So, the last hard seltzer I had from Truly wasn't great. It wasn't as bad as the tequila-based beverages I had from Lone River, but it didn't really seem to stand on its own. This time, we are adding strawberry instead of pineapple. Strawberries do well with a little added sugar on top of them, so the very thing that detracted from the enjoyment of the pineapple may enrich the strawberry. Strawberry lemonade is a thing, and it is good. I like it quite a bit. How good does it do as a hard seltzer?
At least this one looks different than the others. The pale pink beverage is a little bit hazy, and, predictably, it loses all head as soon as it is poured. The aroma is sweet strawberries and lemonade. It is so far presenting exactly like you would expect it to, based on the can. Once again, the 5.0% ABV is so low as to be completely unnoticeable by just sniffing. The last one didn't taste of alcohol when I sipped it, and I should expect the same from this one.First sip makes me immediately look on the can to see what they've decided to use for sweetener. It tasted distinctly like an artificial sweetener. The can is particularly hard to read, but eventually I find Stevia. That is exactly what this tastes like. It has the distinct aftertaste of an artificial sweetener that, for whatever reason, is not jelling well with the other flavors. I'm not sure why I didn't get a hit of the artificial nature of the sweetener from the last hard seltzer, but I am definitely getting it from this one, and it's not good.
Tip-in is rather too much carbonation burn with a tartness that actually seems like it's coming from the sweetener as lemons are about all the real flavor I can discern. The middle is considerably better with strawberry meeting lemons above a very watery center; and this is exactly what I expected of a flavored seltzer. The finish is that bad aftertaste of artificial sweetener combined with tartness.
Bottom Line: Maybe if they didn't base this on concentrate?
1.5/5