Soda Pop - 1421 Reviews

I'm a big fan of grapefruit flavored sodas, and this one is a classic. It has such a crisp grapefruit taste that it makes my mouth water. The only downside to this tasty drink is the HFCS that is used to sweeten it. It leaves that syrupy consistency on my tongue after a few sips. I hope someday they decide to do a "throwback" version of this and use sugar as a sweetener instead.

I tried something new with this bottle of Jarritos. I didn't drink it while eating a burrito. I did this because I don't have any burritos at the moment. I also wanted to find out if my theory is true about burritos and Jarritos being a perfect match.

Well I think my theory was correct. It may be because I don't like strawberries that much, or don't usually go crazy over strawberry flavored drinks, but I'm going to blame it on the lack of burrito that I'm not that into this soda. It smells, and tastes, like strawberry, and it's really light and fruity with the perfect amount of sweetness. But something is missing, and that something is a burrito.

Lesson learned.

The world became aware of the plight of Africa through the Leonardo DiCaprio vehicle Blood Diamond. I'm here to let everyone know about another travesty that exists on this planet. This one isn't a world away, but occurs in my own country. Every day down in Florida children are losing life and limb every day in order to harvest one of the most coveted item in the world, the blood orange. Children ages 6-10 are sent into the depths of the orange groves of the "Wang of America," bushels in hand. They climb rickety ladders, risking splinters. You would not believe the lower back pain these children will experience later in life. The sunburns? Don't get me started.

We will forgive Thomas Kemper for perpetuating these crimes against humanity for yet again creating an incredible soda. I would work out in those fields myself in order to ensure this drink stays in production. It tastes more like an Italian soda than a regular soda pop. It's nice and light and full of wonderful blood oranges. I can taste the blood of the completely fabricated victims with every sip.

Lemon and lime. Lemon and lime. Lemon and lime. It gets old after a while doesn't it? You know that one friend who tells the same story all the time? I've been known to do this, but I can admit it, which makes me above those that don't. Yeah, I'm better than some people. Who cares? Embrace what you're good at. You know what Ski is good at? Mixing lemon and orange and throwing limes in the garbage or giving them to Mexican restaurants for delicious tacos or to bars to put in Corona beers to make them more drinkable. Yeah, I know originally you put limes in because it keeps the flies out, but if there are flies in your bar, find a different bar because someone isn't cleaning sufficiently.

Orange and lemon pop is pretty good. It's less sweet than a lemon lime pop and after you accept that orange took lemon's place, it's not bad.

Good job Ski. You've done a good job of switching it up.

Thomas Kemper without the honey, what has this world come to? I'll tell you what it's come to a diet soda that doesn't taste disgusting. It has a slight diet taste. Did you really think that the universe would allow there to be a low calorie drink that didn't have the diety taste? It's mostly grapefruit flavor with an undercurrent of other citrus flavor. It's lighter than other grapefruit pops I've had, but it's not weird and artificial tasting like other diet drinks that haunt my past.

The design of this bottle is pretty darn rad. Simple, yet classy. This and my positive experience with the Key Lime Cream Soda left me with high hopes for the soda it contained. Unfortunately my hopes, dreams and aspirations were not met. This doesn't mean that it was a one-way train to Grossville, but it just wasn't in the upper echelon of colas. It's a quality soda, it's better than your average Pepsi or Coca Cola, but it just doesn't stand out very much. It doesn't have much of a bite to it. I'm assuming the label on the bottle that says "Soda with altitude" is due to the fact that it's caffeinated.

One thing I miss about living in Buffalo, NY is the abundance of birch beer. I even had a keg of birch beer at my high school graduation party. I cannot find a bottle of birch beer anywhere here in Portland. There's plenty of root beer, but no birch beer. Which is why I was excited when I got this bottle in the mail as it's been quite some time since I've tasted the sweetness of a bottle of birch beer.

This bottle goes down real smooth. It has a really nice vanilla taste to it. I really like how Wild Bill's uses real sugar, because I don't get that heavy taste that some birch beers give you. I'm excited to try all the other soda's Wild Bill's has to offer.

This was another bottle I got from Anthony of Rootbeerbarrel.com, hence the green stuff on the bottle.

You know what sucks about Sonic? They play commercials for locations that they don't have locations in. From the front door of my house to the nearest Sonic is 161.36 Miles. Why am I getting commercials for restaurants that are about 3 hours away? I took a vacation to North Carolina a few years ago and they had it there. Since I get the commercials, I do know what they have to offer me. Cherry limeade is one of those items that I know I can purchase. Difference is that there, I have the additional pleasure of having it be a slushie and not "just" a pop.

This does taste like cherry limeade, but it's a bit thick, which could be in part to the corn syrup, but sweeteners aside, it's just alright. Everyone who tried it agreed. It's "eh". I guess it's the best I'm going to do unless I stupidly decide to take a road trip to get a hamburger, cheesy tater tots, and authentic cherry limeade. Oh wait, this Frostie beverage isn't even available around me. I'm screwed.

I came across this gem at an Asian market. With a name like "Gettin' Cool! Strawberry Soda", how can you not give it a try? I can just imagine the Japanese television commercial for this. Sadly I could not find a commercial for it, but I'm sure it would be amazing.

This is the same company that makes Ramune, so it's no surprise that the bottle is unique. Unlike most bottles, which are made of plastic or glass, this is aluminum. I wonder if two R&D people at Sangaria sat in a boardroom for hours arguing the pros and cons of cans vs. bottles. Then around hour number five, the new guy comes up with the idea of an aluminum bottle to make both of them happy. They rejoice, shake his hand, and give the design team a call.

As far as taste goes, this was the first strawberry soda I've ever had. It was okay. It was sweet and smooth, with a decent strawberry taste. I probably wouldn't pick it up again because it wasn't that amazing.

Once again, my theory has been proven true. Burritos + Jarritos= perfect combination. This one was enjoyed at Don Pancho Taquería with a delicious veggie burrito. I love how flavorful this soda was. When they say mango flavor, they mean it! It was definitely the best mango soda I've ever had. It was sweet and refreshing. What more could you ask for a drink with a burrito?

Before I started reviewing drinks for Thirsty Dudes, I probably would have thought this was one of the best root beers. Now that I've tasted a lot more root beers, I might be a little jaded. Don't get me wrong, this is a good root beer, just not the best I've had. It has a strong vanilla taste and goes down really smooth. The carbonation is also really light, which is nice. There is honey in it, but I didn't really notice much. It's not as prominent as the honey in Thomas Kemper is.

When I was growing up I loved spending time at my grandfathers house. There was a pool table, a barn with tons of sweet tools that we would use to make rad stuff, not one, but two incredible tire swings, and most importantly there was tons of fruit growing all over his property. There were gardens full of strawberries and raspberries, an apple orchard, and my possible favorite a giant cherry tree. I would wait all year for those cherries to be ripe. Then I would fill up bushels of cherries, hide somewhere and eat them until I got sick. Let me tell you fruit gut rot is no joking manner. This soda is made with organic cherry juice, and it reminds me of those days in late summer, sitting on top of the chicken coup listening to EMF on my Walkman and pounding cherries. It's not overly sweet or overly carbonated. It's pretty great. That cherry tree fell down a few years ago in a storm, but since then bats infested the barn. Then an owl chased them out and it lives there now. So that's pretty sweet.

This is pretty darn great. It's a nice, spicy ginger ale. It's about 75% of the way to a ginger beer. That honey though...woo! It's kicking for a little bit, like the second wind of a soccer player, but then cools down because of the honey, like the fat, out of shape dad of said second winded soccer player.

It's amazing what honey does to a beverage. I also like how Thomas Kemper doesn't give a rip about the "bee shortage" and uses it to sweet/mellow out their pop. I feel like I taste a bit of cinnamon and maybe nutmeg in there, too, but since it's just "spices and herbs" on the bottle, only Mr. Kemper knows for sure.

This is a really good and really different drink and I encourage no one to pass it by and not get it if they haven't had it before. This honey aftertaste is something special, a force to be reckoned with, indeed.

It smells like a cola. It starts to taste like a cola but then it, like so many cars in James Bond films, drives right off the side of a cliff and explodes leaving nothing but the burnt shell of a car that once was. It starts to get that strange acai flavor and then, right when you thought it was over, the Stevia kicks in for the kidney kick that wasn't needed or warranted in any way. The initial cola is kind of like a diet Pepsi and then the rest of it is like...kissing a girl who at night seems like she could be attractive but then you see her in the daylight and she's upwards of the grossest girl you've ever seen. Been there? Me too. Now twice.

Dry soda is such a strange thing. It's almost like seltzer water without the horrible aftertaste. This has such a great vanilla scent. It smells like the afterthought of when you take a big wiff of a bottle of vanilla extract. For how strong the smell is, the taste is surprisingly tame. It's definitely there, but it's not over the top. It's right up front. With each sip you are greeted with a pleasant mild vanilla, and then it's suddenly gone.

This is most definitely a soda for adults. If you ever gave this to a kid they would give you the "you gotta be kidding me" look. If they were young enough, it might even bring on some tears. If they were old enough your home would more than likely get TP'ed just like the old fogy's house that gave you popcorn balls for Halloween when you were a kid. If anyone in this world deserved the "you gotta be kidding me" look it was surely him.

This is a pretty cherry flavored cola. It's strange to think that companies put out drinks and food in general that is cherry flavored but doesn't actually taste like cherry. It's the same thing with grape. Poor grape. I think that I feel more sorry for grape than cherry but we are talking about cherry here, so I digress. This tastes like when your one friend's mom sprung for a basket of fresh picked cherries and you eat your weight in cherries like your friend's garage was Ground Round.

The cola taste is left in the theoretical dust because your taste buds are too focused on the other flavors. The cola taste is not bad, I should add.

I'm happy that this doesn't taste like eating a ginger flavored barrel and that it's actually pretty awesome.

Dear Rat Bastard Root Beer, you have a really stupid name. I mean come on Skeleteens, you have a quality line of sodas, but you just try to hard to be "alternative" and "in your face" with your titles. When I was a young teenager I thought it was funny, but now as a grown ass man, it just seems childish. Yes, yes I know I'm a 31 year old that reviews soda pop, and that is pretty childish in it's own rite. Like a disappointed mother I think you're better than that.

Even though this has most of the same ingredients as all of the Skeleteens' sodas, it doesn't have a huge bite to it. It's pretty straightforward for a root beer. It has jasmine and clove in it, but I didn't really notice them too much until the last sip. Even then it wasn't very strong. I really expected it to be a unique root beer, but it would fit right in with the rest of the gang. Now remember Skeleteens, you don't need to resort to cheap promotional tactics. Let your soda speak for itself. It can do it. I have faith in you and I love you. Now wash up. Dinner is almost ready.

After the ridiculous amounts of soda we've been drinking lately this is a nice change. Everything has been so overly sweet, and to be honest I've been getting some stomachaches. I need a bit of a break from the sugar. This is a soda with no sweeteners added. Now that is pretty awesome. The Sparkling Organics line is 70% juice. That is something I really appreciate. It's really light and bursting with citrus flavor. I need more drinks like this so I can kiss my gut rot goodbye.

With the exception of a couple of root beers, I don't think I ever had soda that was sweetened with honey. I never really thought about it, but now it seems strange to me that more companies don't use it in their pops. Thomas Kemper loves their honey. In fact it's part of their image. Like awkwardness in Michael Cera movies, honey is the unifying factor in their sodas. I don't care if he pretty much plays the same character in all his movies. He's entertaining and he makes me laugh. Honey doesn't make me laugh. There's nothing intrinsically funny about honey, or bees for that matter. Well maybe bee stings, like when Martin Short gets stung in Pure Luck. Now that was humor. See honey has gotten me off track.
This is one of the creamiest cream sodas I've ever had. That aforementioned honey makes it even smoother. That vanilla...wooooohooo that's some strong vanilla. It's like the essence of a dozen boxes of Nilla Wafers liquefied into one glorious little bottle. Thomas Kemper has their niche with this whole honey business. It's gives all their sodas a distinct flavor. I could totally pick them every time in one of those blind taste tests that were all the rage in the 80s.

Open this up. Take a sip. It's fairly normal root beer, nothing too fancy. Oh wait what is that? It has a strange aftertaste. It's like someone drank 1/3 of this and then refilled the bottle with Moxie. It's a flavor that I can't really put my finger on. In Moxie it's almost medicinal, but not quite. In this it doesn't even get that far. I think it's the yucca extract that gives it that taste. It's unique in that aspect, but the actual root beer flavor leaves a little to be desired. It's better than your standard root beer, but it doesn't hold up against some of the "classier" root beers I've had lately.