Mike's "Harder Purple Grape" Hard Soda

The last alcoholic drink I had from Mike's was in 2014. Since then, I've had quite a few beverages, but I never seemed to return to these wares from Illinois. A couple of the ones from Mike's were very good, and I'm not really sure what prevents me from going back and grabbing more other than the desire to experience new beers. But, one cannot live on beer alone, or so my spouse tells me.

The beverage is uniformly dark purple, and it has a little bit of a head whenever it comes out of the can at first, but it goes away is fast as you would expect it to on a grape soda. Similarly, the aroma is that of a grape soda, but there is an immense wave of alcohol that comes with it. This is way more alcoholic than the other hard sodas that I've tried. At 8% ABV, this has more alcohol than many IPAs that I've had.

First sip is certainly grape. Even though it has carbonation, the sensation is as if it is going flat. Add that to the acidity that the alcohol seems to have brought, and you're not going to easily confuse this with a regular grape soda. The surge of sweetness at the end seems like it's trying to overcome this alcohol acidity, and it certainly does that. Instead, there's a sudden jolt of sugar that exceeds the amount that would seem to be acceptable for a soda of this type.

Tip-in is light carbonation tingle with artificial Kool-Aid grape that has been sweetened a bit too much. The middle brings unpleasant alcohol overtones that seem incongruent with the  smoothness of the overly sweet and somewhat tart Concorde grape flowing underneath. The finish leaves tart on the lips while excessive sweetness lingers in the mouth for far too long.

Bottom line: I guess if you're planning to day drink this would be good, but otherwise it's a pass.

1.75/5