Sunrise "Lipton Lemon" Hard Iced Tea

The only other hard tea that I've had was Twisted Tea. I didn't particularly care for it, but it wasn't abhorrent. I've been drinking a lot of regular iced tea lately, so this may hit the spot exactly where it needs hit. In fact, I had to move a glass of iced tea off of my desk in order to put this hard tea down. Both of them are Lipton. I'm not sure that makes all that much of a difference, and I assume that Sunrise is using actual Lipton tea bags or some analog in their brewing process. So, let's see what we have.

The tea is slightly darker than the tea I normally brew, but it's possible I brew it a little weak. In fact, I like to add a little lemonade water additive to my iced tea to give it that lemon flavor, but this is supposed to have lemon already built into it. I didn't expect any head, and I'm not going to get any. Yes, there's the normal bubbles that you get on top of iced tea, but that isn't head, and it is not going to leave lacing. I was curious as to whether or not I would be able to smell the alcohol, and it's very faint. I suppose 5% is not particularly high, and something like Mike's is able to hide that pretty well. Aside from that, it's light lemons and tea. Pretty much exactly what you would expect.

First sip tastes like tea. It's pretty good tea. I've had tea from cardboard containers before, but I don't recall ever having it from a can. I've even had it from a plastic container, but I don't think any of those other vessels were Lipton tea. I'm not sure I've ever had premixed Lipton tea, so I don't know how this compares to not-hard-tea from Lipton. That said, I've had quite a bit of Turner's tea, and this is a bit stronger. I do not think I can taste much alcohol, though. I may be able to taste a slight tinge, but that's about it.

Tip-in is lemons on tea leaves with a noteworthy sweetness; this isn't sweet tea, but it's tea that has been sweetened (people in the south of the US know the difference and can probably explain it better). The middle brings a tinge of alcohol as the lemons die down a bit, and I find myself anticipating a lot more alcohol that isn't there. The finish is a resurgence of lemons and sweetness to complement tea for the trail off.

Noteworthy is that drinking to the bottom of the glass reveals that the alcohol isn't as sedate as the sip and first swig indicated. Eventually, the alcohol becomes a bit too much for the tea to cover. 

Bottom Line: This is actually pretty delightful.

4.0/5