Wild Basin Hard Seltzer
Hard seltzers have become a way of life for those who like to imbibe but want an escape from carb-loaded beers. It's smart then, that so many breweries have been cranking out seltzers. Wild Basin seltzer, made by Oskar Blues Brewery, is one of my favorite brands on the scene. Which of the flavors in Wild Basin’s sizable collection is worth your time? I’ve ranked 12 of them for you, so get your notepad out.
Full disclosure: I’ve been hot on this Wild Basin hard seltzer flavor for quite a while. On any given day during Lockdown 2020, you could have found my body to contain at least 50% melon basil seltzer. This beverage hits every right note for me, and is both cantaloupe- and basil-forward. Melon is a polarizing fruit, but I like ‘em all. Even honeydew.
Related: I Tried 8 Vizzy Hard Seltzer Flavors, and This Is the Best
It’s a banger, folks. That’s all there is to it. Like melon basil, I’ve been reaching for this flavor for a few years now, and I really love it. It’s just peachy enough, it’s just cucumbery enough, and it’s legitimately refreshing. The classic Wild Basin hard seltzer variety pack is loaded with two all-timers.
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This flavor line, with the best branding of all, is made with real juice. Despite that, it’s not nearly as thick or sweet as you’d expect. It’s sweeter than your average black cherry flavor, but I don’t mind. This is probably the sweetest seltzer I’ve ever had that I still liked.
Pineapple seltzers mostly taste the same, as far as I’m concerned. I’d love to see this as a yuzu-only type of deal, but we’re not that lucky. It’s still pretty good, absolutely easy to drink, but not very interesting. The utility in that isn’t bad; it’s not hard to cruise through several of these guys.
I have to tell you, I was excited about this. As a longtime fan of Wild Basin’s hard seltzers, I had high expectations. Berry sorbet exceeded them. The flavor is very much like cherry and raspberry, and I swear, it truly tastes like melted sorbet. In a good way.
For the first few sips, I sat around wondering what a yumberry is. Google is great for that. A yumberry is a Chinese berry, also known as a bayberry. This seltzer tastes a lot like a classic mixed berry juice or gummy. It doesn’t blow my mind or transport me to the beautiful, red, mountainous lake that the label depicts, but it’s tasty enough to fly through.
The problem with nearly every tangerine seltzer I’ve ever tasted is the same: The only way to make something taste like tangerine is to inject a lot more peel flavor. I don’t like the peel. People that eat the peel of an orange don’t make a lick of sense to me. That said, this is probably the least intense of the lot, so in a pinch, I still like this flavor just fine.
I don’t love what’s going on inside this can. Lucky for it, then, that it’s actually quite mild and hard to pick up any distinct blueberries or mangoes. Why is Wild Basin combining these two fruits? Let’s not meddle with things we have no business meddling with.
I don’t like coconut very much. That’s pretty much all you need to know about this one. A coconut milk-based curry? Absolutely. Run-of-the-mill coconut-flavored alcohol? It all tastes like sunscreen to me.
Strawberry’s flavor isn’t even close to what I expected. I did a full on double-take drinking this (picture me, alone in my living room, physically reacting to a seltzer) and I still feel a little thrown off. Pink Starburst comes to mind immediately here, and then at the end, it’s minty. I checked the ingredients, and yep, spearmint extract. It’s incredibly interesting, but way too sweet for me to drink more than a single one.
I’m sorry to say, but this flavor’s a stinker. The trick with something like black raspberry is that you really need to sweeten up the seltzer for it to work. That’s why the black cherry hits so hard. When you remove the sweetness from a flavor we associate with candy, and all you have to end on is a fizzy, alcoholic taste, something isn’t working. I even prefer strawberry coconut to this.