34 Popular Truly Flavors, Ranked Worst To Best

Just in case you haven't noticed, hard seltzers have taken over summertime (and also where have you been?). Whether or not you think it started with White Claw or you're old enough to have tried a ZIMA in its heyday, there's a whole new slew of flavored hard seltzers on the market — and they appear to be here to stay awhile. Even though Truly has been in production since 2016, it's having its biggest moment yet right now. As such, you might not have even realized that there are 34 flavors of Truly currently available.

The majority of the Truly flavors are divided up into nine different variety packs. There are three mixed packs created in the style of simple seltzers, which include Tropical, Citrus, and Berry. The other three mixed packs are more flavorful sparkling beverages that include hard Lemonades, Teas, and Punches. It also has its Margarita, Vodka Seltzer, and Wolderworld mix packs. There are four flavors in each mixed pack, giving you a nice little variety to choose from. Additionally, Truly makes two "Extra" flavors, which are higher in alcohol content and must be purchased separately.

Truly hard seltzers claim to be 5% alcohol by volume, 100 calories per 12-ounce can, and gluten-free across the board, with the exception of the two Extra flavors. Now, we've done the hard work of tasting every single Truly flavor and ranking them from worst to best, all in order to help make your hard seltzer dreams come true this summer.

Flavored lemonades are a wonderful invention. A lot of crafty kitchen scientists out there have found that they can make lemonade, all wonderfully sweet and pleasingly sour, even better with the addition of other fruits. But because the lemon bears such a sour and signature flavor on its own, the fruits that work best at enhancing or altering lemonades are the sweet ones and the berries. This is why strawberry lemonade, raspberry lemonade, and watermelon lemonade are common finds at restaurants, in grocery stores, and, with the addition of a shot of a spirit, at bars. Truly manufactures a few flavored lemonade seltzers, including Pineapple Lemonade — the odd one out of the bunch. It just doesn't work. Pineapple and lemon are too similar to work well together, and the result — especially with the addition of seltzer water and alcohol — are flavors that stick out uncomfortably against one another rather than blend into something new and lovely. Pineapple is as caustic as it is sugary; the same goes for lemonade. Truly's Pineapple Lemon seltzer just doesn't make for a pleasant drinking experience.

Hibiscus is a flavor for niche audiences, so it's somewhat surprising that a major, national hard seltzer brand like Truly would so prominently get behind it and use it as the centerpiece for one of its products. But hibiscus is appealing to a relatively small audience for a reason — it carries a very distinctive taste, a vague and incongruous combo of herbs and what one thinks a bouquet of flowers might taste like, based on its scent. Hibiscus has its adherents, so someone who likes all that might enjoy the Truly Strawberry Hibiscus Margarita, but that's just one element in a recipe that doesn't yield a final product that's as appetizing or flavorful as the beverage chefs clearly intended. The artificial strawberry taste is too powerful, so it doesn't balance out the hibiscus as much as jut up against it. And then neither flavor does anything to wash away the palette-unfriendly presence of a significant alcoholic taste in this hard seltzer. Altogether, this variety is too sweet, too herbal, and too medicinal tasting. Strawberry Hibiscus Margarita seems like it should be a kombucha or a proprietary drink at a health spa, not a recreationally consumed chill-out beverage.

Truly's alcohol-containing Half & Half Tea flavor is a variation of a variation, a drink whose very existence brings a story full circle. A Half and Half is the casual, non-trademarked way to order an Arnold Palmer in many places. Named for the legendary champion golfer, the Arnold Palmer cocktail was supposedly invented when the athlete asked his wife to make him a drink with equal parts lemonade and iced tea. The natural and respective sweetness and bitterness complement each other nicely in a real Arnold Palmer drink, but they don't quite do that in Half & Half Tea, Truly's hard seltzer version of the Arnold Palmer — which ironically comes premade with the booze that the golfer didn't want. The lemonade, the tea, the alcohol, the water — there's just too much happening here, and it winds up tasting like what one would think furniture polish might taste like.

With Extra Pineapple Orange, one of Truly's offerings in its small line of hard seltzers with a substantially higher alcoholic content, several bold elements all jockey with one another for dominance. All three players — pineapple flavoring, orange essence, and "extra" (the potent and noticeable sting of alcohol) — ultimately finish in a three-way tie for first place, or last place, however one's perspective suits them. That's not really something one wants out of what's supposed to be a carefully blended and well-concocted mixed-fruit, cocktail-inspired alcoholic beverage, however. Whereas some of the other Truly flavors built on well-known and well-liked flavor combinations — the punches, berry mixes, and margarita-inspired hard seltzers, for example — the Extra Pineapple Orange comes on way too strong. Pineapple is a strong, puckering flavor. Orange is sweet and naturally dominant, too. And they stand up to the alcohol in the Truly, which doesn't back down whatsoever in the face of fruit essences. All in all, Extra Pineapple Orange is just too much of too many good things.

We really wanted to like this one so much. As part of the Extra Truly line, it's got a substantially higher alcohol content of 8% by volume (versus 5% in a standard Truly). But we just didn't like the taste all that much. For while the higher alcohol content brings with it certain promises of fun and excitement, that's dampened by the strong and bitter boozy taste, quite prominent in all of the Extra varieties. The mixed berry flavor is too artificially intense and yet does little to offset the flavor of the alcohol.

The flavor profile does taste a little more like complex dark fruits than the bright and painfully sweet berry tastes in some other Truly flavors, but not impressively so. It's also tough to make out exactly what constitutes a Berry Blast — the individual fruits used are impossible to discern. On the other hand, if you're into juicy berry flavors, this is a low-risk choice since you can at least buy it one 16-ounce can at a time.

There's nothing subtle about this lemonade. It's a full-tilt sweet and sour extravaganza. If you're into lemonades, this one is probably going to do it for you, with one significant caveat. The flavor of the synthetic sweetener used in this beverage is very apparent. Is that a deal-breaker? That depends on your tastebuds. Most of the Truly flavors are sweetened with a pinch of cane sugar, then predominantly stevia. However, some aren't specifically labeled with it in the ingredients, and so it's a little more difficult to say with those flavors. 

If you use stevia or an alternative sweetener already, this is probably not going to affect your enjoyment of the Truly lemonade. The strong tart lemon flavor is partially derived from lemon juice concentrate but is also supplied by citric acid (a common natural flavoring). On the Truly website, the Original Lemonade is only listed in the Lemonade mixed pack, but we've also found it in larger individual cans.

The flavor masters at Truly hard seltzer had a tough task ahead of them in concocting the perfect Mango Chili Margarita recipe. It's tough and almost counterintuitive bordering on the possibility of everything canceling each other out to impart the essence of something spicy into a refreshing and cooling water-based beverage when the whole point of chili and hot foods is to be as flavorful and overpowering as possible. The same could be said for mango, which harbors one of the bolder and more complicated tastes in all of fruit-dom. At the end of the day, Truly managed to make a hard seltzer that tastes like mango, and also like chili, but not like mango and chili mixed together, usually a terrific blend of opposite flavors bigger than the sum of its parts. Not only that, but Truly's Mango Chili Margarita doesn't really remind the drinker of a margarita, and it doesn't taste that much like the mango or chili individually that much either. This is just an odd flavor, the one that's likely to get picked last in the Truly margarita-themed variety pack.

Crack open a can of Truly's Peach Drop flavor, and you'll get a pleasant if not surprisingly realistic whiff of fresh peaches. It smells just like a freshly picked piece of fruit straight from the orchard. And if smell is a big part of taste, the drinker of this Peach Drop is seemingly in for a treat. However, that's not quite the case. While one can't or shouldn't expect a full, sweet, tangy, robust, and singular peach taste from a product that's designed to be mostly water with mere suggestions of the flavor promised on the can, it comes as a surprise when the Peach Drop doesn't have any noticeable peach flavor at all. The end result is anonymous or taste-free, with hints of the medicinal. At least there's a pleasant aftertaste or aftereffect — it smells like a peach, but it doesn't taste like one. What it does do is offer the sweet-meets-sour mouth-puckering feel of the fruit.

Tropical Punch is one of the four flavors included in the Punch mixed pack, which also includes Fruit Punch, Citrus Punch, and Berry Punch. All of the punch flavors come out swinging and are much stronger than their comparatively lighter hard seltzer counterparts. It's a great mixed pack for someone who doesn't want to commit to only berry or only citrus flavors, but instead wants a few more choices. 

While we think all of the Punch flavors will appease someone looking for a fruitier sparkling cocktail kind of drink, we've got a lot of questions about what's in the Tropical Punch Truly. On the can are images of pineapple, watermelon, and dragonfruit, sure, but the term "tropical punch" can cover such a massive range of fruits that the possibilities are endless. The taste is certainly tropical but only in the vaguest sense of the word. On the other hand, maybe we shouldn't overthink it and just enjoy it, because it's a sweet and crisp tropical drink that's pretty good, all things considered. To kick it up a notch, the Tropical Punch would be nice served with a floater of coconut rum with a little additional pineapple juice — paper umbrella optional.

There don't seem to be many just straight-up blueberry-flavored products available, apart from baking mixes or frozen waffles, which contain little blue fruit pellets that more often than not aren't really blueberries. To replicate the delicate, distinctive, and fresh flavor of a blueberry must be more difficult for food scientists than, say, strawberry or cherry. But the flavor concoctors at Truly turned out a nice tasting seltzer, one that's worth going for on at least the pure novelty of a blueberry beverage. Truly's Blueberry hard seltzer doesn't taste exactly like liquified blueberries suspended in carbonated, alcohol-spiked water so much as it evokes similar sensations to real blueberries. The seltzer and its inspiration both pack the faintest zing and a momentary sweetness. The Truly seltzer tastes more like real blueberries than frozen blueberry waffles or a blueberry muffin mix, while also approaching the fruit in terms of how refreshing it is.

The Truly Lemonade can come on a little strong, which is why, in a side-by-side tasting, we opted to rank the Strawberry Lemonade just above the Classic Lemonade. The additional strawberry sweetness conjured up memories of pink lemonade with chunks of fresh strawberries in a tall glass on an especially hot summer day. The strawberry flavor is concentrated enough to knock the bitterness of the lemon down a few pegs, without losing the juicy strawberry flavor you signed up for. 

Turns out we're not the only ones interested in this classic pairing. Apparently, it's so popular that Truly includes it in the Lemonade mixed pack, as well as individual 24-ounce cans. To turn it into a cocktail, we can see mixing half a can of Truly Strawberry Lemonade hard seltzer with a shot of vodka and half a cup of pink lemonade on ice. Add fresh strawberries and a lemon peel for the perfect garnish.

With so many Truly options, eventually, it starts to seem like you're turning the volume of a flavor up or down or adding more instruments to the song. The Citrus Punch hard seltzer tastes like the mixed citrus flavors of the Citrus Squeeze were turned up to 10 — or similarly, more citrusy flavors were added to the already intensive Lemonade flavor. It's interesting, though not exactly original.

Truly describes this flavor as, "A wave of juicy orange, zesty lime, and bright lemon aromas," which absolutely comes across in every sip. We think Truly does a great job bringing citrus flavors to life in both the Citrus mixed pack, as well as the Punch mixed pack. All of the flavors shine without overwhelming your taste buds with burning tart citrus. The Citrus Punch is only available in the Punch mixed pack, along with Fruit Punch, Tropical Punch, and Berry Punch. It's a good mixed pack for people looking for a wider variety of flavor options.

For some odd reason, strawberry tea isn't a flavor you see on the market very often in non-alcoholic, bottled, or even dried formats. While there are a few, there aren't as many as we'd like to see, given the unique flavor of strawberry. So, the Truly Strawberry Tea hard seltzer is a welcome addition to their Iced Tea mixed pack. The fruitiness of the strawberry is bold and sweet, while the full-bodied black tea stands out, making it more than just a strawberry juice thirst-quencher. 

For those who like fruit-infused teas, but who may have been let down by the bitterness and strange fake flavor of the Raspberry Tea, the Truly Strawberry Tea should be more appealing. Generally speaking, we still found the alternative sweetener flavor to be very strong and potentially unpleasant in this drink. But after having had a few drinks, several of our testers became comfortably acquainted with that particular sweet taste and didn't seem to mind it as much as they expected.

Overall, we really enjoyed all four flavors in the Tropical mixed pack. Alongside Mango, Truly includes Passionfruit, Pineapple, and Watermelon & Kiwi flavors in the pack. But if we had to choose which of those four flavors we like the least, it would be the Mango. The general consensus was that it tastes good, but it's a little boring as far as mango-flavored drinks go. It's missing some of the acidic top notes that fresh mango juices have, and leans a little more into the one-note orange juice flavor profile that plagues other mango-based drinks. 

Again, we think it's pretty good, just not quite as good as it has the potential to be — and in a lineup of 26 flavors, that's enough to knock you down a few pegs. At least it's not so bad being at the bottom of the best. Ultimately, if you like mango drinks we think you'll still enjoy this hard seltzer rendition.

There's no shortage of hard lemon teas on the market. Ever since Twisted Tea hit shelves in 2001 (via Twisted Tea), companies have been trying to find the right balance of booziness and flavor to complement this simple and refreshing backyard drink. What we like about this version is that the Truly Lemon Tea is a seltzer first and a hard tea second, making it a lighter option than some other, more heavily flavored hard teas on the market. 

That said, the lemon flavor and sweetness don't taste especially real in this drink, but neither are they so synthetic that it's a distraction. The tea itself tastes real, which is more than a lot of other canned teas can say. Truly's version is easy to drink, meaning that just about anyone who likes tea can enjoy it. We can also see turning it into a makeshift Long Island Iced Tea mixer if things get especially exciting.

Truly's Fruit Punch probably tastes exactly how you'd expect it to taste. It's sweet, powerfully fruity in a vague way, and closely resembles the liquid in a canned Dole fruit cocktail. In comparison to something more familiar, it's definitely got the same red fruit vibe you'd get with a red Gatorade, but a little more cherry forward. As long as you don't have any residual bad memories of jungle juice parties from college, you're probably going to enjoy this grown-up play on a nostalgic classic. 

The can also has images of an apple and orange alongside the cherry, but truthfully, it's really not very apparent what individual fruits are actually in this drink. It's just punch, which has never really stopped us from drinking anything in this category before. It is impressive that they've packed so much fruit flavor into a can with only 100 calories, but we're not going to question the methods — we're just going to enjoy the results.

There are people who enjoy the tartness of fresh grapefruit for breakfast in the morning, and there are people who like the sugary grapefruit booze bomb of a drink like the Schofferhofer Grapefruit Hefeweizen. Now, we adore an icy cold Schofferhofer, but this seltzer is really best meant for the former audience. The first taste of Truly's Grapefruit seltzer is clean and slightly tart, almost like carbonated freshly squeezed grapefruit juice. The sweetness is neither fake nor overwhelming, just like a real grapefruit should taste. 

The Truly Grapefruit hard seltzer is fantastic on its own, but it admittedly may not go well with every food choice. It could be great served alongside fresh berries, nuts, dark leafy greens, and cheeses like goat, ricotta, or feta cheeses — which of course makes this drink a nice addition to a park picnic. It may not stand up to heavier meals, however, so choose wisely.

Having tasted a few of the lemonade flavors up to this point, we were skeptical about a few of them. But the addition of watermelon to this lemonade takes some of the harsh bite out of the bittersweet lemonade flavor. When paired with the bright lemonade, watermelon provides a satisfying and refreshing combo that really appealed to us. The fake sweetness of this lemonade was still apparent, but not necessarily off-putting. 

According to Truly, the Watermelon Lemonade flavor is only available in the Lemonade mix pack. This is one of the Truly flavors that we'd be glad to see in a larger-format or 6-pack option since it's pretty easy to drink and can be paired with just about any summertime foods. Even if lemonade isn't your summertime drink of choice, this one may appeal to you.

When compared to the three other flavors in the Citrus mixed pack, we weren't immediately able to identify the citrus flavors involved in Truly's Citrus Squeeze. It could be any combination of lime, grapefruit, lemon, and even orange all at once. We're kind of into it. It's one of the lighter hard seltzer options, so don't expect it to be as bold as the Citrus Punch flavor. 

This could make an amazing light margarita-style cocktail, perhaps made with a shot of tequila, half a can of the Citrus Squeeze, and a splash of simple syrup poured over ice and into a glass with a salted rim. Sounds like a great way to kick off your next pool party. For the time being, the Citrus Squeeze is only offered in the Citrus mixed pack, so consider setting them aside as mixers when you pick up your next mixed pack.

For those who enjoy passion fruit, this flavor is a welcome addition to Truly's Tropical mixed pack lineup. Passion fruit is making more and more appearances in drinks and tropical fruit offerings these days, but it often appears alongside other tropical fruits like pineapple or guava. If you've never had fresh passion fruit before, it's part tart, part sweet, and a tad funky — in a good way. 

We think the folks at Truly did a nice job distilling the flavor into a light and refreshing hard seltzer. The flavor isn't overpowering, nor is it washed out. Served ice cold on a blistering hot day at the beach or by the pool, this could be like pure paradise. The Passion Fruit flavor is only available in the Tropical mixed pack, though, so make sure to snag one before anyone else lays their hands on your case.

If the full force of the lemonade flavor doesn't really do it for you, don't write lemon off altogether. The Lemon Truly hard seltzer is a low-key and revitalizing light hard seltzer that won't knock you over with bitterness. We found that it was nice muddled with fresh herbs like mint or basil, or even with a few berries dropped into the glass. The lemon flavor is available in the Citrus mixed pack along with Grapefruit and Citrus Squeeze. 

Truly has even created a cocktail for the Lemon flavor called the Truly Citrus Sparkler. The recipe is made as follows, "Combine gin, elderflower liqueur, and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker. Strain mixture into a flute. Top with Truly [Lemon]. Garnish with a lemon twist and edible glitter." The artificially sweet taste of the stevia is almost undetectable in this drink, which makes it even more enjoyable unless you're especially sensitive to the taste.

By the time we got to taste the Truly Berry Punch flavor, we had become a little wary of anything that might include raspberry. But the very first sip of this punch revealed that Truly has made a bold berry-packed beverage that is really delightful. Jammy without being overly sweet, the Berry Punch hard seltzer has images of raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries on the can. The luscious fruits are balanced with just a hint of tartness to make them shine, but not nearly as tart as the Truly Lemonade options. 

The folks at Truly compare it to a mixed berry smoothie, but we think it tastes more like summer berry pie in a can. The punch flavor is more intense than the simpler hard seltzers in the Truly lineup, which is perfect for someone who wants all of the flavors of a bold summer cocktail, without all the extra sugar.

What is a margarita but some booze, ice, and a sugary, fruity mix? In American Mexican-style restaurants, the margarita choices almost always begin (and often end) with the original lime-based kind and a strawberry variant. Truly's Strawberry Lime hard seltzer tastes like a combination of a traditional lime margarita with a strawberry margarita, and then the ice melted into cold water and got itself mixed up with cheap, weak tequila. It took a few sips to get used to the taste and to imagine it as a deconstructed and liquified two-for-one margarita combo deal. Like an actual margarita, Truly's Strawberry Lime is best consumed as a sipping beverage, not an all-at-once, down-the-hatch kind of thing. And it's certainly far less caloric than a blended margarita. This is a beverage that would pair great with a Mexican meal that runs on the spicier side, as the strawberry and lime flavors could nicely cut through the heat.

Even though this flavor leans more into the lighter seltzer category, it can still pack quite a punch. The cherry flavor is strong and enjoyable, the natural mild cherry flavor bolstered somewhat by an essence of what seems like maraschino cherry syrup or Hawaiian Punch, which isn't a problem at all. We can see this being great to drink with glazed ribs at a cookout or with a fresh summer veggie and goat cheese salad at an outdoor lunch. When it comes to the sweetness, it's not overwhelmingly fake compared with some of the other flavors in the Truly lineup.

The Cherry flavor (which supplants the nearly identical Black Cherry flavor in the Truly lineup) is commonly available by itself or as part of the Berry Mix 12-pack. Either way, this is one that goes down smooth as a session seltzer or a less-alcoholic alternative to craft beer or white wine.

As part of Truly's playfully obtuse Wonderworld series, available in a four-flavor variety pack, Citrus Clouds evokes a scenario as much as it does a flavor. The brain gets ready to taste it before the mouth does, imagining thirst-quenching clouds of moisture flavored by some kind of citrus blend. Indeed, at first taste, Citrus Clouds is terrific, sophisticated, and something more than flavored hard seltzer. More than any other of the standard or Extra seltzers, this one tastes like a simple, classic mixed drink. The combination of booze and bubbles, along with the suite of citrus, falls somewhere on the drinks taste spectrum between tequila with a squeeze of lime and a gin and tonic. As for those pleasing and balanced sour-against-sweet citrus notes, Citrus Clouds tastes like Truly populated the mix with bitter lime and a hint of grapefruit juice, at the very least. The box promises a mere "hint of flavor," but it abounds.

You've likely had plenty of peach tea at this point and maybe even a few hard peach teas. But this may be the first time you've had one that's technically a seltzer, and that might be what makes all the difference. It's lighter than bottled tea, which we like when there's a long afternoon of drinks ahead. The peach flavor is ripe and crisp, too, but not overwhelmingly sweet, thanks to the black tea. Ultimately, the drink comes together so well you may even forget that it's got alcohol in it. 

We can see ourselves drinking the Peach Tea Truly all day until the fireflies come out at night. Where the Lemon Tea Truly is easy drinking and accessible, the Peach Tea is downright dreamy. Unfortunately, none of the hard tea flavors are currently available in stand-alone 6-packs or larger sizes, but if the Peach Tea flavor was offered on its own, we'd buy it.

Many of the more fruit-forward Truly hard seltzer varieties tend to nail the flavor while also leaning way too hard on the sweetness element. There isn't a lot of sweetener, artificial or otherwise, in these low-calorie, carb-avoiding canned hard seltzers. But when they are sweet, it's just too much, and the lasting effect is cloying and overdone. This isn't true of the Watermelon Breeze variety. It doesn't taste at all like real watermelon, but it's exactly reminiscent of watermelon-flavored candy, which also doesn't taste like real watermelon. Truly's Watermelon Breeze goes down like watermelon candy, but bubbly and throat-tickling. But unlike its solid-state, non-alcoholic inspiration, this drink pleasantly lacks the signature, sugary, over-sweetened wallop. It's also aptly named because this Truly truly tastes and feels like a breeze of watermelon. Less like a watermelon-flavored Jolly Rancher or Starburst, this hard seltzer induces nostalgia for a watermelon-scented scratch-and-sniff sticker.

Like a lost, watered-down Snapple or a brand-new La Croix flavor, Truly's Watermelon Cucumber Margarita is all at once familiar and new. Watermelon and cucumber pair perfectly together, and especially in the medium of seltzer, because neither is expected to be bold or prominent. The watermelon element here isn't too strong or too sweet, diluted as it is by the bubbly water, while the cucumber only really works in a drink if it's subtle. Both are utterly refreshing and cleanse the palate, making this particular Truly hard seltzer variety a great choice on a very hot day and one that pairs well with strongly flavored or spicy foods. The "Margarita Style" promised on the can, or on the box, as it's featured as part of the Truly margarita variety pack, doesn't really factor in, but that doesn't matter because there's already just enough going on here to make it one of the cleaner tasting seltzers out there.

We weren't expecting much from the Lime Truly but were very pleasantly surprised when tasting it. Lime might theoretically be a simple flavor, but flavored seltzer enthusiasts know that this particular taste runs the gamut from tart and lemony to sickly sweet and synthetic. This hard seltzer is at neither of those extremes. Nor is it boring. It's both mildly sweet and mildly tart, as if lime zest may have been used in the flavor-making process and not just the juice. 

Now, we don't actually know how Truly has managed to flavor the Lime hard seltzer, but we're into it. It's a bold statement, but several tasters even claimed to like it more than the La Croix Lime and Key Lime flavors, which is saying a lot. Luckily for all of us, not only is the Lime Truly available in the Citrus mixed pack, but also as a stand-alone six-pack flavor and in individual 16-ounce cans.

Truly remixed and gussied up its already exemplary Lime variety and added the new but different Classic Lime Margarita variety to its expansive brand portfolio. The successor tastes almost exactly like its predecessor, as lime and caustic alcohol flavors are the dominant elements of a real, bartender-blended margarita. Lime can be a simple and flat flavor, and it is a standard offering across most all major seltzer brands. But by ambitiously trying to capture and re-create the lime-infused margarita taste, Truly made a crisp seltzer drink that's also creamy and tangy, citrusy and sweet, but not too sweet. 

The Classic Lime hard seltzer is available in a Truly margarita variety pack, but it's this one, the style based on the simple, classic, margarita cocktail, that's the best of the bunch. It's so full of smooth lime flavor and just enough of that sugary margarita sensation that the drink almost crosses the line from seltzer and into something like a Mike's Hard Lemonade, but not over-sweet.

For those who enjoy the luscious fruit flavors of a punch or berry smoothie, but want a lighter option for a day outside, we like the Mixed Berry hard seltzer. The taste of strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries don't stand out individually, but you certainly get the gist of the flavors. It didn't immediately wow us, but we found ourselves finishing the cans satisfied. 

Aside from the alcohol, it could easily be mistaken for a standard sparkling water flavor. It's the standout flavor in the Berry Mix 12-pack and is apparently popular enough to be offered in several other sizes, including an exclusive 6-pack, 16-ounce, and 24-ounce sizes. If you need a flavored seltzer to use as a cocktail mixer, the Wild Berry would be a nice addition to a spritzer or cranberry or red fruit-based cocktail.

Certainly the sweetest and most flavor-forward of all the many Truly varieties, the Strawberry Breeze seltzer boasts a wallop of not authentic strawberries but teeth-hurtingly sweet artificial strawberry flavor. That's not a bad thing at all if one likes their adult, alcohol-containing beverages to give them a strange sense of nostalgia for childhood treats. This is all to say that the Strawberry Breeze Truly tastes exactly like strawberry-flavored Starburst candies (except sweeter), or store-brand, strawberry-flavored soda meant to taste like a Strawberry Crush. There's a hint of something else in the Strawberry Breeze that's intangible, something akin to the fake strawberries and reminiscent of summer tastes, a generically berry-flavored or "pink" variety of cotton candy, it would seem. That familiar taste, in tandem with the strawberries, plays up the stickiness, airiness, and ready-for-summer vibes of this Strawberry Breeze Truly, with the water and bubbles naturally cutting the sweetness.

The mystery flavors craze has come to the world of hard seltzer. Infiltrating soda and candy over the last few years, it's a fun stunt by which beverage and food producers drum up publicity and online chatter by releasing a new item without its actual stated flavor on the label. This makes identifying the flavor, or flavor blend, an enjoyable, consumable challenge for those who buy in. They get to argue exactly what tastes are at play in Airheads Mystery White or Coca-Cola Move. It can turn a hard seltzer drinking session into a party game, and it certainly does with Wonder What...?, a quintessential member of Truly's hard seltzer Wonderworld variety pack.

Along with theoretically more obviously flavored box-mates like Strawberry Breeze, Citrus Clouds, and Peach Drop, the profile of Wonder What...? isn't so easily or quickly discernible. Perhaps engaging the conscious brain as well as the tongue is what makes Wonder What...? such a delicious and lively beverage. We think (but are by no means positive) that the ingredients doing the heavy lifting in this well-blended, designer cocktail-like mixed seltzer are a not-too-sweet and tangy tangerine essence along with some refreshing cucumber to balance things out.

In general, we think that Truly has done really well with the tropical fruit-flavored beverages they offer. The pineapple is a glowing example of just how refreshing a hard seltzer can be in the summer heat. One of our testers was suspicious that it would taste like a can of pineapple juice, strong and very sweet. Much to our pleasure, it tastes crisply of pineapple but very light — just as a seltzer should be. 

Whether you're inside by the air conditioner or outside in the sun, you might not be able to get enough of the Pineapple Truly. We must not be the only ones who think so, because it's offered in a variety of ways. Not only is it included in the Tropical mixed pack, and sold as a stand-alone 6-pack flavor, but it's also available in 16-ounce and 24-ounce can formats. Truly is on to something special with this one.