Soda Pop - 1421 Reviews

After high school all of Stan's friends went to college to become teachers and businessmen. He knew from an early age that he would not follow the same path. He wasn't dumb or anything. He actually got high marks in school, but he just had no interest in higher education. As soon as he got his diploma at the end of his senior year he enrolled in clown school. Clowning seemed like a dream come true. His classes failed to hold his attention though, and after a semester he dropped out. He then spent a few months just hanging out, working at his uncle's shop. Then one afternoon he was on break flipping through the local arts paper and he saw an ad that would change his life forever. He had been close with clown college, but he now knew that his true calling was to be a magician. He emptied his bank account and took a three week crash course in magicianery. It was there that his instructor gave his the stage name of Zevia the Magnificent, a title that the whole world would soon know.

While he loved being a magician, he really wasn't very good at it. His rabbit would always end up in an audience members purse instead of his hat, and he could never keep a firm grasp on those darn rings, what did they polish them with anyways, lard? One trick that he did master was to hypnotize people into thinking that diet pop tasted good. His secret was that he would make his own soda and sweeten it with a natural zero calorie sweetener caller stevia. This was in the late 90's when everyone was trying to keep the pounds off with aspartame and sucralose. They never knew what hit them. One flavor that he worked hard on was a diet ginger ale. Even though there weren't many diet ginger ales on the market, and people weren't familiar with it, he still thought it was integral to his act. It didn't really taste like the other ginger ales he had drank in the past. It was more like slightly sweet seltzer water with a slight ginger taste to it. He prided himself on using real ginger, but not enough to have any sort of heat to it. It was a completely non-offensive soda that he drank all the time, and why not when it had no sugar and no calories. Sure it could have used a bit more flavor, but who was going to argue with it' healthiness compared to the leading brands?

It was during the portion of his act when he was convincing people that diet soda could taste good when his infamy began. The prime minister of China was in the audience that evening for some unknown reason. Zevia's helper monkey became irate and flung his dung at the prime minister before shaking up a can of soda and spraying it in the foreign dignitaries face. As you well know that was the catalyst for World War 3. Zevia the Magnificent, and his monkey, were later tried for war crimes, and we all know the outcome of that.

Key Lime soda is my favorite thing to stumble upon. It's not that popular/common so it doesn't happen too often. When it does though, my face lights up (or I assume it does). I stumbled upon this bottle in a Big Lots in Salt Lake City and couldn't believe my eyes. Two of my favorite sodas, key lime and cream soda, combined!

First off, I wish this wasn't sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. It's very noticeable and makes the soda much heavier than it should be. I think this is the reason why the key lime taste isn't has strong as it could be. The cream soda part is great, and in combination with the key lime it's one of the best flavored cream soda's I've had.

Damn you HFCS for making a delicious soda not as good!

A little bite and a genuine ginger taste: this is the model right here, ladies and gentlemen. If this had been labeled a "ginger beer" I would have been upset that there wasn't enough bite. I have had ginger beers that taste like this, which is disappointing. This little guy packs a punch for a ginger ale. One word ruins a drink. Let it be known. It's all about expectations. I drank the Jamaican Ginger Ale and now I don't remember if there was a difference between the two.

This was probably one of the best ginger ales I have ever had. That's a thing to be said. Now, when people say to me, "Mike, you look great today. What is the best ginger ale you've ever had? I'm nauseous from being on this giant yacht of yours with real gold lions scattered throughout." I will say, "It happens, man. When you go out on a gigantic yacht that you can call your own you get used to it. One of my favorite ginger ales that you can get most places is Blue Sky ginger ale. Also, did you know that those giant gold lions have candy in their mouth? Reach on in and get a Fun Size Kit Kat. Don't puke on my boat."

I have a severe problem. I am straight up addicted to Taco Bell. I don't eat there all that often, but that is solely because it would take me 20 minutes to drive there, and a 40 minute round trip ride is not worth 2-3 99 cent burritos. The thing is that whenever I pass by one, or even see a sign for the “restaurant” I get an undying need for craptastic fake Mexican food. I could have just eaten the biggest meal of my life and then I'll pass by one and think, “yeah I could really go for a burrito now.” It's absolutely disgusting and I wish I could break myself from it.

While I love the garbage burritos that Taco Bell serves me, there is another item on their menu that I repeatedly try and always regret. That is the Taco Bell exclusive that is Mountain Dew Baja Blast. It is by far my least favorite flavor of Mountain Dew. It's supposed to be lime, you know to accent the flavors in the burritos, but it comes off as something that should not be ingested. It has an almost chemical taste that is somehow different than that of energy drinks. If someone told me that it could also be used as coolant in a car, I would not be surprised.

I know a lot of people rave over this flavor, but I don't get it at all. It's borderline undrinkable in my book. In the future when I order my three fresco bean burritos I'll accompany them with a glass of water.

I like dry sodas. They are a nice alternative when you don't want to drink a lot of sugar. The flavors generally aren't overly strong, but I can get over it for the trade off. Fruit flavors generally make the best dry sodas. Unfortunately root beer does not. Root beer is meant to be robust and full bodied, two things you just can't get with a dry soda. In essence this is some seltzer water with some root beer flavoring added to it (plus the tiniest amount of cane sugar). To be fair it does have birch oil and vanilla in it, so it is all natural. It's unfortunate that it doesn't really work for root beer, as the flavor isn't very apparent and it tastes like watered down root beer.

It had been a long day for Mark. His boss had made him come in an hour early and then was on him all day to get this or that done in some ridiculously small amount of time. It was nonstop chaos and he didn't even have time to take a lunch. Take it from my boy Mark, Ritz crackers from the vending machine a meal does not make. By the time he got out of work, late of course, his stomach was screaming to be filled. On the walk to his car he ordered a pizza. That's right Mark ordered a large cheese pizza and he planned on eating it all himself, in one sitting. We're not talking about those 14” or 16” pizzas they have down south. This was a real deal 18” large cheese pizza that was greasy and doughy with just a hint of flour on the bottom of the crust. When he got to the pizza joint it wasn't quite ready so he checked out the little shop next door as he needed a drink to go along with his “za” and a two-liter of 7Up did not sound appealing. When he came across this can of Colombiana he knew he was in for a treat. You see Mark was a huge supporter of Cola and he loved trying the underdogs in the “Cola Wars.” What Mark didn't know was that cola and kola were not the same thing, and it was a realization that wouldn't hit him until he was two slices deep into his dinner. He cracked open the can and took a big sip, instantly realizing that it was not the soda he expected. Where he expected a heavy harsh cola flavor he was instead met by a slightly bubble gum flavored soda. It was then that the K in the flavor made sense to him. This was not cola at all, but instead it was kola champagne a drink popular in Puerto Rico. He had read the flavor described as a vanilla banana mixture, but to him it always tasted like bubble gum, and was always overly sweet and too much to handle. Colombiana's version wasn't so flavorful and he got where people had gotten the description before. This was a version of the soda that he could actually finish an entire bottle of. It didn't compliment his pizza as much as say an RC Cola would have, but it didn't ruin his meal either. He did learn his lesson though, and would never again confuse kola for the sticky sweet brown beverage that held a grip on his heart.

Things I am not into include the newish style of music called Witch House of Witch Hop. It's basically slowed down hip-hop beats with “creepy” keyboards and vocals over them. It's similar to trip hop, which I am a fan of a handful of bands, but the vocals always make it sound like the tape is just playing at the wrong speed. A lot of it reminds me of music that would be in a David Lynch movie, but not as good. I have to say after reading my description, if I hadn't already heard it, I would instantly check it out. The Witch House band I hear about the most is Salem, which is where this drink is from, and more than likely where the style for their name from. Also like a lot of the music this soda is very smooth. It tastes like a nice smooth creamy root beer, except it's birch beer. Normally birch beer has a slight harshness to it, but that is not present at all in this bottle. It has a pretty standard birch beer flavor, but the smoothness is not normal with this flavor. I just wish the music was as good as the soda.

I just got back from my second camping trip of the week. I'm exhausted, hungry and filthy. I decided to put stuff away before I took care of my previously mentioned issues. As I was unloading the food and drinks that I brought, but didn't consume, I dropped with bottle of sparkling apple juice on the floor. I was glad that it didn't shatter, but when I picked it up the cap had come loose and juice was spraying out. Drinking this so it wouldn't be wasted took top priority.

I found these beverages at a natural food store in Richmond, VA. They were on sale, so I purchased the whole line. I'm glad I did, because they are superior beverages to most. Sometimes I get a need for soda. I just need it or I feel like I'm going to explode. It's not the flavor, but the bubbles and they way they feel going down my throat. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but too bad you can read it again. Sure I could stay healthy and just drink seltzer water when I get this itch, but I just can't get down with the weird flavor it has, no matter how often I try. Sonoma Sparkler's may not be as good for you as seltzer water, but it's apple juice that has been carbonated. There are no sweeteners or anything like that added. As a bonus the flavor is great. It obviously tastes like the sparkling apple juice non-drinkers like myself down on new years eve, except it's way better because it's just juice with no sugar, and it's still ultra sweet. Nature, she knew what she was doing when she made fruit. She also knew what she was doing when she made animals hide from me. I spent a bunch of time in the woods and I didn't see a single bear, beaver, bobcat, porcupine or otter. I feel cheated.

Those of you who know me may know of my affinity for the state of Virginia. Since 2001 my bands have played there fairly regularly, and I've developed quite a few friendships. In 2003 when a band broke up in Richmond I simply stayed behind. I spent three months or so between Warrenton and Richmond and it was wonderful. To this day I still try to make it down to Richmond to visit at least once a year. It's one of two cities that I would ever leave Buffalo to live in (Toronto is the other).

With so much love for the state how have I never tried Northern Neck until today? The can claims that it has been a Virginia tradition since 1926. Apparently my friends are not ones for tradition. This may be the single best ginger ale I have ever had, even though it's sweetened with HFCS. Due to the sweetener and the fact that it is owned by the Coca-Cola company I expected this to be just another generic ginger ale. Sometimes being wrong feels so right. To sum up the flavor I would say that it tastes like a ginger beer without the burn. I love the burn, but I know a lot of other people do not, and sometimes I just want the flavor. Now I have a soda that will appeal to those with weak taste buds and those not looking for an adventure at the moment. Most modern day ginger ales do not even taste like real ginger, let alone have any in them. This has ginger in it and you can taste the difference. It's so damn flavorful that I'm kicking myself that I only bought one can on my most recent visit to the capital of the Confederacy. Next time I will not make the same mistake.

We have the facts and the answer is that a lot of America is tired of being overweight and unhealthy. Gym attendance is higher than ever and so is the purchase of low calorie foods. I for one am all for it. I'm not saying that the skinnier you are the better you are, but everyone out there please take care of yourself. I don't want anyone out there starving themselves or purging. I just mean take little steps and put a little effort into things. When you do a little exercise and eat better you feel way better about yourself, and more importantly you feel better physically.

Uve is a company who takes low calorie foods a step further with ingredients such as WellTrim*iG, which they claim helps reduce body fat, promotes thermogenesis, supports healthy cardiovascular function, and helps to promote a healthy response to inflammation. The FDA hasn't verified these claims yet, but let's give these folks the benefit of the doubt. The soda also has a bunch of other ingredients to help with the metabolism of fats. These folks are taking the “diet” drink seriously.

When I first opened the bottle the smell was absolutely incredible. It was like someone smashed a bunch of apples and pomegranates and shoved my snout right in it. The taste didn't quite live up to the fragrance though. It starts off as a mild pomegranate and quickly changes to apple, and even quicker it then tastes like apples that had been soaking in stevia overnight. There's another flavor floating around there as well that I can only assume is the WellTrim*iG. It's a weird diet-esque taste that doesn't taste like any zero calorie sweetener I've ever tried.

As I said the drink doesn't taste as good as it smells, but would you really expect it to? It's a diet drink, and when you venture into that realm you know what to expect. The thing is that even though I have complaints with the flavor, they are fewer than I had anticipated. This is a superior beverage to almost any other low calorie or diet soda I've ever tried. They went diet, and somehow managed to make it taste remotely decent. Can you say the same?

I used to be in a band. I've mentioned it before and I'll mention it again. I don't give a rip. One day, we as a band dug out my drummer Josh Myers' (see where I'm going here?) basement. "Dug out?" you say? Yes. He lived in an old house in the outskirts of the suburbs and had a section of the basement that had a dirt floor. He dad needed some help so we dug down about a foot or two in about a 150 to 200 square foot space. That's a lot of dirt.

We dug and dug and filled up wheelbarrows and dumped it in an unused well outside. I don't remember how we got it up the stairs, or if there were stairs, or if we made a ramp but all I know is that I took my shirt off because it didn't matter where else dirt got because we were covered. All of us. We did a great job and I can't imagine the amount of money that we saved Josh's daddy. We all felt accomplished and were thanked by a fantastic pizza; the food of movers and grunt workers.

Back then there was no Thirsty Dudes so back then we were all idiots drinking no-name cola but now...now I know better. If I could do it again, I would bring a cold six-pack of this stuff. Nothing is manlier than root beer and four dudes digging dirt like some sort of criminal or misbehaving dog or human backhoe deserves great stuff. This root beer is strong and contains a special ingredient that changes the entire way that this drink tastes. Cinnamon. I've wanted a nice root beer with cinnamon for a while. I don't know why, but I have and this drink doesn't let me down.

Now I can't go back in time to quench the thirst of us, but I can meet up with some of the guys and give them a bottle and have them mentally go back and reminisce about "the old days" and how much better it would have been with this root beer. Good time, good tunes, and good root beer: the equation for a good time.

This bottle tells the tale of how in the 20's police raided Capone's warehouses 137 times looking for illegal alcohol, and all they found was soda. That is hysterical. I just imagine the workers of the warehouse pretending to be all scared and then laughing uncontrollably as police opened up crates filled with soda. I'd also like to believe that there was an illegal “hooch” ring going on as well, but it was just so well hidden that the cops couldn't find it. Dumb cops.

Even though I don't drink alcohol I'm pretty sure I would have been involved in the bootlegging side of life back then. It just seems fun and exciting. Also, have you ever seen speak easy's portrayed in movies? They look like a complete blast. Since I'm no narc I would just hang out while everyone got trashed on bootleg liquor. I would join in the party sipping on bottles of “secret soda.” I would have no problem drinking bottle after bottle of this ginger beer. It has a nice sweet ginger ale flavor that is quickly overpowered by a decent burn. It's not enough to make me pause after every sip to calm myself, but it's enough that I think it might bother your average person. It lingers a little, and that's the way I like it. I've realized that unlike every other soda on the face of the planet ginger beer tastes better when it's sweetened with HFCS. Strange times.

I say bring back prohibition, because I'm getting a little bored with things lately and I could use a little boost in excitement.

Margaret had a problem with her neighbor. Well it really wasn't her neighbor that was the problem; she was a sweet old lady. Her problem was that there wasn't a fence between their houses and in her neighbor's backyard there was an old pear tree. Early in the season it was great. It was a lovely looking tree and the air around it always has a soft smell of pears. As late summer (and ultimately fall) set in is when things turned poor. You see the old lady neighbor didn't go out much because of her age and all of the pears would fall to the ground where they would begin to rot. The smell was kind of bad, but even though there was a slight scent of decay, the smell of the pears overwhelmed it. The true problem was that the rotting pears attracted armies of bees. You see Margaret had a small British looking boy that she liked to dress up as Charlie Brown to fulfill some sadistic need. When she would bring him out back to play, as soon as she looked way he always bee-lined (all puns intended) towards the tree. She always caught up to him in time, but she knew one day she wouldn't be fast enough and it would be sting city for her little comic character brought to life.

She knew the neighbor really wasn't fit to do anything about it so Margaret decided to clean up the pears herself this year before they began to rot. She made some pies, canned a few, but there were still mountains left over. Eventually she decided to try and make some pear soda. Since she didn't really know what she was doing to she pleased with the way it turned out, even though it tasted a bit off, and not really like pears. She somehow managed to do to her pear soda what sour green apple candy flavoring has been doing to candy for years. It was sweet, yet slightly sour and only vaguely tasting of pears. It wasn't great, but it was better than expected. She made up a few cases (you seriously can't believe how many pears this tree produced) and saved them up for the holidays. You see her husband ran a soda company and his name was…€¦wait for the reveal…€¦Thomas Ezekiel Jones. DUM DUM DUM

Mario had finally found his calling in life. For 24 years he was led to believe that cola should taste a certain way, the way of Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Sure they had their subtle differences, but for all purposes they were basically the same. The thing was Mario was okay with it. Sure he preferred Coke over Pepsi, but he had no problem drinking either if they were offered to him. He never really went out of his way to buy cola, because let's face it it's not root beer or ginger beer and those are his loves.

This morning Mario went to his local health food store to buy some vegetarian jerky (now there was a substance he was addicted to). He went to the cooler to grab a drink to wash down his salty, chewy treats, and that is when this little gem caught his eye. To be fair the store needed restocking and it was either this, coconut water or the dreaded kombucha. He made his purchases and headed out to his `88 Dodge Aries. He sat on the hood and tore into his bag of jerky until the saltiness overtook him and he needed to open the soda. Suddenly a whole new world opened up before Mario. Everything he knew about cola was wrong, starting with the fact that it should be spelled kola. He realized that kola was meant to be complex like a fine root beer. It was supposed to taste like waves of herbs and spices such as cinnamon, cloves, coriander and nutmeg. The taste of your everyday cola was meant to only be a base flavor that these spices would enhance. This soda wasn't overly syrupy sweet. In fact this kola is almost slightly bitter. Mario felt like he had been cheated his whole life and that he should have been drinking this his whole life. He knew then that it was his job in life to spread the word of the true kola. He would flyer supermarkets, create guerrilla campaigns where he would sabotage the enemy. He would take the soda world by storm and turn them on their ear…€¦..but first he was going to go back in the store and buy a couple more bottles, because it seriously was really good.

Twenty years old. Twenty. Arizona is one year away from being able to drink its own alcohol line. It can vote for your local quarterback as the president of the United States. It can go to the casino and win six dollars playing penny slots. It cannot rent a car without having some sort of authorization from his or her daddy. It can buy cigarettes but it's is also smart enough to know that is not a wonderful decision.

Arizona is almost a full-fledged adult and what better way to celebrate than with a drink fit for a youth? That's right, and cherry lime Rickey. I feel like this is the sibling or close cousin to the Shirley Temple. It's a little bit of cherry with a little bit of lime and a lot of bit of sparkling because that's what you do when you are twenty; you sparkle. You shine your shoes, you walk out the door, and you feel like a million bucks. You've got your ability to perform as an almost adult but while having a drink in your hand that makes you feel young.

This is a limited edition flavor with a timeless taste. Having never been to Brooklyn, I don't have the nostalgia behind this flavor but that doesn't mean that I cannot appreciate it. What am I? An ignoramus? I am not, sir, and I take insult to hear that from the likes of you. Insulting me after all the nice things I said about you. It makes you look like a real turd, you know that?

My good friend and business partner Alex Wrekk went to a brewery in Eugene, OR on her day off yesterday. While she went for the beer, she excitedly called me to tell me about the flavors of soda they also made. Later in the day she surprised me with bottles of two of them! Isn't she the best?!

I've only had one chai soda before, but it's one of my favorite sodas of all time. The smell of this is strong of chai, which is awesome. While I don't drink chai tea as much as I used to, I still love the smell of it. The chai taste isn't as intense as I was hoping, but it's still good. It almost taste like weak grapefruit soda, with a splash of chai.

Since this was made at a brewery, I can only assume by the taste of it that it is a fermented soda. I'm not a huge fan of fermented sodas so that might be throwing me off a bit. They definitely got the 'fizz' part of the name down. This is one of the fizziest soda's I've ever had.

As far as I'm concerned if you're not sweetening your beverage with real sugar, the only other option should be agave. Everything else is either gross of unnecessary. Everyone knows the joys of real sugar, well maybe not diabetics, but not everyone is familiar with agave. It comes from a cactus looking plant (the same one tequila is made from) and it's sweet, slightly syrupy and wonderful tasting. Oogave understands this and they created a brand specifically to showcase this wonderful sweetener. They have been making a nice array of unusual soda flavors and the results have been great. With their grapefruit they missed the mark a little. It's a pretty decent soda and for normal people this might be great, but I am a lover of grapefruit sodas and it doesn't have that quasi-sour kick that I like in this particular flavor. It tastes just like grapefruit minus the tartness. I imagine it was the agave that neutralized it and made it into a smooth grapefruit soda. I would drink it again, but I'm just not as excited about it as I was when I purchased it.

Want to make this at home? Here's what you need: two parts diet Pepsi, one part artificial cherry flavor. That will about do it. There's not much else to say about this soda. Luckily the cherry flavor cancels out some of the diet taste and it's semi-enjoyable.

A trip to Hogsmeade isn't something I'm able to do on a regular basis. I wish I did have the time, but my life is so busy. You see I opened a wand shop in Diagon Alley after Ollivander's closed down. Okay, yes I know he didn't just decide to close down the shop. If I were kidnapped like he was I would have probably closed too. Anyways, so I own a wand shop and that takes up most of my time.

Yesterday I was lamenting to a customer about how I hadn't been able to get a butter beer in a long time due to my long hours of work. They told me to wait a minute and came back with this wonderful looking bottle. I didn't know they started bottling butter beer, which goes to show you how much I get out. I wasted no time in opening the bottle and the delicious butter beer smell wafted into the air.

And the taste you ask? Oh man, the taste is perfect! If you've never had butter beer before it tastes like a butterscotch candy (Werther's Original to be exact) in liquid form. So delicious and so sweet. I can already feel my teeth forming cavities. I loved the bottle so much I asked my new friend to buy me four more. I gave them a free wand in exchange. Maybe I shouldn't have done that since a wand costs around 5 Galleons and five bottles of butter beer is only a couple of Sickles. Oh well, it was worth it.

You put the orange in the mango and you drink them both up…€¦wait…€¦that's not right. Oh well they are already mixed together so I might as well go with it. I mean I already checked out and the cashier gave me the weirdest look because I was singing. I didn't really want anything coconut flavored anyways.

Okay, now that I've tried this I'm pretty happy that I messed up. It tastes like tiny mandarin oranges were juiced and then filtered through some mango puree. The flavor starts off completely orange and by the time the aftertaste has faded away it had gotten to a point of pure mango. Somewhere in the middle it tastes like someone spritzed in a little lemon juice, you know the way you add limejuice to guacamole so it doesn't turn brown. No one wants their sparkling juice to turn brown, so make sure you add a little lemon.

As an after thought what the heck was Harry Nilsson talking about? Who wants to have lime and coconut mixed together? It just seems like it would curdle and that is way gross.