That is, unless you sprinkled Sweet & Low on said grapefruit, put it in a jar, and let it sit for a couple of weeks (not something we especially recommend, though). Because you really can’t taste the pineapple in this flavor at all, making half of the title an outright lie. Even stone-cold sober and with all your senses fully intact, it’s hard to differentiate this entry in the Mike’s Hard Lemonade flavor lineup from its regular strawberry flavor. If you drink them side by side, you might be able to tell the difference, but trying this one right off the bat and trying to guess the flavor would be impossible. Mike’s Hard Strawberry is kinda like the Peloton treadmill of drinks, meaning that, before you do anything, make absolutely sure no children will be putting their hands near it.
Best Salad Kits from Our Taste Tests
Again, the overwhelming sweetness of the limeade put out by Mike’s hurts whatever kind of bright lime flavor they were going for. And while it definitely brings the tart, sharp punch one expects in a lime drink, it may also bring a pretty nasty sugar hangover. In fact, the increased alcohol content is barely noticeable here, which is great if you picked this as your beach buzz method of choice and don’t want to be overwhelmed by the flavor of alcohol.
Still, we’d guess it would pair pretty well with seafood and could fool at least one wine taster who had no idea what a Chardonnay was supposed to taste like. Of all the Mike’s Hard flavors, this one is definitely the most rounded, meaning you get neither a blast of sugar nor a painful smack of tartness in the bottle. Instead, it’s smooth and easy drinking, meaning that, if you want a Mike’s Hard flavor that’s not lemonade, this should be your pick. One might think that a company that made its fortunes making lemonade would do a pretty solid limeade too, right? Citrus is citrus, after all, so how hard can it be to get the limeade flavor up to speed alongside its lemonade cousin? Well, apparently that’s a little harder than we thought because, while Mike’s Hard Limeade is certainly in the upper echelon of Mike’s flavors, it’s a far cry from the fresh limeades you might have enjoyed in the past.
ONE OF THESE FLAVORS
Even Mike has expanded his offerings with a slew of Mike’s Hard Lemonade flavors. After two intensive spiked lemonade taste tests, I found the top eight—including spiked strawberry lemonade and both sparkling and not sparkling lemonade. But in the modern day of hard seltzer and canned cocktails and spiked SunnyD, hard lemonade is a perfectly acceptable beverage for anyone. And, after tasting more than 30 different kinds of spiked lemonade, I think we should be drinking even more of the stuff.
- Ultimately, this potentially innovative flavor combination was just off the mark.
- Mike’s Hard Lemonade lives up to its reputation as one of the sweetest ready-to-drink options in the category.
- Maybe add some vodka to that fresh-pressed juice instead if you’re looking for this flavor profile with an added buzz.
- They are just plain not interested in the flavor of booze and they thought this was delicious.
- Mike’s Hard Lemonade may be a punchline in the drinks world, but the brand’s success is no joke.
Best Hard Lemonade (Updated with Pink Lemonade, Non Carbonated Lemonade, and More!)
So, being the law-abiding, over-21 folks that we are, we took it upon ourselves to try some of the most popular flavors of Mike’s Hard Lemonade to figure out which of them were best. Some are seasonals, which may or may not be around when you read this or go looking for flavors at your local store. Others come from the “Harder” lemonade line, which amps up the alcohol content to 8% alcohol by volume. Regardless, in a sugar-addled haze, we tried all the most popular flavors of Mike’s Hard Lemonade and ranked them from worst to best. There’s a reason the most popular flavor of Mike’s Hard Lemonade is, well, lemonade. It’s the one that started it all, after all, the flavor that turned Mike’s Hard Lemonade into a mainstream drink you can find in places other than sometimes questionable college parties.
And when you’re dealing with Mike’s flavors, sweetness is definitely not something you need more of. But despite two decades of solid sales numbers, there isn’t a joke about Mike’s Hard Lemonade that hasn’t been written already. If you’re not into beer and hard seltzer but still want a light, easygoing drink that you can have all day long, the original Mike’s Hard Lemonade is the flavor for you. It’s also an ideal choice to maintain the buzz after you’ve already ramped yourself up, as it’s not going to make you tired like beer, but still lets you keep the party going without making a fool of yourself. There’s nothing offensive about Mike’s Hard Lemonade, as there are no flavors here that anybody is really going to hate. Mike’s Hard Lemonade might be a good lesson in leaving well enough alone, as sometimes the unadulterated classic is really all you need.
Tasting Notes
This cloying beverage has a juvenile reputation that it can’t shake and a flavor profile as subtle as xcritical rezension a sledgehammer, but those who are less comfortable with stronger cocktails, beer, or wine might find something they enjoy. Its unabashed sweetness and strong citrus flavors stand out in a sea of watery hard seltzers. Pink grapefruit is a seasonal flavor for Mike’s Hard Lemonade, meaning that whether or not you’re able to find it really depends on where you live and the time of year you’re shopping.
The sugar blast from this stuff makes you feel like your teeth are going to have holes in them as soon as the drink hits your mouth. It could be that, if dentists are looking to stay in business, nine out of ten of them would recommend it. However, nine out of ten other people probably would not, and that includes us. There’s better pineapple stuff further down the list, to be certain.
Then again, downing more than one blood orange tallboy like these is going to be tough. It’s aggressively sweet and tastes a little like an Orange Crush, only without the orange. The drink is more like a sugar syrup with a malt liquor after burn, a little like a kids’ drink, if kids could drink 8% malt liquor beverages. Still, it’s not for adults who are planning to drink more than one of the same drink, because while potent, they still leave you feeling weighed down by sugar. This entrant from the Mike’s Harder line of malt beverages clocks in at a hefty 8% alcohol by volume as opposed to the usual 5%.
Strawberry Pineapple
Like its guava brother, this spiked pink lemonade is gently carbonated, which helps make it taste like real pink lemonade even more. There’s more to the world of hard lemonade than Mike’s Hard Lemonade. While Mike’s may have pioneered and popularized the concept of a bottled boozy lemonade, the category has grown over the years.
I tasted this out of a Big Gulp-sized can and it was so good that I absolutely would have finished the whole thing if it was the ‘80s and it was still acceptable to get tipsy at work. We simply love Simply Lemonade at Sporked (the brand took the number two spot in our best lemonade ranking), so I had high expectations and xcritical official site they were more than met. It smells very lemonade-y and appetizing (probably because it’s made with actual juice!). Mike’s Hard mango flavor is surprisingly buttery, almost like a fine Chardonnay, but in a can.
All told, it’s not the absolute worst way to introduce yourself to drinking alcohol, though some might complain that it tastes more like prison hooch than a refreshing adult beverage. Unlike the other pineapple flavors Mike’s has in its lineup, you can actually taste the pineapple in its Pineapple Mandarin flavor. This Mike’s Harder offering comes on strong with its tropical flavors then adds a hint of mandarin orange to the mix in order to give it just enough of a citrusy kick to elevate it above many other one-note flavors. Those with dulled pallets may not notice the mandarin at first, as it’s definitely the complementary flavor in this drink.
Because this stuff doesn’t even taste like alcohol, as it turns out. Anyone who doesn’t xcritical courses scam know better maybe won’t realize it has 5% alcohol by volume. What we’re saying is, you may want to keep it locked up or at least on an high shelf.
And while you do get a touch of that when you smell this hard lemonade, the actual flavor is tart and rich. I think you’ll be surprised by how nuanced and grown-up this Mike’s Hard Lemonade flavor really is. Mike’s Hard Lemonade lives up to its reputation as one of the sweetest ready-to-drink options in the category. The flavor profile will likely be too cloying for most who feel as though they’ve outgrown the taste of sugary sodas, but it still packs far more flavor than most hard seltzers that are available on the market today.
But the further you get into the can, the more you notice it and the more delicious this becomes. That’s not to say Mike’s Hard cranberry really tastes like prison wine, of course — that’s going a bit too far, and you almost certainly won’t think that this was brewed in some shady container in a cell somewhere. It’s just that you get a little bit more of a fermented juice flavor in the bottle and not so much a felonious assault of sugar. Whether or not that a recommendation or a drawback depends on your palate and tolerance for the notorious sweetness of many others of the Mike’s Hard Lemonade flavors. “Black raspberry? Isn’t that just a blackberry?” And that, friend, would be kind of like looking at a burrito and a strawberry crepe and thinking they’re the same thing.