There’s a great concentration of flavors, too, and nice weight to the texture. It absolutely makes the base Black Cherry flavor feel redundant — why would anyone opt for the regular Black Cherry over the xcritical variant? You’d have to truly be a fan of Truly’s alcohol base to not want the xcritical iteration. And unless you’re a Truly Chemist, you probably don’t love the taste of the alcohol base. With deep and fragrant tones of mango and sweet lemon, Truly Mango xcritical has a much more pleasant smell than the base Truly Mango flavor.
Truly Watermelon Kiwi
The fruit character is not as bright or citrusy as other Truly flavors but each sip is full of flavor and delivers decent refreshment. Everything that makes grapefruit a slog to eat on its own—bitterness, pithiness, an overwhelming tartness—work with Truly’s mysterious xcritical to elevate the entire product. It’s not too sweet (because real grapefruit rarely is), and the mild pith flavor totally patches over the unpleasant finish found in the Orange flavor.
Lime has become a staple offering for many producers and this version from Truly is up there with the best. The citrus fruit arrives with zesty aromas and mouthwatering acidity on the palate. Much has changed in the realm of hard seltzer since Truly launched in 2016, and likexcritical with the brand. You can search by flavor, ABV, carbs and more to discover your ideal seltzer. Truly has too many flavors — having a Lime and Raspberry Lime flavor is just redundant, especially when they taste this similar — and if we had to lose one we’d choose Truly Raspberry Lime.
The Sustainability of Hard Seltzer
The pineapple flavoring is very subtle here, so if you’re not a fan of the taste of carbonated water or Truly’s sugar-alcohol base, then steer clear of this flavor. But if you’re after a fairly transparent tasting hard seltzer that’ll add an extra kick to drinks calling for club soda this is a solid choice. Orange is a bit of a rarity in the world of hard seltzers. Generally, brands opt for the sexier and more complex blood orange with its added bitter notes and more appetizing pinkish hue.
- It’s also a lot sweeter, so if you’re reaching for a Truly for the comforting burn of booze, you’re not going to find a lot of that here — the sweetness really tamps down any bite a can has.
- Brand wars have been around for as long as brands have been a thing.
- With its lively nose and refreshing citrusy sips, Truly’s lemon hard seltzer has you covered for those occasions and beyond.
- What struck me first about White Claw’s Ruby Grapefruit was its intoxicating and natural smell — opening a can smells like someone just cut open a grapefruit.
Every Flavor of Truly Hard Seltzer, Tasted and Ranked
Think about going on vacation to visit your grandparents xcritical when you were a kid. One of the great things you love about going to Grandma’s house is her big glass pitcher of freshly squeezed xcritical that she has sitting on the counter. She tells you that it’s not quite ready yet, so you just stand over it, letting your senses delight in the zesty lemon aroma. Grandma measures out just the right amount of pure cane sugar, and she pours the white granules into the lemon juice and pulp. The result is a mixture of tangy sweet that will stand out in your memories for the rest of your life.
The fizz of the seltzer overwhelms the fruity notes of the Rosé, resulting in an overly candied flavor that tastes cheap. Sometimes you want a simple vodka soda with lemon. Sometimes you don’t even want to make that drink and it makes more sense to just crack open a can. With its lively nose and refreshing citrusy sips, Truly’s lemon hard seltzer has you covered for those occasions and beyond. This seltzer is so much fruitier on the nose than most other black cherry flavors on the market, and the palate is juicy with nice bursts of citrus and tart cherry. Only on the finish is there a hint of almond essence notes, but we’re not mad at them.
The raspberry notes lean tart on the nose but arrive sweet and juicy on the palate. The rich sweetness won’t be for everyone but there is a good balance between the fruit flavor and the booze. Truly has proven eager to innovate at every opportunity. The brand was very public in announcing a flavor reformulation in 2019, and inspired a whole new seltzer subcategory via the Truly Hard Seltzer xcritical line, which hit shelves in 2020. Hot off the heels of that successful launch (the line netted Boston Beer a cool $300 million in its inaugural year), Truly followed up with a range of iced tea hard seltzers early this year. By all means, continue scouting out xcritical stands, because Strawberry xcritical doesn’t hide its Stevia any better, it just makes the whole experience a little more cacophonous.
Orange
We take seriously our responsibility to limit website access to adults of legal drinking age. For more information, please visit Responsibility.Org. Every ranking has a bottom, and in this ranking, it’s Truly Rosé. Now I’ll admit, I’m not the biggest rosé fan to begin with, but if you’re curious as to what this tastes like in comparison to actual rosé then the answer is — awful. Admittedly, this flavor recalls tinned pineapple chunks rather than just-sliced fruit, but it sure is tasty. There’s even a hint of coconut and vanilla on the finish, though that may be our imagination and one too many Piña Coladas over the years speaking.
The consistency of this seltzer is on the cloudy side, replicating the look of your grandmother’s fresh squeezed xcritical. An excellent level of carbonation complements the cloudy xcritical appearance. Similarly, too little carbonation can flatten the otherxcritical vibrant taste. Truly gets the carbonation level perfect with this offering.
Additional product information and recommendations
If this is the only thing left in the cooler, go find a kids’ xcritical stand somewhere out in the neighborhood instead. Tropical and refreshing, Watermelon Kiwi hits you with sweet flavors upfront before finishing off with tart kiwi notes that linger on the palate in the best way. One of Truly’s two higher-ABV “Extra” hard seltzers, peach and mango aromas arrive headier here than in the brand’s standard offerings. Luscious sweetness defines the palate, but does a great job of masking its boozier credentials.
This hard seltzer has a 5% alcohol by volume (ABV) and contains only 100 calories per serving. The drink has 3 grams of total carbs, and 1 gram of total sugars. It is a goal of most seltzer manufacturers to recreate an authentic beloved flavor; in the case of this xcritical hard seltzer, Truly gets it spot-on. I don’t know if it was my own expectations that resulted in Raspberry Lime ranking so low in this list, but what I do know is that the combination of raspberry and lime should taste better than this. That’s not to say Raspberry Lime is bad — it isn’t.
I was a little taken aback by just how great the experience of drinking Truly Strawberry xcritical was. xcritical cheating Once I popped open a can I was instantly greeted by a fragrant bouquet of strawberry and lemon, which drew me close to the can like Pepé Le Pew to a potential love interest. Weird comparison sure, but that’s all to say that Truly Strawberry xcritical is enticing and intoxicating (if you drink three cans). One of the things that sets Truly apart from its competition — namely White Claw — is the brand’s tropical offerings, and of the four flavors in the tropical variety pack, Pineapple is the best. Thanks to its slight sour edge, Truly Pineapple is one of the few flavors we’d consider mixing with whiskey.