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Natural Light rolls out flavored vodka – and we put it to the (taste) test

Yahoo Finance's Alexandra Canal tase tests Natural Light's flavored vodka.

Video transcript

ADAM SHAPIRO: Sometimes the best way to end a day after you've done an interview with somebody who's a little bit difficult at times, is to pour yourself a nice drink. Sometimes it's scotch, sometimes it's vodka. Allie Canal is joining us now with the latest on Natty Light vodka, because if you're going to pour that drink you've got to watch the calories.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: That's right, Adam. And today is National Vodka Day, so happy National Vodka Day, everybody. And we're talking about a brand that's not really known for vodka at all. Natural Light, or as I referred to it in college, Natty Light, is known for its beer. It's a prominent brand under Anheuser-Busch. But they are rolling out a new product line that's not beer, it's not a seltzer, it's actually flavored vodka. And I have the flavors right here. We have lemonade, we have black cherry lemonade, and finally strawberry lemonade. So an interesting product rollout for this time of year. This sort of strikes me as a summer drink, but I guess you could argue that flavored vodka is good all year round.

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I'm going to try first the strawberry lemonade. This seems to be something that will be easier to drink straight up. I'm only going to pour a little bit. I gave up vodka shots a very long time ago. So I just want to see how this is going to taste. I am curious. So you see here there's a nice pink hue. I can't believe I'm doing this on air. I don't have a good cowboy face. But it does actually smell very fruity. Let's see. Whoa, OK.

SEANA SMITH: I think your face says it all.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: It's very sweet, so that makes me think that it would probably be good in chaser form. I can definitely see college kids hopping on this trend. And you know, this is something that we've seen a lot of brands do is sort of break out and make products that are beyond their core products. Of course, we had that spiked seltzer boom for a while. We had that canned cocktail boom. So these are trends that have their moment in the sun. But then they sort of fade a little bit, so you always have to keep things fresh as an alcohol brand, trying new things. Try and bring in new customers while also keeping your old customers satisfied. And in fact, in this announcement AB InBev said that flavored vodka is one of the fastest-growing segments in the spirits category.

Natty vodka, as a brand, has continuously introduced new products. These will join some other new roll-outs from the company, which include Naturdays frozen icicles, Natural Light sour seltzers, and Naturdays pineapple lemonade. I mean, Naturdays? That just-- that brings me back to college days. It just sounds like a college phrase. But here you go. Natty Light vodka, get these in stores. If you want. It's very sweet. We'll see we'll see how they do. They've been out for about a month now. So we'll see how they do.

SEANA SMITH: Allie, are you going to try the other two flavors, or do you want us just to move on to another partnership that we're going to talk about?

ALEXANDRA CANAL: I think we can move on. I think we got the gist here. Definitely very, very sweet. But yeah, you know, it's a work day. I still got some work to do. We'll keep it--

SEANA SMITH: After seeing your face I don't think I'm going to rush out to the stores to get this. But you never know, to each their own. But Allie, there's another interesting partnership for those who don't necessarily want to drink their calories. They can also eat it, with, I guess, also their alcohol calories as well. Tell us about what Katz is doing teaming up with Hendrick's Gin.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Yes, so this started out as an April Fool's joke between the two brands. But now we have Hendrick's Gin teaming up with New York City's famous Katz's Deli to create these new gin-inspired pickles. These are available for a limited time. It's a first of its kind half sour pickle, which is a fusion of gin botanicals and cucumbers. I'm going to open this-- if I can open this here-- there we go. You can see the juniper berries. It does have-- you can smell the gin, for sure. And this is a two-step brining process. It takes over 72 hours. These are available to purchase directly off of Katz's website, $14.95 a quart. They ship nationwide. You can also purchase them at Katz's Deli while supplies last. This is only for a limited time. But I'm a big pickle girl, so I'm going to try this. Here we go, bottoms up.

Pretty good. There's, like, a slight tanginess at the end, but it's not overpowering with gin. So--

SEANA SMITH: Can you taste that it's actually gin in there?

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Yeah. You see the Juniper beans? Is gin infused, gin inspired. Smells a little-- smells a little ginny. But yeah, I like this. I think you could definitely eat this with your pastrami sandwich. So this over the Natty Light vodka, I think, but, again, to each his own, as you said, Seana.

ADAM SHAPIRO: I think we need to make a meme of your face after that vodka hit your taste buds. Allie, thank you so much.