Summer Roundup: Hard Seltzers

Two words: one drink. No guilt. That’s right, our dreams have come true. To all the La Croix lovers out there, hard seltzer is for you. We’ve all been to parties and gatherings where the drinks available weren’t up to par. Beer comes with bloat. Some wines come with stained teeth. And cocktails? Forget it. The sugar content is almost as much as a soda. Luckily for us, the spiked seltzer craze has made it easy for the health-conscious community to indulge in the adult fun without the hangover of guilt.

As the market goes, whenever there is a successful product that comes out, others start being created to rival it. But that’s okay, because that means we, as an audience, get more variety when choosing which cold, guilt-free alcoholic beverage we’ll enjoy next to the pool or on the lake.

Here are the latest, coolest hard seltzers in Austin:

White Claw

Alcohol: 5 percent

Calories: 100

Carbs: 2g

White Claw hard seltzers contain only these ingredients: purified carbonated water, alcohol, natural flavors, cane sugar, citric acid, natural juice concentrate and sodium citrate. The popular spiked seltzer brand gets its name from what its website calls a “white claw wave,” which is when three wave crests come together to create one massive wave that surfers dream of. Flavor choices include Black Cherry, Mango, Natural Lime, Raspberry, Ruby Grapefruit and their latest unflavored drink, Pure.

Bon & Viv

Alcohol: 4.5 percent

Calories: 90

Sugar: 0g

With no sugar added, Bon & Viv offer some of the most unique spiked seltzer flavors you can find, such as Black Cherry Rosemary, Grapefruit, Pear Elderflower, Cranberry, Clementine Hibiscus, Lemon Lime and Prickly Pear. Slightly lower in alcohol than its competitors, the mermaid-marketed spiked seltzer brand was created after almost 100 batches by a fifth generation brewer, Nick Shields. Shields’ goal was to “create a new kind of beverage by combining disciplines of brewing, winemaking and natural flavors,” thus creating Bon & Viv Spiked Seltzer.

Mighty Swell

Alcohol: 5 percent

Calories: 120

Sugars: 4g

Founded in Austin, Mighty Swell is another competitor in the booming hard seltzer market. Offering fruity flavors such as Watermelon Mint, Grapefruit, Peach and Mango, the local company has a full breakdown of each of their flavor’s nutrition facts on their website, making it easy and accessible for the health-conscious community to double check that their new drink of choice is healthier than a sugary cocktail.

Truly

Alcohol: 5 percent

Calories: 100

Sugar: 1g

Made with no artificial sweeteners, Truly offers a wide variety of flavors such as Wild Berry, Blueberry and Acai, Raspberry Lime, Black Cherry, Orange, Lime, Grapefruit, Lemon, Pineapple, Mango, Passionfruit, Pomegranate and Rosé. Unsure of which flavor to buy? One of the most unique aspects of Truly is its assortment of mixed packs. Try out a berry pack, a citrus pack or a tropical mix pack to please everyone’s palate.