Henry's Hard Soda - Hard Orange

I've had four hard root beers so far, and I saw this soda and thought... why not? So, I picked up a six pack, and I figured I'd give it a go. After all, this seems like a burgeoning industry, if they can get their stuff together. What I've found so far is that the best of the bunch is pretty good, but that's about as good as they get. Someone needs to be able to break out and solve this problem.

The beverage smells like orange drink with carbonation - which is (I guess) basically what they're looking for. The orangeness is very deep. I'm looking at it on my table right now, and it almost looks unreal with that color. I think it is entirely possible that the orangeness isn't quite as daunting while it's still in the bottle.

First sip is orangey. It's definitely not soda, though. It has a very heavy, sweet and syrupy liquor taste to it. It definitely feels more like a thin schnapps more than anything. I can't say that sipping is the best way to drink this, as it is not the right way to drink actual orange soda, anyway. So, I'm just going in for a full swig pretty quick.

Tip-in is high in carbonation burn. It is very similar to orange soda right from the get-go, but it definitely feels like it's had alcohol added, which is funny, as it's really, really low in alcohol content at 4.2% ABV. Nevertheless, it is obvious right here, at the beginning. The middle brings a step-up of the carbonation to the point that it's unlikely to allow the middle to last very long. The finish is even more adult; the alcohol swells to a preposterous amount based on this low ABV, and then it trails off like a syrup that lingered too long.

Bottom Line: Not every experiment works. This one only halfway hit the ball.

1.75/5