Every Betty Booze Cocktail Flavor, Ranked
Canned cocktails have a lot to live up to (not every canned cocktail is amazing). While any of us can sidle up to the bar and ask for the cocktail of our choice, letting the bartender taste test it for absolute perfection before sliding it into our hot little hands, RTD (ready-to-drink) cocktails don't have that luxury. The work has been done, and all we can do is hope that once we pop the top, the liquid in the can is worth drinking.
After the success of Betty Buzz, Blake Lively's line of craft drink mixers, she got back to work. This time, however, she went beyond mixers, designing a line of RTD canned cocktails called Betty Booze. As a cocktail lover, I am always slightly weary of canned cocktails — they are often too sweet and end up tasting like they're missing something. That something often ends up being balance, acid, or simply a lack of creativity. However, the Betty Booze flavor lineup is so intriguing, so outgoing from a flavor perspective, that I simply had to try each one and rank them accordingly.
In order to get the best possible taste experience from these cocktails, I enjoyed them two ways: directly out of the can which sat in my refrigerator for several hours before I opened them, and in a glass with a few ice cubes. Read on to find out which Betty Booze cocktail reigned supreme and deserves a spot in your cocktail repertoire.
Some recommendations are based on first-hand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer/distributor/etc.
What is Betty Booze?
The Betty Booze website tags these canned cocktails as "gourmet," which may seem like a stretch for a canned beverage. However, after reading through the flavor list, it's worth taking the word "gourmet" more seriously. Betty Booze comes in five flavors: Sparkling Bourbon with Oak Smoked Lemonade, Sparkling Bourbon with Apple Ginger Sour Cherry, Sparkling Tequila with Lime Shiso, Sparkling Tequila with Smoky Pineapple, and Sparkling Tequila with Oak Smoked Lemonade. Each cocktail is made with "the freshest fruits, spices, herbs, and more," according to the website, and uses real spirits as the base for each one.
When you compare Betty Booze to the rest of the RTD canned cocktail market, the flavor selection, use of real spirits as opposed to malted barley, and level of high-quality ingredients undoubtedly gives the brand some competitive leverage. Additionally, Betty Booze does not use any artificial flavors, colors, or sweeteners, meaning that unlike malt beverages that can sometimes taste plastic-esque and synthetic from the use of artificial flavoring, everything you're getting in a Betty Booze cocktail is the real deal.
Pricing and availability for Betty Booze cocktails
If you've been scanning your local corner store shelves which are typically lined with canned cocktails and hard seltzers and wondering where the cans of Betty Booze are hiding, look no further. The Betty Booze team has the answer to that question right on its website, and aren't afraid to be a little cheeky about it either. Visit the Betty Booze website and scroll about three-quarters of the way down, and you'll see: "Find us where wine (and more) are totally sold." For those who aren't picking up on what Betty Booze is putting down, you can find the entire line of Betty Booze canned cocktails from Total Wine and More stores nationwide.
A four-pack of any of the single flavors retails for $14.99, pricing a single 12 ounce can at just under $4 (though prices may vary based on location). Compared to the RTD canned cocktail market as a whole, I say this falls squarely in the middle of some of the competition. A four-pack of El Padrino Ranch Water or of Cutwater Lime Margarita goes for $12.99, while a four-pack of Ketel One Vodka Spritz canned cocktails goes for $15.99. Overall, the quality of ingredients and the use of real spirits is an important factor to be considered, and when you work that into the equation, the $14.99 price point is certainly a reasonable one.
5. Sparkling Tequila with Oak Smoked Lemonade
Tequila and citrus is like a match made in cocktail heaven. A good blanco tequila, clean and fresh, plays so nicely with the bright, tangy zip of a lemon or a lime, that it seems as if the two flavors were destined to be together. In the Sparkling Tequila with Oak Smoked Lemonade, Meyer lemon and tangerine answer the call, making for a nicely balanced, sour and not-too-sweet mixer for the tequila, but despite what should be a perfect sip, it does fall a bit flat.
Pop the top and prepare for an immediate aroma of lemon and smoke. It's pleasant, like a backyard BBQ just getting the grill fired up for the afternoon. The aroma quickly fades, and then it's time to take that first sip. The amount of bubbles is just right, and the oak smoked lemonade is a revelation; the dash of butter added makes everything just a little more rich and decadent. However, the tequila doesn't get as much love as the rest of the ingredients in the can, so much so that I almost forgot there was tequila in there at all.
While this is a tasty cocktail to be sure, I think it could benefit from more of that citrusy, herbaceous flavor that embodies a good tequila. For these reasons, it falls to the bottom of the ranking.
4. Sparkling Tequila with Smoky Pineapple
Tequila, pineapple juice, and a splash of orange liqueur make for one of my favorite tropical summer cocktails, the tequila sunrise. The Sparkling Tequila with Smoky Pineapple cocktail comes off to me as a riff on this classic beachfront beverage, but turns it up about 50 notches by adding a splash of mezcal to infuse a sweet, smoky flavor into the mix as well. This is where the Betty Booze lineup starts to get intriguing.
The use of this smoky essence in several of the Betty Booze cocktails is brilliant, and something I wish more canned cocktails would do. It's gentle — I don't necessarily want to taste like I'm licking a bourbon barrel when I pop open a canned cocktail, but the subtle aroma and flavor of smoke is just right. The aroma out of the can is light and sweet, with wisps of vanilla and caramel. Sweet and tart, notes of honey and brown sugar tie in nicely with the ripe sweetness of the pineapple. However, similar to the tequila with oak smoked lemonade, the base spirit ends up taking a bit of a backseat to the mixer.
3. Sparkling Bourbon with Oak Smoked Lemonade
My first sip of the Sparkling Bourbon with Oak Smoked Lemonade made me realize that tequila is just not the spirit that oak smoked lemonade is meant to be with. This particular lemonade mixer belongs with bourbon, without a doubt in my mind. This cocktail has a little bit of everything; it's just a bit sweet with that pleasant addition of smoke, and the lemonade adds the right amount of acid to brighten everything up. The use of butter once again smooths it all out, adding an unctuous mouthfeel. Most importantly, I can taste the bourbon. Where the tequila tends to get drowned out in a few of the Betty Booze cocktails, the familiar notes of vanilla and toasty nuttiness from the bourbon are the star.
That vanilla and lemon aroma is there once again once you pop the top, but instead of quickly running away, it sticks around for a bit longer, as if it wants to stay closer to the bourbon for maximum enjoyment. The lemon flavor is outgoing but not overly so, and the sweet smoke from the oak makes this a more complex, well-rounded cocktail. After an exhausting summer afternoon of laying in the hot sun, this is the cocktail I want to reach for to cool me to my core and refresh my senses.
2. Sparkling Tequila with Lime Shiso
Finally, finally, Betty Booze showed tequila the respect it so richly deserves. While the oak smoked lemonade and the smoky pineapple are good attempts at new and interesting tequila cocktails, this is the mixer that tequila was meant to live in. Simple and flavorful, this is like a margarita but so much better. In fact, if given the option between the Sparkling Tequila with Lime Shiso and a classic margarita, I'm choosing the canned cocktail every time.
The light, gentle sourness of the lime is a far more suitable citrus for the tequila, letting those vibrant, recognizable tequila flavor notes really shine. Each sip is crisp and refreshing, but the star here is the shiso, an inspired choice rather than using any ol' mint. The herbaceous, slightly bitter notes in the shiso come through and pair nicely with the gentle sweetness from the tequila, making for a beautifully balanced drink. Of all of the Betty Booze cocktails, this one was by far the easiest for me to gulp down, which on a hot day lounging by the pool or at a backyard BBQ, is exactly what I'm looking for.
1. Sparkling Bourbon with Apple Ginger Sour Cherry
As someone who loves a cocktail bar with a strong martini and an even stronger snack menu, I am a bit of a canned beverage skeptic. How can this possibly be as good as something a professional bartender has handcrafted right in front of me? That was, however, until I tried the Sparkling Bourbon with Apple Ginger Sour Cherry cocktail.
A good cocktail will always highlight the base spirit in the best way possible, but somehow this one managed to do it better than any other I've had. The mixer, apple ginger sour cherry, is a bit of a mouthful to say, but after trying this drink, it deserves each and every syllable as I sit here, loudly shouting its praises for all to hear. Light and sweet, the apple is tart with just a whisper of spice from the ginger. The sour cherry is elusive, but adds just the right hint of acid to wake everything up. Picture an apple cherry pie with a flaky crust, filled to the brim with tender fruit and dripping with that syrupy sweet red juice, but in cocktail form.
Each element plays perfectly with the sweet, subtle smoke from the bourbon, including the bubbles, which makes this not just decadent, but incredibly refreshing. While still a bit of a canned cocktail skeptic, I can say with every ounce of air in my cocktail-loving chest that this is, hands down, the best canned beverage I've ever had.
Methodology
I used two different methods for tasting these cocktails: directly out of the can after letting them chill in my refrigerator for several hours, and in a glass with a few ice cubes. While the glass with ice method is by far the superior way to enjoy these drinks, I took the majority of my tasting notes while drinking straight out of the can, since that's the way I imagine most people will be enjoying these. From the store, to a cooler, to the outdoor venue of your choosing, and finally to your mouth, it's not as practical to think that ice and cups will always be available.
That said, if you do have cups and ice available, do yourself a favor and serve these out of the can. The ice cubes add just the right level of dilution to let the flavors breathe and open up a bit more.