There’s more to the world of hard lemonade than Mike’s Hard Lemonade. While Mike’s may have pioneered and popularized the concept of a bottled boozy lemonade, the category has grown over the years. Even Mike has expanded his offerings with a slew of Mike’s Hard Lemonade flavors. So, what is the best hard lemonade? After two intensive spiked lemonade taste tests, I found the top eight—including spiked strawberry lemonade and both sparkling and not sparkling lemonade.
Back in the day, Mike’s Hard Lemonade was seen as a “girly” drink. But in the modern day of hard seltzer and canned cocktails and spiked SunnyD, hard lemonade is a perfectly acceptable beverage for anyone. And, after tasting more than 30 different kinds of spiked lemonade, I think we should be drinking even more of the stuff.
The best hard lemonade is tart and sweet and gets you feeling like you’re back in high school again—er, I mean, a 21-year-old in college, when we all definitely had our first drink. It is often sparkling, in which case it should be brightly spritzy, almost aggressively so. But there’s also non-sparkling hard lemonade brands now, which should give you homemade lemonade vibes.
Here are the eight best hard lemonade brands to try. (And a quick honorable mention to Mike’s Hard Limeade, which was bright and zesty and tart but did not count because it’s limeade not lemonade.)
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- Mike’s Hard Black Cherry Lemonade
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Black cherry is a tough flavor—so often it tastes like cough syrup. And while you do get a touch of that when you smell this hard lemonade, the actual flavor is tart and rich. It tastes like a good quality brand of Maraschino cherries. My only critique is that it’s light on the lemonade. But even so, it’s definitely worth trying. I think you’ll be surprised by how nuanced and grown-up this Mike’s Hard Lemonade flavor really is.
Credit: Merc / Target
- Schilling Hard Lemonade Guava Lemonade
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Look at that cool ass koala on the can! Who wouldn’t want to chill with him? And end the night with a good cuddle. This spiked lemonade is made from actual lemons—and apples. Yep, this hard lemonade is actually a hard cider-lemonade hybrid. It’s very lightly carbonated and super tart. And it’s really, really guava forward. I love guava. It’s so tart and funky and tropical, and all of those flavors crash into you when you take the first sip. It’s not lemonade-y enough to move up higher on this list, but it’s still a great hard lemonade pick if you really don’t want anything sweet but do want a whopping 6.9% ABV. (If you prefer straight-up hard cider, don’t worry, we ranked that, too)
Credit: Liv Averett / gopuff
- Truly Strawberry Lemonade
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If you shudder at the thought of tasting alcohol in your alcoholic beverage, this is the best hard lemonade for you. This spiked strawberry lemonade doesn’t taste like a cocktail, it tastes like liquid, fizzy fruit snacks. That’s why it was the top hard lemonade for Sporked’s Jordan Myrick. They are just plain not interested in the flavor of booze and they thought this was delicious. “It’s what I want from a canned cocktail,” they said.
Credit: Merc / Target
- Mike’s Hard Lemonade Limonada Fresca Citrus Limonada
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We originally included classic Mike’s Hard Lemonade in this ranking. And it’s still a good option if you want hard lemonade that just tastes like soda. But, in my opinion, Mike’s improved upon the original with this new offering. It still tastes like lemon soda—but it tastes like a fancy lemon soda, like a Sanpellegrino Limonata. It’s Mike’s Hard Lemonade for grown-ups. And it’s the best of all the Mike’s Hard Lemonade flavors we tried.
Credit: Liv Averett / BevMo
- Schilling Hard Lemonade Imperial Pink Lemonade
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While Truly makes the best spiked strawberry lemonade, Schilling makes the best spiked pink lemonade. (Wondering what pink lemonade is? We wrote a whole article on it.) It smells like a melted raspberry popsicle. But it tastes like actual pink lemonade—sweet and tart with just a hint of that red fruit flavor. Like its guava brother, this spiked pink lemonade is gently carbonated, which helps make it taste like real pink lemonade even more.
Credit: Liv Averett / gopuff
- Monaco Original Hard Lemonade
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A newer addition to the hard lemonade lineup (they launched in the summer of 2022), Monaco Hard Lemonade is made with real, actual vodka. And each can is 9% ABV as opposed to the usual 5%. This sparkling hard lemonade is the most like an actual cocktail that I have tasted. You taste the lemon, the honey, and the vodka. The branding doesn’t look very “craft cocktail” to me, but that’s what you’re getting.
Credit: Merc / Total Wine
- Fishers Island Lemonade 100% Spiked
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If you don’t like carbonation, then this is the best hard lemonade to buy. It’s made with both vodka and whiskey, along with “natural juice” and “flavors.” And it really just tastes like canned lemonade. It doesn’t taste like homemade lemonade, but it’s bright and zippy and just a little bit bitter at the end—as if some lemon zest got into the mix. Even though it’s made with some whiskey, you don’t really taste the booze. But, at 9% ABV, you can definitely tell it’s spiked.
Credit: Liv Averett / Total Wine
- Simply Spiked Signature Lemonade
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I tasted this out of a Big Gulp-sized can and it was so good that I absolutely would have finished the whole thing if it was the ‘80s and it was still acceptable to get tipsy at work. We simply love Simply Lemonade at Sporked (the brand took the number two spot in our best lemonade ranking), so I had high expectations and they were more than met. It smells very lemonade-y and appetizing (probably because it’s made with actual juice!). It’s not too sweet at all; it’s very zesty. It’s like a homemade sparkling lemonade, but there’s booze in it. That said, I really couldn’t taste the alcohol. It is the best hard lemonade.
Credit: Merc / Kroger
Best Berry Flavored
Best Super Tart
Best Strawberry Lemoande
Best Mike’s Hard
Best Pink Lemonade
Best Craft Cocktail
Best Non Carbonated
Best of the Best
Other hard lemonades we tried: Mike’s Hard Lemonade Zero Sugar, Beatbox Pink Lemonade, Schilling Hard Lemonade Imperial Blue Raspberry, Smirnoff Ice Pink Lemonade, Mike’s Hard Lemonade Limonada Fresca Mangonada, Mike’s Hard Lemonade Limonada Fresca Watermelon Lime, Mike’s Hard Lemonade Limonada Fresca Pineapple Guava, Fishers Island Lemonade Blueberry Wave, Fishers Island Lemonade Pink Flamingo, Fishers Island Lemonade Nude Peach, Simply Spiked Strawberry Lemonade, Mike’s Harder Lemonade, New Amsterdam Wildcard, Mike’s Harder Strawberry Lemonade, Mike’s Hard Limeade, Mike’s Hard Strawberry Lemonade, White Claw Lemonade, White Claw Lemonade Blackberry, White Claw Lemonade Blood Orange, White Claw Lemonade Strawberry with a Hint of Kiwi, Nutrl Classic Lemonade, Nutrl Blackberry Lemonade, Nutrl Strawberry Lemonade, Nutrl Peach Lemonade, Mike’s Hard Lemonade