Stay with me on this
While this may initially seem like an odd cocktail choice for me, let me walk you through it. See when I was little my Papa used to always sneak me a few quarters so I could get my very favorite grape Welches soda from the pop machine when I went to dinner with them at church on Wednesday nights. I LOVED this tradition. I loved the soda but I loved this special thing that was just between Papa and I more. (I'm a little teary just writing about it.) So I've been giving these hard sodas a little bit if side eye all summer. When I saw a grape version I had to go for it!
This is our first ever hard soda. Up till now this is a corner of the ready-to-drink cocktail market that I haven't tried yet but I'm cautiously optimistic about. I picked this cute bottle of Henry's Hard Soda in grape (they have orange and lemon lime) to get us started so let's see what this things got!
Here is my official review of Henry's Hard Soda in grape:
Not bad! Not bad at all. Like I said, I was drawn to this ready-to-drink cocktail because of nostalgia. And a few of you were shocked/grossed out when I reviled this as the cocktail of the week. But I don't hate it. Not even a little bit.
The grape flavor is really nice and there is no artificial taste from the sweetness either. While I wouldn't consider this a "serious" cocktail, it is still super fun and a nice changed up. The fact that this is a grown up version of my favorite grape soda makes it totally worth it in my book. Plus I am routing for hard sodas to replace hard seltzers next year. Who's with me??
One shaker = not sweet at all // Five shakers = your teeth may curl
While this ready to drink cocktail wasn't as sweet as I expected it to be, it was still sweet. I would say it is one notch down in sweetness from a regular grape or orange soda. The awesome thing here is that Henry's Hard Soda uses real sugar cane to sweeten their cocktails so even though it's sweet, it won't make your stomach hurt with fake sweetener. Winning! (Do we still say that? Or am I stuck in the early 2000's?)
One shaker = does this have booze? Five shakers = Four Lokos
Officially this one rings in at 4.2% ABV which is basically nothing. I think I might have reviewed one other cocktail that was lower in alcohol than this but low booziness is not normally my jam.
However, if you are wanting a super light in buzz cocktail, this might be the perfect one for you.
Would I buy this ready to drink cocktail again?
I think I would. The colors of all of the Henry's Hard Sodas are so pretty and I love the bottles. I think they would be a fun addition to a party this fall. You could tie a straw around the neck with some cute bakers twine and have an easy cocktail ready to go for your guests.
Have you tried this hard soda before? What did you think? I'd love to hear from you in the comments section. The more opinions the better! Let's "drink together" and share our cocktail stories.
SHOP THIS REVIEW:
Halloween party cup // Halloween cocktail straws