Soda Pop - 1421 Reviews

Deep in the mountains of Pennsylvania there once was a group of hill people who lacked intelligence to such a great degree that they couldn't even make moonshine properly. They were the laughingstock of the yokel world. All these pour saps wanted to do was make some cheap hooch that could potentially make them blind, and they failed at every turn. No one really knows what they were thinking when they were trying to make it, but what resulted was a world-class birch beer. You know the kind that you would buy out of a tin mug at a county fair. When they presented it to some of their neighbors, it took awhile for the laughing to subside, but then one of them said something along the line of "how do you expect to make booze without some sort of fruits or vegetables. Since they were in season the family added a butt load of blueberries to their next batch. They still failed to make anything that would get them drunk, but what they did make was truly magical. It was a fine birch beer to start with, but the addition of the blueberries made it astronomical. It was incredibly fruity and sweet and chock full of classic olde time birch beer flavor. To top it all off it somehow went from a healthy dark brown to a bright blue.

The word soon spread about how dumb this family was, but how they had somehow managed to create a tasty treat. The tale soon reached the ears of a wealthy railroad family who moved to PA and hired the family on the spot to continue production of their soda. As a salary they would be paid in low-end whiskey (the gave them nice whiskey at first, but the hill people made fun of it saying it was too hoity toity, so they switched to swill). And that is the story of how Reading Railroad got put on the Monopoly board.


*****************************************EDIT*****************************************
As I drink more of this I realized that Reading Draft has done to birch beer what Voltage did to Mountain Dew, except normal birch beer is great where as regular Mountain Dew is garbage. It just has a slightly similar taste to the Voltage, which is the only Mountain Dew flavor worth putting into your body.

You've had it before, you have forgotten about it, and for that, you should kick yourself because Vanilla Coke is as good as it ever was. The same as it ever was. The same as it ever was. This can, unlike cans that Americans buy, is from Thailand. Derek's daddy got it for us. Sure, on one side it says "Coca-Cola" in English, and "vanilla" in a sweet, 80's font, but everyone knows what that looks like. The other side is the money shot.

Flavor? I have always loved vanilla coke. I will admit that I haven't bought it in a while, but that's because I find it hard to find in a single can or bottle. I don't need a twelve pack of anything so I just skip right on by that purchase without taking a second glance. I don't know what this is sweetened with, whether it's real sugar or corn syrup, but this can't didn't really stand a chance once I took a drink.

Coke, you are great in many languages. For that, America, Taiwan, and other countries that decided to remain anonymous when I took the poll thank you for your years of dedicated service.

Twenty-one inches, ladies and gentlemen. Twenty-one inches. What is twenty-one inches, you ask? The spaghetti that I bought today. Some of the strands I later discovered were bent in half so the ones that were 100% intact were actually forty-two inches long. You see why I had to buy it, right? Every day people eat boring spaghetti that is only a foot long, and that's for the birds now what I've had this stuff.

To accompany my giant, novelty spaghetti, I had to have a solid drink. You know how some wine compliments cheese and visa-versa? Apparently I think that ginger ale compliments spaghetti because that's what I picked out.

I was let down. The spaghetti was alright. It took forever to cook and although it wasn't bad, it was just long spaghetti. One thing I didn't like after the fact is that it was hollow which made it hard to slurp. I don't typically slurp spaghetti, but the fact that I was going to slurp on strand of spaghetti for up to forty-two inches was something I quickly put and then removed from my bucket list. The ginger ale was dreadfully mediocre. It didn't have any bite and if anything was a bit dry. One did not compliment the other and I made a poor pairing mistake.

If you see that spaghetti anywhere, buy it because it is fun. If you see this pop anywhere, leave it be.

Somewhere in the Carpathian Mountains a thirsty scientist named Vigo has gone "mad." He was sick of having to choose between his two favorite drinks, which were green tea and root beer. He decided to take matters in his own hands. He would create a hybrid, a Frankenstein monster of sorts of beverages. He loaded up his ingredients on the platform. He was about to raise it into the storm brewing above when his assistant grabbed his arm and begged him to reconsider to think of how this would affect the future of the planet. The mad genius threw him off and yelled, "Back off man I'm a scientist!" With that he threw the switch and the platform was raised and instantly struck with lightening. If you know anything about science that is the only proper way to make an unholy alliance.

As the platform lowered Vigo scooped out a cupful in his chalice and took a big gulp. His mouth was greeted by three waves of flavor. At first it was just a nice sweet soda taste, it was actually almost a cola. Then a wave of weakish root beer flavor washed over him. It wasn't nearly as strong as he had wanted, but it wasn't bad at all. Finally as that faded away it was replaced with the bitter sting of green tea. He felt that his creation wasn't a complete success, but it was good enough to market to the public. He then vowed to spend the rest of eternity trying to improve upon his creation. It's a couple thousand years later and he still hasn't gotten it quite right. This is a nice hybrid, but it doesn't quite deliver as much as you would want it to in either the tea or root beer categories. Maybe someday Vigo will find a baby so he can return to the earthly realm and begin his work anew.

For years Adirondack has made normal every day sodas. They are a brand that you pass in the pop aisle of your local grocery store and don't give it a second glance. It blends in with the store brand and honestly just doesn't look very astounding. It's a decent soda and all, but nothing to get exited about.

The company has taken note of the current state of affairs with consumers walking away from HFCS in everything. They climbed to the top of one of the glorious mountains in their range and came to a decision to make a natural soda. They actually blew one of those huge horns in celebration and nearly caused an avalanche. I really wish that last part was true. That would mean that there was a mountain range a couple hours away from me that was that ridiculously high. Man I would hang out there all the time. Okay, that's another lie. I live 5 hours from the Adirondacks and I have never once gone hiking or camping there. It's criminal really.

Back to the soda. This tastes pretty much like any average cola, but it's not thick and syrupy. There's no special blend or anything. It's just your every day cola. You know what? Good for them. Most people love this sort of stuff, and it's giving them the taste they know and love in a healthier version. Doctors everywhere give you their thanks.

Flagstaff is an interesting town. I would have never guessed it was in Arizona if I woke up there one day. It feels more like a small town in the mountains of Colorado. It's cold and the streets are lined with little shops. In a word, it's 'quaint'. It reminded me of that TV show Everwood. I don't think many people have ever watched it because no one ever gets my references to it.

I found this root beer in one of said shops. I probably would have never gone in if I didn't see the display of root beer bottles in the window. They had a decent selection, including this fine bottle. As I expected, it was a delicious root beer. Creamy with a nice classic taste to it. Not much bite to it, but it complimented the cool air of Flagstaff really well.

Dear Mike,
Our search ends here. You wanted the ultimate ginger beer and I believe I have found it. Put away your Goya and your Blenheim red caps. Those are kids stuff compared to this.

The smell of this stuff was so strong that it almost made me sneeze. I took two sips and I needed to take a break because it burned so much. It's been over an hour and I'm still not done with the bottle. You take a sip, it doesn't seem to bad, then a decent burn kicks in, you think you're going to be fine, then a third intense ginger burns drop kicks your throat. That's right this is a "three alarm" ginger beer. The thing is that it's not just crazy hot, this bottle is also full of flavor. That first wave tastes like a great ginger ale. The second wave is a great ginger beer. The third wave? Well that is just pure burn. Well-played Grace. You know how to make a great soda. If I got this in a Jamaican restaurant I think it would be a toss up as to what was hotter the soda or my jerk.

What is wrong with us that we've been searching out the hottest ginger beer? I'm pretty sure third world countries use this stuff in their torture methodologies. Us we sit back and relax with a nice cool bottle of liquid fire. We sure are idiots.

Anything fermented, for me, gets me a little standoffish. I have to read labels a lot to see if there alcohol in things because I won't touch it if it does. Non-alcoholic mouthwash, white wine vinegar, and vodka sauces are all off limits. We don't review types of kombucha because it's fermented to the point of containing alcohol.

I am not "afraid" of alcohol, I just don't need it in my life and if I have to do a little reading to ensure that I'm not getting any, I'll do it. You read for things like calories and fat, why can't I read for ingredients? You're right, I can. Thank you for your permission.

This stated that it contained no alcohol and I know that Jay wouldn't buy me something with alcohol in it, much like I wouldn't buy him something with beef tallow or gelatin, regardless of how much I try and convince him that I don't think that it's made from hooves anymore. We're more civilized than that...cutting of hooves and using them for jellybeans. It's just barbaric. There's synthetic everything else, why not this. Whatever. Different discussion.

CasCal makes this drink and it is dry and it is for adults. It tastes fermented and although I don't know who is into this thing, but it's there and it's nicely bottled which means that it's in demand. I was really excited when Jay gave this to me because I thought it was going to be some sort of carbonated, licorice infused apple juice. Instead, it tastes like old apple cider. I don't get any anise. Is it my untrained tongue? Possibly, but I know what anise tastes like and I didn't get any out of this. As the temperature increased to room temperature, I liked it more. It wasn't so...cold beer.

I wouldn't write CasCal off entirely as I'm sure they have other flavors that sound good and probably taste totally different. This one was simply not for me.

The name of this company, "Best Health's" reminds me of the early days where people would sell everything as "medicine". Buy this gasoline. It's sure to keep you more alert than a jumpin' jackrabbit. This here opium will keep you warm at night and make sure the bed bugs don't bite.

This may have been sold as a medicine disguiser, as I think pop originally was, but this is just smuggling gallons of vanilla. It's a dark root beer, that's for truth. It's good. There isn't any bite and it's fairly smooth, but it's not so common so have so much vanilla in a root beer.

Alright, one more...dentists are for fools, brush with this metal bristle brush and be sure to scrape those foul smelling odors away.

I know some people who absolutely love Dr. Pepper. I'm not one of them, but I don't hate it either. I'll drink it if there isn't cola available, but it's no substitute for cola. I went to a vegan restaurant in Phoenix called Green today and they had this bottle in their cooler. Even though they had Virgil's cola, I felt the need to try this at least once.

The thing I love most about Dr. Pepper clones is the names. Dr. Thunder, Dr. Radical, and now there's Dr. Better. If it was any other company with that name, I'd highly doubt them. But Virgil's makes an amazing soda and definitely knows what they're doing. After drinking this, I totally agree with the name. This is so much better than Dr. Pepper. It has that usual bite, but the cane juice makes it really light. I love this.

I had a flavor of Steaz awhile back and I've been turned off by it since I had one kind that wasn't good. It was a bad first impression and for that, I have taken a Steaz-free vacation. I don't recall what flavor it was, but I want to say that it had something to do with Acai.

This is completely different and actually good on top of the fact that there are no calories. It's like a crazy, alternate universe has emerged from the can. What an ignorant statement if I were actually serious. Like nothing that's good for you is good. Have you ever had corn? How about apples? Tacos grow on trees and guacamole doesn't, that's why guac is always extra.

It's been quite some time since I've had a solid and not something in liquid form, but for what I remember, the flavor is pretty good and honest. You get a sweet erythritol taste, but I've grown to like it so this entire can wasn't even shared by me.

Now all I can think of is a taco tree. I have a feeling that the window of opportunity between ripe and not ripe is very small.

It looks like Scooter is all excited to head home and crack open a nice cold bottle of cream soda. He looks so happy and it looks like he can't get home soon enough. Looks can be deceiving my friends. I propose that Scooter is not racing home to have a nice. I believe that he is actually fleeing the scene of a crime. A crime that he perpetrated at the Cooper's Cave Ale Company.

If their Butter Beer was ant indication, Cooper's Cave knows how to make a high quality soda, especially a cream soda. I believe little Scooter went into the brewery and messed with the levels. For years he had been trying to get them to develop a cantaloupe flavored soda for him. It haunted his dreams and he needed it rushing over his taste buds in waking life. Mr. Cooper always brushed him off, but this morning Mr. Cooper was in a bad mood and he snapped art little Scooter and told him harshly that they would never produce such a soda and that the little festering bowl of dog snot should just leave him alone. Scooter ran out crying. After he calmed down, he decided he wanted revenge. He snuck into the brewery when the workers were on lunch and decreased the flavor by half. Now there was twice as much water to everything else ratio. Bad news bears. It left the batch very plain and uninteresting. The cream soda was more of an aftertaste. Looks like Scooter won this round. I wouldn't cross him if I were you.

Seriously though, I don't know if I got a bad batch of what, but the levels seem really off in the bottle. As I said their butterscotch cream soda was insanely flavorful, and this just pales in comparison. Something is awry.

Kristall has done it again. This is a light and flavorful top-notch soda. Carbonated orange juice is something I can get behind. It falls somewhere between juice and a soda in terms of flavor. It's similar to Orangina, but it really tastes more like oranges. I really wish this was available in Western New York. Unfortunately it is not, so I have to wait until I'm someplace there is a Whole Foods so I can buy a couple of bottles.

Death Valley in a time when the west was old was probably a completely terrible place. It's over 100 degrees all day, there's no decent place to go to the bathroom, and more often than not you're going to find a scorpion in your boot. I think one of the worst aspects of the old west that is never portrayed in movies is just how terrible everyone must smell. Sure they haven't showered in weeks, or months, but what really grosses me out is just how bad everyone's breath had to be. Have you ever smelled someone's breath who hasn't brushed their teeth in years, and whose teeth are undoubtedly rotting out of their head? Not for me.

Basically I have no interest in the old west. I like at least minimum comfort, and I just need to have clean teeth. This bottle of cola says that it's a taste of the old west. I'm calling shenanigans. This is far to delicious to be from such a dire time. This is one of the greatest colas I have ever tasted. It's incredibly smooth and flavorful. This is so much more than a Coke or a Pepsi. It's not nearly as harsh as contemporary colas. I can't get over how smooth it tastes. It's almost as smooth as a quality cream soda. The cola taste is very strong and it doesn't taste like a sugar water.

Now I can't get the idea of gross old west mouth rot out of my head so I'm going to go brush my teeth about a half dozen times.

Some pop is strange. You have certain expectations for the way that it tastes. Then, when you actually take a sip, it doesn't abide by your crazy made-up rules. Suddenly, rudely, when you burp, those expectations are met. To drink a bottle of pop that you need to burp to get what you want out of it seems fun, but the ratio of drinking to burping is very far off. Unless you're completely disgusting or completely alone, you aren't going to get your money's worth of burps out of pop.

This drink is right there. To drink, it's sweet and lightly watermelon'd. Then you burp and BAM! Candied watermelon or watermelon candy. Whichever you choose. I have not been very impressed by any watermelon pop or any of Carousel's drinks. I won't stop drinking them but there hasn't been one that I would go back to or even recommend. If you like them, speak up, but there are plenty of other companies that just moderately blow my socks off that I don't feel bad leaving this by the wayside.

Is this supposed to be some kind of a joke? Did one of you turds replace my soda with cough syrup? This has the smallest amount of carbonation I have ever experienced in a soda. It's to the point where I had to think about whether or not it actually was carbonated. As far as the flavor goes it starts off tasting like a semi-decent black cherry pop, but as soon as you swallow it's nothing but medicinal. I had less than five sips of this and then I couldn't drink anymore because of the cough medicineness of it all. Ugh.

Tour ended a couple of days ago. Our last show was in Boston, MA (okay Allston). We showed up a bit early and no one was at the venue, so I decided to hoof it out to the local Whole Foods. My phone told me it was a mile away, and I thought that's no big deal. Let me tell you, that was the longest mile I've ever walked. The temperature seemed to be constantly dropping. I had to cross several thruway on and off ramps, go over some decent sized bridges and the neighborhood quickly went from nice to way shady to way nice. Strange times. I'm glad I made the trip though because the store had a bunch of drinks I had never seen before. I was the most excited about this one. It's a soda with actual fruit in it, which is a total plus in my book. On top of that said fruit is blackberry, my favorite.

Because it was made with actual juice I expected this to be pretty sweet. I was actually expecting something along the lines of an Italian soda. I was shocked, but not disappointed to find out it was rather dry. It still tasted totally like blackberries, but it wasn't overly sweet. It unfortunately also did not have chunks of blackberry in it. They must have filtered them out, which is a shame. Some small pieces would have been wonderful. Even with that being the case, this is a soda I can totally get behind. I like that more companies are making sodas with less sugar. We really need to wean this country off of so much sugar.

It's been a rough day. A car hit you. Lightly, but nonetheless, it hit you. It was a jalopy of car and the jerk was on their phone so you are majorly upset. It was on your way to work. You were crossing the street and they just didn't stop enough and tapped you. You wanted so badly to kick in their front headlight, as you always wanted to do, but you didn't, unfortunately.

You went into work only to discover that your inbox, your physical inbox, not email, was overflowing with disorganized papers. Oh, the fun you will have today. On top of that, there are no apples in the vending machine and they have been replaced with Ho-Hos. You love Ho-Hos but you are on a diet and rely on those apples to get you through the day.

Three quarters through the day, you need a break. You don't smoke, so you bring fun drinks to work. You found this cherry ginger ale and you really need it to be good or your day will be completely ruined. You open it, smell it, take a sip, and everything is A-OK. It's smooth and has a great cherry flavor. You burp, because you are on break and don't need to impress anyone, and it's a little hot, like you drank a ginger beer. All around, it is a great drink.

You close out your daily tasks, minimize your inbox, and take off for the day. It started out badly, but that pop turned everything around.

Sit down children and let me tell you a tale of the Cherry Tree. Deep in the forests of England there is a tree that is very rare indeed. It may look like any other fruit bearing tree, and to be fair that is what it is. The only difference is that the cherries this specific and wondrous variety brings forth tastes of cherry cola. Scientists the world 'round have tried to figure out what causes that flavor, and more importantly why it can only grow in that one place. All of their efforts have just left them scratching their collective noggins.

The Fentimans company has bought all of the land these trees grow on and have begun to use them to create a new soda in their line. The result is the best cherry cola I have ever tasted. It also helps that ginger root extract is the second ingredient, above even sugar. Don't worry though it doesn't have a ginger burn to it. It just rounds out the flavor a little. A lot of their other sodas taste fermented, which is a little off putting to me. With this one the magic cherry, cola and ginger flavors blend together in a way that overpowers that pesky fermentation. Thumbs up all around.

I thought I knew what Mud Pie was but to make sure, I had to Wiki it. It was just what I thought it was. Chocolate with crispy chocolate. One place said that it had whipped cream in it, so I thought it would be like a chocolate cream pop. My mom said that she used to make it by putting chocolate pudding in a piecrust. All of these options sounded great and I had to get this pop in me.

First sip was a bit awkward because it tastes like there is a coffee taste to the pop, and two other people agreed. The chocolate is a good chocolate taste, and that in itself, although not technically "mud pie", would have been good. This tasted like a chocolate, coffee drink. It was good, but I wanted a bit more chocolate, no coffee, and maybe some cream. I wouldn't have been mad if there was cream in there. Much like in real life, if there is whipped cream on a dessert; I'm not going to get mad at you.