For a category made up of lightly flavored, boozy, sparkling waters, hard seltzer continues to evolve with staggering speed. Over the past 12 months, we’ve seen all the major brands increase their flavor offerings, and a range of new innovations including hard seltzer lemonades, hard seltzer iced teas, hard seltzer cocktails, and even hard seltzer IPA. (OK, that last one was a lie, but perhaps not for long.)

With producers choosing between fermented cane sugar, distilled spirits, and wine as the base alcohol for their products, merely defining what qualifies as a hard seltzer these days comes with its own inherent challenges.

As VinePair approached our third annual hard seltzer ranking, we cast a broad eye across the category to come up with our own (unofficial) definition: To be included in our tasting, products would need to contain fewer than 150 calories; arrive at 6 percent ABV or below; and boast fewer than 10 grams of carbohydrates per 12-ounce serving.

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