I Tried 2 Of A&W's New Frozen Lemonades & One Flavour Just Isn't Ready For Primetime

The views expressed in this Opinion article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.

A&W Canada has introduced three new frozen lemonade flavours to their restaurants and each one puts a twist on the summer classic... if you can find somewhere with all three options.

The three summer flavours include the Classic Frozen Lemonade, Sweet Cream Frozen Lemonade and Strawberry Frozen Lemonade, which are available for a limited time at A&W's Brew Bar.

The blends "are made with real fruit and natural cane sugar, giving you the ultimate summer vibe in every sip," the company stated in a press release.

"Our new Frozen Lemonades perfectly capture the essence of summer, with zesty lemon flavour, perfectly balanced sweetness, and a frosty frozen touch," Karan Suri, Director of Menu Development for A&W Canada, said in a statement.

I went on an adventure to try these refreshing lemonades out for myself, but I ran into a couple of obstacles resulting in an hour-long mission and an unsuccessful result.

Here's what happened when I set out to try A&W Canada's new lemonades on day 1 of their release.

The experience

A&W location in Toronto. Right: Lemonade machine.Mira Nabulsi | Narcity

There are two A&W locations near me in downtown Toronto, each around a 10-minute walk in either direction, so I chose one and went with it. Upon arrival, they told me their lemonade machine wasn't working and left me with no choice but to leave and find another brew bar.

I quickly decided to walk to the other location, which also had a few hiccups upon purchasing the summer drinks.

I ordered the three lemonades and waited around 10 minutes before asking where my order was. At that moment, the staff member told me that the machine wasn't working and they needed to fix it, which would take another 10 minutes.

I told them I wanted the lemonades and not a refund. As I waited outside this busy A&W for the machine to be fixed, I was approached by another person who told me they could not provide me with all three blends.

According to the A&W staff member, they ran out of the sugar cream blend on Day 1 and could not give it to me. So, after waiting a long time for the summer drinks, I could only get my hands on two of them.

These two A&W locations weren't ready to roll out the summer beverage at launch, which was disappointing, but I did get to taste some of their new drinks in the end.

A&W's frozen lemonades

A&W's Frozen Lemonades.Mira Nabulsi | Narcity

I managed to get my hands on the Classic Frozen Lemonade and the Strawberry Frozen Lemonade, even though I was super excited to try the Sweet Cream one because it sounded so different.

The other two were exactly how I imagined them: sugary and cold.

My favourite type of lemonade is blended with mint and sugar syrup. This is a popular summer drink in the Middle East, which I crave often.

That wasn't an option at the A&W, so if I were to choose a favourite, it would be the strawberry one. It was way better than the classic offered at A&W and it was certainly a thirst-quencher.

The Strawberry Frozen Lemonade is made with natural cane sugar, natural strawberry flavours and is blended with ice, the company stated. The hints of the red fruit with the citrus really did complement one another and made the blend feel and taste quite refreshing.

The classic lemonade tastes exactly like what you can expect from an A&W blended lemonade — not the best.

It felt so mediocre, and I wish it were either sweeter or more sour to give it that extra flavouring and excitement because it just tasted like I was drinking something cold.

Each drink cost $4.13 in the small size, and even though that's not a lot for a summer drink in Canada, the size did feel a bit too big for the sugary beverages. I couldn't finish half of it before it melted and became more watery than I would've liked.

Honestly, if I had the choice, I would have passed by a supermarket, picked up a bag of lemons and just make the lemonade at home.

Other fast food companies with lemonades

A&W Canada isn't the only fast food company creating lemonades for customers to enjoy this summer. Starbucks and McDonald's also recently launched their own frozen lemonade drinks, and Tim Hortons has its own versions as well.

Narcity's Tristan Wheeler tried Starbucks' new refresher drinks a month ago and said their frozen mango dragonfruit lemonade was the best one. He called it a "perfectly balanced drink that did a great job of incorporating the real dragonfruit along with the icy slush."

Other Starbucks Refreshers include the frozen strawberry acai lemonade and frozen pineapple passionfruit lemonade. He liked the strawberry acai lemonade a lot more than the pineapple and it came as a close second to his first choice.

McDonald's Canada also launched their version of creative lemonade drinks called the Fruit Splash, with three options to choose from.

The drinks launched in April include the Lemon Fruit Splash, Strawberry Passionfruit Fruit Splash and Peach Mango Fruit Splash. The McDonald's beverages all include a lemonade beverage base mixed with other ingredients to make each one different.

Tim Hortons, unlike the others, has had a few frozen lemonade options on the menu for years. However, they still hopped on the refreshing summer beverage train this year by introduced different kinds of drinks called Sparkling Quenchers.

The brand is offering customers a choice between the Blackberry Yuzu and Orange Ginger, one of which I've tried before.

I went to a fancy Tim Hortons in Toronto to check it out and ordered their Blackberry Yuzu Sparkling Quencher and it was honestly so good and different.

I enjoyed drinking the refreshing beverage a lot, even though I wouldn't say I like blackberries or sparking drinks, so that's saying a lot about the flavours of this summer beverage.

So, it seems like this summer is the season of lemons and A&W has some catching up to do when it comes to frozen lemonade offerings in 2023.