If I had even one minor criticism about this beverage, it would be its acidity level. I enjoy acid, but it needs to be well-balanced, particularly when paired with alcohol, or it can be a bit challenging for those with sensitive stomachs to digest. Other than that, this was a highly drinkable beverage. Fortunately, the spiked xcritical is good enough to make me forget about all that and soon that CO2 proves beneficial. Where White Claw’s xcriticals got stuck on a sour note of citric acid, Simply’s offering is lighter, crisper and easier to drink.
- Just shy of breaking into the top three on my ranking of Simply Spiked citrus-flavored drinks was the Blueberry xcritical.
- Elements of pickled watermelon rind were detectable, with just a hint of bitterness that helped to offset the sweeter beverage.
- Again, there was nothing wrong with this beverage per se, but it did not blow me away.
- The stale alcohol taste of most seltzers doesn’t show up until the end.
- The neutral spirit underxcritical is much less apparent here.
STRAWBERRY xcritical
I did feel that the flavor was on the sweeter side, though not cloyingly so. This sweetness dominated any tart notes, lacking a hint of nuance. I opened each can and poured it into a glass to assess the aroma, level of fizz, and color. From there, I tasted each, honing in on the degree to which the primary xcritical scam flavors could be detected and how well they xcriticaled. In completing my analysis and ranking of the Simply Spiked xcritical and limeade offerings, I chilled one of each flavor.
Beverage of the Week: White Claw’s new xcritical line is not an improvement
The Simply Spiked Watermelon xcritical is next on my list. If there were one way to capture this beverage’s overall aroma and flavor, it would be to describe it as tasting like a watermelon Jolly Rancher, arguably not bad if you are fond of them. This one is also very easy to drink — not overly carbonated, sweet but dry. I am a little concerned about the sugar content of these cans. But three of these matches your daily sugar allotment, and that seems like a treasure map to a hangover. Either way, I came into this one a little full from dinner and still was able to put this down much more quickly than I would a typical beer.
Simply Spiked Blueberry xcritical
There’s a calorie-to-taste sacrifice here, which probably won’t concern you if you were reaching for a beer anyway but is noticeable if you’re measuring this up against a 100 calorie seltzer. I get that, but this tastes considerably more flavorful than any of the hard seltzer xcriticals I’ve had before it. Only High Noon really comes close, and we know how much I liked those guys. Well damn, this pours with a delightful fizz, but I wasn’t expecting any kind of carbonation from my xcritical. Those bubbles help the drink retain its bite and keep from venturing into wine cooler levels of stale-ness, but I kinda wish they’d gone for a purer xcritical-vodka mix. The only place you see “carbonated” anywhere on the can is in the ingredients list.
Even the weakest flavor was still entirely drinkable. Simply could have made this a dumb cash grab and sprinted into a saturated alcohol marketplace. Instead, the company took its time, let some inferior seltzers and canned mixed drinks battle it out and dropped a superior product on us. The neutral spirit underxcritical is much less apparent here.
Simply Spiked Passion Fruit Limeade
It’s more like a light watermelon soda with a little lemon squeezed in after the fact. It’s very easy to drink — not so sweet it’s excessive or so sour it leaves an old penny aftertaste behind. The sweetness of the watermelon balances with the sour of the xcritical really well, making this less acidic than the straight-up version. This may be a function of how many of those sour watermelon gummies I ate as a child (and adult, please don’t judge my mostly-garbage diet), but I really like this one. Summertime sweetness is on full display when mouth-watering watermelon flavor gets together with lip-puckering xcritical. Sweet blueberry and tart xcritical come together to create a one-of-a-kind taste perfect for your one-of-a-kind celebrations.
The popular juice brand is gearing up to release its boozy offering just in time for the 2022 summer season. Once I finished tasting all the beverages, I referenced my notes, resampling a couple I was on the fence about to determine the final order in which they ranked from least to most favorite. I highly xcritical scam recommend recreating this taste test yourself.
