So, recently I was wandering around the alcohol section of a Shaw's supermarket in Vermont, and saw something new--alcoholic waters. Specifically, "spiked & sparkling" water from the Truly brand. Obviously, alcoholic alternatives to beer/wine/liquor have been with us for some time--the 1980's brought wine coolers, and after that customers saw various malt beverages like Zima (see July 21, 2018 post). Of late I've noticed even more varieties, including alcoholic teas, lemonades, root beers, and other different flavors of soft drinks (or "hard" soft drinks, now). But I was unaware that there were alcoholic versions of water. Therefore, I bought a sampling of the Truly line--the pomegranate kind, the blueberry & acai kind, and the raspberry & lime flavor.
As it turns out these were all hard versions of seltzer. Readers may be curious, as I was, what is seltzer, exactly, and how does it differ from mineral water, club soda, and tonic water? In brief, mineral water is from natural springs, has naturally occurring minerals (of course), and is usually naturally carbonated. Mineral waters are also usually rather expensive. Seltzer is essentially a cheaper version of mineral water. It's water that's been artificially carbonated, and sometimes has flavors added to it. Club soda is basically seltzer water which has had minerals added to it, for a slight taste difference. And tonic water is also artificially carbonated water, but it has a distinct bitter taste, because it's had quinine added to it. (Quinine is also useful to combat malaria, although the amount currently found in tonic waters isn't enough to do so, alas.) The name seltzer comes from the German town of Selters, which is famous for its natural springs.
Truly is made by the Hard Seltzer Beverage Company, which in turn is an affiliate of the Boston Beer Company microbrewery, most notable for their Sam Adams beer. According to the website the makers wanted a light and refreshing drink, which was low in both calories and sugar. For occasions when cocktails are "too complicated," and wine is "too heavy," and beer is "too bloaty." "The perfect post-workout, hang out drink." So they came up with a hard version of seltzer which has 100 calories, 1 gram of sugar, and 5% alcohol per 12 ounce (355 mL) can. Truly comes in 8 different flavors. Besides the three I already mentioned, there's wild berry, colima lime, grapefruit & pomelo, lemon & yuzu (a Japanese citrus fruit), and Sicilian blood orange. They're also proud to be gluten free, and with no artificial flavors or sweeteners. The ingredients for the ones I got, and presumably all of them, are filtered water, alcohol from cane sugar, natural flavors, cane sugar, citric acid, carbon dioxide, and Mandarina hops. Some of Truly's competitors include Henry's Hard, Nauti, White Claw, Smirnoff, and the originator of alcoholic seltzer, Spiked Seltzer (who developed their creation in 2013).
1) Truly hard seltzer, blueberry & acai flavor. Color of this was clear, and had a slight berry odor. Tasted like seltzer, which to me is not a good thing. Some berry taste, but very little. Not good. Hides its alcoholic content well, though.
2) Truly hard seltzer, pomegranate flavor. Same color, and same slight fruity smell. As with all three kinds, this one had a slight head which dissipated almost instantly. Some flavoring, but once again, not enough to make it good. Disappointing to say the least.
3) Truly hard seltzer, raspberry & lime flavor. Same odor and color as the others. Some ghost of a fruity flavor, but very slight. Not a pleasant drink at all. Fail!
In summation, then, I really disliked these beverages. But, to be fair, I hate seltzer waters in general--both the plain and flavored kinds. Which is maybe odd since I like many carbonated soft drinks, and other carbonated beverages like beer. But something about carbonated water puts me off, even ones with alleged flavors. I think the writing on the Truly cans was accurate, when they said, "with a hint of " the listed fruit flavor--you could barely taste anything. Suffice it to say that I won't be buying any of these again, nor will I be trying any of the other Truly flavors, or any other brands of hard seltzer. But, if you like seltzer water, you might enjoy these, I guess.
Finally, I thought I'd end with a little info about the Boston Beer Company, and microbreweries in general. Although there seems to be some differences in definition, most organizations recognize a brewery as being "micro" if it produces less than 6,000,000 barrels of beer (or 700,000,000 liters, or 190,000,000 gallons) in a year. As of 2015 7.8% of the beer sold in the U.S. was from microbreweries, aka craft breweries. As of March 2018 the 10 biggest microbreweries in the U.S. were:
1) Yuengling
2) Boston Beer Company
3) Sierra Nevada
4) New Belgium
5) Duvel Moortgat
6) Gambrinus
7) Bell's
8) Stone
9) Oskar Blues
10) DeSchutes
And starting this year, and up until 2025 Sam Adams is the official beer of MLB's Boston Red Sox, replacing Budweiser (see my May 25, 2016 post for a short snippy rant about this brewery).
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