Boozy Seltzer: as Much Booze as Beer, and Only Half the Diet Guilt

Summer drinking typically involves pounding buckets of cold beers, any and all chilled bottles of rose, and unfortunate sunburn lines. But your warm-weather day drinking is about to make a serious turn this year with an increasingly popular drink: alcoholic seltzer waters. The threat of sunburn, however, will remain.

One brand of the boozy "water," Spiked Seltzer, has been around for years now, but the upcoming launch of a competing brand called Nauti Seltzer next month is cracking open a case of new interest in the low-carb, gluten-free, and [insert health-centric buzzword here] beverage category. The appeal is pretty simple: a bottle of Spiked Seltzer, for example, has about the same amount of alcohol as a beer (6% ABV), but less than half the carbs -- 5g versus roughly 13g, according to a report by BuzzFeed. Basically, you can get just as buzzed and experience slightly less regret later.

Nauti Seltzer, which launches early next month, claims to offer a similar deal: "a low calorie, low carb, refreshing, new alternative in the fast growing hard soda category," according to its website. A can of Nauti, which like Spiked Seltzer comes in multiple flavors, contains 110 calories and 5g of carbs, and a 5% ABV. However, it's unclear if Nauti Seltzer is also gluten-free, based on the product's description and packaging. Either way, boozy seltzer could just become a "thing" this summer, but don't expect rose and those buckets of Coronas to go anywhere.

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Tony Merevick is Cities News Editor at Thrillist and could go for a drink -- any drink -- right about now. Send news tips to news@thrillist.com and follow him on Twitter @tonymerevick.