What *Is* Hard Seltzer?

What is hard seltzer? It’s a beverage phenomena. Few beverage trends have hit harder or had more staying power in recent years than the spiked seltzer craze. Whereas a few years ago someone would never have even heard of hard seltzer, today we are blessed with literally dozens of different varieties, from standouts like White Claw and Truly, to expansions from classic brands like Bud Light Seltzer, to those strange outliers that boast additional antioxidants or flavors like “Vibe.” 

When people in the future make movies about the 2020s, they’re going to show people at parties swigging white cans of alcoholic seltzer to indicate what year it is in the same way that movies about the ‘90s have people wearing extremely pleated pants and drinking Crystal Pepsi. That’s how ubiquitous hard seltzer has become. It’s not hard to see why: It followed regular, non-alcoholic seltzer’s rise to popularity as consumers are increasingly looking for healthier options with less sugar. Beyond that, it’s tasty, it’s refreshing, there are an unbelievably wide variety of flavors, it comes in cool-looking cans. What’s not to like? But even if you’re a hard seltzer connoisseur, you might not know what it’s made from. 

What is hard seltzer made of?

In a nutshell, hard seltzer is carbonated water combined with some kind of alcohol. Okay, okay, you probably already knew that. Let’s take a look at the ingredients list for a Mango White Claw (a personal fave and the only White Claw to appear in Sporked’s best hard seltzer ranking) to find out: “purified carbonated water, alcohol, natural flavors, cane sugar, citric acid, natural mango juice concentrate, sodium citrate.” Similarly, a can of lime Truly contains “filtered water, alcohol, natural flavors, contains less than 2% of citric acid, cane sugar, lime juice from concentrate, sodium citrate.”

What alcohol is in hard seltzer?

There are some brands of hard seltzer, such as High Noon, that will use a popular spirit like vodka or even tequila to spike their beverage. These are generally clearly marked as such. And some purists might claim that such beverages are in fact cocktails in a can instead of a hard seltzers because the alcohol is liquor that’s added separately. But for the most iconic seltzer brands like Truly and Whiteclaw, they use a different alcohol altogether. Specifically, malted liquor, which is alcohol made from malt, sugar, and fruit.

How is hard seltzer made?

The annoying answer is that it depends on the producer. But the most common way to make hard seltzer is to ferment sugar and water to make alcohol, then cut it down to the desired ABV with water, add flavoring, and carbonate. Hard seltzers typically weigh in at about 5% ABV—about the same amount of alcohol as beer—but some newer versions such as White Claw Surge go up to 8%.

Does hard seltzer hydrate you?

While regular, non-hard, non-alcoholic seltzer is a totally solid way to keep your liquid intake up, the same can not be said for hard seltzer. It’s possible that hard seltzer may be less dehydrating than some alcohol choices, like, say, a Dirty Martini, but it’s still not a good way to get water into your body. For hydration purposes, always avoid alcohol.

Does hard seltzer expire?

Sadly, all good things must come to an end sometime, and the same is true of hard seltzer. If you were hoping to stock your post-apocalyptic shelter with fizzing cans of fruit-flavored malt beverage, I must inform you that will not be possible. There is a “sell by” date on every can, and while you might be able to push a little past that, once you get to about nine months the quality will start to dip.

When was hard seltzer invented? 

To trace the history of hard seltzer, we must look at a product that may be little remembered as more than a ‘90s punchline: Zima. Yes, Zima, the fruity, malty, carbonated alternative to beer created by the Coors Brewing Company was the first example of what we might call hard seltzer. It debuted in 1993 and saw tremendous popularity, then a huge dip, before being discontinued in 2008. But as we know, that was just the beginning of the story for this now-vaunted beverage category.

Now that you know the answer to the age old question, “what is hard seltzer,” go out and enjoy the ever-expanding selections that awaits you. Happy drinking!