Review: Texas Ranch Water Blue Agave Hard Seltzer
Texas Ranch Water Blue Agave Hard Seltzer was released last summer and is currently available in two flavor varieties, Lime and Grapefruit. Ranch Water is the unofficial cocktail of West Texas. The original Ranch Water cocktail was said to be made from tequila, fresh lime juice, and Topo Chico mineral water served in an ice filled glass. The success of this cocktail has lead to several Ranch Water Hard Seltzers. Some are made with tequila and others with alcohol from cane sugar and agave. Texas Ranch Water Blue Agave Hard Seltzer is made in Mexico with filtered carbonated water, alcohol from cane sugar and 100% blue agave, with natural flavors, and variety specific fruit juice. Read more 
Review: Ashland Ginger Peach Hard Seltzer
Ashland Ginger Peach Hard Seltzer is one of three limited release hard seltzers in the Ashland product line. The others include Orange Pineapple, and Malbon Fruit Punch. A fourth Bellinger Bomb was just released. Before Gordon Ramsay launched Hell’s Seltzer, Travis Scott partnered with A-B to create Cacti, Luke Bryan introduced Two Lane, and Blake Shelton launched Smithworks, Josh Landan partnered with several Sports and Entertainment stars to create Ashland, the first celebrity owned hard seltzer brand. Those celebrities include Jared Goff, Cody Bellinger and Country Music Singer Chris Lane. Each Ashland Hard Seltzer flavor is made from a dextrose alcohol base, with alkaline water, natural flavors and organic fruit essence. Read more
Review: Founders Mas Agave Hard Seltzer
Founders Mas Agave Hard Seltzer was released October 2020. Founders Brewing Company was co-founded by Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers in a 9800 square foot brewery in downtown Grand Rapids Michigan in 1997. Some of the beers that made the brand famous include All Day IPA, Solid Gold Lager, Centennial IPA, Unraveled IPA, 4 Giants IPA, Breakfast Stout, Founders Porter, Rubaeus Raspberry Ale, and Dirty Bastard. Spanish Brewer Mahou San Miguel acquired a 30% stake of Founders December 2014 and an additional 60% January 2020. The inspiration for the brand came from the wife of the VP of Marketing for Founders Brewing Company. She felt Founders Mas Agave Barrel aged Imperial Gose beer series with an ABV between 9.7 and 10 was a little strong for her liking. When she cut the beer with seltzer water she loved it. After that the Brewmaster and R&D Brewer spent months honing their hard seltzer recipe. The 11-14 ingredient list, found on each can of the three varieties of Mas Agave Hard Seltzer starts with filtered water and a sugar cane and organic blue agave nectar alcohol base. Founders Mas Agave is sold in a 15 can three flavor variety pack. The three flavors include Lime, Strawberry and Grapefruit. Read more
Review: Cacti Agave Spiked Seltzer
Cacti Agave Spiked Seltzer was released March 2021 as a collaboration between Rapper Travis Scott and Anheuser-Busch. Collaborations are nothing new for Travis Scott, as he has already collaborated with Nike, Dior, McDonalds and Sony Playstation. His most famous collaboration came with Kylie Jenner in the form or their daughter Stormi Webster. Cacti is currently available in three flavor varieties including Strawberry, Lime, and Pineapple. Like the other Anheuser-Busch hard seltzer brands, Cacti is made from a cold fermented cane sugar alcohol base with malted rice and natural flavors. Cacti adds agave syrup and lime juice and weighs in at 7% abv. with 150 calories. Agave nectar/syrup has recently become a popular ingredient and can be found in several hard seltzer brands. Cacti is one of three brands we will review this weekend. Read more
Review: Ashland Hard Seltzer Tropical Variety Pack
Ashland Hard Seltzer is currently available in two 12 can variety packs. The previously reviewed Original orange colored 12 pack and this blue colored 12 pack identified as the Ashland Hard Seltzer Tropical variety pack. Ashland was launched by Josh Landon, who partnered with several Sports, Entertainment, and Social Media Celebrities January 2020. Josh Landon Co-Founded Saint Archer Brewing Company in San Diego, April 2013 with several skateboarding friends. They sold the brewery two years later to MillerCoors for a reported $70 million dollars. In addition to launching the Ashland Hard Seltzer brand Josh established Harland Brewing Company in 2018. Ashland Hard Seltzer is produced at Mission Brewery in San Diego’s East Village from a fermented sugar base with alkaline carbonated water, and organic fruit essence. Ashland Hard Seltzer is currently only available for sale in California. Read more
Review: Mystic Reef Hard Seltzer Lemonade
Mystic Reef Hard Seltzer Lemonade is available in a four flavor 12 can variety pack. It is made at Full Sail Brewing Company in Hood River Oregon and is sold exclusively at Target Stores. It joins the previously released and reviewed Mystic Reef Hard Seltzer variety pack. Mystic Reef claims their flavor is the result of a world class filtration process along with the highest quality natural fruit flavors. While no source of alcohol is listed on their ingredient list they do hint at a malt base. It appears you can no longer be considered a player in the hard seltzer arena unless you have both a regular hard seltzer and hard seltzer lemonade variety pack. Mystic Reef Hard Seltzer Lemonade is the 8th hard seltzer lemonade variety pack we are reviewing. A quick glance at the Total Wine website shows me there are at least eight other hard seltzer lemonade variety packs left to review. Some question the staying power of Hard Seltzers. I am not one of those people, and I now no longer doubt the staying power of Hard Seltzer Lemonades. Read more
Review: Coronado Hard Seltzer
Coronado Hard Seltzer was released January 2021 and is currently available in a 3 flavor 12 can variety pack. It is made by Coronado Brewing Company in Coronado California. Brothers Ron and Rick Chapman opened their brewpub on Coronado Island across the San Diego bay from Downtown San Diego in 1996. Today their beer is available from coast to coast. Some of their craft beers include Mango Farm Hazy IPA. Pineapple Farm IPA, Orange Avenue Shandy, Orange Ave. Wit, Berried at Sea, Leisure Lagoon, Never Better DIPA, Weekend Vibes IPA, Mermaids Red, and Islander IPA. Coronado Hard Seltzer is made with filtered water, dextrose, crystallized fruit powder and fruit flavors, but what sets them apart from the other hard seltzer brands is each flavor is also made with hops. Coronado was not the first hard seltzer made with hops, I believe that honor goes to Fulton Beer of Minneapolis with their Hopped Hard Seltzer, released January 2020, but I believe Coronado Brewing Company is the first to release an entire variety pack of hard seltzer made with hops. Read more
Review: Ficks Hard Seltzer
Ficks Hard Seltzer was created by two college roommates on a mission to cut sugar from their cocktails without compromising flavor. First the two had to earn enough money to launch their company. Ron Alvarado worked in private equity and Mike Williamson in investment banking. In 2016 they launched their line of all natural low calorie and low sugar cocktail mixers. In February 2018 they released Ficks Hard Seltzer. Ficks is made from a cold fermented sucrose alcohol base. This base is made from fresh cold pressed orange juice that ferments for 2-3 weeks until no sugar is left. At that time the 15% alcohol base is blended with sparkling water, real juice and natural flavors. Ficks is sold in individual flavor packs and also a four flavor, 12 can variety pack. The original four flavors were Lime, Cranberry, Blackberry, and Grapefruit. They have since replaced Lime with Mango. The Limes are sourced from Mexico, the Cranberries and Blackberries are grown in Washington and Oregon, the Grapefruits called Texas and California home, and finally after testing several different Mango varieties from several different regions they selected Mangos grown in Ecuador. We will be giving you our thoughts on all five flavors. Read more
Review: Natural Light Seltzer Zest I Ever Had
Anheuser-Busch has recently added Zest I Ever Had, a Strawberry Lemonade hard seltzer to their Natural Light Hard Seltzer Variety Pack. It joins the previously reviewed Black Cherry Lime, Aloha Beaches, and House Rules Hard Seltzers. A-B has also recently launched a four flavor 12 can variety pack of Natural Light Sour Seltzer. All Natural Light hard seltzer’s are made with a malt beverage base and natural flavors. Like the other flavor varieties, Zest I Ever Had weighs in with a slightly heavier 6% alcohol, 133 Calories and 4 Carbs. Read more
Review: Fundays Hard Seltzer
Fundays Hard Seltzer was recently released and is currently arriving at Target stores throughout the US. It is produced by Buffalo Bayou Brewing Company in Houston Texas. Buffalo Bayou also makes their own, Buff Brew Hard Seltzer. Buffalo Bayou Brewing Co. was founded in 2011 by Rassul Zarinfar and Ryan Robertson. They opened their brewery in an abandoned warehouse once used to store boats. Since then they have brewed over 100 different beers including Wake N Bake, Crush City IPA, Morning Wood, Hoppy Copper, Legalize IPA, Great White Buffalo, and Lighten Up. Fundays Hard Seltzer is sold in a 12 can “Mixtape” four flavor variety pack with unique names and flavor combinations. Those include Yard Games, with Lemon Lime and Pomelo, Fresh Picked, with raspberry lemon, and blackberry, Skinny Dip with Passion Fruit, Guava, and Dragon Fruit, and Garden Party with Honeysuckle, and Orange Blossom. Read more