Every Costco Kirkland Signature Hard Seltzer Flavor, Tasted and Ranked

The hard seltzer category has blossomed 10-fold over the past decade. It all started in 2013 with the launch of SpikedSeltzer, which eventually became Bon & Viv before its discontinuation in 2023. But the category really picked up steam in 2016 when White Claw and Truly hit the market. Ever since, just about every major beverage alcohol brand has hopped on the hard seltzer train. Hell, even craft breweries have capitalized on the craze. And as of September 2020, Costco has been a player in the category, too.

There’s a lot to love about Costco. The big-box retailer is a one-stop shop for everything from TVs and furniture to clothing and kitchen pantry staples. And no matter the product, it’s almost guaranteed that customers are getting them for some of the best prices on the market.

Of course, Costco wouldn’t be Costco without its private label brand Kirkland Signature. It spans every section of the store, and much like Trader Joe’s brand products, Kirkland Signature is a private label shrouded in relative mystery. Although countless items carry the Kirkland Signature name, the actual manufacturers behind them often remain unclear to the consumer. Nonetheless, by most accounts, many of these products hold their own in quality and affordability — especially those in the Costco beverage department. There’s a variety of spirits, wines, an award-winning Helles lager, a highly sought-after imperial stout, and four flavors of hard seltzers.

As far as price is concerned, Kirkland Signature’s hard seltzers smoke the competition. A 24-count variety pack retails for about $28, while customers can expect to pay about $36 for the same quantity of Truly or White Claw hard seltzers. Every can packs 100 calories, clocks in at 5 percent ABV, and every expression is both malt-based and gluten-free. The packaging lists two manufacturers, California’s Patco Brands and Las Vegas’s MPL Brands NV, Inc., but it’s unclear as to which company is behind each specific flavor or different parts of the production process. Regardless, the most important question is: How do these hard seltzers stack up in flavor? We put them to the taste test to find out, and then ranked them from worst to best based on balance and accurate execution of each advertised flavor.

4. Raspberry

There’s no two ways about it: Kirkland Signature’s raspberry hard seltzer tastes like an absolute sugar bomb. Upon cracking the can, a promising burst of overripe raspberries floods the senses, but it’s all downhill from there. Each sip tastes like raspberry gummy candy, and that profile lingers long into the finish. Like every other hard seltzer in the lineup, it has decent carbonation, but it doesn’t dispel the pervasive sweetness at play here. It’s cloying, barely sessionable, and will likely only appeal to die-hard raspberry lovers.

3. Mango

The mango flavor is a step up from raspberry. It’s not quite as sweet, and finishes dry with no lingering aftertaste — which is what most drinkers would expect from their hard seltzers. However, the flavor misses the mark on the true essence of mango. It lands in a weird gray area between underripe fruit and an artificially flavored mango candy. The perfumed nature of its profile also doesn’t hold back from nose to palate, making this a far-from-crushable expression. The carbonation keeps its slightly cloying nature in check, but the mango flavor ultimately tastes all too contrived.

2. Lime

Prickly effervescence and subtlety are the core pillars of Kirkland’s lime hard seltzer. With no detectable alcohol and a higher perceived level of carbonation than the rest of the bunch, this one is refreshing, crushable, and is more or less identical in profile to a lime LaCroix sparkling water. The lime flavor tastes like the real thing, if slightly reserved. The citrusy components make a swift appearance on the front palate, then disappear in a flash. Think of it like squeezing a single lime wedge into a gallon of seltzer water. Depending on the drinker’s preference, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but some might expect a bit more of a punch here.

1. Black Cherry

Black cherry is a flavor that tends to do well in the context of hard seltzer. It’s the golden goose of White Claw’s portfolio, and Kirkland’s version proved to be the standout in the variety pack. Admittedly, it was a tough call between lime and black cherry but the latter took the cake in execution of the advertised flavor. The nose is redolent of dried cherries and black cherry jam, and that profile carries over seamlessly onto the palate. There is the slightest hint of cherry cough syrup lingering in the background but it gets overshadowed by the drink’s lively carbonation and authentic cherry flavor at its core. The aftertaste is just subtle enough that it invites subsequent sips, making it the most crushable expression of the bunch.

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