Liquid Death Water Flavors, Ranked Worst To Best

You've probably seen Liquid Death in the grocery store. With its ominous flavor names and packaging design, you may not be sure what exactly you're looking at and whether it's actually safe to drink. Rest assured. It's just water. In fact, the only thing Liquid Death promises to kill is your thirst with its water, tea, and an electrolyte mix. Fear not; this brand is all bark.

Like many millennials, sparkling water is a mainstay in my home, and I've tried plenty of brands. Liquid Death has been the one I keep returning to ever since I first heard about it from TikTok's water sommelier, Martin Riese. Each can (not bottle) of flavored water contains sparkling water that aims to replicate the carbonation of beer, agave nectar, citric acid, and natural flavors. With some brands, I've found that flavored sparkling water can have an off putting bitter taste, but that's not an issue Liquid Death flavors. That said, within the range, I definitely have favorites and others I'll happily leave for others to enjoy. In sampling Liquid Death's flavors, I rank them here according to how much I enjoy the flavor and whether it is unique or rather run of the mill.

Some recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

When I tell you I wanted to love sparkling water that tastes like one of my favorite desserts, know that this had the potential to become my favorite, go-to water. Unfortunately, it was a let down. The first sip sent me spiraling back to childhood when my favorite lip product of choice was Lip Smackers' chocolate lip balm. No joke, that's exactly what this one tastes like. If you know, you know.

In addition to the ingredients the rest of Liquid Death's favored sparkling waters share, Hot Fudge Sundae has stevia leaf extract as the final ingredient. Normally, this would be immediately concerning to me, but I didn't find that the stevia sugar substitute interfered with flavor. Instead, it's the whole lip balm taste that locks this flavor in as my least favorite. And — though this doesn't necessarily impact its ranking — it also has the least creative name. It does exactly what it says on the tin, or rather, the can. The rest of the flavors have horror inspired names. While I loved the lip balm flavor in elementary school, today, I have no desire to be drinking in that flavor.

Convicted Melon has some unexpected ingredients listed on the back of the can. Under natural flavors, you see the expected watermelon, but it is paired with paprika and lime. Since watermelon has a pretty muted taste, adding just a little bit of zip with lime and paprika is a bold and interesting choice, especially in water.

Imagine you're sitting down to lunch. You've chosen a turkey club sandwich and a fruit cup. Everything is going to plan until you see it. The fruit cup is all melon with a sad grape or two. This flavor — disappointment — is what I get from Convicted Melon. Even with the interesting addition of paprika and lime, the flavor just doesn't work. Unfortunately, it's this disappointing fruit cup flavor that has me ranking Convicted Melon so low. A watermelon flavored water would be perfect, but toning that back somehow to feel less ripe is not the move.

The name Squeezed to Death definitely makes it sound like this is gonna be a flavor heavily focused on fruits that you can juice. The ingredients confirm this and list natural flavors that include orange, tangerine, and blood orange.

Before drinking, I had hopes of getting juicy, fresh squeezed orange flavor with just a touch of carbonation. It turns out, my expectations here were just too high. I wanted sweet, but Squeezed to Death — and thereby missing a whole lot of flavor — comes out feeling too watered down. It's like orange juice that's consumed all of the ice in a cup. For such a vibrant fruit that has a deep juiciness to it, the muting down of those flavors doesn't feel like it suits sparkling water. So, while this flavor isn't necessarily bad, it isn't something I would reach for over some of the other varieties.

Prior to sampling these flavors, the only one I had any familiarity with was Severed Lime. My husband and I share a love of lime flavors, so it's often the default we choose when purchasing flavors for our house.

With Severed Lime, my primary complaint is that I want more of the lime flavor that is explicitly called out in the name. It lends itself well to an extra juicing of fruit straight into your glass. The flavor itself is confusing and doesn't taste like a citrus soda either; that designation goes to Grave Fruit. The lime is cut with the sweetness of orange to help peel away some zest. With the two fruits together, it doesn't give the illusion of a simple lime squeezed in sparkling water, which is my primary complaint and the reason Severed Lime ranks lower. That said, the flavor does offer a nice space to pair with more adult additions like tequila or vodka.

These flavors have some pretty extraordinary names. Looking at the can, I wasn't quite sure what Grave Fruit actually was. Turning the can around, grapefruit, lime, and orange are listed as the natural flavors. Of course, after saying the name aloud, I hear it now: Grave Fruit equals grapefruit. So clever!

In any case, the first sip immediately reminds me of a citrus drink like Sprite or even grapefruit soda, like Squirt. Fans of those drinks who are looking for something a little bit on the lighter side will definitely enjoy the Grave Fruit flavor. The sweetness is really mild here, so it was more than just sparkling water but far from substantial enough to be a lemon or lime soda. In any case, I am definitely impressed by the degree to which it resembles these flavors. The only reason it doesn't rank higher is because I enjoy other flavors more than I do citrus soda.

Actually more of a mango and orange combination, Mango Chainsaw lists both fruits under its natural flavoring for ingredients. I definitely found this one to be heavy on that mango flavor, but orange is present too with just an extra bit of juiciness.

Even though Squeezed to Death — which heavily features orange type flavors in its ingredient listing — wasn't my favorite, the addition of orange here is really nice with the mango. Of all the flavors I tried, this one felt the closest to the actual flavoring of the fruit it calls out, reminding me of a mango smoothie. To that end, the flavoring has such an impact, it feels most surprising to be simply a flavored sparkling water. Like the Severed Lime, Mango Chainsaw would be a nice base for some delicious cocktails. My only concern about Mango Chainsaw is that it might become too much over subsequent sips. Someone looking for flavored water is often hoping for a little flavoring, but not an overwhelming amount like Mango Chainsaw could become.

With the interesting names of Liquid Death flavors, it can be challenging to decipher the flavor of each. The ingredient labeling on Berry it Alive, for instance, says it contains passionfruit, raspberry, hibiscus, blackberry, and black cherry. From the name, that's certainly not the exact flavors I would have had in mind.

Even with the unexpected combination of flavors, Berry it Alive definitely tastes like a berry flavored drink. Unlike other berry waters that seem to be a weird amalgamation of raspberry and blueberry, Berry it Alive adds in a floral note. In sipping, I found the berries offered a nice amount of sweetness, but not overwhelming by any means. I am always a fan of something cherry flavored, and since this has black cherry in it, that definitely makes this a flavor I would enjoy. In fact, the only reason this isn't my first choice is because I simply like cherry flavors more. No offense, berry.

As a kid, I was absolutely obsessed with cherry flavored everything. For water, Clearly Canadian's cherry flavor was the favorite in our house. I admit that this love has continued into adulthood. I blame annual cherry picking in Wisconsin's Door County region. Perhaps its no surprise then that Cherry Obituary is my pick for the best Liquid Death flavor.

Liquid Death's Cherry Obituary flavor has a natural flavoring of cherry, lime, and lemon. One sip, and I am reminded of exactly why I love sour cherry gummy worms. Though a little unexpected, that lemon and lime definitely add a nice effect to Cherry Obituary that brings in the perfect amount of sour flavor. The lime isn't significant enough to make it feel like a true cherry lime flavor, but the extra bite ensures the cherry did not fall flat, either. Between all the flavored sparkling waters from Liquid Death, this is definitely my favorite because it tastes great, is just a little unique, and touches on the cherry water flavor I remember loving as a kid.

When it came to sampling the Liquid Death sparkling water flavors, my first goal was to rank them according to my enjoyment of the flavor itself. As expected, I found there wasn't much to offer in terms of a different texture from flavor to flavor, so that didn't play a role, but there was some difference in how strong each flavoring came through.

I also took into account whether it felt like a new spin on a flavor or whether it was just much the same as other sparkling waters I've had. Flavors that were enjoyable and offered something interesting with taste scored at the top of my list.