5 Healthier Hard Seltzers You Need in Your Cooler This Summer

It’s getting tough to tell hard seltzers apart. Store shelves are teeming with carbonated carbon copies, the flavors and calorie counts awfully alike. Want this black cherry hard seltzer or that one? Not that it matters much. Most are just fermented sugar and lab-designed “natural” flavoring, branding chiefly being the main difference. In contrast, to separate themselves from the 100-calorie herd, some brands are using real fruit juice, organic sugar, probiotics, and electrolytes to wrap happy hour in a healthful veneer. “People want to consume better these days,” says Brian Miesieski, CMO of SweetWater Brewing.

The best wellness-focused hard seltzers deliver more than marketing angles. Sip these among friends—and toast to your health.

1. Más Agave Premium Hard Seltzer

Founders Brewing Company brewmaster Jeremy Kosmicki specifically channeled the brewery’s margarita-inspired Más Agave imperial gose in this lower-alcohol seltzer featuring organic blue agave nectar, cane sugar, sea salt, and fruit juice. In fact, Kosmicki enjoys the three varieties (Grapefruit, Lime, and Strawberry) between beers—like refreshing intermission beverages.

• ABV: 4.5%
• Calories: 80
• Carbs: 7g
• Sugar: 4g

[$17 for 15-pack, foundersbrewing.com]

2. Michelob Ultra Organic Seltzer

To make a more virtuous hard seltzer, Anheuser-Busch marries organic cane sugar and malted rice (0 carbs and just 80 calories), then filters the bev six times to strip impurities. The lower calorie count comes from dropping the alcohol to 4 percent ABV. Easy-sipping options like Cucumber Lime, Peach Pear, and Spicy Pineapple also combat flavor fatigue (you know the repeat offenders).

• ABV: 4%
• Calories: 80
• Carbs: 0g
• Sugar: 0g

[$19 for 12-pack, michelobultra.com]

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3. Flying Embers Hard Seltzer

Be still, your kombucha-loving heart: These USDA-certified organic hard seltzers contain live probiotic cultures and acerola juice powder—available in two distinct collections. Fruit & Flora offers botanical-inspired combos like tart Clementine Hibiscus. Sweet & Heat unites tropical fruit and spicy peppers in zippy fusions, such as Guava Jalapeño and Pineapple Cayenne.

• ABV: 5%
• Calories: 95
• Carbs: 0g
• Sugar: 0g

[$20 for 12-pack, flyingembers.com]

4. Vizzy Hard Seltzer

Molson Coors Beverage Company turbocharges its two-fruit-flavored hard seltzers (think Blueberry Pomegranate and Pineapple Mango) with antioxidant-and vitamin C-rich acerola cherry, a superfruit native to South and Central America. Each can also packs 18mg of vitamin C—20 percent of the RDI. Just note that alcohol more or less “negates potential benefits,” says Jordan Mazur, sports dietitian for the San Francisco 49ers.

• ABV: 5%
• Calories: 100
• Carbs: 2g
• Sugar: 1g

[$18 for 12-pack, vizzyhardseltzer.com]

5. Oasis Premium Hard Seltzer

SweetWater uses organic pomegranate powder, potassium, and sodium to amp up its lip-smacking flavors. (We like Strawberry Kiwi and Mango Passionfruit specifically.) In addition, the electrolytes “work with the yeast in the fermentation process to make a tastier liquid with better mouthfeel,” Miesieski says. Each serving contains 40mg of potassium and also 10mg of vitamin C—roughly 10 percent of the RDI.

• ABV: 5%
• Calories: 100
• Carbs: 1g
• Sugar: 1g

[$16 for 12-pack, sweetwaterbrew.com]