As you beverage enthusiasts have probably noticed, there’s a new boozy drink that seems to keep hitting supermarket shelves and liquor store beer coolers: hard soda.
Not Your Father’s Root Beer from Small Town Brewery is considered by some to be a leader of this trend; it’s being used in recipes for everything from ice cream floats to pulled pork sandwiches. But I’ve noticed a few other brands that are producing flavors such as orange, orange cream, ginger ale and lemon-lime.
The sodas sound cool. However, they also sound like a hangover in a long-neck bottle, which is ironic because one of the brand’s advertisements says, “It’s a delicious, refreshing and easy-to-drink hard soda, but not too hard. You’ve got stuff to do tomorrow.” Although maybe it’s just me, I can’t imagine drinking enough 4-percent-alcohol to get a buzz, no matter how much I enjoy orange soda.
So instead of sipping these sugar bombs straight, let’s make a cocktail. After all, soda makes a great mixer, right?
The first hard soda I tried was ginger ale. It was super tasty, but after making gingery Kombucha Florida Mules not too long ago, I thought we’d switch it up. (Side note: If you’re itching to try the ginger ale hard soda, it can be substituted for the Mule’s kombucha.)
In this week’s drink, we go with the Seagram’s Lemon ‘N Lime Hard Soda. The cocktail definitely needs the recipe’s little extra squeeze of lime for freshness, and to make it taste more like a limeade. Enjoy!
Hard Soda Cherry Limeade
Makes 1
2 ounces cherry vodka
4 ounces lemon-lime hard soda
1 lime wedge
1 mint sprig, for garnish
1 cherry, for garnish
Fill a Collins glass with ice. Add vodka, hard soda and juice of the lime wedge, then stir. Finish with mint and cherry garnishes.
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This article appears in Feb 11-17, 2016.