Why I’m Obsessed with This Tequila Seltzer Right Now

My hangover-free Sunday might have something to do with it.

volley tequila seltzer
Photos: Volley; Image: Maitane Romagosa for Thrillist
Photos: Volley; Image: Maitane Romagosa for Thrillist

As I approach the ripe old age of 25, I can feel myself becoming more and more prone to hangovers. Maybe it’s all in my head. But there’s nothing I hate more than wasting a Sunday, curled up inside, when I could be out and about, soaking in the fresh air, and actually living my life.

So I’ve become much more strategic about the way that I drink, and Volley tequila seltzer hits all the boxes. I recently brought a pack of Volley to a house party, and it was immediately devoured by my friends. I grabbed the ginger flavor—which complemented the tequila with a simple, spicy kick—and felt good while drinking it. It’s that same fresh, airy feeling you get when you convince yourself to drink a green juice (again, maybe all in my head). But even better, I woke up the next morning and made it to the farmer’s market.

Founded by husband and wife duo Christopher Wirth and Camila Soriano, Volley touts itself as the first “clean” tequila seltzer on the market. “We started Volley because we weren’t seeing what we were looking for in the RTD market and felt the need to create a brand around ingredient transparency,” Wirth says. “The fact that the TTB doesn’t require ingredient labeling or nutritional facts like the FDA does, shocked us.”

Volley actually tastes like it contains real ingredients—and that’s not something I can say about most spiked seltzers, which tend to have an artificial aftertaste (read: aspartame). But you know the juice in Volley really is organic because it settles at the bottom of the can. So in order to have an optimal experience, you have to flip the can to activate it.

It has taken many years of mindlessly experimenting with different liquors to realize that darker-colored drinks do not sit right with me. And, apparently, there is an explanation for this. Drinks like whiskey and red wine are filled with congeners, or byproducts of fermentation. Congeners contribute to a drink’s flavor and color, but are very difficult for the liver to break down, so they may result in a more severe hangover.

Lighter alcohols, then, are my friends. The tequila blanco in Volley is 100% pure agave rather than mixto, which can contain up to 49% of non-agave ingredients, like sugars, flavorings, and colorings. It’s sourced from the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico, known for agave plants that produce naturally sweeter, fruitier tequila.

So what you’re left with is a can that contains none of the fake stuff that’s commonly found in other spiked seltzers—added sugars, corn syrup, etc—letting the slightly tart, organic fruit juice shine on its own.

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Jessica Sulima is a staff writer on the Food & Drink team at Thrillist. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram