Sparkling Summer Seltzers in the Snow - Summer 2021 Polar Flavors

These were the summer 2021 flavors (I think), so they're not available anymore, but I wanted to review them anyway. 

 

This is a flavored seltzer, so does it taste like soda? No. Will it satisfy a sweet tooth craving? No. Would I ever mistake this for a cocktail? Also no. But I like it. Seltzer, is light, bubbly, and has just enough aroma/flavor to change things up from my usual filtered water or citrus-flavored seltzers. I saw a comic online somewhere that joked that when you like seltzer you're official old/dying. R.I.P. me and my youthfulness.  

Unicorn Kisses and Dragon Whisper Dreams - Do Kids Even Like Seltzer?

Impossibly Good Polar Seltzers - BJ's Whole Sale

I hate buying food online, so even though I was dying to try Polar's unicorn-themed seltzer, I decided to wait until I found it in stores. After a few years of casually checking the seltzer aisles of every store I went to, I was at BJ's grabbing supplies for my hoard of cats and my foster cats (yeah, that's a thing I do now, my animal-insta is @pepperjackpoms), I saw this box-set of mystical seltzers aimed at kids. Unicorns included! Even though I felt like the price tag was a bit steep for 4-packs of itty bitty seltzer cans, I didn't want this to slip through my fingers, so I bought it anyway. 

Do kids even like seltzer? I mean, I know it's trendy for adults right now, but as a kid I hated the stuff. Is there a market for this or is the main target chumps like me? 

Whomever their target audience is, they really went all out on this packaging. Look at these things! 

Bowl & Basket Shop Rite Seltzer Party! 6 different flavors!

6 Flavors of Shop Rite Bowl & Basket Seltzer

When compared to Aldi and La Croix, Bowl & Basket finds itself somewhere in the middle in terms of variety. La Croix opts for fancier, more exotic offerings, like Limoncello and Hibiscus, where Aldi sticks to citrus fruits for the most part. But what Aldi lacks in variety, they make up for in consistency. Of their main flavors, I don't think there is a dud in the bunch. I decided to grab a bottle of Bowl & Basket lemon lime, to have a better basis of comparison to my go-to Aldi seltzers, but otherwise grabbed new flavors I have yet to experience in seltzer form. I'm pretty excited to see how these taste (and to add a bit of variety to my bubbly sipping.)  

Am I Turning into a La Croix Fan Girl?

Even More La Croix Flavors

Ain't no party like a La Croix party 'cause a La Croix party don't stop. Unless you're in Massachusetts where it was temporarily illegal...

That intro started out strong, but I'm too tired to be witty. Anyway, we're still trying to take it easy with soda in our house, and to scratch that itch, we've been drinking a lot of flavored seltzer. Honestly, it's working pretty well, but the only issue is that Aldi only offers citrus and unflavored seltzer. Their lime seltzer is fantastic, but after a month or two, we're getting a little lime'd out. We were craving variety and thankfully, Aldi also carries really random flavors of La Croix. Now this brand is kinda hipster-y, and more expensive than I would like (pretty much twice the Aldi version's price) but I only plan on buying it as a rare treat to break up the monotony. 

So, how do they taste? 

Bougie Aldi Sparkling Water Breakdown

Sparkling Water Party!  - Aldi

We're cutting back on soda, as a household, and we've been looking to bubbly water to curb our cravings, and you know what? It's kind of working.

Although all the sugar and citric acid in soda isn't great, our real reason from cutting back is the amount of caffeine we've been ingesting. Between coffee, tea, and soda...it was just too much and it wasn't helping with our already erratic sleep schedules. (Well rested who? We don't know her.) 

Thankfully, Aldi has a lot of sparkling water/seltzer varieties to choose from including the bougie mainstream brand La Croix. It's been two weeks of bubbly water, so, here are a few of the items I picked up and what we think!

More Instagram Goodness

A wall of summer seltzers! I'm a recently converted seltzer drinker and every flavor on this palette is a winner!! ▪🍹▪💖▪🍹▪ #polarseltzer #polar #seltzer #drink #bjs #beverage #drink #fruit #sometimesfoodie

A photo posted by Sometimes Foodie (@sometimesfoodie) on Jul 27, 2016 at 10:46am PDT

I've been posting more shopping and cooking images of what I'm eating and drinking in my daily life over on Instagram. These Seltzers are AWESOME. The best one is the raspberry & pink lemonade, but every single one is delicious!