Gwynedd Stuart
If you love a good IPA but you’ve kicked the sauce, the best hop water is a damn delight. Sure, there are loads of good non-alcoholic IPAs out there (we found a few when we ranked the best NA beers), but hop water is a different beast. A less violent beast. Believe me, I love a bitter, aggressively hopped brew as much as the next guy, but sometimes you want something a little more refreshing, a little easier to drink—something you can actually enjoy with food. That’s where the best tasting hop water comes in.
If you’re not famils, hop water is just that: sparkling water that’s been infused with the flavor of hops, which give the water a zesty, citrusy, vegetal, almost pine-y flavor. For my money, the best hop water is flavorful and hoppy, but not so hoppy that it channels an NA IPA. Nor should it be so lightly hopped that you have to search for the flavor. It should be bright, refreshing, and balanced—and it shouldn’t alienate people who don’t know their Citra hops from their Simcoe hops. Here is an enthusiastic, sober-curious person’s take on the best hop water you can buy.
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- Hop Wtr Blood Orange
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Hop water doesn’t need to be flavored to taste good—the hops are so flavorful on their own!—but if you’re looking for the best hop water flavor, this Blood Orange Hop Wtr just makes sense. Blood Orange is a citrusy without being too tart or tangy. That flavor profile happens to be a great complement to the blend of hops in this hop water (Citra, Amarillo, Mosaic, and Azacca hops, if you were wondering). You can’t tell where the blood orange bitterness ends and the bitterness of the hops begins, but the bitterness isn’t aggressive. Still, it’s way less fruity than a lot of the hop water flavors we tried, and I mean that in a good way. If you’re drinking hop water, you probably want to taste hops, right? Well, this is the best hop water if you want something with a refreshing, fruity aroma but with a fruit flavor that doesn’t outshine the hops.
Credit: Liv Averett / Bevmo
- More Life Watermelon Hop Water
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This hop water flavor has a slightly odd, spicy smell I didn’t love, but it tastes good enough that I was more than willing to set aside my misgivings. Fake watermelon flavor would probably overpower a hop water, but the authentic watermelon flavor in this More Life hop water is a great complement to hops. This is super juicy, summery, and refreshing, with a lovely effervescence that kept me sipping. It reminds me a bit of a good summer beer—I’m thinking 21st Amendment’s Hell or High Watermelon, in particular—minus the booze and beer flavor. It’s cleaner than that, plus it has no carbs, calories, or alcohol. (Oh yeah, did we mention hop water is a great alternative to NA beer if you’re watching your carb intake?) The majority of the hop water flavors we tried didn’t taste like hops at all—but the best hop water flavors actually leave room for the hops to make an impression.
Credit: Liv Averett / Total Wine
- Sierra Nevada Hop Splash
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One of the things I loved about this taste test is that all hop waters—even the unflavored ones—taste very different from one another, even though they’re all just water, hops, and carbon dioxide. They’re all sugar free, but some of them are sweeter than others. If you want a sweeter tasting option, see the best hop water on our list. But if you want something a little more bitter, a little more grown-up, Sierra Nevada Hop Splash is the stuff. It’s infused with Citra and Amarillo hops, which give it a bitter but neutral flavor that reminds me of good tonic water. In fact, I bet this would be the best hop water to mix with gin if you do imbibe.
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher
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Lagunitas hop water comes in a variety of fruit flavors, but the original version is the best hop water we tasted. Infused with Citra, Equinox, and Centennial hops, it has a zippy, hops-forward aroma but a perfectly balanced flavor that isn’t too bitter or too challenging for people who just can’t get down with an ultra hoppy IPA. It doesn’t settle on your tongue the way hoppy IPAs do, so you can drink this with a meal and still taste your food. It’s “sweet” and pleasant and refreshing—and I say “sweet” because there is no sugar in this whatsoever. It’s sweet like LaCroix flavors are sweet; fruity and citrusy but not sugary. Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher bright and splashy—the perfect summer bev and the best hop water we tried.
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
Best Hop Water Flavor (Runner-Up)
Best Hop Water Flavor
Best Bitter
Best of the Best
Other products we tried: Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher Blood Orange, Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher Berry Lemonade, Hop Wtr Mango, Hop Wtr Lime
Jessica Block
Tyler Bowers
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!