Costco's New Kirkland Seltzers Take On A Classic Cocktail

An eagle-eyed Costco shopper has spotted a new ready-to-drink seltzer product that harkens to a bar classic: a vodka and soda. This new tidbit was posted to Reddit, where a user shared a photo showing an 18-pack of a canned vodka and soda beverage from Kirkland, Costco's house brand. The drinks come in three different flavors: peach, watermelon, and pineapple. The Costco base price is listed as $24.99 at the Washington state location where the shopper saw this product. However, it also carries an alcohol-specific sales and per-liter tax, which adds another $29.22 to the charge for a total price of $54.21 for the case. The expense is largely due to Washington taxing ready-to-drink cocktails as if they were pure spirits, so the price would be significantly less in areas with more lenient liquor laws. 

They have 100 calories per can, an ABV of 4.5%, and are gluten-free. Clearly, this canned combination isn't an innovative one; there are plenty of vodka and sodas out there — such as Truly Vodka Seltzers or best-selling High Noon hard seltzers – but it's Kirkland's first, so you can generally expect its price to be cheaper than name brands. Commenters are reporting that they're not available everywhere just yet. One user wrote, "I don't see these for sale in Los Angeles," but a reply from another user noted that they found some in the San Francisco area. So if your local Costco doesn't carry them as of this moment, it may happen soon.

Costco already carries another Kirkland-brand hard seltzer with similar qualities, though these are made with an unspecified alcohol rather than vodka. They come in a 24-pack with mango, grapefruit, black cherry, and lime flavors and clock in at 5% ABV with 100 calories per can. They're gluten-free as well, and our local Costco in Chicago carries them for $21.99 a pack. These I can personally attest to since I've had them; they're actually pretty good and comparable to name-brand seltzers. At that price, you can't really beat them, considering our local grocery stores sell brands, such as White Claw, from anywhere between $16 to $20 per 12-pack.

With winter weather in full swing right now, it's not exactly backyard drinking weather just yet, but the new Kirkland vodka and soda product is probably a good candidate for a cookout when it gets nicer out. There hasn't been much chatter on whether or not they're one of the best-tasting hard seltzers since they're so new, but if Costco's standard product is any indication, these Kirkland vodka sodas are likely a solid alternative to the name-brand stuff.