2 Hoots Hard Iced Tea Review: A Tea-Liciously Sweet And Refreshing Alternative To Hard Seltzer
While hard seltzer has become a popular summertime drink with new flavors always being introduced, hard iced tea has been chugging along under the radar. 2 Hoots Hard Iced Tea is looking to change that with real brewed tea and fresh ingredients — with a kick. Let's find out if the craft brand can make a bigger splash than the market's leading brands.
2 Hoots is a sustainably sourced hard iced tea brand that aims to make a more authentic and delicious tea than anyone else in the market. It currently offers three varieties of hard iced tea products: original Hard Iced Tea, Zero Sugar Iced Tea, and Half and Half iced tea and lemonade blend. The Zero Sugar variety contains 4.5% ABV, while the other two beverages are at 5%. You can purchase them in supermarkets, gas stations, and convenience stores around the country.
We tried all three of the 2 Hoots hard iced teas and, without giving too much away, we were pretty impressed. Read more to find out our thoughts on each of the flavors and discover which one ultimately wound up being our favorite.
What does 2 Hoots Original Hard Iced Tea taste like?
We thought it best to try the original Hard Iced Tea first. We were rewarded for this decision in more ways than one. For starters, this was an excellent way to determine a baseline of what the 2 Hoots Iced Tea flavor was bringing. Would it be sweetly overpowering or taste too much like malt liquor?
The answer, thankfully was neither. It was indeed sweeter than we expected, but not unpleasantly so, at least for our sweet tooth. 2 Hoots' marketing makes a big deal about its use of hand-picked lemons, and you can really taste it in the product. There is enough acidity and brightness from the fresh lemon to balance out both the sweet tea and booze flavors. The result is a hard iced tea that is sweet with just a bit of an edge.
We already see how 2 Hoots Hard Iced Tea would be a great beverage option for anyone looking to avoid carbonated drinks. However, it wasn't until we tried the Zero Sugar Iced Tea that we realized just how sweet the original variety is in comparison.
What does 2 Hoots Zero Sugar Hard Iced Tea taste like?
Of the three 2 Hoots flavors we tried, this one was our favorite. We aren't even normally zero sugar or diet soda drinkers, and on the rare occasion we reach for an Arizona tea at the gas station we go straight for the traditional Arnold Palmer. That being said, trying the Zero Sugar Iced Tea immediately after trying the original 2 Hoots tea it was apparent the sugar-free variety was the most balanced.
The 2 Hoots Zero Sugar Iced Tea has 100 calories, 14 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of protein, and 0 grams of fat per 12-oounce serving. Despite being sugar-free, there is an acute natural sweetness present in the beverage. There is also still a pleasant lemon flavor that helps mask the malt liquor taste. Overall, though, we found this corrected our primary complaint about the regular Hard Iced Tea. This is definitely the one we are most looking forward to trying again.
What does 2 Hoots Half and Half hard iced tea + lemonade taste like?
As a self-admitted Arnold Palmer fan, this was definitely the 2 Hoots flavor we were most looking forward to trying before our taste test. However, after trying the original variety we were unsure how different this would be, given the already lemon-forward nature of 2 Hoots Hard Iced Tea.
The truth is the 2 Hoots Half & Half is just as sweet and refreshing as the original iced tea, albeit in a different way. The lemonade provides a sweetness that tastes more natural. While we still thought the Zero Sugar was the best, we did prefer the Half & Half slightly over the regular iced tea. It was just a little more drinkable and softened the aforementioned edge of the original Hard Iced Tea.
The final verdict
We enjoyed all three of the 2 Hoots Hard Iced Tea flavors. The tea was bright, sweet, and refreshing. Even if we had some preferences, we would happily drink any of them again in lieu of a casual beer when it's too hot for hops.
As we mentioned, the Zero Sugar variety did stand out as our favorite due to more or less tasting better for fewer calories. Just know that if you are really averse to sweet things, even that variety of the 2 Hoots tea might be too much for you.