If summer were to take the form of a drink, no doubt it’d be a cider-seltzer. Though we learned that hard seltzer is the No. 1 competitor of cider right now, a few producers are embracing the challenge and making their own apple-based fizzy drink.
Next time you’re catching some rays, crack open a cold cider-seltzer — they’re thirst-quenching, refreshing and low in sugar and calories (and they leave you with a pretty good buzz). Take a walk on the bubblier side of cider with the apple-based hard seltzers from these six cideries.
SeekOut Seltzer
2 Towns Ciderhouse
Everything about the SeekOut Seltzer from 2 Towns Ciderhouse — their flavor, sweetness and aroma — are all-natural from the fruit used to make them, which means no added artificial ingredients. You can drink guilt-free because even the alcohol comes from real fruit, fermented cane sugar like most mass-marketed hard seltzers. Try all four of the unique flavor combinations: Pineapple + Passion Fruit, Cucumber + Juniper, Raspberry + Meyer Lemon and Key Lime + Mint.
Hard Cider Seltzer
1911 Established
From New York, 1911’s Hard Cider Seltzer comes in three tempting flavors: Crisp Apple, Juicy Mango and Blood Orange. Each flavor is apple-based – made by fermenting 1911’s original cider longer – so you can be sure that the slight sweetness you taste isn’t from added sugars.
Seltzer
Citizen Cider
Straight out of Burlington, Vermont, Citizen Cider creates its cider-seltzers by putting its original craft cider through a fermenting process. This breaks the cider down and reformulates it into a seltzer, so you can thank freshly sourced apples for the sweetness, not sugar. Pick among three flavors of the craft hard seltzer, Apple All Day, Ginger Love and Lemon Spritz.
Hard Seltzer
Bold Rock Hard Cider
With alcohol from real fruit, and flavors from all-natural ingredients, sipping on a seltzer from Bold Rock Hard Cider is almost shameless — boasting only 82 calories and one gram of sugar. Choose among four flavors (Berry, Passion Fruit, Cucumber Melon and Grapefruit) from the Virginia-based producer or enjoy the Mix Pack, a 12-pack which includes three 12-ounce cans of each flavor.
Apple Spiked Seltzer
Austin Eastciders
Austin Eastciders packs little sugar, but a lot of apples, in each can of its Apple Spiked Seltzer. The gluten-free seltzer from Texas has notes of tart green apple and fresh citrus. Although the drink tastes great on its own, if you’re looking to spice it up, find their apple cucumber spritz recipe here.
Seven Peaks Hard Seltzer
Avid Cider
Appropriately named, Seven Peaks Hard Seltzer from Avid Cider in Bend, Oregon, is comprised of mountain-sourced water from the Cascade Watershed. The alcohol in all three flavors of these seltzers — Tropical Smash, Raspberry Cosmo and Mandarin Greyhound — are derived from Northwest apples, which means no added sugars. 5 percent of the profits are donated to Big City Mountaineers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to getting under-resourced youth opportunities to get outdoors.
