White Claw Raspberry Hard Seltzer

Rating: 5/23 This isn't a spirit-based, pre-made cocktail, technically. But it qualifies as one due to its history with hard seltzer. The backstory involves a tax loophole. Because liquor taxes are so high, making ready-to-drink cocktails by diluting spirits was too expensive for many companies, even though they wanted to. This is due to two main reasons: (1) Cheaper spirits often compete with beer, which has lower taxes. (2) Taxes can be based on the total product volume, not just the alcohol. At under 10% ABV, this made taxes unaffordable. Hard seltzer emerged from a situation where light beer lost all flavor and started tasting somewhat like a spirit. Hard seltzer is fermented from sugar to mimic a vodka soda, capturing the market for canned cocktails. So, it's not a true ready-to-drink cocktail, but it tries hard to be one. Without this fermentation development, a similar canned cocktail would cost about 20% more. That price difference matters when you're stocking supplies for a party. Nose: Not much here. A hint of raspberry. Slightly sweet. Maybe like freeze-dried raspberry. It smells a bit artificial, but not terrible. Palate: Mmm. It tastes like fake raspberry, but not unpleasantly so. It's about what I expected. Beyond that mild, unpleasant flavor, there's not much else. The raspberry's bitterness gives it a slight chemical taste, but the soda dilutes it enough to overlook. I detect some artificial sweetener. Maybe a hint of yeast, but it's hard to distinguish from the off-putting raspberry tartness. It's incredibly bland. Mostly tastes like nothing. Finish: A little of the raspberry's sweetness and tartness remain, but the bitterness is most prominent. It's not a strong finish, as expected. I chose the raspberry White Claw because I thought it would be the least offensive, and my guess was pretty accurate. I don't really want to drink this, but it's not actively painful or ruining my taste buds. Like a vodka soda, its purpose is to allow alcohol consumption without really noticing it. In that sense, it's fairly successful, although the 5% ABV isn't as potent as a typical vodka soda, which is usually closer to 10%. I'm actually impressed by how much it resembles a vodka soda. It brings back memories of tasting those terrible Veil flavored vodkas. If you said this was 50ml of raspberry vodka mixed with 7 parts soda water, I'd believe you. It's actually quite effective in that regard. While it mimics something unpleasant, that doesn't make it better than the original. It's preferable to drinking awful flavored vodka straight because the flavor is diluted and there's no burn, but it's not enjoyable. Considering everything, I rate this a 5. I had it in the 4 to 6 range, as it tastes better than Piper's Clan and worse than Jollite VSOP. Those aren't fair comparisons, but I try to avoid stocking truly awful products. I think it leans closer to the Jollite and I want to give it some credit for being mild and bland as intended, but I can't give it a 6 because it gives me a headache. I suspected it was the artificial sweetener, but the ingredients don't list any, so I'm unsure why. Regardless, it's a 5.