, it can be difficult to sift through the noise. In order to help you navigate these strange new alcoholic waters, I put together a workplace taste-test of nine brands of hard seltzer currently available to the public.
Read more: ‘Claw is the law’: Why American ‘bros’ suddenly can’t get enough of White Claw hard seltzer
Eight of us from Business Insider’s retail, transportation, and careers teams took over a conference room this week to sample the ever-growing array of beverages. Across these nine brands, we sipped a collective 34 flavors, in variations ranging from "lemon agave hibiscus" to "raspberry rosé." (Sadly, we were not able to get our hands on the just-announced PBR Stronger Seltzer in time for the test, and we all have to wait until the fourth quarter of 2019 for a taste of Four Loko Seltzer in all 14% of its ABV glory.)
Overall, we came to the unwavering conclusion that Claw really is the law, and we unanimously despised Natural Light Hard Seltzer. Check out the rest of our thoughts, below:
We collectively hated Natural Light Seltzer.
Bethany Biron/Business Insider
As the brave soul who ventured to try this first, I will take the liberty to speak for the entire group when I say Natural Light hard seltzer is appallingly bad. After choking down a sip of the Aloha Beaches flavor, my senses felt completely and thoroughly assaulted by this beverage.
Watching the pained, puckered faces of my colleagues as they tried it only further affirmed my experience.
"It tastes metallic, hitting your tongue with a rude and horrible flavor," wrote one colleague.
"Absolutely disgusting," wrote another.
Let’s just say we won’t be drinking this one any time soon.
Crook & Marker seemed like it was going through an identity crisis.
Bethany Biron/Business Insider
Crook & Marker was a confounding one for the group. There was an audible gasp when one colleague discovered that rather than being clear like its peers, this drink was pink. Others were stuck on the word "quinoa" written in large block lettering on the can. What was this drink trying to be?
"I was SHOOK by CROOK. Why is it colored? I mean, good for them," wrote one especially befuddled taster.
"Strong flavor but not in a good way! Also, not really seltzer?" another wrote.
Upon further investigation, I discovered the reason for the difference is that Crook & Marker uses an alcoholic base made from non-traditional grains that include amaranth, millet, cassava root, and yes, quinoa.
Interesting? Perhaps. Tasty? No. The general consensus was that it tasted overly syrupy, despite boasting zero grams of sugar and using natural sweeteners.
Polar Arctic Summer tasted good upon first sip, but it quickly took a turn.
Bethany Biron/Business Insider
I had high hopes for Polar Arctic Summer, given that it’s the only drink on this list that’s actually produced by a seltzer water company.
However, Polar ended up being particularly deceiving — most of us enjoyed the first sip, but once that second swig hit the tongue we quickly discovered it had a pretty unpleasant aftertaste.
"Pass," wrote one colleague. "I don’t know her," wrote another.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Bethany Biron)