Tonight my band is playing our first show in a while. Due to a lack of sleep and printing mass amounts of shirts all day I am exhausted and was looking for a pick me up for a late night. Of course the only energy drink I had on deck is by Rockstar, so even though I could have drunk it and not mentioned a thing I will let the world know that it made me feel like a turd drinking this when I have a show. I feel like the type of person that drinks these before they play are also the same people who would wear Affliction clothing, and have fifteen minute drum solos in their sets. I call for no nonsense and while I enjoy the taste of most Rockstar beverages, I kind of hate the name and can imagine annoying people referring to each other as “rock star” and that is something that chills me.

All valley girl voices aside, this is way better than anticipated. The inclusion of sucralose in any beverage, even when paired with erythritol is generally bad news. In here it's not too bad, well as long as you don't let it warm up. I don't know how to describe what I would expect “silver ice” to taste like, but this drink is pretty accurate. It's very crisp and somehow tastes clean. Sure there's a bit of diet in there, but it doesn't ruin the drink. It also doesn't taste like a typical energy drink, diet or regular. It kind of has a lemon-lime flavor, but not really. It is its own beast and I'm into it. My name is Jason Draper and I approve this zero calorie energy drink.

They are on to something here. I wish I was a scientist. Well, I wish I was a scientist a lot actually but now I can actually think of a situation where I would use my skills. I wish I was a scientist so that I could pull out my cool pocket microscope and look at what's going on in this bag of tea. There's got to be some sort of concentrate of juice in there and I want to see the flavor crystals because let's face it, all flavor comes in crystals. Since 1996 when Ice Breakers gum came out and their flavor was in crystals, all flavor has been contained within the confides of crystals.

This is titled "Pomegranate Burst" but that might have gotten lost in translation because this tastes like cherries. Also, since we, nay, I, are talking about how this tasted, this is like a 70% juice and 30% tea. I don't know what you want in something that comes in a tea bag. It's listed as a green tea but that is simply the carrier for the juice.

Whether it's cherry or pomegranate, it's good. Whether it's tea or juice, it's good. Whether you ate the wrapper or not with your Ice Breakers gum, it was good. Ice Breakers gum came out almost two decades ago and I'm recalling it like it was yesterday. That's very strange. I don't know if I like it or not. I like this tea, a lot. I don't know if I like how I aged myself back there.

Goya is fantastic at making ginger beer. Goya is absolutely horrible for producing Malta Goya. For everything else they fall into the average and not so great categories. This soda unfortunately falls under not so great.
There are two general types of orange soda, ones they are carbonated orange juice and those that are the generic fake orange flavor that is produced by every store brand ever. I am strangely a fan of both for some reason. I knew this wasn't going to be carbonated juice, but I had high expectations that it would be a different form of the fake orange flavor. Mandarin's are a higher quality orange, so I wanted it to be a higher quality of soda. Unfortunately, it was not. It tastes like someone took that slightly different fake orange soda and mixed it with too much unflavored soda water. This is mostly generic sweet, soda water flavored, with an orange flavor in the background. If it were a beverage with low sugar content I would understand and accept it, but this has 44g of sugar in it and that is more than anyone needs. I should probably stop drinking this, as I'm not enjoying it and I don't need all this sugar.

Making an iced tea blend of tea is like making a tailor made tea for me. I drink a bit of hot tea but for my money, iced tea 'til death. I think I just thought of a new tattoo. What a dumb tattoo to get but man am I passionate about iced tea. Guys, seriously, how many times have I said that I would quit Thirsty Dudes just to drink iced tea for the rest of my life. This would be in my repertoire if that ever happened. It's a deep, dark bold tea. Take one of these bags and make a nice, tall, 24 ounce glass of heaven. I might be able to get two decent servings since I made a smaller cup before.

If I had a big jug, I could make some fantastic sweet tea. Also, if it wasn't 58 degrees that might help too. I only make sun tea in the summer. You can call me a snob but dude, it's sun tea. It harkens back to when things were simpler. Not the hectic, grueling city life that I lead now. That is an over-exaggeration.

I don't hate Wendy's. I used to. Oh how I used to hate Wendy's. Give a man food poisoning and it's hard to win back his heart. Somehow, they did it. That and there is a girl that works there named Lizz, with two Zs that is fantastic and another woman who is equally nice and hands out mints. Enough of the staff. Review.

They just released the FruiTea Chillers which, I'm pretty sure is just tea with juice in it but nonetheless, I had to try. You know who I am. This is good and it's a combination that you don't normally see. Blueberry is typically paired with pomegranate and pineapple is paired with...orange? Usually something citric. Blueberry and pineapple, though. That's a dynamic duo. It's they're already good unsweet tea and two fruits that are great. Mix them together and it's just as you would think; three great things hanging out together. Little bit of everyone mixed together doing stuff right. I would say that there is no more added sugar than is in the juice. It's good. I'll get another. Maybe today if I'm good of course. I've got to earn it.

Rocket Fizz sure does put out a lot of soda. Sure, they release them under different sub-brands, but all in all they have about six dozen different flavors. That is unheard of for a small company. I don't even know if Pepsi or Coke have that many flavors domestically.

This specific flavor is in honor of Joe. I'm not sure who Joe is exactly, but if the internet is to be believed he is either the owner's brother, or else it has something to do with them being on Undercover Boss. Whoever he is, he may be homeless, as proceeds go to an unnamed homeless organization, or else he really just loves the woods, because the bottle says “Enjoy the outdoors.” Perhaps he become homeless because he loved being outside so much and just wanted to commune with nature forever. The only thing I know for sure is that I have found very little concrete information about this gentleman.

I expected this to be an extremely creamy vanilla root beer. Root beer floats have a very specific taste (well depending on what brand of soda you use), and the contents of this bottle just did not meet my expectations. The root beer flavor itself is nothing special, and the something extra that would be the taste of the vanilla ice cream isn't what you would expect. It instead just tastes like a general root beer with something else mixed in. Unfortunately that something else doesn't really improve the flavor at all. If you were to go into this blind and not be told that it was supposed to be a root beer float, it would be a completely serviceable soda. Knowing how it should taste it leaves me wanting.

Well it turns out this has just been a carbonated tea weekend. On top of that they have both been pleasant to the taste. That's a phrase right? “Oh darling, I truly loved the fancy dinner you took me to. It was just pleasant to the taste.” That sounds like something that somebody who is not me would say. I don't think I've been to a fancy dinner since I won the Pepsi Challenge bowling tournament when I was like 11, so I don't know how people talk when they are at nice meals. I'll assume they say things like that.

While this is pleasant to the taste it is, as Mike said about the lemon variety, strange. It's a lightly sweetened raspberry tea that tastes like it is the stuff they use in their PureLeaf line, but the carbonation just does something weird to it. I do like it, but it somehow takes the tea-ness out of it a bit. This is a nice change of pace from regular soda, and the reduced sugar helps. It's just going to take some time to get acclimated before I can truly enjoy it.

If you were a child of the 80's you probably remember the dumb Reese's Peanut Butter Cup commercial with the tag line “Two great tastes that taste great together.' You could switch that up a little bit and it would also be fitting for this beverage: “Two great tastes that taste wrong when prepared in this way, but somehow taste magical together.” First off if you've ever tried to ice some chai tea you probably know that it tastes very strange. Something about it just doesn't translate correctly and the wrong spices tend to stick out and it can get a bit intense. On the other side of the spectrum for te most part when people try to carbonate tea and it just tastes weird. Perhaps they are adding too much sugar or something, but I never truly enjoy it.

The folks at Chai Elixir are either very gifted scientists, or just plain lucky and stumbled upon a formula that overcomes all of the obstacles that would normally be in its way. The base of this is a great carbonated somewhat sweetened green tea. It doesn't fall into any of the traps that other tea sodas do. Then they mix in the chai and it becomes wondrous. It's a very distinct chai taste, but the spices aren't being rammed down your throat. It's just a general flavor that pairs perfectly with the green tea into something unusual and enjoyable. I'm guessing it's the addition of the orange juice concentrate that melds everything together. Orange juice, the beverage that is pretty boring on it's own but makes other things better.

I've been to Mexico a couple times. I didn't do many indigenous things but I would like to think that there are Mexican kids running around drinking this stuff like crazy. Maybe they do and maybe they don't. I don't know. My imagination is telling me that there are bottles of the stuff everywhere. I hope that people are taking them and making cool art from it as a social message about littering. Full circle.

How is it as an adult-ish Caucasian American male? It's alright. It's fruit pop. It's a strange lemon if it's only lemon. It's lemon, don't get me wrong but there is something else in there. Lime? Probably. I mean, I don't care but don't poop in my hand and tell me it a BLT. Is that how the phrase goes?

In the future when the whole world is filled with fat slobs, the skinny man, with all of their nimble ways, will be king. Since the worlds food supply will be nothing but snack foods and items of the deep fried variety staying slim will be a challenge. In fact many will result to illegal methods to keep their figure. The way these are packaged makes me think they are some sort of futuristic street drug. People meet up on shady street corners in the dead of night and deals are made for the sweet (actually kind of weirdly bitter) powder that will give them an edge over the overweight set.

These actually taste completely artificial like I would imagine a black market futuristic weight loss drug would. With both sucralose and erythritol in the mix making up what I can only assume is a majority of the powder the natural wild berry flavor never stood a chance. This one is much better than the orange version, but it still leaves something to be desired, mainly not an overwhelming taste of fake sugar.

Now how much do you think these things will sell for when the fatpocolypse hits? Should I stock up now?

I don't know about all of you folks, but when I think of “hard rock” the first thing I think of is a Flying V guitar. I mean it's the only tool to get the job done when you're looking to rock, and you mean to do it hard. Wait…€¦.no…€¦that's not right. Actually, now that I think about it never once in my life did I think that a Flying V looked cool. I've actually passed negative judgement on bands in the past before I even heard note one, because they were playing these monstrosities of instruments. Just say no to tacky guitars.

I'm not even sure if I've ever stepped foot in a Hard Rock Cafe. I may have once, but it also could have been a Planet Hollywood. I remember an ex's family took me and it was cheesy, the food was bad and it was in Niagara Falls. Am I wrong? Are they cool? Should I start collecting shirts/hats from their locations all over the world? By this beverage I'm guessing no. It's been awhile since I've had a “classic” tasting energy drink. This tastes like a generic Red Bull with a little bit of a berry taste to it. It's got that chemical taste that you love to hate, and the flavor is nothing new.

My real question is why is a restaurant expanding into beverages like this? I found it in a local grocery store and it just doesn't make sense to me. It's not like they are famous for them or anything. It's just completely random.

Last week we received an email from Bruce Cost telling us they had some new flavors and that they wanted to send them to us. Moments later I received a message from Mike that simply said, “Bruce Cost. Finally. We've made it.” The man had a point. Bruce Cost makes some of, if not the best ginger ales on the market and getting acknowledged by them felt like we were doing something right. We're nothing but honest here at Thirsty Dudes and we are terrible writers. A lot of the time our reviews have very little to do with the actual beverage we are writing about and more about some tangent that is in our brain. We love doing the site though, so we keep writing, more for ourselves than anything else. When a company we love thinks that our ramblings are worth their time, we really appreciate it. More than that we appreciate a good ginger based beverage, and this is beyond good.

This is listed as a “BC Limited” soda, so unfortunately it looks like it's not going to become part of their regularly available sodas, which is a shame because it is fantastic. Take a base of their flagship ginger ale, which is made with 100% fresh ginger and has a nice little kick to it, that borders a tame ginger beer, and add some blood orange and lemon juice to it. It's as simple as that and there is magic in simplicity. Perhaps they could use a little less lemon, as it takes away a little from the glory that is blood orange juice, but other than that this is perfect. It is first and foremost a ginger soda and the other flavors are there as secondary notes, the way a good ginger ale should be.

At first I thought I was bummed that it wasn't a ginger beer and didn't have more of a burn, but if that had been the case a lot of the flavor would have been lost, and no one wants that. You have limited time people, get out there and scour your local bodegas and stock up. Who knows when you'll come across it again?

I don't know if there will ever be a time where the combination of fruit and mint doesn't throw me for a loop. No matter what my first thought is always, “Wait, am I chewing gum and I forgot?” Luckily with Zpirit, the gum taste isn't really there. The initial thought was, but that was just because I wasn't paying attention to what I was drinking and thought I had grabbed the pear version, which does not contain mint. This is actually one of the better fruit/mint combinations that I have come across. Neither flavor is very strong, due to it being infused water and not “flavored.” There is no syrup being mixed into this drink, mandarin oranges and mint were simply allowed to soak in the water so some of their flavor was transferred. There are even a couple of slices of orange sitting in the bottom of the bottle.

My only real complaint about these beverages is that you can taste the stevia more than I would prefer to. I know they are mixing it with the cane sugar to keep the calories down, but I say if you're going for infused water, leave the sweetener out of the equation completely. No one will really miss it. If they did then this drink isn't for them anyway.

Happy Birthday, Morrissey. For your birthday I bought you a green apple smoothie from McDonald's. Yeah, it's the same McDonald's. Yeah, they still serve hamburgers. You know they do, man. Why would you ask that? Oh, you won't drink it? I doubt there is any hamburger in it. It was a joke. Come on. Here. I'll taste it first.

It's good. You would think it would be like a green apple Jolly Rancher but it actually tastes like real apples. You eat apples, don't you? Yeah. I thought so. Look, I'm not disrespecting your beliefs. I've seen you in concert twice and sang along to Meat Is Murder while you showed graphic videos of the mistreatment of animals. They're really enough to make people in PETA sick, honestly. It's got no extra sourness so you can enjoy the taste buds in your mouth the way that they were intended to be used.

What do you say? Do you want this drink that I managed to keep cold from Buffalo to jolly old England where I then had to hire a private investigator to find your rather nice and modest home? No? Cool. I'll just leave this here on your front porch. Happy birthday, Morrissey.

Lemon pop; It's not that much different than a Sprite with a bit of mint in it. I mean, that is a different product in itself but it's lightly mint. Don't think that you're brushing your teeth and then rinsing with Sprite. If you do, you should be put in the mental hospital because that's absolutely insane.

This is actually pretty refreshing; lightly lemon, lightly mint and mediumly sweet. It's not "over" anything and is small enough to never be overwhelming. I don't know if I would drink it again because it was almost so subtle that it was nothing special. It was good, don't get me wrong, but it was so "regular" that it was just kind of another drink.

I don't want people to get sore at me. This is different. It deserves mentioning. It was made and is an accomplishment. It's good. Try it. Like it. Share it.

“Gambler. Lawman. Soda Enthusiast.” I'm pretty sure that is the inscription on Wyatt Earp's tombstone (full pun intended). It's commonly known that when the shootout at OK Corral was going on Earp called for a time out, Zach Morris style, then he handed everyone involved a nice cold bottle of sarsaparilla, which they enjoyed until they returned to their bloodbath. No one really knows how he kept the soda cold, or where he had it stored, but everyone involved recalled that it was very thoughtful and it really hit the spot at that exact moment.

The Earp family has now aged a few generations, and have decided to bottle and sell their own sarsaparilla. Their wares are the smoothest sarsaparilla I have ever tasted. It has the creaminess of a root beer and not the quasi-harsh sharpness that one equates to this flavor of soda. The general sarsaparilla flavor is there, but it just doesn't have the bite that I want. I did enjoy the soda, but it didn't blow me away like a lot of sarsaparilla does. I feel like I've typed out that word far too many times now. Sarsaparilla.

Hey kid, come here. Do you like caramel? What? No, I'm not a creepy pervert. Oh man, I just realized how this probably looks; me rolling up in a white van calling a kid over and talking about candy. This is bad. I have no ill intent I swear! I'm just part of the marketing team for Brownie Root Beer. They wanted to start something like the “Red Bull Girls.” You know the ones that just drive around and hand out cans. The thing is that it is way easier to hand out cans of energy drinks from a car with a giant can on it, instead of soda from an all-white van. I told marketing that we needed to put a wrap on this thing to let people know what we were all about, but they said it wasn't in the budget. Now I look like a creep and will probably get put on a sex offenders list or something. I really don't want to go door to door and talk to my neighbors.

Anyway, if you still want some root beer you can have it. The reason I asked you is you liked caramel is that this is a caramel cream root beer. Personally I'm not a huge fan of it. I'm a big root beer guy, but I find the added flavor rather distracting as it's really strong. I'd go as far as to say that this is 70% caramel, 25% root beer and 5% cream. Those aren't great proportions if you ask me. The more I drink the more palatable it becomes, but it's a little rough at first, especially if you're not a big caramel fan. I find it hard to be able to describe how the root beer aspect of this soda tastes because it has been so overpowered.

I really should look for a new line of work, as I seemingly talked you out of accepting a free soda and it looks like you're on your cell phone calling the police. I'm outta here.

It's been a long time since I've had a cola. I never drink the stuff. I don't drink pop unless it's for Thirsty Dudes and I've been doing a really crappy job of reviewing drinks as of late. Look, I can look in the mirror and be honest with myself. I've dropped the ball a lot. That being said, we've drank a lot of drinks and unless we slow down, there won't be anything else to drink.

This is...I don't know what this is. Is this a champagne cola? "La Pinata" is sort of a Spanish thing, right? It's got a little bit of a fruit flavor but doesn't taste like bubble gum like most straight cola champagnes are. It's got a good cola flavor, though. It's not too light and the fruit gives it a good alternative taste to a straight cola. I wish I could share this with someone while slamming at a piñata and having a parrot on my shoulder like in the label. Parrots rule. I'd rather have a parrot than a hundred piñatas. Unless it's that piñata from Billy Madison that is filled with Rolex watches. I'd take that over a parrot. I could hock a Datejust and just go out and buy a parrot. One for me and one for Pico, my scarlet macaw.

Here we are in Buffalo, NY. It's early May and that means the weather went from a potential of snow to 85+ degrees overnight. That's not really an exaggeration either. It snowed like two weeks ago and now I feel like I'm dying of heat. This weekend has been gorgeous outside and I should have been out riding my bike or wandering around the woods, but instead I've been stuck indoors working on my house. Buying a house alone when you have less than rudimentary skills when it comes to fixing things, and doing it all yourself instead of hiring people is probably one of the dumber things I've done with my life, but things are kind of starting to shape up and it feels remotely like a home.

While I may not be basking in the warmth of the sun, I have been sweating away while working and I have been refreshing myself with this ultimate summer drink. Lemonade=Summer. When you add berries and hibiscus to that and you've got the makings for the best summer ever. If I keep drinking this there is no way that my summer won't be filled with late nights, a ton of hikes, exploring, adventures and cliff jumping until my body tells me it can swim no more.

Since this drink is made by Honest that means the sugar content isn't through the roof, which is always appreciated. It's just sweet enough to get the flavor where you want it without feeling like you're going to have a mouthful of cavities. I really can't get enough of this and I need to venture out and purchase more. More companies need to embrace hibiscus. It makes everything better and it blends in perfectly with the berries here to give you just the faintest floral flavor. Honest, you've done it again.

Why do these beverages exist? Does anyone actually enjoy them, or have people tricked themselves into thinking that it is something that they enjoy? It was only recently that I finally came around to seltzer water, but I can now say that I truly enjoy it, well some flavors. Armed with that knowledge it's a safe bet that never in a million years would I choose a carbonated beverage sweetened with sucralose over one with no sweetener whatsoever. Actually that same could probably said about any type of beverage. The sucralose taste is so strong that it nearly blocks out the fake kiwi flavor, which isn't all that great anyway. Something went very wrong in the development of this beverage and it starts with the letter S and ends in “lose.”