As America’s fastest-growing malt and beer company, Mike’s Hard Lemonade has enjoyed many years of success since its debut. Mike’s offers a vast selection of flavors across its Hard, Harder, and Sugar-Free varieties; and with such a large catalogue, it makes one wonder what kind of alcohol keeps customers coming back for more. Well, the answer depends on where it’s purchased. In Canada, where the brand originated, Mike’s Hard Lemonade uses a different base alcohol than in the United States.
When it was first introduced in Canada circa 1996, Anthony von Mandl created Mike’s as an alternative to beer and wine coolers that men could drink confidently. In its original recipe, Mike’s Hard Lemonade used vodka as its base. As a neutral-flavored spirit, vodka is perfect for flavoring cocktails. And to this day, that is still how Mike’s Hard Lemonade is made in its home country. However, when it came stateside in 1999, Mike’s Hard Lemonade switched to malt instead. While there is no outright proof, this was likely influenced by distilled spirits like vodka facing higher taxation and stricter regulations in the United States, requiring an establishment to have a proper liquor license to sell it. On the other hand, beer and malt beverages aren’t as restricted and can be produced just as easily as vodka. It likely didn’t hurt that malt tends to have a higher alcohol by volume content than beer, ranging between 5% to 8% (although, malt and beer are closely related in other ways).
Mike’s Hard Lemonade is a trendsetter for flavored malt beverages
It’s generally accepted that Mike’s Hard Lemonade helped pioneer the flavored malt beverage industry. However, it’s not the first of its kind, and certainly not the last. Indeed, Mike’s Hard’s success also opened the door for competitors in the flavored malt beverage arena, like Twisted Tea, to step through. Without Mike’s, it’s also unlikely that we’d have similar trendsetter White Claw Hard Seltzer, as they’re siblings under the Mark Anthony Group umbrella. One could argue that Mike’s not only propelled flavored malt beverages into popularity, but also inspired its parent company to do the same for an entirely new branch of hard seltzers.
As if there were any further convincing needed to enjoy Mike’s Hard Lemonade (or any other flavored malt beverage for that matter), there are a surprising number of health benefits to malt beverages. While it depends on the drink itself, malts contain B vitamins, potassium, and fiber. It can also help with digestion, as malt supports the natural stomach bacteria. Of course, it’s always recommended to consume it in moderation, as even when disregarding the ABV percentage, the caloric and sugar count in malt drinks tend to be very high. But no matter which beverage you choose, enjoy them all responsibly.
