13 Boozy Bottled And Canned Lemonade Brands, Ranked Worst To Best

Summer is a time for relaxing, fireworks, and enjoying slow, sweet days in the sun. Making the perfect lemonade from scratch is somehow even better on hot days, and the warm evenings find a perfect pairing with a boozy version of the beverage — which is even easier when it's ready-made in a can or bottle. These adult versions of lemonade come in fizzy and non-bubbly versions, and the tastes between the various brands just couldn't be more different.

To help you fill that summer cooler for picnics and days at the beach, I looked for boozy lemonade brands that were enjoyable to drink with great flavor. Then, I sampled each brand, and based my ranking on the tastes of the individual drinks. In the end, my favorite brand surprised me, while other offerings I was expecting a whole lot from ultimately let me down.

One of the biggest differences I found between the various offerings was the methods that the brands used to sweeten the lemonades. In general, those with artificial sweetener just weren't some of the more enjoyable choices, and this came through in my ranking, too.

Some recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

The Pequot Inn serves a signature drink called the FIL, and Fishers Island Lemonade takes inspiration from these drinks. Based on the image on the can, I felt this would be easy sipping, but I found it completely different. If you want to be transported back to college days and the taste of a frat party drink, the Fishers Island Lemonade will bring you right back to those sticky floors and dank smelling rooms.

I found that it had a very watered-down flavor with a punch of alcohol. When someone has too heavy of a pour (and not in a fun way), the drink results in something like these lemonades. If you've ever been to a gathering where a good friend is trying out their mixology skills, and you're kind enough to try the drink, you know what these lemonades taste like. Those who want a super hard-tasting lemonade might enjoy these. However, for easy drinking on the Fourth of July, they don't quite stand up.

Typically, I think of Smirnoff as being a part of a mixed drink but not necessarily the entire flavor of the beverage. However, the directions on the back of these Smirnoff lemonade flavors instructed me to mix the flavored vodka-based drink with with a mixer like club soda.

Each of the flavors offered a different taste, but admittedly, none of them were very enjoyable. Most notably, the peach tasted like liquid medicine and not at all like lemonade. The blue raspberry tasted like the final few watered-down slurps of slushie when you're just trying to get the last little bit of it out.

Overall, these lemonades needed to be easy-drinking with a nice flavor. I didn't find either of these parts to be true for the Smirnoff lemonades. They were marginally better than the Fisher Island Lemonade because they didn't taste like pure alcohol, but that's just about the only thing I enjoyed about the Smirnoff lemonade flavors.

My first sip of Truly, I was completely surprised by the flavor. It actually tasted quite good, but that taste was fleeting. Very quickly, I got smacked with the flavor of sucralose. Taking a glance at the ingredients, my suspicions were confirmed when I saw the artificial sweetener on the list. I liked the variety of different flavors, but I just couldn't get past that fake sweetener flavor. As for the scent, I got a vague aroma like nail polish remover mixed with fruit.

Because of the brand and what it's known for, I was expecting this to lean even more toward a hard seltzer than it did, even though I still got plenty of that popular hard seltzer feel and taste in there. Still, it wasn't as lemonade-like as the other brands I tried. Without that strong lemon presence and with the sucralose, I felt that flavors tasted artificial and not fresh. This was the primary reason it ended so low in my ranking, even if there were others I put lower.

That said, there's a good chance I'm just not the target audience for this variety of Truly. If someone is more accustomed to the flavor of sucralose and doesn't mind it, these lemonade options would certainly suit better.

Affordable AriZona iced tea has long been a reliable hydration option at convenience stores. The price is right, and the flavor is always on point. AriZona lemonade is pretty stellar, so I was expecting something similar for the AriZona hard lemonade, but was ultimately disappointed. Although the decoration on the can was absolutely beautiful, I found that the flavor tasted overly sweetened and quite watered down. It reminded me of the kind of lemonade young kids might make for a lemonade stand, with a ton of ice that ultimately ends up melting in the hot summer sun.

Unlike some of the others I tried, the AriZona hard lemonade did not have any fizz. I expected this, but I didn't anticipate just how flat it would feel and taste. The alcohol component of it ended up tasting and smelling something like perfumed water. It's the same kind of disappointment I've gotten when I visited a fairground's lemonade stand expecting to enjoy delicious, fresh-tasting lemonade but actually got something closer to powdered lemonade. The first flavor I tried from the pack was a pink lemonade, and I was fascinated to discover that it wasn't even pink. This is surely one of the primary requirements of a pink lemonade, and it didn't even meet that.

While the hard lemonade wasn't disgusting to drink by any means, it definitely didn't hit a lot of the marks that I hoped it would. As a fan of AriZona, I was disappointed to see the showing from the brand.

The Surfside lemonade was a better-tasting drink than the AriZona hard lemonade, though I noticed that it still suffered from the same watered-down sort of taste. The additional flavors just didn't offer much in terms of a fruity burst or likeness. If you have ever opened up a can of seltzer and expected a burst of full flavor only to be met with something vaguely fruity, you know this feeling.

Like the AriZona hard lemonade, this brand also wasn't carbonated, which could have contributed to much of that watery taste. Even still, the flavor of the artificial sweetener also affected the drink and wasn't my favorite. After a few sips, this sweetener was nearly all I could taste, and I found that one of my biggest complaints. That said, the pink lemonade was actually pink, so at least there's that.

With a name like Sun Cruiser, you might expect Sun Cruiser lemonade to offer some of the smoothest hard lemonade around, the kind you can drink on a boat. It certainly accomplishes that goal, but I found it to be one of the more basic lemonades I sampled. I thought the flavors were pretty enjoyable, and although there was artificial sweetener, it wasn't as potent as a few of the other brands. This mildness, combined with the flavors, contributed to that feeling of it being an easy-drinking option.

I wish Sun Cruiser had just made these lemonades with sugar rather than artificial sweetener, because I think they would be quite a bit better. While carbonation often feels like an essential part of this kind of alcoholic drink, these had no bubbles, and this too contributed to the overall easy-drinking nature of it. In the end, really the only thing holding this lemonade back from ranking better was the fake sweetener flavor.

Upon opening the box of Lucky One Lemonade, I was immediately drawn to the drink. The design on the label featured a pitbull that looked very much like my own pup, who crossed the rainbow bridge only a couple of years ago. That little face was more than a little disarming, and I had very high hopes for this brand. Unfortunately, some of my complaints about the artificially flavored drinks were definitely applicable here, too.

In addition to tasting artificially sweet, I found that the fruit flavor was much more mild than I wanted it to be. In fact, the lemonade itself tasted something like an overripe and shriveled lemon that had started to lose its goodness in the back of a refrigerator. For that reason, it didn't offer much beyond a basic lemonade, although the names of the drinks would have you believe otherwise. I ranked it towards the low end, even though the puppy's supremely adorable.

The Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey lemonade reminded me more of a canned cocktail than a smooth-sipping lemonade. This lemonade had a strong honey flavor, and a color to match. Rather than that light yellow hue, it was more amber, deeper, and a little richer in color than the others.

While I enjoyed the flavor, it was different to what I was hoping for from a lemonade. The actual lemon flavor could be enhanced and amplified, and it would taste better and rank higher for me. There wasn't enough balance between the flavors, and I wished it felt less like a cocktail and more like a lemonade with just a touch of Jack Daniel's Honey. All told, it felt like a canned version of a cocktail Jack Daniel's has on its website, which simply recommends mixing regular Jack Daniel's Honey with lemonade.

I had to giggle a little when the Minute Maid Spiked lemonade boxes arrived in the mail. The variety pack includes only two flavors: regular lemonade and pink lemonade. Admittedly, some of the other offerings from various hard lemonade brands can feel a little outlandish, so it was both refreshing and a little surprising to see Minute Maid offering two of the most basic ones.

I found Minute Maid Spiked lemonade to be exactly what you typically expect a spiked lemonade to be. It tasted very much like regular lemonade, but with a little kick to it. I found it sweeter than some of the other boozy lemonades, but certainly not in a sickly sweet sort of way. The flavor felt very middle-of-the-road and reminded me of other Minute Maid flavors I had tried before. The cans were much more juicy lemon than they were a sour lemon, and really didn't have much alcohol flavor at all.

While drinking, it felt like the kind of beverage you might find in a cooler at a graduation party or gathering with friends during the summer. If it was packed in a cooler with a bunch of ice, I would have no problem taking out one of these cans and enjoying it. Even still, I found other brands were even better at flavor, so at the grocery store, I would probably choose them instead, if available. That said, I found the Minute Maid flavors to be a very good basic hard lemonade — so if you were looking to jazz it up with other fruit or flavors, these might be a great starting point.

In general, Simply products are some of my favorite juices. The strawberry lemonade is super tasty, so I was expecting the Simply Spiked lemonades to follow suit. In general, I found the offering to be pretty good. The flavors were a little on the less adventurous side, which wasn't necessarily bad, but notable. They tasted every bit the lemonade they should, and were ultra-refreshing. There was very little bite, and the flavors perfectly matched their fruit content. 

A case of these would be very well-suited for the beach. However, they'd go just as well at a summer barbecue, making them some of the more flexible and tasty lemonade options I sampled.

This was one of the brands I had some familiarity with, and my mom regularly stocks these, too (especially the cherry limeade version). Simply Spiked Lemonade could have easily climbed even higher in the list, if not for the fact that some other brands surprised me with just how outstanding they were. If these are the only spiked lemonades you have at your store, they are an absolutely great purchase — based on the way some other brands have such minimal flavor, that's certainly nothing these suffer from. If, like me, you really enjoy sour flavors, then Simply Spiked lemonades are a good option.

I love ciders, so the tasty spin on hard lemonades from Schilling Hard Lemonade was a delicious twist. I didn't expect these to taste as different from the other lemonades as they did. These drinks had apple wine listed as their very first ingredient, and everything tasted ultra-fresh and clean with pink, blue raspberry, watermelon, and peach flavors in the 12-ounce cans.

While some of the lemonade brands were sweetened with artificial sugars, the Schilling Hard Lemonades had sugar, a delicious decision that I appreciated as someone who enjoys sugar in my drinks rather than stevia or sucralose. Not to mention, I loved the cute cartoon koala on the can; it was just the most adorable packaging. I'm a total sucker for great packaging. While there's a lot to love about this lemonade, the absolute only thing that kept this brand from one of my top spots was that it had quite a bit less lemonade flavor than I hoped for.

Admittedly, it's been some time since I've tried Mike's Hard Lemonade. Although I remember enjoying these drinks many years ago, I've always considered them too sweet to taste very much like alcohol. And while that was a strike against them when I was younger, now I find it to be one of the benefits. Every flavor of Mike's Hard Lemonade I tried, I very much enjoyed. However, these are very sweet. The black cherry lemonade, for instance, reminded me of melted cherry candy more than anything else.

The only thing really keeping it from my top spot was the fact that I just didn't get a whole lot of lemonade flavor. These are enjoyable drinks, but if you're looking for lemonade, you're probably going to want to search for something that has more of a lemony element to it. However, if the citrus is less of an essential part for you, these might be exactly what you're looking for.

I absolutely fell in love with the Crown Royal Whisky Lemonades. You could say it was love at first sip. I've never had anything quite as enjoyable from a can, and I've tried plenty of would-be cocktails that try to emulate a fresh drink experience. While so many brands fail to hit this very high bar, the Crown Royal lemonade tasted even better than some of the freshest cocktails I've had in a lounge or bar. 

A case of these will, no doubt, go very fast at a summer gathering. They feel a little bit more elevated than the kind of drink you would enjoy at the beach, but still perfect for summer sipping. These were so good, I am considering stocking up on this Canadian liquor for other mixed drinks.

The peach variety was the kind I tried first, and I was astounded by just how much it tasted like a fuzzy navel-type drink. It was nothing short of exceptional, and everyone I've had sample it has also loved it. You can't get away from how well balanced and enjoyable these ready-to-enjoy drinks are. I also found the blackberry flavor to be refreshing and juicy. If you are concerned about the whiskey element, not typically being a whiskey drinker, I'll tell you that I was too. However, I never felt like I tasted the whiskey within these drinks, they were that well-balanced. Though some of the lemonade drinks I tried tasted nothing like lemonade, these did. These cans were an ideal balance of fruit and lemonade, easily claiming my favorite drink of the brands I tried. 

To find you the best lemonades to drink during your Fourth of July and summer celebrations, I tasted 13 different brands and ranked them according to how enjoyable they were to drink. In other words: Did it taste good, and was there enough balance of flavor? Ideally, I wanted lemonades that were tasty, and were enough like lemonade to actually be considered lemonade. 

I also had the help of my husband, sister, brother-in-law, and mother to offer some input when testing the different drinks. I made note of which ones we kept going back to, as those inevitably were some of our favorites.