What Flavor Is Smirnoff Ice Original Supposed To Be?

Many millennials are thoroughly familiar with the hilarious tradition of Smirnoff Icing. The idea is that your friends hide a bottle of Smirnoff Ice somewhere (like a drawer or gift box). If you unknowingly find it, then you need to chug the thirst-quencher on one knee for all present. Once that happens, congratulations — you've been Iced. But have you ever wondered what its flavor was supposed to be while you were guzzling it down? It turns out there's a clear-cut answer.

Smirnoff Ice Original is labeled a "crisp citrus" malt beverage by the brand. It has all the trappings of a lemon-lime soda, only with much less carbonation. The drink's fizziness plays up the crisp, refreshing notes of the citrus flavoring. Think of it as a super bright, mild lemonade, or a minimally bubbly Sprite.

The iconic sipper is designed to stand in for a mixed drink. So all you need to do is open the container and enjoy. It offers the buzz and toned-down flavor of a liquor-and-juice cocktail, minus the work of shaking, stirring, and fetching additional ingredients. It's also worth noting that Smirnoff Ice Original is a malt beverage, so it's produced more or less like a brewed beer. That means it contains no vodka even though the brand is known for that spirit. Malt beverages like this are mostly made by fermenting both malted barley and hops in water.

Smirnoff Ice Original has a short ingredient list that doesn't illuminate its taste. The label names carbonated water, malt, sugar, natural flavorings, citric acid, and preservatives. So all you can really learn from the packaging is that it's effervescent, sweet, and sour. Of course, after more than 25 years on shelves, most mixed drink lovers in the U.S. already know what to expect from the citrusy bev.

Since it first launched, there have been many riffs on the O.G. Like the brand's vodka, there are numerous popular Smirnoff flavors to choose from nowadays. When a Mashed contributor ranked every Smirnoff Ice variety, the classic received second place, only topped by the Screwdriver variation. Other top choices included Red, White, and Berry, Pink Lemonade, and Green Apple. However, there are plenty more to try, including Mango, Pineapple, Grape, and Raspberry.

Even with all the varieties available, many Smirnoff Ice fans stay devoted to the original flavor, despite its colloquial reputation for being low-brow. "I love Ice ... as someone who has drank a lot of it, it kind of tastes like if Sprite and Fanta had a baby, it's really good," wrote one Reddit user. Someone else said in a separate Reddit thread, "Bro, I can always drink one. I'm shocked this is an unpopular opinion, they're so refreshing." A third person asserted, "That's the best cold drink you can buy in the store after beer, of course."