We Drank and Ranked the 50 Best Hard Seltzers

It’s been over 250 years since the English chemist Joseph Priestley invented seltzer after discovering a method he referred to as “impregnating water with air” (sounds kinda kinky, but go off, Joseph). And while we’ve been slugging the fizzy stuff for centuries, only within the last decade did human beings come up with the bright idea to brew carbonated water infused with alcohol.

The current hard seltzer boom traces its origins back to 2013 when Nick Shields, a manager for a small beer brand, and his business partner, Dave Holmes, created SpikedSeltzer. Anheuser-Busch noticed the beverage’s popularity and acquired SpikedSeltzer, rebranding it as Bon & Viv in 2016. In that same year, White Claw and Truly emerged on the scene, dominating the marketplace, but also opening the door for the proliferation of dozens upon dozens of competitors, from heavyweights like Bud Light Seltzer and Corona Hard Seltzer, to more craft-oriented brewers like Wild Basin and DC Brau, to hard seltzer brands targeting health-conscious consumers like Vizzy and Maha.

The explosion of brands demonstrates hard seltzer’s staying power, with new players getting into to capitalize on a wide variety of market segments. As more customers turn away from beer’s bloat, wine’s higher barrier to entry, and liquor’s propensity to deliver a punishing morning-after, they’re finding a lower-calorie beverage for the most part lacking in pretension and focusing on drinkability.

Setting out to try every hard seltzer on the market is a fool’s errand. Then again, you need to feel comfortable with a little bit of foolishness to get on the hard seltzer journalism beat in the first place. Inspired by Shakespeare, who is said to have written King Lear when he was under quarantine in the early 17th century, I decided to tackle my own personal King Lear: trying as many hard seltzers as I could in hopes of compiling a definitive power ranking.

Not all hard seltzers are created equal, which is why I pursued this undertaking with a monk-like fervency. If we set aside 5 minutes for each of the 75 individual hard seltzer variations I imbibed, that would bring us to roughly 6 hours and 15 minutes of taste-testing. Of course, I taste-tested many of my favorites on this list more than once, and when you factor in the mild buzz prompted by such painstaking reporting, which prompted several 30-second walks to the kitchen to make popcorn and 10-minute diversions to find a specific version of “Satellite” by Dave Matthews Band on Spotify, we come to an official clinical total of 10 hours spent drinking (and thinking) about hard seltzer.

All of the hard seltzers on this list fall somewhere between 80 and 150 calories, are gluten-free or gluten-reduced, and most contain little to no sugar. And while experts say hard seltzer’s appeals to wellness are dubious at best, they’re still a lighter alternative to many cocktails and beers.

We decided to rank the best hard seltzers using three criteria: Crushability (how easy it is to drink?), Craveability (how much did I find myself wanting another days later?), and Creativity (was there something surprising and delightful?). So without further adieu, here is our ultimate hard seltzer power ranking, featuring the best (and...not best) hard seltzers you can drink.