Sparkling - 501 Reviews

This tastes like nothing, for that is what it is. It's just water with tiny bubbles. It doesn't taste bitter. It doesn't taste much of anything and that is a wonderful thing at times.

I think this might be the last straw. If a quality company such as Four Point Zero can't make a green apple beverage that I truly enjoy, I don't think there is any hope for the flavor. The odd thing is that green apples are my go-to apple. Granny Smith all the way, all day. Green apple…€¦well anything other than actual apples, never taste like that to me. A lot of the time they taste like candy, which this does only vaguely. There must be a different breed of apple that the green apple flavor is based off of. I bet I wouldn't really like this in apple form either. This is all personal taste though. If you like the “sour” green apple flavor, but want it sugar free then this seltzer is calling your name. It's really not bad, even for me, but I just want a Granny Smith seltzer.

Last week was my birthday and I am now officially in my late 30s. I can no longer deny it, I am an adult. Sure I still act like a teenager tour the world in vans, ditch work to go walk around the woods and run a website where I review non-alcoholic beverages, but I am still an adult. Proof of that is that I really enjoy this drink. It is sparkling water with tonic bitters mixed in and I find it wonderful. Look, I know in every one of these companies reviews we mentioned them being for adults. Sure, kids can drink them, but I don't know a single child who would enjoy this. I've given them normal seltzer water and they hate it. The bitterness in this would probably make any child hate me for life. It's a risk I'm not willing to take. Also, I want to keep it all for myself. If pears had rinds this is what they would taste like, well with a healthy dose of ginger. Actually the pear flavor is very light, but the ginger is heavy. I want more unsweetened, sparkling beverages that are ginger flavored in my life.

To me seltzer is seltzer, no matter what the brand. I mean it's just carbonated water with a little flavoring in it. I now love it as an adult, but I was fine with grabbing any brand that was available. Four Point Zero has shown me that I was wrong all this time, and I don't know if I'm going to be able to forgive them. I mean after tasting the perfection that is this seltzer, how am I supposed to go back to the cheap stuff they have at my grocery store? Those jerks.

Their greatness was proven to me when I drank this bottle of watermelon. That is a flavor that 99% of the time goes wrong and tastes like a Jolly Rancher. Even when sugar is not involved it still tastes like candy. This bottle is the new standard though. It tastes like someone squeezed the juice from the melon, watered it down slightly (but not too much), and then carbonated it. It's all of that but with zero sugar. It's magic I tell you. I have never tasted a more authentic watermelon beverage that wasn't just straight juice. The bar has been set, everyone take notice.

Do I love mango? No. Not really. Will I say this might be the most accurate interpretation of mango? Yep. I don't know what it is about mango but whatever it is, it has been so poignantly captured within this bottle that if you like mango, you can just buy a couple bottles of this and save yourself the trouble of shaving, cutting, cubing or whatever it is you do with a mango.

I don't get a lot of berry in here but you get so much mango that you have no reason to wonder why her name came first. I didn't want to appear sexist so I made mango a "her." You like that? I'm not a misogynistic turd. Mangos can do whatever they want. If they want to make fruit love in this bottle than so be it. That makes it more disgusting for me to drink. I wish I hadn't said that. Even if it is fake.

There have been so many of these that I'm not even trying anymore. If you are a rational human being and think sucralose is disgusting, then steer clear of this. If you are a mutant and it doesn't bother you, well then sit back and get ready to enjoy some berry flavoring. I've said it before but if they got rid of the sweetener altogether, this would be a good seltzer.

It always seems that the drinks that we are lukewarm about, especially the diet ones, are what companies send us the most flavors of. There has been so much Claire Baie in our lives over the past few months and I'm afraid the sheer quantity is effecting our reviews. As I've said before these drinks were not created with me as their target audience. It's true that I watch my sugar intake sometimes, but I have never been on a diet, and I am not a fan of zero calorie sweeteners, especially sucralose. There is a world of people out there who are on diets though and rely on beverages such as this to help curb their craving for sweet carbonated drinks. I think those people would be happy with this. If you drink sucralose on a regular basis you have to get acclimated to it and that weird taste probably doesn't even register to you anymore. That taste is what is holding this drink back in my eyes, but if take that out of the equation and you have a decent kiwi strawberry drink. I've had a lot of kiwi strawberry stuff in my life, but I don't think I've ever had a fresh juice where those were the ingredients. Man, I bet that would be the best. Compared to that this would be a pale imitation, but since 99.9% of the population has probably never drunk such a thing this is very passable.

Jalapeno: A green pepper that is hot.
Citrus: A zesty, floral flavor that I cannot define without using the word of the fruit it comes from.
Margarita: A sour or citrus based alcoholic drink with tequila and salt as well as a strange classification of pizza.
This: Not really anything mentioned above.

This is spicy but my palate and I cannot decide whether it's the sparkles or jalapeno. It was a lot lighter in citrus than any of the other flavors they have. The margarita...I am not the best judge of what a margarita tastes like as I haven't had a drop of alcohol since 1998. I can tell you that it wasn't salty, though. This was just kind of confusing and weak. I love Polar but this probably took the backseat to whomever invented the allusive "Unicorn Kiss" that will probably be unfindable at this point. Trust me. We've contacted Polar who sent us this and said they don't have any more in stock. What an April Fools prank, taunting us with a fantastical beverage that will never exist again.

Sparkling tea is a strange bird. We've done a couple of them but for the most part, they're just strange. Iced tea is a staple in my life so when you change it by adding sparkles, you're changing when my body expects.

Is this bad? No. It's not the best drink and it's pretty diet at times but you know what? It couldn't have been that bad because I drank the whole thing. I never made a "gross" face. That counts for them and not against them. You could taste the lemon. That's a point. You only sometimes get the diet taste and it's sucralose. That stuff stinks. Sparkling Ice can sometimes and somehow disguise it.

They keep sending us stuff and we keep drinking it. They're good to us. You know why this relationship works, though? They don't mind a couple mediocre reviews. I've always said that if I could have one drink for the rest of my life it would be unsweet tea. This is my favorite drink sharpened, sweetened, lemoned and on a diet. That's where the minuses come in. It's not bad. It's not for me. I drank the whole thing. It's not for me.

Summer is creeping up on us and the weather is finally starting to break. It's warm and sunny. Soon it will be downright hot and sweltering and all you will be able to think of is how you want to cool down and experience some refreshment. You will take a shower to cool down, and 30 seconds after you put fresh clothes on they will be soaked in sweat. Even your pets won't want to go anywhere near you. It will be gross and you will need relief.

We have talked in the past about how the ultimate refreshing soda is Mr. Q Cumber; a delicious sweet pop that tastes like fresh cucumbers. It's perfection in a tiny bottle. What Spindrift has done is make that soda but without any sugar and turn it into seltzer. It's just sparkling water and a little bit of cucumber juice. It may be the best seltzer I have ever tasted and that is saying a lot to dethrone Polar's vanilla. I can see myself drinking insane amounts of this over the summer and you should to so that they keep it in production. Don't let this disappear on me! I need it to make life worth living while I'm drowning in sweat.

This beverage brought about a very rare thing. This is one of the few drinks that Mike and I have not agreed on. To quote a text I got from him, “Did you review this Spindrift because it's kind of gross. On paper it sounds fantastic, but it is not great in execution.” I don't know what my apparently dumb partner wanted because I think the exact opposite of that, and it tastes just like what it is; crushed blackberries in seltzer water. Perhaps his problem is the little bit of lemon juice that is added. That does throw things off just a touch, but not enough for me to not enjoy it thoroughly. It really tastes like blackberry juice in carbonated water and I don't know what else you could ask for. Do does taste a tad bit more soda pop like than seltzer because there is some sugar (1g) from the fruit, but I can't hold that against it. This is what diet pop should be like, all natural with just tiny bit of sugar to give it a little something. Forget zero calorie sweeteners. They will end up killing you. Just go for the low calorie delicious versions of things.

The most important part of this beverage is that through it I learned that there is a cucumber version out there and I need that, and I need it now.

My favorite Hansen's pop now in a style that is not going to slowly kill me. This black cherry vanilla is my favorite of the sparkling waters. The black cherry is less dark than you would get in a crappy black cherry pop but the vanilla has a chance to shine through and smooth out the edges a bit.

I love it. I wish it came in larger bottles like Polar does. I would be so equal parts hydrated and sparkly. That's what I want. I want to poop sparkles.

In Claire Baie's most diet move ever, we have this lemon lime drink. This drink comes complete with all of the accommodations that one would desire, such as but not limited to include cup holders, passenger side mirror, AM/FM radio and color matched door handles. It also has the most, but not unbearable diet taste. Finally, the taste that dieteers can understand. I'm sure gaggles of people are just dying for that fake flavor they so crave. The lemon lime is standard lemon lime. Nothing to go crazy about.

As I mentioned, it's not the worst diet drink I've ever had so if you have some sort of brand loyalty towards Claire Baie and are into diet drinks, this is the drink for you. Otherwise, this is as average as an average drink can average.

Oh look, another Claire Baie zero calorie sparkling water. I'm beginning to think that these drinks Are going to haunt me for the rest of 2016. It's no secret that neither Mike nor I are fans of sucralose sweetened drinks. Unfortunately most of this companies beverages use just that. We know these drinks have a market and people buy and presumably enjoy them. We are just not those people.

This Orange Mango one is the best one I've had yet though. Somehow the citrus blends with the sucralose and the result tastes like kids vitamins, a flavor I'm not ashamed to say I enjoy. Who didn't eat more than their allotted quantity of Flintstone vitamins when they were little? I certainly did. The orange and mango flavors in here are actually pretty decent. It's just that dumb sucralose that brings the whole thing down for me. So yet again if you don't mind sucralose, check these things out, if you are grossed out by it steer clear. It's a simple plan.

It's times like these that I curse my tastes. I can tell that this is a really good seltzer, but I really just hate the taste of toasted coconut, and unfortunately that is what this tastes like. Keep in mind it tastes like a lighter version of that, but that flavor is still there and it just ruins the whole drink for me. Based on the other flavors of Sanavi I knew this was going to be good, but I was hoping for a more coconut water flavor and not the toasted variety. I lost out, but I also know that most of the world likes that flavor and this would probably be a big hit with most people. Sanavi does flavored sparkling water right.

I had anticipated this being completely horrible. Even drinks that are sweetened with real sugar that are this particular hue of blue usually spell trouble. They are always overly sweet and taste only of sweetener and nothing of the flavor they are meant to be. This really doesn't stray too far from that equation, but at least Claire Baie didn't go overboard with the sucralose. I mean it's surely there in all its weird and unlikable ways for those who are not used to it, but it's not the only thing I taste. There is the general diet lemonade along with a vague berry flavor on top of that. I personally didn't enjoy it very much, but there must be a large group of people out there who drink and enjoy these diet sparkling drinks because there are more than enough companies pumping them out. I'm sure those people would find it enjoyable enough.

How do people do it? How do people drink diet drinks on the regular? I've been told that you get used to it, but I really just can't see that happening. They taste so unnatural to me. Whenever I drink something that has sucralose in it I feel like I'm drinking from a bottle that has a Mr. Yuck sticker on it from when I was a kid. It just doesn't get better for me.

This bottle of Sparkling Ice at least uses lemon juice from concentrate that helps fight the poison a bit. I don't know where the lime taste comes from, but it's a bit like a watered down Freezie Pop. Neither of those flavors are quite strong enough to overpower the sucralose taste though. I wish they were, because I think this could be strangely good instead of just good for diet.

Here at Thirsty Dudes we understand that every beverage is not for everyone. Specifically there are beverages out there that are not made for people like us, aka people who aren't counting calories to try and drop a few lbs. When we come across these drinks we try to give them the benefit of the doubt and we attempt to be in the mindset of someone who this drink is actually produced for. These zero calorie, sweetened, sparkling waters are one such category. We try to find the best in the drinks, but after drinking so many that all taste fairly similar, it becomes hard. The sad truth is that when it comes to beverages like these a good portion of the flavor comes from the sucralose, or whatever zero calorie sweetener is being used. Some flavors cut through it better than others, but it's always there and I never enjoy it. There are also the unfortunate flavors such as this that the supposed flavor of the drink is weaker than the sucralose and you only really get it in the aftertaste. I love pomegranates, even as much as I love a variety of berries, but they really aren't allowed to shine in this. All I'm getting is gross diet-ness. People say you get used to it, but I still haven't and I don't think I want to. I'll avoid my calories by limiting my sugary beverage intake instead of switching out the sugar for a different sweetener that ruins everything.

I know. I know. Jay just reviewed a drink from Sanavi. What are you going to do about it? Fight me? I'm already impressed that you're reading this review at all. I often wonder if anyone gets so mad at our reviews that they do want to fight us. Jay and I are pretty passive dudes. Attractive, sure. Friendly, sometimes. Passive? Yeah. Also, quiet and dangerously apathetic. It's strange that we even run this website considering the ample amount of things we don't give a rip about.

I'll tell you one thing we love, though and that's sparkling water. Oooh sparkling water. We've come a long way from nothing but pop and jelly drinks. In the last five years we've reviewed over 4500 drinks and we've come to a point where all we want to drink is unsweetened sparkling water and unsweetened tea. All day. Every day. This is a reward after you do anything since it's not super sweet. It's just a nice little flavor burst whenever you want. How about now? You bet'cha. Twelve minutes from now? Oh hell yeah, pimp. The only reason that it's four out of five bottles is because it's "just" lime. Four is an admirable score. Don't feel bad about it. Get it. Refresh yourself.

The Pledge cleaning supply company has ruined a good portion of the beverage industry. Sometime decades ago they created furniture polish that smells exactly like every lemon flavored beverage I have ever come across. It's the first time a company created a product that is an accurate portrayal of the fruit it named itself after, and it's just unfortunate. Companies like Sanavi are the victims here. Pre Lemon Pledge days this would be a wonderful citrus seltzer. It tastes just like someone squeezed a lemon into a bottle of seltzer water. It should be a dream come true, but unfortunately all I can think about is cleaner. Do yourself a favor and get past the cleaner idea and enjoy this like it is meant to be. Like it should be.