Arnold Palmer Spiked Variety Pack review: This alcoholic beverage is a hole in one

I’ll admit, I was skeptical about Arnold Palmer Spiked. Yes, an Arnold Palmer – aka, half iced tea, half lemonade beverage is one of the greatest drinks in history. And sure, I could see adding a little nip of alcohol in there to liven things up. But I was dubious about the fact that the beverages are malt liquor, which seems like a weird combo.

I shouldn’t have worried… Arnold Palmer Spiked, which now comes in a Variety Pack featuring Original, Raspberry, Strawberry and Mango, is a hole in one. You’ll definitely want to tee these up for your next barbecue. I have now run out of golf jokes.

First of all, while this canned beverage doesn’t quite reproduce the icy refreshment of a classic Arnold Palmer, it still is a nicely muted flavor – neither two sour, nor too sweet, with just the right amount of bitterness from the tea. Also, perhaps this is a good time to note this is not a sparkling beverage, though I would not stop you from adding a dash of seltzer or club soda. Clubs! There’s another golf pun.

Anyway, this flavor balance is abundantly clear in the original flavor, which is just that: lemonade iced tea with a 5% ABV kick. Not enough to get you stuck in a sand trap of your own design, but enough to give you a nicer buzz than the grass on the green after the landscapers have had a go at it.

The Mango is nice addition, and not too strong on the fruit flavor. This was at the bottom of the list for everyone in my tasting party, but still drinkable – the mango just added a little too much sweetness, tipping it more towards the juice end of the spectrum. The Strawberry was also very refreshing, and while I’m quickly finding strawberry is my personal flavor of the summer, it too was a little sweeter than the rest.

The clear winner, though? Raspberry. And I say this as someone who generally doesn’t like Raspberry flavoring, this was great. The brightness of the berry came through, it added a little more sour than your base Arnold Palmer… Pretty much a perfect summer beverage, and everyone I drank with reached for a second taste of this one.

So while the original Arnold Palmer with a kick of your favorite spirit might be the way to go, if you don’t want to mix your own drinks this is a great alternative. I give it a fore out of four.

This Variety Pack was provided by Arnold Palmer Spiked for review by Guilty Eats.