Canadian cottage season is finally upon us. If you’re like us then as soon as the weather hits plus 10 you’re outside, in a lawn chair with a drink in your hand. Every year around this time we’re all searching for that certain something to sip on during all of the cottage festivities. The drink that fits perfectly in your summer koozie, that keeps you refreshed on a big day of boating and that gives you the extra edge you need to dominate at all the drinking games. Hard Seltzers are hands down the drink of the summer. They’re low in calories and sugar but are still delicious and definitely get the job done. While drinks like White Claws and Bud Lite Seltzers are taking over the States, we thought we’d test out some Canadian low-calorie crafts. Welcome to our review of 10 spiked seltzers that are handcrafted and sold in Canada.

NUTRL - 8/10

We started off our experiment with a classic Canadian soda. There is a lot of hype around NUTRLs and we can definitely see why. First of all, the can is completed with the NHL logo so automatically, we liked this drink before we even tried it.

We picked up the new Cherry NUTRL and were huge fans. The flavour was strong but didn’t have that soda water aftertaste which was a bonus. These are a cottage classic and we’ll definitely be picking up more NUTRLs throughout the summer.

Little Buddha

Grilled Pineapple 9/10 -- Natural Peach Tea 7/10

Right away these sodas give off some great vibes.

These are a drink you can feel good about as they are all organic and made with health-forward and socially conscious ingredients. We can definitely say we’ve never had an alcoholic beverage with both pumpkin and carrot juice in it so we had to try these. We decided to try the Grilled Pineapple and Rosemary as well as the Natural Peach Tea sodas.

We really enjoyed the grilled pineapple flavour but surprisingly weren’t big fans of the peach tea. We found the pineapple to be just fruity enough while the peach was a bit over the top. Our buddies described the peach tea as “perfumy” and that’s the best way to describe it - tastes the way an artificial candle smells, ya know? Neither drink had that soda water taste to it and we’d say they taste more like a cooler than a vodka soda. Considering there’s no sugar in these drinks they tasted super sweet and juicy. Overall we were pleasantly surprised and very impressed with the Little Buddhas and will definitely be buying these again.

Social Lite 9/10

These are one of the lowest cal sodas on the market right now. With only 80 calories in a can and no sugar, these hard sodas will satisfy your alcohol needs while still fitting in with your health goals. Social Lites come in so many different flavours but we chose to go with the pineapple mango soda. This drink is definitely a top competitor. It tastes just as good as any vodka soda but has the least amount of calories. The pineapple and mango flavour honestly tasted like juice and we loved it. We heard the new mango lemonade flavour is incredible so we’ll be sure to try those out soon. Add these guys to the list of some summer favs (without all the extra cals).

Blue Lobster - 7/10

Okay East Coast, we see you. These sodas have the perfect balance of lemon and lime. A tall boy crafted at 6% is exactly what you need to get a good buzz going. They have a pretty strong citrus soda water taste but they are a vodka soda after all! They’re a little tangy but they definitely hit the spot. Great to get ya going but not one we could sip on all day/night because the citrus gave us that fuzzy tongue feeling.

Aquarelle - 6/10

These were okay vodka sodas. We tried the Berry Pomegranate flavour and yeah, honestly it was just okay. We liked that they were unsweetened. It was light, refreshing, and went down super easily but a bit bland otherwise. Not our favourites but they could be your cup of tea!

Ace Hill - 8/10

These drinks don’t look anything like the other vodka sodas we bought for the list so we weren’t really sure what to expect but honestly, this flavour was unreal. We tried the Strawberry Grapefruit vodka soda since it’s their newest addition and loved it. Big fans of the real fruit juice in this drink and the calorie and sugar count still stays low. All of the other vodka sodas contain “natural flavours” whatever that means. We will definitely be buying more of these for the cottage.

Cottage Springs - 9/10

A Canadian classic. These bad boys are definitely the OG vodka soda in Canada and still, stand tall amongst all of the others. Their motto is “every day should feel as good as a cottage day” and we couldn’t agree more. We tried their Non-carbonated Raspberry Lime Water and we were really impressed. It’s super refreshing and really does go down like water. Super dangerous. It's no suprise that we're huge Cottage Spring fans here at TEAMLTD and will of course be drinking these on the dock this summer. AND they have a bag-in-box option like the boxed wine... did someone say box race? (like a case-race... but better)

Good Sunday - 8/10

We love the idea behind these ones. Crafted at 3% alcohol, these guys want you to not regret your weekend and have a “Good Sunday”. We really enjoyed sipping on this bev. Grapefruit and gin are definitely the mixes we have all been waiting for. This drink has a strong citrus flavour with a yummy dry finish. The perfect day drinking bev if you’re looking to last for the late-night shenanigans too.

Georgian Bay - 8/10

We've got another low alcohol percentage seltzer since we're trying to work off that pandemic bod. So light it's even perfect for sipping on with your breakfast and coffee for a little spice on the weekends. The peach, lime, mint, and gin blend perfectly together. Even though there’s half the alcohol and half the calories in this drink it still has full flavour. We loved this one.

Sandbagger 10/10

These bevs are everything that is right in the world. After we finished our drink we were wishing we had a 12-pack of these. The gin balances so nicely with the lemon and lime. They have more calories and sugar than the other drinks listed but honestly they’re so good we think it might be worth it. We can definitely see ourselves drinking these all summer long.

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What’s better than day drinking at the cottage? It’s doing it with fewer calories all while supporting local businesses. We have a big summer ahead of us everybody and we need to fuel ourselves. We know there are still some more Canadian crafts out there and we’re not going to stop until we get our hands on all of them. Until then, we hope you enjoyed our take on these 10 Canadian spiked seltzers and sodas.

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