When it comes to adult beverages, my go-to drink is wine. Red wine. Give me a glass of Tobin James zinfandel or Windward pinot noir and I’m a happy guy.
And bourbon. For the past six months, I’ve been enjoying crafting my version of a smoked maple bourbon old-fashioned at home.
But hard seltzer? That may be the current craze, but it never caught on with my palate. At least, until I tried Three Birds Hard Seltzer.
I honestly had not heard of Three Birds Hard Seltzer until their local PR team contacted me and asked if I was interested in sampling some hard seltzer—specifically Three Birds, which launched earlier this summer.
I learned that Three Birds is carried exclusively at Total Wine, including the store in Newport Beach (where I purchase much of my wine). It comes in four flavors: raspberry, lime, mango, and cucumber. It’s wine-based, low in calories and carbs, and in sugar. And each can of Three Birds has only five percent alcohol—a nice, light beverage for summer.
I love sparkling water with lemon or lime, so I hoped the Three Birds experience would be more or less similar.
After agreeing to sample the beverage (and I figured if I did not like it, I could say sorry, and move on), I soon had cans of Three Birds Hard Seltzer delivered, and cooling in my refrigerator.
I poured a Three Birds lime-flavored hard seltzer into a glass and sat on my patio. I slowly sipped the beverage, surprised at how good the beverage was and how it did not have a strong alcohol aftertaste.
Later, I tried the cucumber flavor. Again, fabulous cucumber taste, no alcohol aftertaste. I tried the mango, and raspberry. The raspberry had a more intense flavor than the lime or cucumber, but still luscious. The mango was good, but I admit mango is not my favorite flavor. Still, it did not overpower my palate.
The true taste test came when fellow foodie Della Lisi came over and I had her try the cucumber seltzer. She loves her Sauvignon Blanc, but was surprised how much she enjoyed the hard seltzer.
Verdict: Three Birds is a winner with our taste buds. It’s a refreshing adult beverage that’s perfect when you want something beyond just flavored sparkling water but want something with less alcohol than a typical glass of wine.
Three Birds Hard Seltzer is $12.99 for a 12-pack (three of each flavor) at Total Wine.
Visit www.TotalWine.com
