Review: Three Birds Hard Seltzer
Three Birds Hard Seltzer was just released. It is produced by Levecke Corporation in Mira Loma California and is sold exclusively at the over 200 Total Wine and More stores scattered throughout the US. Three Birds is currently available in four flavor varieties including Raspberry, Lime, Mango, and Cucumber. Three cans of each are included in their 12 can variety pack. Priced at $12.99, Three Birds is priced as a value brand. It is unclear if this is an introductory price or a marketing decision. Each flavor variety starts with a wine alcohol base. The wine is removed of all impurities, color, and flavor. Filtered carbonated water, juice concentrate and natural flavors are added. All four flavors weigh in at 110 calories with 2 carbs. While there is no added sugar each can contains 2 sugar grams from the added juice concentrate. Levecke does not detail how much natural juice is added but it does include the type of juice that is added. Mango concentrate in Mango. Apple concentrate in Raspberry. Apple concentrate in Cucumber. Lime concentrate in Lime.
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Review: Bud Light Seltzer
Bud Light Seltzer was just released. Anheuser Busch invested $100 million in developing and launching the brand. This is not A-B’s first hard seltzer brand as they currently also produce Natty Light Seltzer. They also acquired SpikedSeltzer and renamed the brand Bon & Viv Spiked Seltzer. Why such a big investment? Hard Seltzer sales are expected to exceed $2.5 billion in 2021. If you watched the NFL Playoffs this weekend I’m sure you saw one of their commercials. I believe this, and the Bud Light name, shows A-B is betting big, a significant portion of the hard seltzer growth will come from men. While the initial thought was one would have to turn in their man card if they were seen sipping a hard seltzer, more and more men are openly imbibing in hard seltzers. The same thought initially applied to light beer. Bud Light Seltzer is being introduced with four flavor variants including Mango, Black Cherry, Lemon Lime, and Strawberry. Each is made with natural carbonated sparkling water, cold fermented cane sugar, natural flavors, cane sugar, citric acid, sodium citrate, malted rice. Yes you did read malted rice. Bud Light Beer is also brewed with malted rice. All four Bud Light Seltzers are made with a 5 step filtration process for a clean crisp taste. Prior to sampling Bud Light Seltzer’s, two things became apparent. Its been two years since I reviewed a hard seltzer so I needed to review other hard seltzers to contrast the flavors. Those reviews will follow in the coming weeks. Secondly I needed to score Hard seltzers on a different scale. Instead of a point and medal scale we have decided on an A-F scale. Read more