‘Sounds weird, tastes incredible’: the best seltzers for summertime refreshment, tested
Since White Claw disrupted the drinks-in-tins category with its UK arrival in 2020, hard seltzers have continued to grow in popularity. Loved by celebrities, festival-goers and commuters alike, these alcoholic sparkling waters are known for being low in calories, sugar and with minimal ingredients, while containing roughly the same amount of alcohol as a standard lager (up to about 5% ABV).
Hovering at about 100 calories a can and with a few carefully chosen (usually) natural flavourings plus spirit, it’s easy to see why seltzers have gained a reputation for being a relatively light choice when picking up a couple of cans. But what makes a good seltzer?
For this piece, I tasted a range of 25 refreshing seltzers – alcoholic and non – to find those that deserve a place in your picnic. From premium ingredients to rigorous eco credentials, budget options to those to savour, there’s a drink to please everyone this summer. Happy seltzing.
The best seltzers for 2026
Best sustainable seltzer
Served, 6 x 250ml cans
Singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding is known for being a keen fitness enthusiast with strong environmental principles, so it makes sense that she co-owns this high-end, sustainable seltzer with natural flavours. Using wonky fruit, quadruple-distilled beet vodka and natural plant-based flavourings, Served comes in at 95 calories a can. The raspberry flavour tastes like just-crushed raspberries in the cleanest, clearest vodka soda and is naturally sweet; a deliciously summery vibe.
Best soft seltzer
Dash Pink Lady apple sparkling water, 12 x 330ml cans
Dash Water is fresh and naturally light, with no sugar and zero calories. It’s produced using spring water and fruit, including wonky and surplus produce collected from farmers’ fields, and natural flavourings. I love this subtly tart Pink Lady apple flavour, which is hydrating but has enough about it to feel like a treat when you don’t want to indulge in alcohol. There is little sweetness, so steer clear if you’ve a sweet tooth. Dash has lots of other delicious flavours too; I like grapefruit and peach – which incidentally is lovely spritzed with a rosé chicken wine. It’s also nice to see it’s a B Corp, making it a healthy, feelgood choice beyond a standard soda.
Best light seltzer
Melleau sparkling vodka soda, 330ml
At a near-saintly 3.4% ABV, Melleau provides a sessionable drinking experience with juices and carefully selected botanicals for refreshingly adult flavours. Choose from Tahiti lime and yuzu, raspberry and calamansi (plus tarragon), passion fruit and pomelo (with cardamom), and blood orange spiked with bitters – all are just gently effervescent and with great-tasting elevated ingredients that make them moreish and enjoyable to sip. With no added sugar and up to just 95 calories a can, a few of these make for a sociable evening without the sore head.
Best kombucha seltzer
Buci hard kombucha, 12 x 330ml cans
Not strictly a seltzer, but certainly seltzer-adjacent in that it’s low in sugar with minimal ingredients. This is a hard kombucha of carbonated fermented green tea and it comes in three flavours: wild berries; ginger and lemon; and pear and elderflower. Buci uses only natural ingredients, and the drinks come in at between 110 and 115 calories, with a decent 5% ABV. The taste is crisp and clean, with that tell-tale kombucha funk. Pear and elderflower has subtle notes of juniper and pepper, making it light and complex all at once; a total antithesis to your standard sugary cocktail can.
Best supermarket seltzer
Marks & Spencer hard seltzer, 250ml
One of the few supermarket seltzers available at the time of writing (keep an eye out for Aldi’s elusive bargain versions reappearing), this is a low-calorie alcoholic serve, with just 75 calories per 250ml despite its relatively punchy 4.5% ABV. The lemon and lime flavour is likely to be broadly enjoyed thanks to the fresh zestiness, and although there are slightly detectable added sugars and flavourings, it tastes citrussy and clean without overt artificial sweetness. Who can argue for £2 a can?
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Best savoury seltzer
Yew pickle sparkling water, 4 x 330ml
Now here’s something a bit different: a pickle-flavoured sparkling water. Yes, you read that correctly. The viral popularity of the pickle continues apace – and is no longer limited to dirtying up martinis. This fizzy water is spiked with a hearty splash of natural dill pickle flavour against a mellow backdrop of cucumber, plus a dose of organic kombucha for good measure. Sounds weird, tastes incredible. If your tooth is more savoury than sweet, like mine, you’ll find this to be the ultimate summer thirst-quencher. With no sugar and only trace calories (2kcal per 100ml), this is a healthy choice for anyone watching what they’re eating and drinking; if not, it’s worth trying it mixed with gin, vodka or whisky.
Best small-batch seltzer
Deap Nethergate blueberry & lime seltzer, 12 x 250ml
The Nethergate Brewery and Distillery may be better known for its Old Growler porter, but it’s now making the most of the mineral-rich water that flows through ancient chalk beds beneath its Suffolk site to create fruity vodka seltzers. It’s available in apple and elderflower, and blueberry and lime, and the latter is a delightfully different, juicy and floral flavour that I can’t get enough of. A lovely light ABV of 3.4% and 96 calories a can make this ideal for slower daytime sessions. Finally, I had to double check the price: £1.30 seems too cheap for this independent craft can, but £1.30 a can it is.
Best-tasting seltzer
High Water hard seltzer mixed pack, 12 x 250ml
In my testing, High Water’s flavours stood out as the most premium, natural and authentic-tasting – with the caveat that these are the least sweet of the bunch, so possibly not for everyone. Cucumber and mint has been designed to taste like a garden party in a glass, and it does: it’s herbaceous, refreshing and verdantly green, but best in a glass with ice and a slice. I also rated the mango and peach, which nails the tropical mango without resorting to the saccharine. All made with a hefty 5% British vodka, no sweeteners or preservatives and no more than 99 cals a can. One percent of company profits go to the Just One Ocean charity.
Best craft seltzer
Arrowtown vodka soda, 12 x 330ml
If you’re a fan of the black cherry flavour White Claw – and why not – the Arrowtown black cherry and apple is like a more refined version. Both use natural flavours and no artificial sweeteners, but Arrowtown’s recipe edges ahead in terms of pure, fresh, juicy cherry flavour. The peach and raspberry is also extremely dreamy, bursting with sweet stone fruit and a luscious berry zing against triple-distilled vodka. It’s 109 calories a can and 4.5% ABV, plus each can removes two plastic bottles from oceans, so it’s definitely worth investing in the mixed pack.
Best big-brand seltzer
White Claw hard seltzer, 8 x 330ml
One of the originals – and for many, still the best – White Claw remains the big hitter when it comes to hard seltzers. And for good reason. Staying true to its key selling points (natural flavours, low cal, low sugar and free from artificial sweeteners), White Claw continues to launch great flavours. I like almost all the White Claw flavour lineup, but green apple is my current go-to: it’s a naughtier but nicer Appletiser. Its latest foray into lower-cal cocktails (Clawtails) is successful too – the peach daiquiri in particular.
For more, read our roundup of the best tinned cocktails and wines
Joanne Gould is a food, drink and lifestyle writer with a decade of experience, taste-testing anything from South African wines to speciality coffee or scotch
