Soda Pop - 1421 Reviews

You know what I hate? I hate when people get perfume in my pop. I absolutely hate it. I often leave open bottles of pop on the floor at grandmother's homes and you know how grandmas are. They spray that perfume on with a Super Soaker before raging at the Bingo parlor, just gallon after gallon of lavender and Chanel No. 5.

I must have accidentally left this bottle open at everyone's grandmother's house in Western New York before I drank it because this drink tastes like a slew of different old women. It was a lot like the Pakola Ice Cream pop that we drank many moons ago. It tastes nothing like you would expect and everything like you don't want. Not a strong sales approach.

About a decade ago my friends and I had a tradition of doing a scavenger hunt every Halloween. A friend who had moved out of town would make up a list of about 25 things we needed to get/do that were all fairly ridiculous. Thirsty Mike participated the one year and he can vouch for how much fun it was. The list changed yearly with things on it like: take a picture of yourself nipple deep in Lake Erie (you can't comprehend how cold that is), steal a table pager from a specific restaurant, break into a pet cemetery and find the name of the gorilla buried there, video tape two teammates dumping a gallon of milk down each others pants, have two team members kiss with tongue (yeah my mom walked in on me kissing Jerid “The Hammer”…€¦awkward), drink BBQ sauce out of a condom and various other dumb things. One thing that was on the list every year was to get a single can of Mello Yello. You see these were the times when Mellow Yello was scarce. Coke had replaced it with Surge and that had gone the way of the Dodo. No one ever got points for that one. My team went so far as to drive to Canada (okay it's only 15 minutes away) because someone said a store up there had it. They were wrong.

Since I haven't been in Buffalo for Halloween since 2005, and my mother was the “Mistress of Ceremonies” the hunt was called off. Every year no matter where I end up being I always wish I were back in Buffalo doing dumb things with my friends. I found this can of Mello Yello a few weeks ago, and I knew I had to save it for today. That's right, my team would have won if the game were still on.

I can't even remember the last time I had a taste of this soda. I can tell you that it doesn't taste like I remember it at all. In my mind it was just Coke's version of Mountain Dew and that's not it at all. It tastes like orange and lime sodas were mixed together. You know what that's what citrus soda should be, screw lemon. Who needs lemon-lime soda when you can have orange-lime? I mean this isn't mind blowing or anything, but I do enjoy it. Of course I also have that stupid song stuck in my head as well, “I'm just mad about Saffron…€¦”

Who doesn't love Lemonheads? I know I do. They're one of the best candies you can get that has a good lemon flavor. I didn't know what to expect until I looked at this wine shaped bottle and saw the stuff at the bottom. The stuff on the bottom? Pulp. The lifeforce of a lemon or other rined fruit. I think you can see where I'm going here but this tastes like Lemonheads. It's got a great lemon flavor but a nicely candied, still sour lemon. I don't know where these came from. Jay got them for me among his worldly travels. Wherever it came from, you should find it and get some. Get it for yourself and get some for your kids that like little candies. It's not terrible and if you're into health food you will enjoy the sensation that your tooth-rotting child is drinking something organic. I am not into health food and I wouldn't give this to my kid but my kid is under two and he shouldn't be drinking pop. Your kid can drink pop. I don't care. I'm not his dad. Am I his dad? I thought I was in the clear. Have my new found son call me. They've got some catching up to do and I've got a kid to inevitably disappoint.

Mike scored some free tickets for us to go see Insane Clown Posse tonight. Now we both think that they resemble nothing close to good musically, but the whole culture is ridiculous and interesting. Mike compared us to Jane Goodall. We were going to interact with the "apes" in their natural habitat. All I can say is holy was that worth going to. As soon as we walked up to the club the ground was littered with empty Faygo bottles. We tried our hardest not to laugh and upset the natives. We got there right before ICP went on and took our place in the balcony. The show was complete insanity. The music was bad, but I didn't realize how much they ripped off 90's radio hip-hop beats, so that made it tolerable. The show was more than I ever could have expected. There were two huge tubs full of two-liters of Faygo (which creepy clowns kept coming out to refill) and Icp kept grabbing them to pour on the audience. Violent J had his move down. He held the mic with one hand, rapping, and with the other he would open the bottle of pop and shake it up spraying it on the crowd. He had it worked out that his thumb covered the hole, so after a few shakes he let go and the thing shot off like a goddamn rocket. Even in the balcony Mike and I got hit by flying Faygo. I can't imagine cleaning up the club after that. There was Faygo everywhere. They had to have gone through at least 200 two-liters of it. I'm not even exaggerating. I remember reading that Faygo doesn't work with them at all, so they are paying for all that soda, and that's ridiculous. On top of that there were streamers, confetti and feathers (who's going chicken huntin'?) everywhere. One great thing is that with all the "meth mouth" that was in the audience you would expect it to smell terrible at the show. Instead of horrible breath and body odor the entire place reeked of root beer. How great is that?

Twice during the set there were "Faygo Breaks." During this time an army of clowns came out and just poured buckets of Faygo into the audience and tossed out two liters like they were nothing. There were accompanied by an insane strobe light, carnival music and the creepiest chant of "Get some Faygo" that I have ever heard.

I grabbed a stray bottle of diet root beer as it flew by, took a swig and passed it to Mike. He did the same and passed it to the gentleman next to him in the 5XL hockey jersey who had more face paint on than anyone ever should. The dude pounded the rest of the bottle smiled and just said "FAM-A-LY" (yes they pronounce it "A" and not "I"). I can't make this stuff up. The root beer itself was better than I expected. It had a general generic root beer flavor and it didn't taste overly diet.

On our way out we grabbed a 1/4 full bottle of cola and got a video of some down Juggalos chugging it and pouring it on each other. This is a night that we shall not forget, especially since we're legally changing our names to Mikey 2 Dope and Violent J Draper.

Thirsty Dudes. ICP. FAM-A-LY.

Frankenstorm. Is that what they're calling it? Frankenstorm? All of the Thirsty Dudes are from Buffalo and we know a thing or two about storms. "The October Storm" is a storm that locals refer to as "The October Storm" but in actuality happened like six or seven years ago. We still call it that. I know there was "The Blizzard Of '77" but that has a year attached to it. "The October Storm" hit like nothing anyone has ever seen with warm, then melt, then flash freeze and then it just rained branches and snow simultaneously.

Canada felt a little bit, too, I bet, being so close an I know that some people were stuck in their homes. One thing that can survive without a fridge is Canada Dry. I don't know why, but it's always carbonated. Industry secrets. I guess if I was hunkered down in some iced over bomb shelter Canada Dry as the refreshment wouldn't be too bad. One step better would be this cranberry variety. It's a nice blend of the classic taste and a new, fruity twist. It's not too sweet so when you're in your temporary concrete, windowless retreat, you aren't bugging out with too much sugar. I'm not sure why, but I'm thinking that the shelter is set up like one of those church rec rooms with all old, used furniture, dark, wood paneling, and just decks of pinochle cards and not a "regular" deck of cards at all. That decor mixed with cranberry Canada Dry is defiantly better than some have it, but it's only half ideal. It makes you wish you took that winter vacation to the Florida Keys like you were planning. Hindsight is twenty twenty my friend.

I've been a big fan of the other two Capone sodas I've had, and while this is not bad by any means it leaves a bit to be desired. The vanilla and sweet soda flavors are both there, but they are both just kind of …€¦ separate. They don't really blend together the way I want them to. It is certainly better than any sort of store brand cream soda, but for what I was expecting from the ginger beer and root beer it's just not quite there. I'm guessing that everyone out there will probably enjoy this a great deal. Comparison and expectations will just be the death of me.

Rumor has it that it's been a rough year for apples. It was a blisteringly hot summer and that's not good for any sort of trees, plants, fruits, vegetables, and everything in-between. I assume the orchards aren't just throwing away bushels of lesser quality apples. I hope that there will be an influx of apple goods like apple cider, apple donuts, apple bread, something. I like apples. I like certain apples more than other but I like them all. Apple juice is good but companies as of late have been really nailing that apple flavor and not just apple flavoring things.

This pop is apple. Red apple. Not apple flavored. It says "natural and artificial flavors" but I'm thinking that's a misprint. It's a really good flavor. It's sweet but it's pop. If you've had Jones before they are a little guilty of over sweetening their pop. It's real sugar though so over sweetening with cane sugar versus artificial sweetener, in my opinion, is way more drinkable. I'm just saying they could cut back a bit.

Autumn, apples, cider, hoodies; it's all happening now, for a limited time. Fall is a short season because you take summer for every day but as soon as snow hits, it's mentally winter. That's the frigidly cold truth. I'm not telling lies over here, just truths.

I'm thirsty; can you bring me a bottle of Dr. Pepper? All you have is a generic Dr. Pepper? Alright, I guess that will do. Why did you...ok, I guess you opened it for me. Thanks! But why are you carrying a vile of battery acid in your other hand? Seriously??!? You're going to skateboard the bottle over to me!? Deny it all you want, I saw some of that battery acid splash up. Ugh, I wish I wasn't so thirsty. Sure soda isn't the best thing for thirst but it's the only thing available right now.

UGH... yup, some battery acid definitely made it's way into the bottle. It's not THAT bad, but still nothing I would go out of my way of experimenting with again.

Powell's is my favorite bookstore in the world. Sure, I haven't been to EVERY bookstore in the world, but it's my favorite of the ones I've been to. It is literally impossible for me to go there without walking out with a book (or 5). If you're ever in Portland, OR, do yourself a favor and go to their store downtown. It's huge (4 stories, and a full city block), and their used book selection is incredible (which are shelved right next to the corresponding new book on the shelf).

Last week when I was in the downtown store, I saw this bottle and my face lit up! This is a limited edition soda (made by local soda company Hot Lips Soda) made to commemorate Powell's 41st birthday. They picked the perfect flavor combination because this is incredible! I never thought raspberries and pears would go so well together, but they do. I used to dislike how little carbonation Hot Lips soda had, but I've come to love it. The lack of bubbles, and the fact that it's sweetened naturally by the fruit, really makes this taste great.

Books and soda, two of my all time favorite things together at last!

Sometimes you find yourself on tour with a bunch of your friends. You (they) play a bunch of shows and it's fun and awesome and everyone has a good time. Sometimes you don't have as place to stay at the end of the night and that is a bummer. Sometimes while you're standing around trying to figure out what you're going to do you get a call that friends are playing a show down the street, so you go to check it out. Sometimes you wind up on Lagwagon's tour bus at two in the morning. Sometimes you get handed a drink and you would normally turn it down because you don't drink, but then you look at it and you realize it's a ginger ale that you haven't reviewed on your dumb drink review website.

It was a fun night, and even though I don't particularly care about the band, everyone who was around was really nice and we had a good time. The ginger ale was fairly standard. It tasted like pretty much every no name ginger ale out there. If you've had a ginger ale in a restaurant or at a family party you know what this tastes like. The can is graphically appealing though. It's got a nice logo and a pleasant color scheme.

Deep in the not so frozen tundra of Worcester, MA there is a factory where the locals have imprisoned a team of polar bears and they force them to make soda pop. They originally made their own beverages, but they realized that they weren't quite up to snuff. So traps and snares were laid and polar bears were transported to the north east of America. Hence he Polar premium line was born. Those bears worked tirelessly on different formulas and recipes until they had created a surprisingly dark root beer with a huge head on it (due to the addition of quiaia extract). It has a nice vanilla flavor, and you can taste bits of caramel in the aftertaste. The problem wasn't making the soda. It was getting people to give it a try. You see, their old line was seen by people as more or less on par with store brand. It was cheap and available everywhere. They knew it would take some time and some marketing, but once people tried the soda they would be hooked, or so the bears told them. As we all know, bears know best. They whispered in my ear what to write in this review. It probably just comes off as the ramblings of a mad man, but who am I to argue with some gigantic polar bears?

I just spent four days traveling across Canada searching bodegas high and low for new drinks. It wasn't until days later in a pizza shop in Philadelphia that I came across some bottles of Canadian Dry Vanilla Cream. I had never heard of such a flavor existing, and I would never have expected top find it in as sea of cheesecakes and peanut chews. Myself and everyone I was with, were super pumped for a vanilla ginger ale. Think about that for a second. How incredibly awesome of a soda would that be? Unfortunately Canadian Dry didn't have the vision to make such a drink. This is nothing more than a cream soda. It's on of the best HFCS sweetened cream sodas I've ever tasted, but it's still just a cream soda and the lack of ginger is a disappointment.

It has quite a strong vanilla smell that reminds me of vanilla extract. The flavor is about the same, but it is pretty thick and syrupy. If this was sweetened with cane sugar it would probably be through the roof good. Dear Canada, America has stolen your company and used inferior sweeteners. You should stand up for yourself.

Next Sunday Mike and I will be going to see Insane Clown Posse. Mike was given tickets for some unknown reason, so we're going as scientists to watch the Juggalos in their native habitat. We certainly would never have spent money to go to see them, but when it's free why not? Hopefully we'll get to witness the rare mating ritual of a "down Juggalette" eating a hot dog, whilst her face make up drips all over it. Okay, now that I have made myself vom, let's talk about this drink. In order to mentally prepare myself for the voyage ahead I decided to drink some Moon Mist. Actually back to ICP. Do they have a specific flavor of Faygo that they spray everyone with, or are they non-discriminatory about it? I would guess they would use Red Pop for the most visible coverage. Oh well.

So yeah, Moon Mist. It tastes like crab juice...err Mountain Dew, as is to be expected. The twist is that it has slightly more lemon-lime flavor to it than it's major corporation big brother. Not being a fan of original Mountain Dew this didn't do much for me, but if that's your cup of tea this would be a nice alternative to mix things up a bit.

Poor Teddy used to love his root beer. Everyday after herding cattle, he would come back to his modest house and sit in his favorite chair and enjoy a nice tall bottle of root beer. Then one day the doctor told him he couldn't have any more sugar. Teddy was obviously very sad. Suddenly his life wasn't as great as it used to be without his daily root beer.

That's when he decided to make his own root beer with a new "fake" sugar called sucralose. People were skeptical at first, but once they had a sip they were sold. Sure it wasn't as sweet as real sugar, but it was a great substitute for those who can't consume sugar but still want the delicious taste of root beer.

I have never seen X Factor. I know what it's about. Do I need to watch that to review this? I hope not. I don't hate Simon Cowell. I think that his role in television in unnecessary because the people who aren't good enough to be on television shouldn't be on television. I think, yes, he tells people what they need to hear but his role was created to solve a problem that didn't exist. That man is a heck of a driver, though, brother. Skills. He's good. So, for the wheelman Mr. Cowell, I will review your drink.

Simon, this is a nice drink. It's the first I've seen a major corporation utilize such a unique product as dragonfruit. I couldn't drink this entire bottle because I enjoy my teeth, current weight, and don't have dental insurance to fix them. I know you always sit on television with the world's largest glasses of pop but you and I both know that it's not pop in there all the time and that it's merely an advertising piece. You are a true Englishman and are probably drinking tea. It's in your blood. That's not to say that you can't drink pop, but your body craves a nice Earl Gray. That's not me creepily telling you that "I know what you want, Simon." but it's just a broad, blanket assumption.

Simon, I don't know what role you played in the planning of this drink but you didn't a good job and should take credit for it if you did. It's better than lemon Pepsi was. Vanilla was pretty good but this is a completely separate animal as far as I am concerned. This is Pepsi with a fruity taste. I'm going to get in trouble for saying that it's good because companies that more properly utilize dragonfruit are very passionate about it and get upset when companies much smaller and less influential misuse their precious, favorite fruit. They've got their own market and you've got yours. "You" in that previous sentence was you, Mr. Cowell and Pepsi.

I hope/trust you have a good season on the X Factor this year. I hope that it allows you to buy wonderful new cars. That's sincere, from one gear head to another.

Flavored cream sodas have become my new favorite sub genre of drinks. If you think about it, you can add almost anything to cream soda. I wonder what a cola cream soda would be like? This is my first strawberry cream soda and I must say, I'm sold! This soda is delicious, and I'm not usually a fan of strawberry flavored drinks. It's the perfect mixture of fruity and creamy. I see that Lost Trail makes a root beer too. If it's half as good as this, we are in for a treat. I found this lone bottle in a Whole Foods in Utah so hopefully we can find it available somewhere in Buffalo.

I'm sure the company is sick of references to gangsters when it comes to their products, but how could you not with a name like Capone, and they are based out of Chicago? I for one am a sucker for movies on the subject. There is something about Chicago in the 20's that is insanely alluring to me. The decade as a whole is fascinating to me. I blame that mostly on the writings of F. Scott Fitzgerald. You couple that with organized crime and you have a romance that I'd love to be a part of. In reality it would probably have been terrible to live in that time, but if my current self could visit there I would do it in a second. I would especially do it if I had access to the stash of soda in the Capone warehouses. If this is bottle I have is any indication of what the original was like, I would be in heaven.

At first this seems like a very general root beer. It tastes how most people would describe the flavor of root beer when asked. The more you mull it over though, the most flavors seep out onto your taste buds. This has one of the strongest caramel flavors I've ever tastes in a soda. It doesn't taste like you're pouring caramel ice cream topping in your mouth, but it is smooth and flavorful. It also has some spices in the mix. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but it works well with the caramel. The aftertaste is where the vanilla gets to shine and then the sun sets and you're finished with the bottle. That would be a sad time if I hadn't used a time machine to go back to the 20's and party down during prohibition.

Mike gave me this can of sarsaparilla, and I thought it was the same as the one I had reviewed early on in the history of the site. The can looks pretty much identical, except it's orange instead of red. I can't read the writing so I don't know if there are any subtle differences. I had intended to just sit back and relax with this nice fizzy drink, but when I tried it, it tasted a lot different than I remember. The first can I had tasted very woodsy, with a generic root beer undertone. This one has a light bubblegum flavor with a healthy heaping of licorice root mixed in. It's a weird combo. Some sips I think it's okay and then others I absolutely love it. It's definitely a unique flavor that is worth checking out.

Now the only questions are, “Is this the same stuff as I had before? Am I crazy to think it tastes so wildly different?

When I was pulling this out of the cooler at a random gas station in Utah or Oregon (I forget), a lady asked me if I've ever had it before. I replied with "no" but in my head I was laughing because I get that question daily from friends. Whether it's in person, on Facebook, or over text message, friends are always asking me "Have you tried this drink? Is it good?" I almost wanted to tell her how funny her question was to me given that I scoured the cooler for this bottle (and the diet version) and that was the ONLY drink there we haven't reviewed on this site.

I labeled this as a cola because when I bought it that's what I thought it was. It wasn't until I took a sip of it did I realize that it's a Dr. Pepper clone. I suppose the name should have clued me in on that. For a Dr. Pepper clone, it's descent but I've had better. It definitely didn't make my "taste buds flip" as the tagline suggested. Maybe they would have if it was sweetened with sugar and differentiated itself from Dr. Pepper a little more.

Superfruit. How can you lose? It's vague, but who cares. Superman is vague but you get the point. He's better than a regular man. Wonder Woman? Sure, the naming convention is not there but you get it. Jay loves comic books and when he reads this, he will think one of two things. One: why is Mike once again talking about things he knows nothing about? Two: Mike's talking about comic books and he is awesome.

So as much as I would like to believe that somewhere on the Earth there is one fruit called a "Superfruit" that not only has a killer name but it also trumps all other fruits in things like flavor, sweetness, and that strange antioxidant chart. This drink, I've got to say was good but this so-called "Superfruit" got pushed around a little like a fit, muscular dude at comic book convention. No respect. This drink tastes good; very fruity and reminiscent of berries. It's nice. Now here's where the "if" or "but" comes in. If you don't like natural, low calories sweeteners like Stevia, this drink will lose points because as "super" as this drink is, it's being pushed aside by then. Those dweebs. Since I don't hate them and have begun to like and appreciate the taste, I actually thought this drink was pretty good.

Superfruit? Sure, you can call it whatever you'd like. Without any photographic proof, I can't really believe you. It's the scientist in me. Ask Jay and he'll tell you the same thing. Then ask Jay about his love for cats and Michael Stipe. Go ahead. I dare you.