I Tried Super Lyte, the New Boozy Bevs Inspired by Sports Drinks

Canned, non-carbonated alcoholic beverages are having a moment in my household. They’re usually low sugar, relatively low cal and carb, and they don’t have bubbles, so you can drink a few of them without feeling like belches are going to fly out of your every orifice. There’s lots of good hard tea and plenty of good hard lemonade, too, but what about hard sports drinks? Stateside Vodka, maker of Surfside canned bevs, is filling that gaping hole in the market with Super Lyte.

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What is Super Lyte?

Super Lyte is a new line of vodka-infused, sports drink-inspired canned, non-carbonated drinks. What does “sports drink-inspired” mean? Well, the drinks come in four flavors that are definitely reminiscent of sports drinks: fruit punch, lemon lime, orange, and blue chill. And while these are sugar free, they do have some sea salt in the mix to lend a little bit of that electrolyte-drink flavor. Super Lyte is launching in 20 states “along the East Coast and in the Midwest” to start and then, hopefully, expanding to bars, stadiums, and grocery stores in other states.

We’re in California, but we got our hands on all four flavors of the new Super Lyte drinks and tasted them all to find out whether they’re “super” good or “lyte” on flavor.

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Super Lyte 4-Flavor Variety Pack

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Pros: This may not be a pro for everyone, but I actually like that you can taste the vodka in these Super Lyte drinks. If you’ve ever spiked a bottle of Gatorade with vodka, you’re familiar with that slightly bitter flavor that tends to tame the sweetness just a touch. In these very, very sweet drinks, the vodka doesn’t necessarily tame the sweetness, but it complements it nicely. And you can definitely taste the sea salt in these if you try…but you do have to try.

Cons: Touch of sea salt aside, these drinks are very, very sweet. And because the flavor profiles are so basic—the “flavors” are basically yellow, red, blue, and orange—they remind me more of those Little Hug Fruit Barrels you used to get in elementary school than they reminded me of sports drinks. I definitely don’t dislike these, but having recently taste-tested all the Surfsides (subscribe to our YouTube channel to catch that taste test later this week), I don’t think this is the best thing Stateside has done.

Credit: Liv Averett / Super Lyte

Rating:

6.5/10

Sporks

About the Author

Howdy! I’m Gwynedd, Sporked’s managing editor. I live in Los Angeles and have access to the best tacos the U.S. has to offer—but I’m a sucker for a crunchy Old El Paso taco night every now and then. I’ve been at Sporked since 2022 and I’m still searching frozen mozzarella sticks that can hold a candle to restaurant sticks. Why you should trust me: I’ve been a journalist for 20 years (yikes), a consumer of food for 40-plus years, and I’m truly hard pressed to think of foods I don’t like (or that I can’t tolerate at the very least). Oh and one time I cooked my way through Guy Fieri’s cookbook and wrote about the journey through Flavortown. What I buy every week: Trader Joe’s Original Savory Thins. Fat free plain yogurt (usually Fage or Nancy’s). Honeycrisp apples. Sweet cream coffee creamer for my at-home Americanos. A frozen cauliflower crust pizza and some jarred mushrooms to top it with. Old El Paso Stand ‘N Stuff taco shells and Gardein Ground Be’f, even though I think “be’f” is a nightmarish contraction. Favorite ranking: Stouffer’s frozen dinners. I don’t own a microwave (I get my cancers the old fashioned way!), so I love taste testing things that I don’t really buy to eat at home. Least favorite ranking: Soy sauce. Don’t get me wrong, I love soy sauce—but consuming that much sodium in one sitting is probably illegal in some countries. Our frozen enchilada taste test was a close second; the smell of microwaved corn tortillas still haunts me.