This isn't charged. This is hard charged! At 7% ABV, it's going to be difficult to hide the alcohol in this tea. I would like to talk about that, but I find myself wondering, again, what the heck New Belgium is doing with their branding. They haven't changed all of their beer over to Voodoo Ranger, so I thought it was just a sub brand of beer. Instead, they are also applying it to non-beer adult beverage products. I don't know if they're just trying to catch the momentum of Voodoo Ranger with this hard iced tea, and why they wouldn't have done the same thing with the beers that they produce that are not under this label. I would really like to have a long conversation with someone in charge there.
It pours darker than regular tea, and there is a slight red hue to it that isn't there on regular tea. That said, I don't have to complain that someone has added carbonation to a beverage that doesn't need it. The aroma is pretty much tea, but it has a slight hint of alcohol around the outsides. For what it's worth, the presentation is exactly what I want to find a hard tea. These guys might've cracked it (not that there haven't been some good ones).
First sip is lemon tea. It is tea that reminds me of the Turner's Tea that they sell in cardboard containers. It's slightly sweeter than that, and it's flavor is a bit more full, but the alcohol is relatively undetectable. I could see sipping this all night long and not even thinking about the fact that I'm drinking an adult beverage. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.
Tip-in is moderate sugar sweetness and tea leaves; It's shocking that this is so much like... tea. The middle, like the beginning, gives up virtually nothing about this being anything other than a can of tea with lemon flavor added. The finish is where I can finally detect some alcohol. As usual, they don't bother to tell us what kind of alcohol is actually in the beverage, and maybe it's just as well we don't know. However, that finish and the subsequent trail off are stark reminders that this has more alcohol than your average IPA.
Bottom Line: It's hard not to like this iced tea.
3.75/5