There is definitely no scarcity of store-bought canned cocktails on the market, so lengthy gone are the times of getting to order a cocktail on the bar or shake one up at residence. Although no two canned cocktails are precisely alike, you are prone to stumble throughout some with related fruity flavors, ABVs, and liquor bases, like tequila or the ever-popular vodka-based canned cocktails.

One such model to hop on the canned cocktail practice is Dogfish Head. Although chances are you’ll extra so acknowledge Dogfish Head as being a beer model — one with a much less profitable coffee-flavored beer and that even bought a beer fabricated from crushed meteorites, if just for a day — canned cocktails are additionally in Dogfish Head’s lineup. I sampled 4 of the model’s vodka-based, 7% ABV canned cocktails: a ardour fruit citrus vodka mule, a blueberry citrus vodka lemon drop, a blood orange mango vodka crush, and a strawberry honeyberry vodka lemonade. 

When making an attempt every canned cocktail, I paid shut consideration to any flavors that had a very tasty or standout taste, in addition to any whose flavors have been tremendous harsh, overly candy, or had unusual aftertastes. In the end, I decided my rating based mostly on which of them I discovered to be most refreshing, cohesive, balanced, and candy with out being too candy.

Some suggestions are based mostly on firsthand impressions of promotional supplies and merchandise supplied by the producer.

For full disclosure, I’ve by no means precisely been loopy about orange-flavored issues, particularly drinks. That mentioned, I can nonetheless go into an orange-flavored beverage (particularly a tough seltzer or cocktail) with an open thoughts. That is what I tried to do with this blood orange mango vodka crush canned cocktail, hoping that it is perhaps somewhat extra heavy on the mango. And, in some methods, my hopes have been proper — this cocktail was heavy on the mango, nevertheless it was simply as heavy on the blood orange, making for an overbearing and nearly perfume-tasting drink that I discovered somewhat onerous to get pleasure from.

My greatest downside with this Dogfish Head cocktail is that it was only a bit too robust and synthetic. That is sometimes my criticism with orange-flavored drinks normally — I discover that they have a tendency to style extra synthetic as an alternative of like recent orange juice, and that qualm was very a lot true right here. Had this canned cocktail merely caught to both blood orange or mango, I feel it may have been extra profitable. Or, had it simply subdued the general taste (in a La Croix form of manner), I feel that it might have been extra palatable all-around. Alas, as-is, this cocktail packs a number of intense citrusy and imprecise tropical fruit flavors, neither of which style excellent or work significantly nicely collectively.

Ardour fruit is a taste that, at the least in my humble e book, may be very hit and miss. I used to be particularly intrigued to see how such a taste would work in a Moscow Mule-inspired canned cocktail, particularly contemplating that spicy ginger beer is the dominant taste in any good mule. To my reduction, I did largely benefit from the taste of this cocktail, however I do not know that I might say it tasted an entire lot like ardour fruit. I am unable to inform whether or not that is in the end a very good or dangerous factor.

I used to be pleasantly stunned by how a lot I may style the ginger beer on this canned cocktail, making for a taste profile that I wasn’t actually anticipating when sipping on one thing that is presupposed to be ardour fruit-flavored. General, the fervour fruit and citrus components have been form of current on this cocktail, however they have been fairly weak, a stark distinction from the overbearing blood orange mango taste. There was a sure freshness to this will that I additionally loved, one that just about tasted herbaceous, although I in the end chalked that up as soon as once more to the ginger beer. This taste was positively an enormous enchancment over the last-place cocktail, however I do assume that if you are going to slap a ardour fruit taste profile onto a mule, it is best to most likely strive somewhat tougher to make it style like ardour fruit.

Earlier than diving into this strawberry honeyberry vodka lemonade, I did not know a lot about what a honeyberry even was, a lot much less what it would style like. After sipping on this canned cocktail, I would not say that I am a honeyberry connoisseur, however I positively loved the flavors current on this tackle a vodka lemonade. Subtly candy with a pleasant hit of lemony tartness, I discovered this canned cocktail to be properly balanced and somewhat too simple to sip on.

It is affordable to imagine that any cocktail boasting lemonade might need somewhat sourness to it, and this canned cocktail was no exception. Simply after I anxious that it would style too bitter, I received a very nice, mellow sweetness that balanced the tart notes out very properly. I am undecided how a lot this cocktail particularly tasted like strawberry or honeyberry, nevertheless it positively had a definite berry-like sweetness to it that wasn’t too overpowering or synthetic. This may actually managed to strike a pleasant stability not solely in taste however in sweet-sourness as nicely, and that alone made it a (second place) winner in my e book. 

Of all of the fruity, vodka-based Dogfish Head cocktails on this record, I discovered the blueberry citrus vodka lemon drop to be one of the best one. I’ll say that this was a really shut competitors, and the second place strawberry honeyberry vodka lemonade positively gave this will a run for its cash. In the end, nevertheless, I discovered this canned cocktail to be extremely balanced, with simply the correct quantity of blueberry-forward sweetness to make for a beverage that tasted tremendous summery and scrumptious.

Contemplating that recent blueberries are fairly delicate and never too candy in taste, I used to be anxious that such mildness would translate right into a uninteresting taste on this cocktail. Fortuitously, I was confirmed very incorrect, although I might argue that this cocktail does boast a reasonably delicate and mellow taste profile. That subtlety labored very nicely, making for a cocktail that positively tasted like blueberry (and that donned a bluish-purple hue besides) however that additionally had a citrusy, barely tart lemon taste to again it up. Very similar to the strawberry honeyberry cocktail, I discovered this blueberry one actually nailed the flavour profile it was meant to characterize, with out being overbearing just like the blood orange drink. Gentle, refreshing, and completely candy, the blueberry citrus vodka lemon drop is one canned cocktail that I might by no means get bored with sipping on. 

When sampling the 4 Dogfish Head canned cocktail flavors, I initially simply paid consideration to which of them grabbed my consideration — in each good and dangerous methods — at first sip. From there, I discerned what significantly labored or did not work a couple of particular taste, and it actually simply got here all the way down to sure flavors tasting too synthetic, too robust (or not robust sufficient), or maybe too candy. Quite the opposite, extra profitable flavors struck a pleasant stability between sweetness and tartness, making for a cohesive and balanced sip that did not make me really feel like I needed to choke it down.

I solely sampled 4 flavors, and of the 4, there was just one that I objectively disliked. The blood orange taste was somewhat too robust and intense in its synthetic orange taste, whereas the opposite three have been far more mellow, much less candy, and general simply extra pleasurable to sip on. In the end, I had to decide on which taste I appreciated one of the best to take the primary place slot; nevertheless, I do assume that anybody who enjoys a mellow, subtly candy, and fruity canned cocktail would agree with my selection.