Polar

Pink Apple & Lemon

Polar is a brand that is woefully underrepresented on this site. That is definitely our fault, but having spent our adulthoods on the west coast, Polar just hasn’t really been on our radar. It’s just not really out there, so we’ve been stuck bopping back and forth LaCroix and Waterloo for what seems like eternity.

All of that has changed.

We are here to announce that Bubbleverse HQ has set up shop on the east coast for the foreseeable future, and it is a wildly different seltzer landscape out here. And by that we mean, it’s All Polar All The Time.

Welcome to the Polar Industrial Complex should be emblazoned across New England billboards. It’s honestly a little intense, and we’ve been clutching our LaCroixs like the aluminum security blankets they are in our time of upheaval and transition.

That said, we’ve been here for months already, and have yet to post about this east coast behemoth. Mostly because we’ve still been staring dumbly at the shelves overwhelmed by the sheer amount of Polar flavors there are. Nineteen seltzer flavors in addition to a continual parade of Limited Editions that rivals Ugly’s output. And that’s not including their lineup of “Seltzer’ade”, (which is sugar-free and therefore reviewable 🥵)

AND that’s not including those adorable little baby Polar seltzers. Seltzer Jr! For all of the elder millennial breeders who are ready to set their young progeny on the path of the bubblenaut. We salute you.

Basically, we haven’t even known where to begin. But we want to. We like Polar! Will we get to all of them? We don’t know. Depends on how quickly the supply chain falls apart.

There also seems to be some real channel stuffing happening at our local market, because the AHAs and LaCroixs are cloistered away in a tiny unlabelled section in a different aisle, like tiny, shameful Southern and Midwestern (respectively) stepchildren. while Polar gets their own wing, like the tony East Coast Kennedy of sparkling water that it is. There might as well be a chaise and some peeled grapes waiting for Prince Polar for all the special treatment those boxes get.

So we’re starting with Pink Apple & Lemon, which surprised us, too. We only recently noticed it poking out through the throngs of Ginger Mule and Pomegranate.

But now that we’re in full East Coast fall splendor, apples are kind of on the brain. So apple it is!

The nose on this is already a cidery apple. Honeyed and crisp and frankly mouth-watering. We want more.

Tasting Notes

🍎🍋🍂🥺

This is probably the most perfect apple we’ve come across in a sparkling water. The apple is bright and expressive, closely aligned with the appletastic explosion that the dearly departed AHA Apple + Ginger (RIP) gave us.

The lemon note cuts in as a sharp tartness, which invokes the hallowed seasonal beverage: Apple Cider. To have this holy grail of flavors in a sparkling water is a dream. And tbh, one were we’re surprised that Ugly hasn’t done yet. Apple Cider seems like an obvious choice for them.

We wish that Polar had leaned into this flavor a little more, cranked it up just a touch, rather than just stopping at recreating two very stoic fruits: an apple with a leaf still attached, a lemon wedge flanking its side. But no, none of the fun. That’s all reserved for Seltzer Jr.

We kid though: this is incredible. There was a reason that we picked this as our entry into the dense waters of Polar’s offerings. There is truly something original happening here. It’s the Fall Fantasy. This is Vermont at peak leaf peeping. We’re ready to heat this up and dunk a cider donut right in.

(Also, it’s the one we have the hardest time finding. Ain’t it always the way?)

A quick shoutout to Polar’s website which touts their singular “tiny bubbles”. We love a tiny bubble brag. We should also add that we do appreciate Polar’s 19th century pedigree, locally-sourced and triple-filtered water.

We do plan to explore the Polar Pantheon in the upcoming year, including their twee little Jr’s, so Polar fans rejoice. Polar is about to represent hard next year. Again, counting on the supply chain to come through!

There’s also this bizarre looking store called “Ocean State Job Lot” that none of you told us about. It looks very bizarre and is also not a job lot, but we’ve heard they carry lots of Polar. We’ll report back on our findings when we work up the nerve to enter.