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You may have heard of A&W's new frozen root beer drinks, but you're not ready for their latest summer creations: frozen lemonade in three flavours! The drinks are intended to hit that summer refreshing high note, but it's up to me (and my ever-patient partner) to determine where these frozen treats lie on the scale from gross to perfection.

I'll be rating each of the flavours out of 5, with notes on taste and texture, too. The three flavours available this summer at A&W locations with Brew Bars are frozen lemonade, sweet cream frozen lemonade, and strawberry frozen lemonade. Let's start with the basics.

The frozen lemonade from A&W.Willa Holt | MTL Blog

This is a small glass of the plain frozen lemonade from A&W. It's very sweet with only a hint of acidity at the beginning of the sip. That splash of tartness could stand to be more lemony, but it's an unproblematic and drinkable liquid, as liquids go. My partner and I both gave this one a 3.5 out of 5, citing that it's more reminiscent of a frozen Sprite rather than a true lemonade in flavour.

The sweet cream frozen lemonade from A&W.Willa Holt | MTL Blog

Next is the sweet cream lemonade, a bold combination given dairy's penchant for curdling at the mere sight of a lemon. This drink definitely didn't curdle, but it didn't exactly impress, either. With the disappointing taste of a weak lemon creamsicle, the drink is characterized by a lack of flavour caused in no small part by the sweet cream. It dulls the flavour, adding little more than a yogurty vibe to the previously just-fine lemonade.

My partner said it reminded them of a "melted froyo with no toppings," which I must say is not the vibe for a crisp summer beverage. It's so inoffensive as to barely register as a drink, and we gave this one an average rating of 2 out of 5.

The strawberry lemonade from A&W.Willa Holt | MTL Blog

Finally, we tried the strawberry frozen lemonade. It was a welcome change from the sweet cream, with plenty of comfortingly inauthentic fake-strawberry flavour. I found it to be positively yummy until my partner pointed out that the smell reminded her of lip balm.

Then, I realized it also tasted like lip balm, and that sorta ruined the whole experience for me. If you like the artificial strawberry taste, it's not bad at all — it's like a very mild sloche. The drink could still use more lemony flair, but as it stands, it's a solid 3.7/5.

As I continued to sip from the frozen drinks, I realized I was going back for the plain lemonade more often than not.

That is, until my partner decided to try to match the lemonade to my skin tone by adding strawfuls of strawberry to the plain drink.

A very white arm next to a pinkish frozen lemonade concoction.Willa Holt | MTL Blog

And like, listen, they did a pretty good job at matching the colour. I acknowledge that I'm a more pink person than most. But shockingly enough, that mixed-up strawberry-ish lemonade ended up being my favourite taste of the afternoon! This supports the hypothesis that more flavour would make the plain lemonade pop, but it's not very practical to go in and ask for "Willa-Holt-from-MTL-Blog's-skin-tone frozen lemonade." That just won't get you anywhere.

For now, the verdict is that the plain lemonade is the real crowdpleaser, and the strawberry is a close second for those who enjoy that type of flavour profile. Let me know which one is your favourite in the comments!

A&W Frozen Lemonades

Small glasses of all three A&W frozen lemonades sit on a table.

Willa Holt | MTL Blog

A&W's three new drinks are available at any location that has a Brew Bar, which also serve coffee and frozen root beer.