Peace Hard Tea Review: This Isn't Your Grandma's Sweet Tea

Labor Day weekend has come and gone, but that doesn't mean it's too late in the year to enjoy a refreshing, alcoholic beverage. While seltzers might be a thing of the past, hard iced tea is here and it's here to stay. At least, if Molson Coors and the Coca-Cola Company have anything to say about it that is. Together, these beverage industry giants have just launched their foray into the hard tea market with Peace Hard Tea. 

An expansion on Coca-Cola's popular tea brand, Peace Hard Tea is a non-carbonated alcoholic drink that comes in a handful of vanities. The hard tea flavors currently sold are Freedom of Peach, Really Really Razzy, and More Peace More Lemon. We had the chance to try all three of them for a taste test. Assessing a handful of factors including taste, nutritional value, and cost, we have broken down what each of these Peace Tea flavors brings to the after-dinner table. 

First up on the docket is Peace Hard Tea Freedom of Peach. Trying saying that five times fast. 

The best way we can describe the flavor is that it's akin to that of a Snapple Peach Tea. That's to say that the peach flavor is as strong as the sugar. There's no denying the sugar content in these tallboys is quite high (we will expand on that later), but in this case, we found it quite tasty. Of the three flavors we tried, the Freedom of Peach was the one that tasted the best and went down the smoothest. So far, so good Peace Hard Tea. 

Next up is the Really Really Razzy, which, as you can guess, is Peace Hard Tea's raspberry flavor. We expected this to taste like straight-up Brisk, but were pleasantly surprised by a drink that was more balanced and much less syrupy than the popular raspberry tea flavor. 

We also expected this to be the sweetest one by far but were surprised again when its sugar content didn't exceed that of the peach and lemon teas. Instead, there is a bright, albeit artificial, raspberry flavor to the sweet hard tea that doesn't leave your palette feeling gross or sticky. All in all, we also enjoyed this flavor, just not quite as much as the Freedom of Peach. 

The one Peace Hard Tea flavor we weren't a fan of was the lemon-flavored More Peace More Lemon. We wanted to make it three for three, but the artificial lemon flavor in this drink was too strong to get past. 

When you sip from the can you get an extreme citrus flavor, followed by a taste of the alcohol, and then a lingering artificial lemon aftertaste. Worst of all, there is little sour or tartness to the lemon flavor in this tea. It's overly sweet in a way that doesn't successfully mimic the flavor of a glass of sweet tea with lemon. Instead, it tastes a bit like taking a shot while eating a yellow Starburst. 

Peace Hard Tea is available for purchase at local convenience stores and retailers nationwide in 24-ounce cans. A single 24-ounce can goes for a suggested retail price of $3.84, but that is sure to vary by region. 

Every Peace Hard Tea comes in at 5% ABV. One serving (of which there are two per can) will set you back 140 calories and 20 milligrams of sodium. That's not bad, but where Peace Hard Tea is going to knock you down is in the carbs, which pretty much come entirely from sugar. In a two-serving can, 19 of the 20 grams of carbohydrates come from sugar, which checks out given how sweet the spiked teas tasted. In terms of calories and carbs per serving overall, Peace Hard Tea will exceed your average light beer, and can't be said to be much healthier than your average brewsky. 

Overall, we enjoyed two of the three Peace Hard Tea flavors that we tried. Ultimately, the brand is yet another stab at hard iced tea that topples the likes of Twisted Tea and Mike's Hard products. Standing alongside the likes of 2 Hoots and Lipton, Peace Hard Tea proves that a new wave of hard iced tea is already here. 

Of the three Peace Hard Tea beverages we sampled, we would be most likely to buy the Freedom of Peach, as we found it to be the most refreshing and delicious of the teas on offer. We also thought the Really Really Razzy lived up to its name, while the More Peace More Lemon flavor sadly didn't bring the juice.