I’ve always been hesitant about the hard seltzer craze. I love seltzer. I will partake in an alcoholic beverage. But mix the two, and I’m just not convinced there’s enough heft there to make drinking it worthwhile. Enter Truly Hard Seltzer’s newest line, Truly Tequila Soda to shake up everything I knew and prove it wrong: this is your new drink of the summer.
To tee up the upcoming Cinco de Mayo festivities on – when else – May 5, Truly Hard Seltzer sent Guilty Eats a “Fiesta Pack” containing all four flavors of the new line, as well as Truly pennant flags to hang, some stickers, branded taco holders, and most intriguing Truly Chamoy Gummy Worms to sit in for the worm in your tequila. Starting today, Truly fans can snag their own limited-quantity pack at GiveThemBeer.com... But I still wasn’t swayed. If I wasn’t already sold on hard seltzer, what would throwing tequila in there add?
Turns out, a whole lot. Not only are all four flavors eminently sippable, they’re simple. The drink is tequila blanco, fruit juice, and sparkling water. That’s it. I know that’s the whole gimmick, but adding the tequila – even with it only being Blanco, and not, say the more complex Reposado – gave the drink a heft beyond what I’d expect from a hard seltzer.
As mentioned, there are four flavors of Truly Tequila Soda. Here are the official descriptions, per a press release provided to Guilty Eats:
Lime: This classic tequila soda style includes zesty lime and floral tequila for a clean finish.
Grapefruit: Tart grapefruit delivers a light and refreshing take on a traditional Paloma cocktail.
Watermelon: Fresh watermelon with a hint of kiwi for a smooth, easy taste.
Pineapple Guava: Juicy pineapple blends with exotic guava to deliver tropical paradise in a can.
There’s a twist here that I’ll get to in a second, but all these flavors were excellent, there wasn’t a bad can in the bunch. The lime is your basic flavor, and it’s a nice lime seltzer with a hint of tequila to it, but not enough to make you relive your college days or anything.
However, the other flavors were much bolder. I’m always a grapefruit seltzer fan, so I downed that one pretty quickly – and my drinking companion agreed this was towards the top of the list. Pineapple Guava is the fruitiest flavor. It erred a little too sweet for me, but if you are a fruit fan this is the one to reach for.
But what of that twist I mentioned? The flavor sent in the package was not simply (no pun intended) watermelon, as described above… It was Spicy Watermelon. And oh man, I am going to have to stop myself from buying this by the gallon. Not only do you get the refreshing taste of watermelon in every sip, not too strong, not too sweet; but there’s a little kick of spice present that doesn’t stick in the back of your throat. In fact, it’s just a nice little tingle throughout, unless you make the mistake of smelling it, like I did. There the spice went straight up my nose and made me cough. So: don’t do that.
As for the Chamoy Gummy Worms, the Fiesta Pack shows off taking them and tossing them in a glass with your Truly Tequila Soda. Both myself and my companion found this to be a far lesser way of tasting them, as the chamoy poofed off into the drink. They are delicious, mind you, because both gummy worms and Chamoy are delicious. But I’d recommend instead pouring ‘em into a bowl on the side to snack on, as they make a nice compliment to the experience between drinks.
Truly Tequila Soda is available now in stores everywhere in 8-packs of all flavors, or as 4-packs of Lime or Pineapple Guava. But however you get them: get ‘em. This is going to be the hit of every summer barbecue. Or, you know, Cinco de Mayo Fiesta.