Soda Pop - 1421 Reviews

Like everyone else in this ghost town, I like to go to the saloon everyday. The usual characters are always there: One-Eyed Jack and the blacksmith playing poker, the owners son 'lil Johnny playing with his dog in the corner, and Davey playing the piano while two women danced on the balcony. The only problem is I always get made fun of for my drink of choice. While I'm told Smitty's Saloon has the best whiskey this side of the Mississippi, I don't like the hard stuff. My father was a drinker and I didn't like what it did to him so I swore I'd never try it.

I prefer Outlaw Orange Cream. No, it's not because I'm a criminal. I only had that one run in with 'the law' once when I was playing a prank on my best friend and took his horse around back. The sheriff and I straightened that all out years ago. I like this soda pop because it has a classic orange cream flavor. I've heard some fancy hot shots in New York City are trying to make orange cream soda that will appeal to everyone, but what do they know? This is great the way it is. It has a great orange flavor, with a really nice smooth aftertaste. Sure I wouldn't mind if it was a tad bit smoother, but it's a damn fine orange cream if I do say so myself. In fact, when this one is gone, I just might order another one if Smitty ever comes back to this side of the bar.

You are a citrus demon. You can't have enough. You eat lemons for breakfast, grapefruit for lunch, and limes for dinner. Oranges are snacks to you. The acidity running through your blood would burn through the toughest metals but it somehow is contained safely in your veins. If you were stabbed, your blood would eat through the knife before it got to any vital organs.

When you're thirsty, you don't reach for an iced tea. Not even a lemon iced to can quench your acid driven thirst. Not even the sourest of lemonades can quench you at times. This time, when you are in need, look no further, for College Club has developed a secret blend of grapefruit and lemon. This isn't your grandpappy's half and half. It's tart, a bit sour, and yes, obviously tastes like Squirt. Side by side I might be able to pick out the lemon, but alone, it's a whole lot of grapefruit. Actually, now that I think about it, it was tamer than a Squirt so I wonder if the lemon calmed it down a bit and kind of turned down the grapefruit.

Either way, you'll love it and it is, without a doubt, a great summertime drink. Put some ice in a glass, and if you're some sort of fancy pants, put an umbrella in there. Also, since you love it so darn much, College Club only makes it in quarts so drive on down to Western New York and go through their drive through and pick some up. Talk to the brothers while you're down there. You won't regret it.

I bought this because I had no idea what "korker" is.

Is it named after a person?
Professor Korker worked tirelessly into the night and the day before his hundredth birthday, he came up with the perfect pop. Everyone said he was crazy but he did it anyway.

Is it a fruit?
Ecologists from all over the world went to all reaches of the earth to try and find a fruit that was only known to the Mayans. It was brought from the heavens to cure all disease and ailment and when their society crumbled due to the non-stop fighting about who was going to win the second American Idol, they took their secret, legend fruit with them.

Is it slang?
Hey, don't be such a shmuck and grab me that korker.

Is it a mediocre blend of what I think are lemon and lime?
Yep.

Unfortunately, this drink did not deliver any of the hopes and dreams I had for it. I wanted all of the above except for the last to be true, but from beginning to 2/3'rds of this bottle, I was let down. It didn't taste like your typical lemon and lime combo. It wasn't as sweet and it just wasn't as flavorful. It was a very fast and tame flavor. This is for people who just want a little bit of pop. It wasn't dry, it just was...safe. Sometimes safe isn't where you want to be.

I wonder if they wanted to put the strawberry seeds in here? Is there any pop with stuff in it? Aloe has chunks. Some lemonade has chunks. All of those Kato drinks have chunks in it. Juice seems to take the cake when it comes to accompaniment. I bet, if done well, this drink would be awesome if it had actual strawberry seeds in it.

Where is this all coming from? This might be the most honest fruit flavored pop I've ever had. Not to mention it's mixed with everyone's favorite sweet fruit, rhubarb. Yeah, rhubarb is technically a fruit. I thought it was a root, but I guess roots would grow underground. "Plant" would be a good second categorization, but it would also be wrong. Either way, the taste of strawberries and rhubarb...rhubarbs(?)...rhubarb is pretty fantastic.

I feel like this is a real "country guy" pop. Like you get this at farmers markets and ho-downs. I would like Jackson Hole to please respond if you read this and let me know if either of these assumptions is true. I hope they are.

Today was the gay pride parade. I don't see how it's possible to not have a good time seeing hundreds of people having the time of their lives. Free like gay birds, these people did what they wanted, wore what they wanted, and acted how they wanted together as a society. If only every day, people were so accepting.

In between the parade and the after party, I went to our local beer merchant who also sells some pretty good drinks for the likes of the youths. I was lucky enough to find singles, or loosies, of Saranac's black cherry cream pop. I had come across this in my supermarket but it was only available in a sixer and I wasn't exactly ready to commit to that long-term relationship. So I picked this up, took a sip and was surprised. It had a really good black cherry taste followed by a smooth cream taste. While this was oh so cold this was good, but it was a warm day today.

I am an adult at times and I don't chug pop. What's the point? I sip and get the flavors I deserve. As I said, initially this was good and the half dozen of people who co-drank this with me agreed. I walked two blocks and something happened. The syrup congealed and got downright unsatisfying to drink. Everything kind of blended together.

If you want to try this and you want it to be good, drink it quickly or somehow keep it cool.

Are you aware that there is never an inappropriate time to yell "It's Science!" Be it in the lab, at the dinner table, the zoo, an ICP concert it is always appropriate if said in order to confirm a statement you've made. If you're out for pizza and a friend thinks it tastes gross, but you really like it, you can say something like "It's really good because they didn't go overboard with the sauce. It's Science!" You have just won the argument. There is nothing they can say to come back from that.

Science is truly at work in this soda. It's to such an extent that it doesn't even need to be said. I knew going in that it was going to taste like grape. I opened the cap and the strong sent of grape hit my nostrils. My mind still expected orange, right until the point that my taste buds registered it as grape. It messes with ones brain. It's like listening to Beatles records backwards only to find out that Paul is the walrus. Even at the end of the bottle my brain still processed it as a mixture of grape and orange even though there is no orange flavor in it. If I went into this blind folded it would taste of pure grape soda, yet my eyes continue to mess me up. You win this round Real Soda.

I just ate five pounds of lentils. Okay so maybe it was about two pounds, but it was so many lentils, and they were covered in so much hot sauce. It was wonderful. When I got home from the diner I was stuffed, but I wanted a nice sweet sparkling drink. I'm borderline food coma here, and I still crave a pop. What's wrong with me? How do I not weigh 500 pounds?
Muscatel it is. It's a wine grape, but this doesn't taste like wine at all. At first I thought it tasted like some weird freezie pop, but then I realize it tastes kind of gross. Wait maybe it does taste like a wine of some sort, because wine is also gross. Way to ruin perfectly good grapes by making your crappy beverage wine makers of the world.

I want this to be good, but it's just not. It tastes old. Jerid said it tastes like it's been sitting open on a shelf for years and is long expired. Maybe he's right. He tastes right. I mean it tastes like what he said, not that his flesh tastes right. Maybe it does. I've never actually tried it. Hey Jerid come here....

The weird thing about diet drinks is the more you drink them, the more tolerable they become. Normally I despise diet sodas because they taste like chemicals, but I've been drinking a lot of Diet Pepsi over the past couple weeks. This is because I've been staying with my mom for a few weeks until I found a place to live (which I will be moving into tomorrow) and all she has here is Diet Pepsi. Being the soda fiend and night owl I am, I have been drinking enough of it to build up a tolerance to fake sugar in soda.

I realized I had built up this tolerance when I took my first sip of this diet birch beer. I was expecting it to taste gross, but the first sip wasn't that bad. In subsequent sips I could taste the Splenda. This is a really light birch beer. It has a slight bite in the aftertaste, but not nearly as much as I would like and tend to expect from standard birch beer. This definitely gets filed in the "not the best, but not the worst" file.

Thad, could you come here for a minute? Thad...wait your name is Tom? Alright, Thad. Well the guys here at the office have gotten together and decided that your employment here is no longer needed. You want a reason? Thad, you've left the coffee pot on overnight at least two dozen times and you've only been here two months. That's like every other day. Now, Thad, we aren't a large company, but we aren't a small company, but do you know what I don't like doing? Sending poor Sheila Larson to the store to buy a new coffee pot every other day. Sure, she's lost a lot a of weight because I always ask her to get it during her lunch break and she claims that she doesn't have time to eat, but a little weight loss never hurt anyone.

So, as you can see, this is a troubling offense and we can't sit around while this happens day after day. Every day when I come in and unlock the office, I'm greeted by the smell of burnt coffee. Now, I've worked here for 42 years and I've drank burnt coffee before, but once a month is about par for the course. Every other day, well, I didn't work my buns off for 42 years to still be drinking burnt coffee.

Did I tell you that I was in the Korean War, son? Well I was. It was very difficult times. We didn't want to be over there as much as they didn't want us over there. The few days we weren't fighting for your freedom, the boys and I would sneak into town and grab some ice cold pops and relax until our sergeant found out and made us run laps and clean socks in the rain. Well one day the boys and I bought this drink called McCol or McCool or something and, I'll tell you what, if I didn't know better, I would think that you weren't burning the coffee at all, but pouring this stuff into the pot every night. I'll tell you something that stuff tasted like fizzy, burnt coffee.

Now, Thad, I'm sorry, but because of my bad memories of Korea and you inability to remember to shut the coffee pot off before you lock up leaves me no choice but to terminate your employment here at Consolidated Cardboard.

I saw Jimmy Eat World play last night. I've been a fan of them for many years, but had never seen them live. Being the music nerd I am, I found their set lists for this tour so I knew what to expect. It was a good mixture of Bleed American, Clarity and Futures, with a splash of Chase This Light and Invented.

They started the set with "Bleed American" followed by "A Praise Chorus", which was their standard opening on this tour. What came next, I wasn't expecting at all. "Today is the 10th anniversary of the release of Bleed American so we're going to play the whole album". The show I already knew was going to be good, just became amazing!

What does this have to do with this pop? That is exactly how I feel about this orange cream. Jason has given two other flavors by Vintage Soda great reviews, so when Mike gifted me this can (because he doesn't like orange cream soda. Crazy, huh?) I knew I was in for a treat. The first sip was good, tasted like a standard orange cream. It wasn't until the 2nd or 3rd sip that it hit me: this has a tangerine taste to it! Sure enough, tangerine extract is in the ingredients after orange extract.

Call me crazy, but I love tangerines more than oranges. In addition to the citrus medley, it has a really nice vanilla taste. It's not the smoothest orange cream, but it compliments the tangerine/orange flavor so well. To top it off, this soda is clear and is made with real sugar which is great seeing as they actually live by their "100% Natural" label, unlike some drinks.

I've been sitting on this for a long time. I knew it was going to be at very least interesting so I wanted to get some other stuff out of the way first, hence the large gap between Zuberfizz reviews.

I don't know who the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory is, but they've (apparently) teamed up with the Zuberfizz crew in order to create this little treat.

I, for the life of me cannot place what the chocolate reminds me of. My friend said that it was like the chocolate you get from Kinder Surprise, a Canadian treat which is essentially a hollow chocolate ball with a toy in it. To the tongue, this is a great drink, but once it goes down your throat, it's a little strange. The fizz almost makes it seem like a spicy chocolate. Once it's down your throat you get a nice aftertaste of a real genuine chocolate taste that's quite pleasing. The smell is great, too.

I've got it! It tastes like chocolate PEZ. Don't know what they taste like? Find 'em and buy 'em and tell me I'm wrong. I dare you. Chocolate PEZ. My friend says it also smells like chocolate Tootsie Pops. Together I'd say we nailed it. Track this down. It's fun. Have fun with pop. Pop is fun.

We had people over for an impromptu grilling session at our house yesterday. I consumed way more beverages than any one person should in that short of a time, so now I have to play catch up.

We cracked open a couple of bottles of College club for everyone to share. I had yet to try their Golden Ginger Ale, and I really don't know why I waited so long. Their Pale Dry Ginger Ale has a very strong ginger flavor, which is not as sweet than most sodas. With this variety they flip-flopped it. It's way sweeter and the ginger is lower in the mix. So now you can fine-tune your soda choice to your tastes.

College Club, based out of Rochester, NY, puts out a decent size line of quality sodas. It's a small family business that has been passed on for several generations. We were lucky enough to go to their factory and assist them in bottling some of their soda. It was great to say the least.

We've been enjoying their pops for quite some time now, but somehow we have failed to write a review for their root beer. The first thing I'd like to say is man is it good. It's not a fancy brewed root beer, but it is in the upper echelon of "normal" root beers. It's dark and flavorful. It doesn't taste like spices and herbs, but it also doesn't taste like candy. It tastes like the purest essence of the root beer you would drink as a kid. It's similar to a Mug or a Dad's but it's of a higher quality. We're proud to have them as a fairly local company.

At least one person on this planet is going to be real bummed when they buy this soda. I feel like most people think of ginger ale as something completely different than those of us who scratch the surface of the soda world a little more. Companies like Vernors and Schweppes, while making decent products, have led the world to believe that all ginger ale is sweet and smooth. Here is a news flash folks; "real" ginger ale has a kick to it. If you've ever tasted actual ginger you know that it has some spice to it. When made into a soda properly it can have quite a burn. That burn is not for everyone, but those of us who like it really, really love it. Usually ginger sodas that have this kick are known as ginger beers nowadays. Sometimes companies still call them ginger ale, and I'm fine with that. Red Rock is one such company.

It doesn't have the strongest burn I've ever experienced in a ginger soda, but it's stronger than I had expected. This is a slow sipper with a lot of flavor. So when aunt Milda ventures to the store to buy some ginger ale to sooth her upset stomach, she is going to be in for a shock when she takes a swig of this. Her stomach will probably be all the better for it though.

"The thing about huckleberries is, once you've had fresh, you'll never go back to canned..." Well Nelson, I can't say if that's true or not, as this marks my first experience with huckleberries at all. That is a lie I suppose. I do have some history with Huckleberry Hound and Huckleberry Finn, but I've never tasted either of them and I will make a pledge this self same day to never do so. There, are you happy now?

As far as I knew, until today, huckleberries were some archaic fruit that had long since gone extinct. The olde-timey picture on the label does nothing but support that idea. As it turns out the fruit still flourishes, but has gone out of vogue. The fine folks at Jackson Hole understand that this is nothing more than a hate crime against the fruit world. As a result they are taking it back.

Every Jackson Hole soda we've had so far has been spectacular and they just stepped up their game with this one. This and the Thomas Kemper Bumble Berry sodas stand as the two best fruit sodas that have ever graced my taste buds. High Mountain Huckleberry is reminiscent of a Shirley Temple made with high quality berries instead of grenadine. It's sweet and fruity in all of the right ways. I had assumed that huckleberries were a specific subset of raspberries, but a quick internet search informed me that they were closer to the blueberry. Whatever they are they are completely incredible and I now must search out the actual fruit. Even if it requires I complete the time machine I've been building in my attic.

As I peer across my vast 0.08 acre backyard, I am reminded of a few things. Number one, it has been the rainiest season on record and although today called for yet another day of showers, I am sitting on my deck with the umbrella up, sipping on a bottle of orange pop like it were a fine wine. It most certainly isn't, but circumstantially, it might as well be.

Finally my once neglected lawn looks good and I can sit around for a minute while instead of my dogs enjoying the sunshine, they sit by the door and bark like jerks. The birds seem to be enjoying the weather so I rely on them to remind me that summer is right around the bend. Not much says more to me about summer than orange pop.

This particular orange pop is nothing special. You've had it a hundred times if you've had it once. Does that make it bad? Nope. I think this is the model of what orange pop should be, though. It reminds me of a childhood spent at McDonalds with my family. It reminds me of simpler times.

I don't drink a lot of orange pop. There are just other things I would rather drink. Not today, though, man.

For all my talk about cowboys; how I think they are awesome and how it's a possibly calling in my life, I am not a fan of western movies. Sometimes they are okay, but in general I find them boring and hokey. A lot of adults in my life growing up were into them, so I've seen a decent amount and they just don't do anything for me. The same thing goes for kung-fu movies. I'd rather watch Fletch for the 900th time than watch John Wayne or Clint Eastwood.

There are cowboys on this bottle and I have to say I don't think they would drink this. It's really good, but I would never in a million years pick it out as sarsaparilla in a blind taste test. I would bet all the tea in China that it was a fancy cola. Even with my eyes open and knowing what it is supposed to be, I'd still say it was a cola. It has a hint of root beer/sarsaparilla to it, but it's mostly a brewed cola taste. I really enjoyed it, but it doesn't taste like what it's supposed to, so I feel like I should deduct a bottle. Maybe that is John Wayne on the bottle and he thinks he's too good for "cowboy swill" and he just wanted a nice cola. The directors told him that it wouldn't work right in the film so they put it in a sarsaparilla bottle so it would look authentic. Damn fake cowboys ruining everything for everyone.

Without a doubt, teeth are shattering everywhere this pop is sold. Dentists live in houses larger than you can ever imagine. Children are bouncing off the walls. Parents are all poor because they spent all their money on their children's cavities. For what? 16 fluid ounces of delicious, fantastic strawberry flavored pop. It almost doesn't taste like pop, but like liquid candy. It's quite exquisite, if you think about it. It's probably important that parents don't let their kids touch this stuff, as it is so good and so sweet that they won't be able to get their sticky little hands off of it. Seriously, if you live where this is sold, don't let your kids come with you to the grocery store because once they see that red bottle, it's over. You're going to have a toothless, fourteen year old kid living with you. Bad news. It's good, though. If you aren't a turd about fake sugar and just want to cut loose for a bit, get some. Editor Dan brought this back from a trip to Detroit and I just finally got around to reviewing it. It was worth the wait. Tell your friends but don't dare tell your children.

A man walks into a bar in Canada and says, "Barkeep, I know you hate being called that because it's a terrible term that no bartender actually likes to be called because it's the male equivalent of a beer wench, but all the same. Hey, barkeep!" "Ugh...Yes?" says the bartender, apathetically. "Why don't you give me one of those Sioux City Cherries and Mint pops?" says the man. "How about this, friend? Number one, no. Number two, how about 'please'? Number three, we don't carry them." responds the nicest sarcastic bartender you wish you knew. "Wait, what? I want it. I always get what I want. Don't you know who I am?" says the increasingly arrogant patron. "You can't get everything you want and I can't believe that no one has told that to you in the last, at least, 40 years ago. Also, we don't carry it. I don't know what to tell you. Do you want a beer or something?" responds the bartender who is clearly becoming more irritated. "Well here's the thing. I had that one before and I liked it. It wasn't here. It was when I was in vacation in the States. It was lighter than a cherry pop and has a little hint of mint. I was impressed because I didn't think that I would like it but my lovely wife here said I have to try new things. I think you should probably have one back there somewhere. You are a bartender after all, right." said the obnoxiously assumptive patron who is about to get thrown out if he doesn't watch his tongue 'round these here parts. "Look sir, we don't have your pop. We have beer, liquor, and standard pop. If you're looking for some specialty pop, you're going to have to go somewhere else." said the bartender, clearly on his last nerve. "Well, if you're going to be like that, I'm going to take my business elsewhere. Thought I would try out a local, mom and pop establishment while on vacation but it seems that you don't want my business. Good day, sir. Work on that attitude, why don't'cha?!" said the man as he exited the bar. "This is an Applebee's, jerk!" exclaimed the bartender.

My brother, now residing in Germany for a duration he told me three times and I now forgot, went on a wine tasting tour with his girlfriend Gabe last week and called me. On this trip me a growler of War Horse micro-brewed root beer. He said that it had vanilla and anise in it. That's a pretty good way for me to drink anything. So his plans came to fruition and he bought a growler, which I picked up last time I went to my parent's house. I threw it in the fridge while we went to partake in Thirsty Tuesday tonight so when we got back to my house, we would have a fresh, cool growler of hand crafted root beer.

I opened the cap, took a whiff and it was dark. Very bold, like that jerk with a lot of greeze in his hair coming up to you, if you are a girl, and saying something about your butt and expecting not to get slapped in the face. I poured a glass for myself, Jay, and Jay's ol' lady. We all drank at about the same time and there was silence. It was a good silence because it was pretty complex. It was sharp and had a lot of flavor. The anise wasn't too singled out and was more of a helper than a focal point. The vanilla I didn't get but what I did get, and correct me if I'm wrong, was some sort of barrel aging. It was like a better
Sprecher Root Beer because that tasted like downright wood.

I hope that they one day bottle this and sell it locally, it gets picked up by a distributor, and then distributed at least regionally. It's really something that you should try.