Soda Pop - 1421 Reviews

When I was a child I had a fixation on the Loch Ness Monster. I thought it was one of the coolest things ever. I blame that Time Life "Mysteries of the Unknown" series that was all the rage at that period in our nation's history. Seriously, as an impressionable youth those books were incredible. I then found out about the local "legend" of the Lake Erie Monster. I may not ever get to Scotland (I did), but to have a lesser legend in your backyard is pretty great. Later on in life I found out about "Champ" the monster in Lake Champlain, but it wasn't until I got this soda that I heard about the monster in Flathead Lake in Montana. This definitely got me interested. The fact that I have been re-watching X-Files helps as well. I'm sure I'm going to spend a good deal of time reading about it this evening.

My girlfriend says this soda tastes like medicine. She says that about way too many things. I rarely agree. This is no exception. To me it tastes like an overly sweet carbonated white grape juice. Okay, maybe not white grape juice, since this is pretty syrupy. But it has that specific white grape flavor to it. Quite an accomplishment seeing as there is no actual grape juice in this.

My soda is done. This review is done. Let the sea monster research begin!

First things first Dr. Tima. Do you in fact actually have a PHD? If so, what field is it in? Are you like our hero, Dr. Peter Venkman, and hold a degree in Parapsychology? I have other suspicions. I believe that you, Dr. Tima, are actually a giant bee sent by your queen to overthrow humankind. Don't think I didn't notice that little picture of that man-bee on the bottle. I know that is actually you with a fake smile. Those eyes are plotting I tell you!

After a quick internet search, I have learned that if my intuition is correct and you are a bee hell-bent on destroying the human race, your lifespan is only 40-50 days. I will assume that this bottle is older than two months, which means that you my insect friend are now dead. How does it feel to be rotting? That's what you get for trying to start a revolution!

You may not have succeeded in your plans, but you did leave the world with one delicious root beer. Sure Thomas Kemper uses honey to sweeten their sodas, but it's mostly for sweetness and there isn't a huge honey taste. The now deceased doctor took it way further. The honey flavor is right up front in your face. For a little bee, he also took a lot of time to actually brew his root beer with wintergreen, vanilla, sweet birch, anise, cloves, and yucca plant extract. This is a serious root beer with an added sweet bonus. After drinking this I can only say that Tima surely was truly a scientist. He left this world with a little bit of golden heaven for our tongues to enjoy.

Sometimes times are hard. Money is tight. Your kid keeps crying. Your car gets a flat tire. You break your arm and don't have health insurance. The list goes on. Times like these make people turn to drinking. Hey, no need to reach for the hard stuff. Sometimes you just need a killer root beer. Everyone can agree, except for the Japanese, that root beer is pretty great. It accompanies most meals and is perfect for warm and cold weather. BBQ? Root beer. Carnival? Root beer. Funeral. Root beer? Sure. You can drink root beer at my funeral.

This root beer has enough bite that it's approachable for everyone and it's got a nice, cane sugar taste. All of Sioux City's "root" drinks are great and I would recommend them for everyone, including the Japanese, because they're people, too.

Often times, nay, most times, I am surly. I've always got something to say about everything. I am not awful to be around, but I can get tiring. I know people worse than myself, but I'm man enough to admit it. I enjoy the company of others who complain, but to a certain point. I like to think that I complain in a humorous, reflective way, where others just don't know how to have a good time. This drink had good intentions, but as far as I'm concerned, it's just a good orange pop. Like the great Paul F. Tompkins once said, "The best barbecue is only good barbecue." Orange pop is alright if you're at a party or if you're nine. I guess it's also alright if you're going to have blood orange so you can call yourself "worldly" or some garbage, but this to me just tasted very medium. I've had an excellent blood orange Frizzante before, but this doesn't do it. Orange pop is just orange pop to me.

Dad, I don't want to go camping. I love spending time with you, I really do, but the thought of getting all muddy does not thrill me. Oh, I won't get muddy? Dude...sorry, Dad, it's been raining for like 3 days. They don't make boots waterproof enough to keep that much out of my feet. Not to mention, when you have a bonfire, you smell like it for days irregardless of how many showers you take. Sure "irregardless" is a word. I just used it in a sentence. It's always cold and there are so many mosquitoes that, as an adult, I feel that I am rightfully scared of contracting malaria. Can't we just stay home and drink that case of Kiri Spruce Beer? It tastes like spicy trees. Seriously, it tastes like if you bottled a forest and spiced it up a bit. I'm not trying to cop out here, but it really sounds like a miserable time. Look, I'll go, but I want to listen to my tapes in the car. I just got this fresh new Tony! Toni! Tonè! album from The Wall that I really want to listen to. If we can listen to that, drink a refreshing, conifer flavored drink in the truck, and stop at a Denny's on the way home, I'll go. Sweet, see you in the truck!

This is another member of the Skeleteen's line. I only vaguely remember this one from my high school days. It has the "classic" Skeleteen's tag lines on it. "Third time available in 399 years," "From Black's last raid," and "Drink up you scurry dog!"

Blood Red Cola = Cherry Cola with a pirates twist. The twist is really just the image and not much to do with the flavor (although it does have Brazilian guarana in it). It's a decent cherry cola. There's really nothing that stands out in it, but it's still very enjoyable.

With the popularity of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies a few years ago, I'm kind of shocked these didn't become more popular. I think people would have eaten it up during the whole pirate craze. You know, all of the terrible "dad jokes" that were going around about the sea dogs. Remember kids, dressing like a pirate never looks cool. Don't ever do it, even on Halloween. Don't disrespect the pirates in that way. Just drink the soda. Celebrate their life and times that way.

If there is one thing I've learned during my time on this planet, it is that you should never train a seal for the purposes of magic tricks. If you do so, it will inevitably don a bow tie and bite off your younger brothers hand. Sure he will get some prosthetic hands/claws, but he will spend the rest of his life screaming about how he's a "monster". It seems like the fine folks at Gosling knew that information as well. They kept their seal away from magic and let him balance some balls on his nose like every little seal dreams. I call him Stormy and he's a great little mascot. He also adorns a great looking can of soda.

The drink itself is also impressive. It has a great flavor that hits you right in the nose. Just like Stormy's ball will if you ever annoy him. There is a "ginger burn", but it's not out of control. While I do like the craziest of burns in my ginger beer, I understand that the majority of the public probably does not. The pain is decent, but it fades very quickly. That way it is more acceptable for the masses, unlike a one armed brother who has emotional issues as intense as the fiercest ginger beer.

When we were up at Soda Pop Central on Saturday, this soda pretty much jumped out at me. It was the first soda I saw on the first shelf I looked at. As you can see from this website we are huge fans of the Thomas Kemper line so, any new flavors are always a treat. As an added bonus, both ginger and peach are among my favorite flavors. After being slightly disappointed by the Flying Bison Ginger Soda I was pretty pumped to have Thomas Kemper step up to the plate.

I wanted so badly for this to have an intense ginger burn with a slight hint of peach to it. It turns out that the opposite was true. It's primarily a peach soda with a slight hint of ginger. I actually found myself doing some research to see if "Ginger" was a specific type of peach. The ginger is that low in the mix. I would describe it as a really peachy light ginger ale. They actually use real peach juice, so that flavor is pretty incredible. Even though I was disappointed that the ginger levels didn't meet my expectations, this is still a stand out soda. I just think they should have named it "Peach Ginger" with the current recipe.

Melon, it is not just filler for fruit salads. I'm a staunch supporter of these underrated fruits. I've hand numerous conversations in my life about how there should be more melon drinks available, especially cantaloupe. It's one of the most refreshing flavors out there. Unfortunately, the few melon flavored things I've found have all been artificially flavored by some scientist in a lab mixing chemicals together until they have the desired taste. Things done that way rarely hit their mark. This little German treat, on the other hand, hit a bulls-eye. I'm talking the center of the bulls-eye, not that cheater outer ring.

As you might gather from the name, this has a lemon lime base with melon added to it. Let me tell you, they mix together incredibly. I once heard some wise men having a conversation. Upon facing an inevitable death one proclaimed, "Aw, we're going to die and I never tasted cantaloupe." The others reply held the wisdom of sages. He calmly stated, "Eh, you didn't miss much. Honeydew is the money melon." I believe the Fritz company took said money melon and mixed in some cantaloupe to appease both parties involved. The result could have gotten someone burned at the stake in olden times for witchcraft.

Amazing. That is the first word that comes to mind when drinking this. Sweetness is perfect, the bite is good but not overwhelming, and it goes down smooth. But yet, it's not a smooth drink, it is kinda heavy but in that good root beer/sarsaparilla way. This is by far my go-to Sarsaparilla. I must have drank a half dozen bottles of these over the past couple months before I realized that I forgot to review it each time. It's just so good. It's hard to stop drinking it.

Our friend Nina just got home from a trip to Germany and we are very gracious that she brought us back a handful of drinks. I opened this pretty much as soon as she handed it to me (okay I put it in the freezer for like 15 minutes to cool it down). When I read "Black Cola" I instantly thought of black metal, because I had watched the documentary "Until the Light Takes Us" a few nights earlier. I was expecting an extremely intense cola. Visions of Burzum, Dark Throne, and Mayhem sitting in dingy basements downing cases of this stuff, floated through my mind. Were they in corpse paint as if they were going to war for Satan? Of course they were! How else would you enjoy such an extreme soda? In my mind, this soda was specifically brewed to be enjoyed on a day trip out to the country, to burn down some churches and perhaps stop off in a neighboring town to stab the guy who runs your record label in the skull.

I really need to stop letting my imagination run away from me before I try a beverage. There is nothing really intense about this cola. I should have known better because of the little green lizard guy on the bottle, but all it takes is .2 seconds for my mind to come up with ridiculous scenarios. It's 100% organic, but has a pretty standard cola flavor. It does have guarana in it for a little extra caffeine kick. If you ever find yourself over in Germany you should pick some up.

Darling, I'm feeling a bit fatigued. Do you see bags under my eyes? Oh, how dreadful. Sweetie, could you fetch me some cucumber slices for my eyes so that I can look my best for the gala tonight? What do you mean that we don't have any sliced cucumbers prepared? Don't you think we should, in case, oh I don't know, I have bags under my eyes? Please, slice up some and fetch me a sparkling water, too, while you're at it. I'm feeling a bit parched.

Oh, thank you very much. Although, next time, slice the cucumbers a bit thicker. It's not like you're paying for them. Actually, it's not like I am either. Husband is. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Now go tend to the laundry. Husband was complaining about not having any socks that matched.

Now that I'm alone, I'll just grab this sliced cucumber and put it on my...oh drats. I've dropped my cucumber into my water. No worries. I have more. I like cucumber in regular water, let's try this. Well, this is something special. It's bubbly, and we all know how I love the bubbly. Ha ha ha ha ha. It gets the sweetness from the cucumber as well as the crisp, clean taste. I might be on to something. Oh help. Help, come here please. Could we patent this as a drink? We can't? Why is that? You mean there is a company called Dry that already makes this drink? Well, I applaud their efforts. Now fetch me my black dress. It's time for that gala.

In the movie Clifford there is this one scene that I just love. Mary Steenbergen is berating Charles Grodin for not liking children. Charles Grodin yells, "I love kids. As a matter of fact I have a nephew I'm very fond of". She asks him his nephew's name and he responds: "I want to say.... Mason. Clifford! Little Clifford!" I can't get that out of my head when I'm drinking this.

This hasn't gotten that good of reviews before, but I really like it a lot. It's very creamy and has almost a caramel flavor to it. Apparently the company that makes Dad's root beer used to make it. This seems like a much better version of Dad's. Way to move backwards. Oh and Clifford is criminally underrated.

Soda pop is supposed to be a delight for children and adults alike. It's supposed to spread joy and wonderment to the masses. It's a sparkling sweetness that is meant to dance the Charleston on your taste buds. What it's not supposed to do is taste like vitamins. That's right, this tastes like a mixture of all natural and Flintstones chewable vitamins that were ground up with a pestle and mortar and poured into a bottle of carbonated sugar water. If Frostie was managed by a member of the Bluth family, they would have surely exclaimed, "I've made a huge mistake", in regards to this soda.

Ah. What a lovely day out today. It seems like just yesterday I was wondering when I could stop wearing two coats and it seems as though today is the day. Today I ate two hot dogs (a summertime treat) and took a walk with my hoodie open. What a day. The sun wasn't out and I didn't have to squint. The bus was packed to the gills (even though a bus isn't a fish) with stupid teenage kids kissing each other for some reason, but I didn't care. I knew that at the end of it all, I was going to go home and get a cool bottle of root beer. I went through my pop, juice, "other", and found just what I was looking for. Just what was going to top it off? I felt like a dude who hates his job and just wants to come home and drink a low quality beer. But instead of hating his job, he's merely aggravated with it and instead of drinking a low quality beer; it's a medium to high quality root beer. Aside from those two minor details, it's basically the same thing.

This was good and it hit the spot. As advertised, it was creamy. Not too sharp and not too bold. This root beer is a safe bet with any root beer connoisseur. You can taste all of the flavors as intended and I actually thought that it got better as I got towards the bottom of the bottle.

That being said, I had to get ketchup across the street...and when I was gone, my girlfriend, soon to be ex-girlfriend, decided that she would finish my root beer. I got home disappointed to see that what I anticipated to be the best part of the root beer, much like the bottom is the best part of a sundae cone was gone. So it is.

This bottle looks like it was taken from a fancy dinner party on the 23rd floor in Manhattan. Instead of a flavor, this has "notes of apple, cherry, and anise". All of this intrigued and also scared me.

Upon opening this, it smelled like alcohol. This is probably because it has fermented barley malt in it. While I have never tasted alcohol, it tasted exactly how it smelled, which really grossed me out. Then upon further tasting, it tasted like apple juice that has been in the fridge past it's expiration date. You know when the bottle starts to bulge a little and it lets off that strong fermented smell when you open it, and then you take a sip of it to see if it's still good? They managed to bottle that, for whatever reason. Maybe some people like that but it's not for me. This isn't necessarily bad, but it's nothing I want to drink.

Flying Bison has improved upon their Ginger Soda. This is not as sweet and has way more ginger added to it. I still think it needs some work, but they are fairly new to the game and are still messing with their recipes. In most drinks, if there is a peach flavor involved it is the main attraction. In this soda it is only faintly there. I don't know if I would have even noticed it if it wasn't labeled "peach". It was getting to the end of the batch, so that may affect the levels of peach to ginger. I still think there is great potential in the Flying Bison sodas, so I will continue to try them as they become available.

This is ginger ale. It certainly is. There's no doubt about that. Nope. No question in my head that this is ginger ale. Faygo is no dumb dummy. If you ask them to make ginger ale, that's what they'll do. I reckon, though, that this ginger ale is pretty equal to other company's ginger ale. Go into your local grocery store and grab their knock-off brand of ginger ale and you'll see what I'm getting at. This isn't bad, but it's nothing special. I feel like a job well done is a job done well. This seems like it's the bare necessity of what makes a ginger ale good. It's probably easy to make, easy to keep consistent, and possibly/probably cheaper. I know someone is looking for a generic drink for things like mixers and parties where it's not the star player.

Faygo, I'm not dissing you. I am not in the position to dis, or give props, but I did rate your root beer pretty highly. I have nothing against you or the city of Detroit. Keep up the good work. Just step up your ginger ale game. Second to that would be to make your cane sugar versions easily accessible.

The label for this bottle screams "we're trying to be cute and retro, but really just bottled a mediocre root beer and called it olde time". I'm glad that this was not the case because I was excited to try this local soda (it's made in Seaside, Oregon).

The taste of this is really different than most root beers. To say this has a vanilla taste is an understatement. This reminds me of a root beer float with vanilla ice cream. Yup, that's it! And I love root beer floats. But sadly, this is no substitute for a root beer float.

Now I am really craving a root beer float. Why does it have to be 1am?

Dear Olde Brooklyn,
I marked this correspondence as private and personal, so I hope you took the proper precautions before opening it. I don't know how to tell you this without shocking your system, so I'll just come out with it. You have a spy in your product line. No, I don't mean a pointy nosed fella wearing all black or white. I'm talking about real deal espionage here. I would have called you, but I fear our phones may be tapped. This is serious business. Who knows how far their plants go into your company.

I blame the youth culture that has taken over the once fair neighborhood of "Billysburg." I believe they may have used their terrible sense of irony and love of PBR to work their way into your company. As far as I can tell, once they gained access to your factory, they found the barrels that you store your root beer in (Root beer is always stored in barrels right? Candy wouldn't lie to me!). They dumped out your supply of precious root beer and replaced it with root beer scented cola. While it may be a decent enough cola, and the little root beer that was left in the barrels flavored it slightly, it still clearly tastes like cola.

I can hear the sound of fixed gear bikes closing in on my office. I fear they may be on to me. I don't know what end these spies are working towards, but please use the knowledge I have passed onto you in whatever manner you see fit.

Sincerely,
I. M. Fletcher


ps. This message will self destruct in five seconds.