The Aldi Mocktail I Won't Buy Again (It Tastes Like Bad Apple Juice)

Canned cocktails (and mocktails) are one of the trends that bartenders want to see left behind in 2026, but I personally don't mind seeing them around, especially at the grocery store. As someone who doesn't drink alcohol, I'm always on the hunt for canned mocktails specifically, as they require little fanfare to prepare — just crack the can and sip. Since I've tried so many of them (as well as a plethora of non-alcoholic beers), my standards are high. Aldi Summit Mai Tai Mocktails didn't just fall below the bar — they also fell right into my trash can.

These sleek cans, sold in a pack of four, looked endearing in that generic Aldi way. While I have been pretty impressed with some of its mocktails and mixers before (and some are even finds that every home bartender needs), the faux mai tai tasted like rancid apple juice — which makes sense, considering apple juice from concentrate is one of its main ingredients. A proper mai tai, for reference, has white and dark rum, orange curaçao, orgeat, and lime juice. It's supposed to be tropical and refreshing, not like an apple juice that has been left wedged between the seats of a hot minivan all day. There's no sort of balancing citrus notes or anything rum-adjacent at play. It's just fruity, cloying, and rounded out with just enough bitterness from the artificial sweeteners. This canned mocktail is, in one word, disgusting, and I don't know how anyone could get through more than three sips of it.

Considering my penchant for NA cans, I figured I would be a pretty harsh critic of any canned mocktail. However, I only have my experience with this mocktail for reference, as other folks on the internet are tight-lipped about their opinions of it. It was brought out with the piña colada and the passion fruit mocktails, which shoppers seem to really like. But there hasn't been much press at all about the mai tai, which leads me to believe that Aldi is trying to shove it under the rug and pretend that it never released it. 

As I sipped this mocktail, I couldn't help but think about whether there was any way to redeem it and make it taste not only more mai tai-esque, but also more palatable. Potentially, if Aldi could switch out the apple juice for something in the orange or grape family, it would provide a more neutral canvas for a rum alternative. Or, it could model this drink like its summery Nature's Nectar margarita mixer and make it with the intention of the customer adding their own NA spirits to it. But it's not my job as a customer to think that hard or try to upgrade a supposedly ready-to-drink beverage, which is why I won't be buying this mocktail again.

Drinkers looking for a mai tai-adjacent sipper should skip Aldi altogether and make it themselves; there are many excellent rum and orange liqueur alternatives from brands like Lyre's worth trying. Mai tais are relatively simple to bring together, even without the alcohol, and it goes to show that some products are just better left up to the professionals.