What’s the best way to serve your seltzer?

Beer nerds love to argue about the best way to consume beer. Draft lovers say on tap is best because it can’t be exposed to sunlight and kegs are generally kept cold from beginning to end. Bottle fans say there’s just something crisper about a beer from a bottle, and that if a bar doesn’t regularly clean its draft lines the beer will have off-flavors even get contaminated. Aluminum can lovers say it all tastes the same and cans are easier to recycle than bottles and therefore better for the environment.

There are pros and cons for each, depending, of course, on who you ask. But what about hard seltzers? Is there a better way to serve and drink them?

It’s safe to say most live and die by the can. Open, drink, recycle. But even beer can & bottle drinkers generally seem to agree on one thing: pouring your beverage into a glass makes it better. The same benefits also apply to hard seltzers: letting the drink breathe (aerate) and allowing the aroma to escape, reducing the carbonation (and therefore gas) intake into the body, and the clarity of the product itself.

Like most beers, it should go without saying that hard seltzers should be served ice cold. While downing a warm seltzer may be easier given the fruity quality of the drink, coldness equals crispness, especially on hot summer days. But if you’re not a quick drinker and forgot to bring your koozie to the cook-out, is icing your hard seltzer acceptable?

The answer depends on how you look at it. Let’s examine the pros and cons.

Pros of hard seltzer on the rocks:

  1. Cold is always going to taste better. So rather than wasting that precious liquid or letting it lose its crispness while you wait for it to chill, ice that thing.
  2. Hydration is never a bad thing, especially if you’re a quick drinker. Think of it as taking in more water as you drink.

Cons of pouring out your hard seltzer:

  1. Vanity. Might you possibly look silly? Yes. Should that matter? Not at all.
  2. If you drink too slowly, you will wind up with a watered-down seltzer that is also likely flat. No one wants to drink one of those, so don’t take too long.

Now that we’ve decided ice is okay (I must admit, I live in southern Arizona, and I have iced many beers and seltzers when imbibing on triple digit temperature days), let’s talk garnishes. This one is really about you and your individual taste, but there is one general rule of thumb that seems safe: more fruit, especially if the fruit complements the flavor of your seltzer or is the same as the flavor of your seltzer. A lime wedge on a lime seltzer is a no-brainer, but also consider adding some actual grapefruit to that Grapefruit White Claw.

The most important thing is finding what’s right for you. Experiment. Keep what works, toss what doesn’t, and set your own trends. After all, what’s the point if you’re not enjoying it?

James Granatowski
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