Review: Whitewater Craft Hard Seltzer
Whitewater Craft Hard Seltzer was released March 2020. It is made by Great Divide Brewing Company in Denver Colorado. Brian Dunn began brewing beer commercially in 1994. As the only full time employee at Great Divide Brian brewed, bottled, and sold his beer. He continued adding beer styles and brewing capacity and in 2001 he purchased a building that used to be an old dairy processing plant. Today Great Divine Brewing Company is located in the RiNo Neighborhood of Denver where they craft 13 year round and a dozen more seasonal and specialty beers along with Whitewater Craft Hard Seltzer. After several taste panels and dozens of in-house ingredient combinations they selected Ruby Red Grapefruit, Wild Berry, Mango Ginger, and Pomegranate Lime as the four flavors they would launch Whitewater Craft Hard Seltzer with. It is made from a cane sugar alcohol base with natural flavors. Each can weighs in with 5% alcohol, 110 calories, 2 Carbs and 0 Sugar. Read more 
Review: Willies Superbrew Pear & Cinnamon
Willies Superbrew Pear & Cinnamon is one of two seasonal hard seltzers currently on the market. It is available from November-February. Braxton Brewing Company was the first with their September release of Vive Pumpkin Spice Hard Seltzer. Willies currently crafts five year round flavors including Ginger & Lemon, Mango & Passionfruit, Pomegranate & Acai, Pineapple & Lime, and Blueberry & Lemon. Willies Superbrew Pear & Cinnamon is made from water, a cane sugar alcohol base, pear juice concentrate, brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Read more
Review: Vive Hard Seltzer
Vive Hard Seltzer is made at Braxton Brewing Company in Covington Kentucky. Covington is just across the river from Cincinnati Ohio. In 2015 Evan Rouse, Jack Rouse, and Greg Rouse teamed with Richard Dube a former Brewmaster at Moerlein Lager House to found Braxton Brewing Co. For Evan it was a dream come true as he started brewing beer in his family garage when he was 16. Braxton opened a second brewery in the Pendleton neighborhood of Cincinnati in the former 3 Points Urban Brewery September 12, 2020. Vive Hard Seltzer was launched January 2019 with a four flavor 12 can variety pack. These are the four flavors we are reviewing today and include Mango, Lime. Dragon Fruit, and Grapefruit. They have since added a Tailgate Variety pack that includes 3 cans each of Cherry, Blood Orange, Black Raspberry, and Peach flavor. Vive is made with pure Kentucky artisan water, alcohol from fermented dextrose, natural cane sugar, natural fruit flavor, and natural juice concentrate. Each 12 ounce can weighs in with 100 Calories, 5% alcohol, 2 Carbs. and 2 Sugar grams. Read more
Review: Mystic Reef Hard Seltzer
Mystic Reef Hard Seltzer is produced at Full Sail Brewing Company in Hood River Oregon and it is sold exclusively at Target. Full Sail Brewing Company was founded in 1987 by Irene Firmat & Jamie Emmerson and built in the old Diamond Fruit Cannery. They turned the former apple juice press room into a brewery. The state of Oregon has jumped into the hard seltzer ring with both feet as Seek Out, Seven Peaks, Pacific Sparkling, and Suzies Organic Hard Seltzer are also produced in the Beaver State. Mystic Reef is sold in a 4 flavor 12 can variety pack with 3 cans each of Grapefruit, Lime, Black Cherry, and Mango. Each can weighs in with 100 calories, 5% alcohol, 2 carbs, 2 sugar grams and 0 juice. It is unclear what the alcohol base is made from but most hard seltzer is made from a cane sugar or dextrose alcohol base. Read more
Review: SMPL Hard Seltzer
SMPL Hard Seltzer was released in a three flavor 15 can variety pack March 2020 by the Flying Fish Brewing Company. The three flavors include Pomegranate & Lime, Blueberry & Peach, and Mango & Kiwi. Each weighs in with 5% alcohol, 100 calories, and 1 carb. The Flying Fish Brewing Company previously sold a 4% SMPL Hard Seltzer on tap at their brewery. Gene Muller founded Flying Fish in 1995 in Cherry Hill New Jersey. In 2012 they moved to a much larger brewery in Somerdale New Jersey that features 462 solar panels on the roof to provide much of the electricity needed. Flying Fish opened their brewery with XPA Citra Pale Ale, and have since added several year round and seasonal varieties including Jersey Juice, Hazy Bones, Day Light Savings, Hopfish IPA and Salt & Sea. Flying Fish is the largest brewery in New Jersey and their beer and hard seltzer are currently available in NJ, PA, MD, and DE. SMPL Hard Seltzer is made with filtered water, alcohol from fermented sugar, and natural flavors. Read more
Review: Cloudless Hard Seltzer
Cloudless Hard Seltzer was released February 2020 after 18 months of extensive research and development. It is made in Sheboygan Wisconsin at 3 Sheep Brewing Company. 3 Sheep Brewing Company was founded April 2011 by Grant Pauly. Grant has a family history of brewing beer. In 1926 his Great Grandparents purchased Kingbury Brewery. Kingsbury Beer was known as The Aristocrat of Beer, Fit for a King. Cloudless Hard Seltzer is available in three flavors including Tropical: Passionfruit, Dragonfruit, & Papaya, Clearly Citrus: Pink Grapefruit & Tangerine, and Wild Berry: Raspberry & Blackberry. Each variety is made with carbonated water, alcohol from fermented sugar, cane sugar, and real fruit flavors. They each weigh in with 100 calories, 5% alcohol, 2 grams of sugar and 2 carbs. Read more
Review: Ashland Hard Seltzer
Ashland Hard Seltzer was launched January 2020 by Josh Landan and several celebrity sports and entertainment stars including LA Rams QB Jared Goff, LA Dodger Cody Bellinger, Motor Cross driver Jeremy McGrath, Country Music Singer Chris Lane, and several skateboard and surfing stars. Josh Landan Co-Founded Saint Archer Brewing Company in San Diego April 2013 with several of his boarding friends. They sold the brewery to MillerCoors in 2015. Missing the brewing industry Josh established Harland Brewing Company in 2018. Ashland operates out of a 20,000 square foot warehouse in downtown San Diego. We are reviewing their first four flavors including Tangerine, Lime, Pineapple, and Blackberry Lemonade. They are sold in a 12 can variety pack. A second 12 can variety pack includes Mango Strawberry, Watermelon, Tropical Cherry, and Raspberry Lemonade. Ashland Hard Seltzer also brews two Limited Release flavors Orange Pineapple, and Malbon Fruit Punch. Ashland Hard Seltzer is brewed with alkaline water, yeast and dextrose. Organic natural flavors are added. Each can of Ashland Hard Seltzer weighs in with 99 calories, 5% alcohol, 0 sugar, and 0 carbs. Read more
Review: White Claw 70
White Claw 70 is the worlds first reduced calorie/reduced alcohol hard seltzer. It was just released in two flavors, Pineapple and Clementine. The 70 stands for 70 calories. It weighs in at 3.7% alcohol with 0 carbs and 0 sugar. By comparison White Claw has 100 calories, 5% Alcohol, 2 Grams of sugar, and 2 Carbs. Previous Social Media posts have hinted at a 4 flavor 12 can variety pack with a 70 calorie Watermelon and Lemon flavor included. For now we will have to live with just the Pineapple and Clementine variety. Before sampling I thought I would grab a can of 100 calorie White Claw Pineapple and Clementine to see how they compare but these are 2 new flavors for White Claw. Read more
Review: Alaskan Hard Seltzer
Alaskan Hard Seltzer was released October 2019 by the Alaskan Brewing Company. It is currently available in two flavors, Spruce Lemon Lime, and Spruce Cherry Grapefruit. The Alaskan Brewing Company was opened by Marcy and Geoff Larson in 1986. They were the 67th independent brewery in the US and the first in Juneau since Prohibition. While researching brewing in Alaska, Marcy found recipes from Douglas City Brewing Company, a brewery in Douglass Alaska from 1899-1907. At that time Douglas was the third largest city in Alaska with about 1500 residence. In 1970 Douglas merged to become part of Juneau. One of the recipes Marcy found became their first beer, Alaskan Amber. As the 22nd largest craft brewing company in the US Alaskan Brewing company crafts 8 year round beers and several Limited Edition beers. They were the first craft brewery in the US to install and operate a carbon dioxide reclamation system. This system prevents over 1 million pounds of CO2 being released into the atmosphere each year. Alaskan Hard Seltzer is made from fermented dextrose, filtered carbonated water, spruce tips, and natural flavors. Each flavor weighs in with 4.5% alcohol, 95 calories, and 2 carbs. Read more
Review: City Water Hard Seltzer
City Water Hard seltzer is crafted at Solemn Oath Brewery in Naperville Illinois. Naperville with a population of about 150,000 is the third largest city in Illinois and is located about 30 miles west of Chicago. Solemn Oath Brewery started brewing beer in 2012. John Barley is the face of the brewery that he Co-Founded with his father, his best friend, and his best friends father. Over time Solemn Oath has become as well known for its beer cans graphics, as its tasty craft beer. City Water Hard Seltzer was launched November 2019 and is currently available in four flavor varieties including Grapefruit, Mixed Berry, Lime Coconut, and Valencia Orange Cranberry. They spent 8 months developing the brand experimenting with numerous flavors suppliers, different flavor concentrations and different flavor combinations before selecting their four favorite flavors. City Water is made from filtered Lake Michigan water, cane sugar alcohol, and natural flavors. Each can weighs in with 5% alcohol 110 calories and 1 carb. 1% of sales goes for the planet, 1% goes to support the arts, and 1% goes to the Great Lakes. Read more