Henry's Hard Soda - Hard Grape

When it comes to hard sodas, I have tried a few. I started with the hard root beer, but most of them fell very short of the mark. Henry's Hard Orange was pretty close to what I thought it should be, but it needed a little something more. What this needs is nothing - grape soda is grape soda. Should it have vanilla? Nope, it should be grape.

It's like a... grape soda. It's purple, but light gets through pretty easily, and it has no head to speak of. I think I managed to catch some of the bubbles in the picture here, but there aren't many, and they went away very quickly. The aroma is undeniably grape with effervescence and the telltale alcohol waft.

First sip is just grape soda. I can't for the life of me taste the alcohol, so I'm saying that a sip is pretty much exactly what I would want in a hard soda. I mean, you're not drinking a hard soda to taste the added nail-polish-remover-like slap, are you? You want to taste a good beverage that hints at being adult and still (eventually) may give you a bit of a very, very slight buzz. At 4.2% ABV, it would take quite a few of these to do it, but I still think that's the point.

Tip-in is carbonation, grape syrup, and a hint of alcohol that I didn't taste in the sip. The middle actually gets very good - like a sparkling grape juice with a touch of actual alcohol. The finish is downright wine-like, as far as a very sweet wine might get.

Bottom Line: I do like this one. Might be the best hard soda yet!

4.0/5