Review: Lake Hour Seltzers, Complete Lineup
Canned, sparkling seltzers made with real ingredients and actual spirits, but hitting the can at 5% abv? What’s not to like? Four flavors are currently available, each contained in a 12 oz. can. We tried them all, and offer our thoughts herein.
Each is 5% abv.
Lake Hour Watermelon Cucumber – Tequila, real watermelon, real cucumber. Sure does taste like watermelon candy though, backed up by that inimitably savory, salty cucumber note. Any tequila gets lost in the mix here amongst more aggressive flavors, which take on a particularly earthy quality, balanced by the punch of a pink Jolly Ranchers on the finish. Not offensive, but not really my jam. B
Lake Hour Honeysuckle Ginger – Vodka, real honeysuckle, real ginger. I could have done without the honeysuckle here, for sure, which comes across as a bit twee in a concoction that is begging for limes, not flowers. That would be too on the nose, perhaps, for Lake Hour — but, alas, the honeysuckle notes gum up the works with a chewy, bluntly floral quality that forces the spicy ginger into the background. If the punchiness of a big ginger beer is too much for you, this might be more up your alley, but for me it’s too soft and demure. B
Lake Hour Peach Jasmine – Vodka, peach, jasmine. All “real.” This one’s nice and mild, like peach tea with just a hint of effervescence. Innocuous but approachable — crushable, as the kids say — the peach feels mild but authentic and never remotely candylike, tinged in fact with a slight quinine bitterness. Perhaps that’s driven by the jasmine, which is otherwise indistinct here, offering a slight woodiness and a hint of floral character in only the vaguest possible sense. That’s enough for me. A-
Lake Hour Rosemary Yuzu – Vodka, rosemary, yuzu. This is the most refreshing of the bunch, but when is yuzu anything else? The citrus is fresh and bright — lightly bittersweet — and complemented by a healthy but not overpowering slug of fresh rosemary. There’s a clean mix of fruit and herbs on the finish, but it’s the lingering aroma of rosemary that keeps my diving back into the glass. Well done. A
$16 per four-pack of 12 oz cans / lakehour.com
Lake Hour Watermelon Cucumber
$16
