The Worst Hard Lemonade On Store Shelves: Which Brand To Avoid

Summer is just around the corner, which means it's time for weekends spent at the beach and backyard barbecues. Back in the day, there wasn't much to stuff into your cooler other than some cheap beers and maybe a bottle of white wine; these days, there are so many better options, including canned tequila drinks, hard seltzers, and, yes, beers designed for summer weather. But to us, there is nothing more refreshing than a cold can of hard lemonade on a hot summer's day. 

Tasting Table conducted a taste test of six hard lemonade brands to determine which ones were worthy of our coolers and which ones should be left on the shelf. Beatbox Pink Lemonade falls solidly into the latter category.

We found little to be positive about other than the hue (it is quite pink) and the convenient screw on top that allows for easy opening and closing. Of course, we think you'd be better off never opening it, but that's besides the point. From the first sip, this lemonade did nothing besides fall short of expectations.

Unlike any of the other hard lemonades we tried, the Beatbox Pink Lemonade is made from a wine base. This choice ended up being a double-edged sword; while the wine base allowed for a high ABV (11.1%), perhaps it didn't need the extra booze. "This drink, however, was entirely too strong for me," our reviewer said. "It was extraordinarily booze-forward, so much so that any notes of lemonade fell too far to the background. Rather than tasting citrus, or even something tangy, you get a pinching bit of alcohol at the front, followed by some saccharine candied notes."

In other words, the Beatbox wasn't the cool, refreshing drink we expect a hard lemonade to provide. Thankfully, it wasn't the only hard lemonade in our cooler. Our favorite hard lemonade was the Ole Smoky Blackberry Lemonade. Ole Smoky had been on our radar for a while thanks to their innovative products, including a peanut butter whiskey, so it wasn't surprising the brand shone upon its foray into hard lemonades. The Ole Smoky stood out with an "impeccable balance" of flavors and was incredibly refreshing. 

If blackberry isn't your thing, you can't go wrong with the classics; we found the Mike's Harder Lemonade to be the second-best of the bunch. Nobody wants to ruin their summer vibes with a bad hard lemonade, so stay away from the disappointing Beatbox Pink Lemonade, and everything'll stay chill.