Best Cocktails To Make With Truly Hard Seltzer, According To Truly Hard Seltzer's Casey O'Neill - Exclusive
Casey O'Neill just might have the best job in the world. The Director of Product Development at The Boston Beer Company, home of Truly Hard Seltzer, gets to spend her days brainstorming new ideas for beverages. And by brainstorming, we mean not only around a conference table, but at cocktail bars where bartenders are influencing and being influenced by real-life consumers looking for the next best drink. After all, real life is how she came up with the idea for Truly Hard Seltzer in the first place, O'Neill told Mashed during an exclusive interview.
Back in the summer of 2015, O'Neill and a few friends were looking to kick back after a CrossFit workout, only to realize their choices for a refreshing and sessionable alcoholic beverage were limited to beer and malt-flavored liquor. Truly was designed to fill that once-empty space in the refrigerator case where low sugar, low ABV hard seltzers now wait to be snapped up. These days, the brand's focus is on expanding the flavor selection with the goal being "to have a Truly for everyone," as O'Neill put it. In the meantime, O'Neill is happy to offer recipes for cocktails that leverage Truly Hard Seltzer's existing cache of 27 flavors.
Truly can be a quick ingredient swap in many cocktails
Casey O'Neill pointed out that many mixed drinks can get an assist from Truly Hard Seltzer. "Not only can you use Truly in a cocktail to take the place of seltzer water, but the fact that they're flavored, they're also replacing bitters ... It's actually enhancing flavors," O'Neill said. And since the Truly Americano, the Truly Paloma, and the Truly Jungle Bird are three of her favorites, we naturally got the recipes straight from the source.
To start, there's the Truly Paloma. Since a paloma is essentially a margarita that uses grapefruit soda in the place of orange-flavored liqueur (per Liquor.com), making a "Truly Paloma" is simply a matter of substitution. With this cocktail, you use Truly grapefruit-flavored hard seltzer for whatever grapefruit-flavored mixer you'd usually use. O'Neill advises combining 1 ½ ounces of tequila (or mezcal), ¼ ounce of fresh lime juice, and 3 ½ ounces of Truly grapefruit, and stirring once. To serve, rim the outside of a tall glass with sea salt and pepper, and garnish with lime wheels.
If you're more of a fan of Campari-based cocktails, Casey O'Neill has even more Truly-inspired ideas.
These Campari-based cocktails get a boost from Truly
The original Jungle Bird cocktail is a "tiki-style" drink consisting of rum, Campari, pineapple, lime juice, and simple syrup (via Liquor.com). The "Truly Jungle Bird" levels that basic recipe up with a splash of Truly mango-flavored hard seltzer. To make it yourself, simply pour one ounce of dark rum and ½ ounce of Campari into a cocktail shaker, along with an ounce of pineapple juice and ¼ ounce of lime juice, and shake. Pour into a glass, top with Truly Mango and some crushed ice, and garnish with pineapple leaves.
Then there's O'Neill's absolute favorite of the bunch: The Truly Americano. The drink substitutes Truly pineapple-flavored hard seltzer for the plain old soda water that's typically used in the recipe. To make it at home, simply pour equal parts of Campari and sweet vermouth over ice, top with Truly Pineapple, stir once, and garnish with an orange slice.
Truly Hard Seltzer is set to launch some fun and refreshing new flavors in the near future, not to mention new Truly-based ice pops. So stay tuned for what this creative beverage line is going to amaze us with next.