Welcome back to FTW’s Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.
I’ve been on a run of canned cocktails lately in this column. One of the things I’ve learned is that I prefer simplicity. Add too many ingredients, no matter how good they are, and you wind up with an overstuffed drink that doesn’t quite taste like anything.
Then came Bluebird Hardwater to put that to the test. Bluebird is … minimal. Their cocktails are just spirit and water. Ultra purified water, specifically, but yeah. No carbonation. No sugar or flavoring. Just whiskey and water. Or vodka and water. Or tequila and water.
The end result is an incredibly basic idea, targeted toward people who thought the 100 calories and fruit flavors of High Noon’s vodka sodas were excessive. Bluebird Hardwater clocks in at four percent ABV and 78 calories. And, for a whiskey drinker like myself, it’s an intriguing conceit.
It turns out, the label on the can gives way to zero surprises within. Here’s how Bluebird Hardwater tastes.