Henry's Hard Orange Soda

Beer Name: Hard Orange Soda
Brewery: Blitz-Weinhard Brewing Company (Milwaukee, WI)
ABV: 4.2%
How sold: Six packs of 12 oz. bottles
Where bought: Fred Meyer (Vancouver, WA)
Price: $9.99 for a six-pack

Date Purchased: January 18, 2016
Date Opened/Drank: January 18, 2016
When brewed? Year-round.

Where distributed: Blitz-Weinhard Brewing plans to distribute this throughout the United States. Click for their hard soda finder!

What's on the Website: "Henry's Hard Orange is here to hel push the limits of social etiquette. It tastes a lot like the orange soda you're used to, just 4.2% harder. With our fresh and delicious Hard Orange, buckle-up for a Hard-ish take on the traditional! After you taste it, you might wonder: why hasn't anyone done this before?"  Click here for more!

REVIEW:

Appearance (5%): Poured fizzy orange into a pint glass. Carbonated to start. Pretty much what you'd expect. 3.5/5

Smell (25%): Carbonated orange aroma. Immediate nostalgia. 4.5/5

Taste (40%): Excellent orange soda flavor with extra orange-citrus punch near the aftertaste. Aftertaste itself can be sweet-malty akin to a wine cooler. 4/5

Mouthfeel (10%): Medium-bodied, syrupy, and carbonated on the tongue. Again portrays a soda extremely well. 4/5

Overall (20%): A great hard soda. After hearing about this a couple months ago, I was waiting for its debut on shelves in my area. While it replicates the orange soda experience really well, it also contains that malty wine cooler aftertaste that makes you remember this is an alcoholic beverage. This accurately advertises what it is going for, and I happily drank it all, but at the end of the day, there are other beverages I would reach for first. 4/5

Final Weighted Rating: 4.1/5