There’s no doubt that White Claw owned the Summer of 2019 and the explosion of hard seltzers on the market has been unstoppable ever since.  What started out to many as an ironic purchase for house parties and hangouts turned into mandatory buys for beaches and BBQs.  But, what makes hard seltzers better (or different) than the other options out there: beer, wine, and liquor?  What really goes into these products?  What differences are there from brand-to-brand?  I’ll answer these questions within this article and follow up my initial thoughts with video and blog reviews of as many hard seltzers I can get my hands on!

To help you with your decision making, a chart of all hard seltzer brands with ABV, calories, sugar, carbs, price, and ratings is located on its own page and at the end of this article.  If there are any hard seltzers you would like added to the list or reviewed on our YouTube channel, please send me a message.

What is Hard Seltzer?

In general, hard seltzer is just 4 things: carbonated water, alcohol, flavoring, and sweeteners.  You can make it at home with just carbonated water, vodka, and juice.  Or, a zero-sugar option with carbonated water, vodka, and artificial flavoring.

The flavors in hard seltzers are typically artificial flavoring – the same as you would find in a LaCroix, for instance  There is nothing inherently wrong with artificial flavoring since it’s derived from natural products such as seeds, oils, and peels (which is why they can still claim artificially flavored beverages have “natural flavors”), but be aware that an orange flavored drink may not have any orange in it at all - just components of other things that create the same experience.  Artificial flavorings are very concentrated (typically, 1 part per 1000 parts water) so they present a 0 calorie option.

Sweeteners in seltzers are mostly sugar but each brand will differentiate by using their own low-or-zero-calorie sweetener.  The general consensus from health websites is that sweeteners from fruits and plants such as stevia, monk fruit, and erythritol are better than processed ones such as aspartame (Nutrasweet, Equal), saccharin (Sweet’N Low), and sucralose (Splenda).  In my opinion, a few grams of cane sugar is better than putting these unknown substances in your body.  The best seltzer brands will use real fruit juice as sweeteners, but this will be reflected in the price.

The alcohol put in each can will determine how your buzz feels and how bad your hangover is the next day.  This is such a complex and unknown topic that it’s hard to say definitively which alcohol bases are good or bad.  The best thing to do is to be aware what type of alcohol you are drinking (e.g. vodka, tequila, whiskey) and what organic base (e.g. wheat, grapes, rice, potatoes) it is made from.  Most people will only pay attention to the type of alcohol but Grey Goose vodka is made from wheat, Tito’s is made from corn, and Ciroc is made from grapes.  Each one may react within your body differently.  Usually, I’ll drink enough of something to get an initial buzz (usually between 2-4 drinks) and make a mental note of how I feel at that moment.  For me, cognac, tequila, and rice wine (sake or ruou nep) give me the best body (drunk) feeling and least amount of hangover.  Within that, grape, wheat, and rice-based products seem to give me the least amount of hangover.

Why Drink Hard Seltzers?

The popularity of hard seltzers can be broken down into 3 reasons: low calories/carbs, great flavors, and cheap prices.  Let’s first take a look at the calories/sugar/carbs in hard seltzers (White Claw for this instance), beer, and wine per 12oz can.

Now that we see an overview, let’s attack each consideration and provide some insight.

Calories/Carbs

Seltzers will always be the calories king when compared to beer and wine.  This is because all of the calories in seltzers come from the alcohol itself.  Adding sugar creates about 4 calories per gram.  The basic formula all 12oz seltzers is 20 calories per % ABV (e.g. 100 calories for 5% ABV) and then add 2.5 calories per gram of sugar.  You can see White Claw should be 108 calories (compared to actual 110), but maybe the other 2 calories come from flavorings.  Just be aware that a brand advertising 80 calories per can is not a superior product, it’s just that they put less alcohol in it.

Seltzers are also superior across the board when it comes to carbs.  This is because the way that the seltzer alcohol is produced, the fermentation will continue until there is no more sugar.  Beer will stop short of having no more sugars because it is a component of what provides the flavors and body to the beer.  Alcohol where more sugars that are consumed (and thus less sugar leftover) are labeled as “dry” (this applies to other alcohols such as wine and saké as well).

From the chart, you can see that the trade-off of less carbs is more sugar.  The flavor has to come from somewhere and artificial flavors have a very “empty” taste on their own.  Before we start, let’s be clear, sugar IS a carbohydrate so there is no debate of sugar vs carbs.  The real argument is whether carbs from sugar in seltzer or carbs from beer are worse for you.  Clearly sugar itself has negative implications for diabetics and dieters and that is the number one point to make.  But, in terms of fat produced in your body sugar-based carbs will burn easier than heavy carbs such as starches, so a moderate amount of sugar is okay for the active person.  To keep things relevant, a can of Coke was put into the comparison table and you can see it has 20x as much sugar as a White Claw and 3x as many carbs as beer.  Also, for reference, the daily value of sugars recommended is 150 calories (37.5 grams) for men and 100 calories (25 grams) for women.  The DV for carbs is between 900-1300 calories, or 225 – 325 grams.

A Quick Impression of the Hard Seltzers Market

Below you will find a useful chart that can help you with your decision making the next time you go to the hard seltzer aisle.  Brands where different flavors had different values, I reported the average.  Some quick impressions are that each 12oz can is 4-5%ABV (average 4.85%) 100-120 calories (average 109 g)and low in sugar (average 2.2 g) and carbs (average 4.6 g).  The majority of the alcohol is derived from malted grains or sugar.  Most brands also use artificial flavoring with some sugar or artificial sweetener to make it taste good.  A can will cost you about $1.50, with Natural Light Seltzer bottoming out the group at $1.08 (of course!) and High Noon, Golden Road Agua Fresca, Sauza Agua Fuerte, Malibu Splash, Belching Beaver, and Crook & Marker positioning above $2.  Half (High Noon, Sauza, and Malibu) of these are more expensive because they add liquor (distilled) instead of being a fermented beverage, so they are taxed at a much higher rate.  There is no real benefit to this to the end consumer, unless you really enjoy their liquor to begin with.  They distill to remove water (and other things) and then add water back in.  The only reason to do this is because the ferment did not taste good with flavors, so they wanted to just strip everything and then water it down.

As I try each brand, I will add my ratings for overall, taste, drunk feeling, and quality.  Please check out my YouTube channel for reviews and insights.  I’ll try to do 2-3 each week!

Please leave a comment down below.  What do you care about when deciding what alcoholic beverage to drink?  What are some of your favorite brands and why?  What hard seltzer would you like me to review next?