It was hell, but I have found the absolute best of the hard lemonades, and it's frankly very very good. For 16 free meals with HelloFresh across 7 boxes AND 3 free gifts, use code HOWTODRINK16 at bit.ly/367CYDg! Curiada has lowered their prices about 5%-15% site wide! Follow the link - bit.ly/trybottles - to explore their new prices on HTD favorites. Twitch: bit.ly/2VsOi3d H2D2: bit.ly/YTH2D2 twitter: bit.ly/H2DTwit instagram: bit.ly/H2dIG Blog: bit.ly/H2DBlog Patreon: bit.ly/H2DPatreon Gear: amzn.to/2LeQCbW Which hard seltzer isn't garbage: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--Ioa7lFguRE.html How bad can they be? Canned old fashioned: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CLn7QDv6GZI.html Skunk week margarita, Canned margarita review: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3EmDPOfp-_Q.html I have found the worst way to drink, wine cooler review: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tOkdCpsZoR8.html
Video suggestion: how to fix the bad ends of "The Matrix of Doom". You can imagine the situation: All inclusive bar is free but they have only cheap inferior brands; You are stuck at the in-laws at a holiday etc. but you really want a drink that tastes somewhat like a Manhattan and is still good.
@@richmondvand147 my first drink was a mikes hard lemonade at a wedding and i was like damn this tastes like soda. Definitely good to have a blunt warning like that lol
Dearly beloved. We are gathered here today to mourn Greg's pancreas, which was suddenly and violently attacked by a gang of lemonades. He will be missed. If you'll open your hymnals and join us in singing "How Sweet It Is."
Ever since Kevin Kos dropped that Super Juice video, I’ve been using that technique not for cocktails but to have continuous pitchers of delicious lemonade in the fridge at all times.
I used to do a fresh hard lemonade at the bar I worked at, i called it a 'Blushing Saturday' it was a daily special. I feel the need to throw the recipe here, so enjoy: Juice 1/2 a lemon 1/2 oz of simple syrup Slice, then Muddle 2 and a half strawberries, setting aside 1 half for the garnish 1oz of peach shnapps And if you want it harder, 1oz of gin Then top with sparkling water in a tall Garnish with the strawberry slice and and a lemon wedge, enjoy :))
I like Meredith being more prominent in the videos as of late. It's really nice seeing you have someone to bounce thoughts with, and she can offer a second opinion on some tasting notes.
I moved recently and at a specialty Asian grocery store of all things I found that Stella makes a traditional cider and it’s actually really good. It’s not overpoweringly sweet or fake fruit flavored it’s just a bit sour and has a faint apple taste it’s very nice
The moment that Greg said that Fabrizia was crafted with Limoncello I was worried that he wasn't going to like it because Limoncello itself can taste the way Pledge Smells, so I wasn't surprised when he said it tasted like Floor Cleaner.
I just bought a bottle of limoncello the other day out of curiosity, thought it might mix well with club soda. It wasn't by any means the worst thing I've ever drank, but one bottle was enough for me to know I have little further use for it. Perhaps the club soda and fresh lemon juice redeemed it
Actually, there is a wild blue raspberry in Scandinavia, it is pretty rare outside Gotland, Sweden (who calls it "Salmbär"). They make a great jam with it you have on saffron pancakes (a local specialty). There is also a bunch of garden varieties you can get in the US but those are a bit cheating, they are just created to look odd in your garden and don't really have a particular unique flavor. The salmbär do taste like nothing else, but it certainly does not taste like a blue raspberry soda which seems to have been the idea of some marketing guy. Gotland is generally an odd place, the center of it's only city basically looks like it did in 1361 besides a bit more run down, they have their own kinda of language and culture. Great place to visit as a tourist, the city wall is one of the best preserved of it's kind in the world and they have an odd alcoholic beverage that you can't buy anywhere but a friendly local might give you a glass called "Gotlandsdryck" (you can buy the none alcoholic version but it doesn't taste the same). I think they refuse to sell it out of stubbornness to be honest, the locals are odd but friendly and they have together with the Basques the highest old hunter gatherer DNA in Europe. You can't even get the Jam outside the island, they refuse to ship it.
Salmbär is European Dewberry, its very much not unique to Gotland, it just has a cultural heritage there it oft lacks in other regions of Northern Europe due to being overlooked for other berries like blackberries and raspberries, there are also quite a few sister species native to America as well.
We have a wild blue raspberry in the US too -- Rubus leucodermis. But "blue raspberry" flavoring isn't based on the interesting dark fruit aroma of real blue raspberries. "blue raspberry" flavoring is red raspberry flavoring plus blue dye.
@@diablominero Sadly, it isn't really based on any real raspberry at all but a chemical that kinda taste a bit like raspberry... I admit I am a bit jealous on the guy running the "weird explorer" channel here on RU-vid, the dude just travel the world and eat strange fruits and berries. There is so much tasty berries out there. Heck, the American blueberry and the Scandinavian blueberry also are very different, our variant is a lot smaller but taste more (and are red inside).
Dewberry, raspberry, and blackberry are all of the same genus, tho distinct. It's true that there is no blue "razzberry" in nature, just a laboratory artifice. Still, cool to know about the places you shared.
I love how Greg says "Ooh, putting lemon peel in vodka sounds pretty good" and all I can think of is that that is literally what Limoncello is. But anyway fun video and thanks for putting up with these for our entertainment and education :P
its literally that easy did it a few months ago, cut the skins off your lemons, make lemon ice cubes with all the juice, scrape the pith off the peels (the only annoying part) and stick it in enough vodka to fully cover the peels (or more) for a week or three. add simple syrup and tada!
@@FyreDrac I finished bottling my second batch of Limoncello (first time try!) about a month ago. I grated the peel off my lemons.....big mistake, goddamn did my wrists hurt XD I followed a recipe that called for 2 weeks in alcohol, then at least 2 weeks with it backsweetened to the ABV i wanted. Ended up leaving it about 9 weeks total and mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm it gooood
@@Cinna54M you should try making chicken in it! Cut chicken into like 1/4 in slices, season salt, pepper, garlic, onion, and dill weed. A little olive oil in the pan, coon on one side till the white is about halfway up, add limoncello and flip then cook till done
I’ve never had the canned cocktails, but Sons of Liberty’s whiskey is incredible Greg. If you can find Uprising or Battle Cry anywhere near you - I honestly can’t recommend them enough. …And they’re not in any way three percenters. Just a good company that has fun with some local history, I promise (I’m originally from RI).
I really like the Mike's Hard Black Cherry Lemonade but here in Canada they're vodka based, which I find makes them basically just slightly dangerous lemonade. The black cherry is a pretty perfect mix of sweet and sour.
I haven't had Mike's in years so I was having this weird gap where in my memory it tastes like vodka but apparently it's malt. So thanks from the ether for leaving an explanation I could read before I started questioning if I had just stumbled into a parallel world where the only difference was the alcohol in Mike's.
When it comes to some of these beverages I am so happy I live in Canada instead of the USA... In Canada most of the "malt beverages" are actually made with VODKA! They are MUCH better... I know people who whenever they come to Canada get the Canadian versions to enjoy and bring home.
Yeah! I would drink pretty much any hard lemonade and assume it'll be... pretty good! It's just juice and vodka. It makes me wonder if things taste so different in the US or if Greg is just extra snobby (that's why we love him, after all)
When I'm in the mood, I make my own hard lemonade. It's called a whiskey sour. This video made me realize that a whiskey sour is basically hard lemonade since it is a mixture of whiskey and lemonade - preferably a fairly concentrated lemonade. I use Meyer lemons since I have access to a very productive Meyer lemon tree. Since they are sweeter than ordinary lemons, less sugar is required. Another cocktail that could possibly qualify as hard lemonade is a variant caipirinha made with Meyer lemons instead of limes. I sometimes make this drink too, and it tastes good, but one disadvantage of Meyer lemons as opposed to limes is the copious quantity of seeds that can be a bit of a nuisance in a drink with muddled lemons. It's easier to juice the lemons and strain the juice instead, but then it isn't quite the same without the smashed up fruit in the bottom of the glass. This version is, however, closer to a proper hard lemonade. Since cachaça is somewhat sweet, I don't add sugar when I use Meyer lemons. I think I'll stick to these mixtures and leave the canned stuff alone.
It's funny because the first alcoholic drink I ever had was a Mike's hard. I enjoyed them, but I wonder how different I would feel drinking one now after delving into actual cocktails for the past 3 years.
Back in the '90's I got to the Pub late and most of my friends were well on their way. Feeling left ou I ordered a double vodka with ice and a bottlre of "Hooch" alcoholic lemonade. It did the job and was christened by the Landlord (Take a bow Mr Perkins) "A big Green Bus" because it hit hard and it cost £4.09 at the time which was the number of the bus that went past the pub.
Hi Greg, we love your videos! My aunt is diabetic and loves G&Ts, dry martinis, and a few other lower sugar drinks that she keeps up her sleeves, but your recent G&T video made me wonder if you could do a video on low sugar cocktails sometime? Wish you all the best!
I drink Mike's original flavor when I'm craving something sweet, fizzy, on the refreshing side, and dead simple (i.e. I don't want to do more than open the bottle). I'm surprised you didn't try the Simply Spiked Lemonades, because, though I have not tried them yet myself due to access, they seem like they'd be really damn good because Simply Lemonade is the best normal lemonade on the market. I agree with other commenters that you need to teach Meredith how to make actual lemonade -- then you could play around with what's the best way to make homemade hard lemonade (is it as simple as good lemonade + vodka + maybe some carbonation?) I got Mike's Strawberry once and I agree it was awful to the point that I've never tried any other flavors of Mike's out of fear.
IMO, simply messed up their spiked offerings because they put stevia in them in addition to sugar. They're way too sweet and like 170 calories/12oz. If they would have just stuck to the same amount of sugar and omitted the stevia they would be a lot better.
@@taylorcopeland7529 Agreed, the stevia gives them too much sweetness and has too strong a taste. I know stevia isn't artificial but it makes the lemonade taste like it has an artificial sweetener in it to me.
I'm generally a beer guy when I'm going for cans and I've gotta say - the simply spiked lemonades are remarkably good. I'm not super sensitive to artificial sweeteners, so man do they hit the spot.
@@jayc7560 facts. I just wish companies would reduce sugar content in some things instead of trying to substitute. I don't like stevia or monkfruit, unfortunately.
My new favorite hard lemonades are the Simply Hard Lemonades, especially the blueberry one. All four flavors actually taste like real lemonade without any off flavors.
For something like the hello fresh ads (I have no idea if this is too much work for what they're paying) maybe making a cocktail - even if it's not a new one, just one that pairs with the food - to go with the meal might be a fun way to make the ad roll for them more interesting.
That would be sweet for sure, but I think Greg made a comment a few episodes ago about how paring the drink with a meal isn’t something he plans to do, just a “make what you like and drink it with your meal” kinda thing.
I've not tried the canned version of the Jack honey lemonade. However, one of my favorite summer cocktails is the actual Jack Daniel's Honey, ginger beer, and a bit of fresh lime. You can also swap out the Jack for another honey whiskey of your preference and you can use any ginger beer or ginger ale depending on whether you prefer a sweeter or bitier ginger beverage. Garnish with lime of course.
There's a hard lemonade from the UK that's called Hooch, and it's pretty great. They started selling a version of it here in Norway several years ago. It was lower abv. than the original, but the lemon taste was still pretty genuine. It was pretty expensive though, I think around 45 NOK (~4.5 EUR) for a 0.33l bottle. I decided to try to make some for myself, as it would be a lot cheaper. It's really easy, and turns out really great! Get lots of lemons and some limes, and reduce their juice on high heat until it's maybe half or 1/3 of what you started with. Add lots of sugar, and, after letting it cool, mix it with at least 1:1 strong vodka or another neutral spirit (the higher the abv, the better). It's even better if you steep the zest of your lemons and limes in the spirit while you reduce the juice. When you want to drink it, mix it with seltzer to your preferred strength.
My friends and I have done blind taste tests of the same drinks, from cans and bottles - and nearly all the time, we can tell the difference, and the cans have flavor notes (negative, mostly) that the glass containers don't. I wonder if Gregg isn't tasting the aluminum notes some of the time?
Do they all? I know that was a marketing strategy for ... Zima? Icehouse? Something, when I was a kid, but, I didn't know that's now universal to cans.
@@Darkechilde you can't put anything acidic into aluminum cans, it'll eat them up. Sodas and other drinks tend to have some acidic component so that's why they all have a thin plastic film inside the cans
In the UK we have one called Hooch which is genuinely great, lemonade is pretty much always carbonated over here so Hooch is too, it's around 7.5% ABV and it's really easy to drink, they have a pink lemonade variety too but I personally find that one a little sweet, still good but not as good
24:22 The Drunken Point is when you know Greg is feeling it. 😆 And, by the way, Greg: EVERYTHING from Sons of Liberty has that exact same taste. It's musty, like damp, salty clouds rolling in off the ocean during the summer and dumping rain on everything.
I haven't drank Mike's hard in a while but Black Cherry was always my favorite 😅 And the Mango that he ranked the best was by far my least favorite lol
Ok I'm glad I'm not alone. Although I always had bottles I loved the black cherry. It used to be my go to "I don't feel like drinking so I just want to hang out and enjoy the taste of it"
when covid hit and it was illegal to buy alcohol in my country, my girlfriend and I went and brewed a beer using lemons from our garden. it was so delicious and now we brew it every lemon season :) better than any hard lemonade you could buy in the store
2:20 I always noticed this too and hated MIke's Hard (any flavor) back in college. My roommate and almost any girls we ever had over loved it and we'd get the big Costco variety pack but I always hated that weird note in it that I never really tried to describe until you called it 'fresh cut grass' and that pretty much perfectly covers it LOL! Brings back memories...
I like the putting a picture of a black cherry tree over him saying he doesn't think they exist, and then throwing a curve ball with the raspberry, beautiful
I make my own hard lemonade in the Summer. You can make an amazing single serving of lemonade in a shaker, and then you just add limoncello and vodka. Delicious!
I've now seen Greg absolutely get destroyed tasting old fashioneds, scotches, vodkas, awful restaurant cocktails and now hard lemonades. His destruction of his poor liver for this RU-vid channel is admirable. We love you Greg. Salute.
I adore how unmistakably Jersey these reviews get after a few "what the f**k is this? This s**t sucks." It's like being a home with family on the weekend.
Great episode - if you're trying to spare yourself the pain, I'd love to see more soda fountain / historical episodes AND if you ever feel inspired, if you do some brewing content... I'd watch that.
Greg! You forgot about the Mike's Harder Lemonades. Also, could you maybe try a video about all the types of hard iced teas? I use to work at a gas station/convenience store, and during the summer we'd sell the hell out of the hard ice teas
I love twisted tea but I just make my own version now Firefly water and lemon hopefully it's less sugar that way little twisted tea to me is a sugar bomb
The "100% spiked" tag on the Fisher's Island Lemonade can makes me think about the "It's got electrolytes!" tag on the Gatorade bottles in Idiocracy. It's got the same "truth in advertising" vibe to it.
If I had a nickel for every time I watched a video longer than half an hour about ranking lemonades, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.
as a US English speaker who lived in Germany for a few years as a teen, I have a trick for pronouncing the umlaut "U" as in the Nutrl drinks. If you make the muscle articulation as in saying "oo" while at the same time trying to vocalize the long-sound of "e" (or saying the letter "e") try it, you'll like it! lol
38:22 "It's not good in any conceivable way, except to say that it's also not very bad." This is probably my favorite sentence in any review of anything ever.
Not gunna lie I enjoy mikes hard lemonade, I usually buy the 16 bottle variety pack and that carry’s me over the week (edit) black cherry is my favorite 😂😭
I like the cranberry and black cherry most. hate mango anything so that wouldn't work for me, think locally we have a peach flavor too that was awful but that might have been some other brand....and I absolutely hate the lime flavor.
Meredith, this is for you… waaaaay back in the day, Old Navy used to sell body sprays, trying to compete with the early Victoria’s Secret sprays. They had a fresh cut grass scent that I really loved, but my - and this will be a relevant detail - very, very, lesbian, known she was TeamGirls since forever, never even tried a guy out, bff HATED the smell. I, on the other hand, am generally straight. Why is this a relevant detail? Turns out that the “fresh grass” scent has some chemical signatures that are the same as semen.
Orginally, Mike's Hard Lemonade was a Canadian product - it was a lemonade with vodka. The American product is a flavored beer so they can sell it in grocery stores.
This Lienenkugel Summer Shandy slander is unacceptable.😂 It's my absolute favorite summer beer. Sit at the lake with a cooler full of Summer Shandy and line in the water, that's my ideal day
This was a cool episode. Would you be able to do your own take on these drinks in future episodes? It would be neat to see your reviews followed by your own recipe. Then again having your preferred choice in the show could be the same thing. Anyway, good episode!
Fun fact, I used to make some hard lemonade, I can't specify the brands. The one we made was made by making large batches of high abv malt liquor. It was then put through extremely expensive/incredible filteation processes to remove the color and maltiness. Then it was diluted with water and coloring and flavoring were added.
@@howtodrink Listen, man. The fact that you remembered that movie (and its inclusion of Tupac) 31 years later (THIRTY-ONE) implies that maybe your thoughts on its "hidden gem" status are less sarcastic than you think.
@@howtodrink Another completely unrelated channel that I watch posted a video about Nothing But Trouble yesterday and *clearly* it is your fault, Greg. How dare you bring this movie back into the national consciousness?
I guess everyone has different taste. I find pretty much any hard lemonade to be pretty great, and not just because it's sweet. Mike's is pretty great to me, especially the pineapple flavor. I like actual cocktails, and even certain alchohol straight up. So it certainly isn't because I can't handle actual alcohol. But to me, there's nothing like a sweet, hard lemonade with a meal.
Mike's segment left out the hard cranberry, an essential part of the famous mixed drink "The Flavor" consisting of half mikes hard cranberry and half cucumber lime gatorade
Blue Raspberry exists because the original raspberry flavor had additives that made people sick. When they made a better raspberry flavor they turned it blue to differentiate from the bad one. They chose blue because ice pop manufacturers had to many red and pink flavors and kids couldn't tell what they were getting.
I want to say that I'm really enjoying the recent trend in sponsor segments where they aren't just ad reads, but are instead extra shorts done in the style of the show.
Kind of surprised you didn't try the bud light lemonades. I was shocked that they are decent, atleast to my palate. Tastes like lemonade with some beer in it, no real flavor weirdness.
Greg! Love your channel. May I suggest two video ideas: 1)I find carbonated components in drinks to be an essential component of many highballs. I think it would be interesting to experiment with how interchangeable these components are for a different spin on a drink; for example tonic for ginger beer, champagne for seltzer. 2) the differences between seltzer, soda, and mineral water as perceived in cocktails that call for flavorless bubbly stuff. Thanks!
I'm with Meredith on the smell of fresh cut grass. Between allergies and mild asthma as a kid, it really doesn't smell all that great and just reminds me of not being able to breath freely
“The first time i ever got drunk it was mikes hard lemonade in between shots of vodka.” MERIDITH LORE Lmao Edit: and she hates the smell of fresh cut grass!! We are learning so much about our fav disembodied (previously) voice Mer lol
You've inspired me. Pinnacle Whipped infused with lemon. The Whipped is my go to sweet spirit. I think a lemon infusion will work very well. Maybe not cut with seltzer, but a good fresh plain water and over ice.
Pinnacle Whipped is a great base for tons of sweet drinks, lemon would be a good choice. They used to have a great Key Lime Whipped that was discontinued, but this can be replicated with Whipped and key lime juice, and mixes well with any lemon lime soda, so that would work for lemon too.
One night in college I drank a 6 pack of Mike's hard lemonade and a LOT of cheap beer from playing drinking games. It was the next morning I learned nothing is worse than a sugary induced hangover.
When the words quieter whiskey were added to the notes of the Fischers Island Lemonade, all I could think of was the other parts of the drink telling the whiskey to STFU.
Heads up, the "III%er ring" was just taken from the Betsy Ross flag. The 3%ers just slapped the roman numerals there. It's sorta like how Proud Boys have started using the Fred Perry Laurel Wreath because they often wear black and yellow FP shirts, I think it might come from old skinhead fashion, but it might be completely unrelated to their use of FP in where it was taken from. FP actually stopped selling their black/yellow/yellow shirts in the US and CA because of how much the Proud Boys developed an association with them. Also requested their fans to point out any PB merchandise using the Laurel Wreath in their designs so they can possibly pursue legal action.
JD Tennessee honey is a favorite of mine, honey is often quite samey in foods but in drinks amongst bitters and citrus it can change a lot. Maybe an episode of trying to push honey spirits in new ways?
There's a "game" that one may be vaguely familiar with, Bean Boozled. It's a box of jelly beans that there's two flavors per "color". One decent and one absolutely god awful. There were two colors though that the worse tasting flavor was actually not the worst, blue and green, or toothpaste (which was just minty, no big deal) and grass clippings. While the grass flavor wasn't something I'd eat willingly, it was heads and tails better than say, dog food or rotten egg, which I unfortunately ate back to back once.
hot take i prefer back cherry mikes over regular, though i prefer the white and blue ones over those. They aint great, but good for cheap drinking when i dont want to think about bothering to mix anything
Greg - SoL came up with Loyal 9 a while ago as their non-whiskey spirits offering. Got on the map with Uprising and Battle Cry, using a method where they boil the wort at lower temps to prevent the yeast throwing off flavors so more of the wort flavor remains. Those worts were basically a stout and a Belgian strong dark, so the flavors are unique. They also made a pumpkin whiskey with no pie spice and tens of thousands of pounds of local pumpkins. I'm from a couple towns over and never saw anything to indicate any three percenter energy, although I guess I haven't been by the distillery in a while. Seems unlikely to me, though.
Glad to hear it- I realize in the edit it may not come off that way, but I’m wasn’t trying to like slander them, just reacting to what I saw and felt like I couldn’t not take a jab at the threepers
@@howtodrink no I get it, overtly patriotic branding and other subtle cues always set me on alert, too. I just happen to be a little closer to SoL so I thought I would chime in. Next time I go home I'll drive by and see if any, uh, signage has changed.
Talking about III%, come onnnnn. I mean lately we've come to realize more blatantly what his political affiliations are, at least to a point. Please Greg, do us a favor and keep politics, whether it's jokes or viewpoints, out of the show. We see it too much everywhere else, don't want to see it here. Other than that, good stuff. Jack honey definitely has a weird off put honey taste, but it's not offensive.
Why shouldn't he talk about politics? It's his show. Plus, I'm willing to bet if he was espousing views you agree with, you'd be calling him "based". No-one ever complains about their own politics.
It's kinda concerning that Greg feels uncomfortable about a company that loves liberty and loyalty. Crazy how people hate on the values that our country was founded on.
It’s not the company I have an issue with, it’s the Threepers they share iconography with, and there’s nothing “Liberty” about an organization who’s entire ethos is “with just 3% of the population we can destroy democracy, so watch your back”. That’s actually an ethos of totalitarianism.
@@howtodrink destroy democracy? Do you know why revolutions happen? They happen when democracy fails. The concept isnt that they can destroy democracy any time they want. The message is: "Should you fail to uphold the freedoms of this country, and should democracy fail, just 3% of the population can right that wrong by force and restore democracy." Please greg, educate yourself on the ethos of organizations before you declare them as domestic terrorsits.
@@Vexed_Vixen You should know that just because a movement proclaims it supports democracy, doesn't mean that those are their intentions in the slightest.
@@Vexed_Vixen I'm familiar with people in the group and their associated groups. They are all insane and their views are incompatible with any version of Democratic ideals.
Black/Dark cherries exist. You don't have to like it, but they are definitely a thing. I guess most call them dark cherries, but it isn't crazy to call them "black."
