White Claw ∙ Pure
Cold Hard Facts
12 oz. skinny cans sold in 6-packs, within 12-can variety packs
16 oz. tallboy cans sold individually
19.2 oz. cans sold individually
16 oz.
2.7g sugar
167 calories
11 calories from sugar, 123 calories from alcohol
12 oz.
2g sugar
100 calories
8 calories from sugar, 92 calories from alcohol
20 oz.
3.3g sugar
200 calories
13 calories from sugar, 15 calories from alcohol
Flavor Profile
There’s no way to put this nicely: unlike its flavored counterparts, Pure White Claw is Just Not Good. The premise is solid: a sugarless hard seltzer that doesn’t presume the drinker wants a flavor? What could be better? Turns out, you really need that flavor to cover up the taste of the base alcohol in this beverage line. It was a great experiment, but, unfortunately, this revealed that White Claw does not use premium alcohol in their seltzers (assuming the alcohol source is the same across flavors).
Drinkability
At 5%, you can drink all White Claw seltzers all day long. What’s the catch? You’ll be pretty turnt by the end of the day. For day drinking, a seltzer in the low 4% range is much more reasonable. However, this drink will take some creativity to make drinkable. It does not mix well with other White Claw flavors and ends up overpowering the mild flavor of the added seltzer. It does not mix well with alcohol because, frankly, it tastes cheaper than the alcohol you’re likely to be adding.
The HardSeltzerReviews.com team would sooner drink Natty Light (beer).
Price
White Claw brand seltzers vary widely in price according to location and demand. The HardSeltzerReviews.com price index is shown here:
Dive Bar
$3 for a 12 oz. can
$4 for a 16 oz. can
$5-6 for a 20 oz.can (unlikely to be available)
Bar/Restaurant
$4-6 for a 12 oz. can
$5-7 for a 16 oz. can (unlikely to be available)
$8-12 for a 20 oz. can (unlikely to be available)
Store
$15 for a 12-pack of 12 oz. cans
$9 for a single-flavor 6-pack of 12 oz. cans
$2.30 for a 20 oz. can
Recommendations
If you must drink this White Claw variety, add flavorful garnish and consider infusing it beforehand in a pressure-sealed container.
Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to create a wine spritzer with this seltzer.
Summary
Taste
0/5
Price
$$$
Drinkability
0/5
Hangover Ease
3/5
Overall Rating: 1/5
Just Don’t
This flavor of White Claw is not entirely without merit: it has 0 sugar and it is portable. However, if you have any sort of disposable income, save yourself the pain and avoid this drink wherever possible. An 18-year-old would happily take a case, but a 20-year-old would probably turn it down.
The perfect version of this seltzer has 10-20% less alcohol and just doesn’t taste anything like this. White Claw should consider drastic changes to the formula or removing it from shelves entirely because it reveals an ugly side of their seltzers. Before White Claw Pure came out, we could all live the fantasy that we were drinking quality alcohol diluted in water with light flavoring, but now the cat is out of the bag, and the illusion of luxury has shattered before our eyes.