Soda Pop - 1421 Reviews
Lakefront Brewing Inc Golden Maple Root Beer
You know how you get served a giant mound of pancakes and you pour that golden syrup all over it to give it a nice sticky sweetness that you love so much? Oh you do, well can you explain it to me because I think that it is disgusting. In fact I eat my pancakes completely dry. That's right, not even butter gets spread on my cakes. I'm sure that second fact makes me look like a sociopath of some sort, but I simply do not like syrup.
I've given many maple flavored products a chance over the years and they simply don't do it for me. When I picked this up I thought to myself, βWell, I have to do it.β Lucky for me I only get the faintest, if any, maple flavor in this bottle of root beer. Actually the most notable thing about this soda is that it may be the crispest root beer I have ever tried. It's like someone took a regular root beer and an unflavored soda that was pure crispness and mixed equal parts and put just the tiniest dab of maple syrup in it. The result is that even the root beer flavor isn't very strong, but it's there enough to be pleasant.
This is a different type of soda, and I can appreciate it for that, but if anyone got this and was excited to get some maple flavor they would be sorely disappointed.
I've given many maple flavored products a chance over the years and they simply don't do it for me. When I picked this up I thought to myself, βWell, I have to do it.β Lucky for me I only get the faintest, if any, maple flavor in this bottle of root beer. Actually the most notable thing about this soda is that it may be the crispest root beer I have ever tried. It's like someone took a regular root beer and an unflavored soda that was pure crispness and mixed equal parts and put just the tiniest dab of maple syrup in it. The result is that even the root beer flavor isn't very strong, but it's there enough to be pleasant.
This is a different type of soda, and I can appreciate it for that, but if anyone got this and was excited to get some maple flavor they would be sorely disappointed.
- Rating
- Company
- Lakefront Brewing Inc β Website β @lakefront
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Pure Cane Sugar
- Author
- Jason Draper on 1/14/16, 8:59 PM
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Doppelganger Sparkling Bitters Meyer Lemon
Ohh! So bitter. So adult. This drink is the sedan of drinks. This drink is the station wagon of drinks. This is a mature drink. This is a drink for mature people. This drink is punishment for your kids when they get out of line. Failed a test? Sparkling bitters. Hit a kid? Sparkling bitters. Peed in their pants? Sparkling bitters.
Is it bad? Not if you are in the right mindset. It's bitter. As soon as you accept it, it kind of tastes like a lemon rind. I don't know where the bitter comes from but it's there, man and it's strong. It's not sour. I don't know if you thought you were drinking poorly made lemonade but it's far from that. This is something you wonder if they made it wrong or if you're supposed to mix it with something. This is a drink to drink in the land of confusion.
Is it bad? Not if you are in the right mindset. It's bitter. As soon as you accept it, it kind of tastes like a lemon rind. I don't know where the bitter comes from but it's there, man and it's strong. It's not sour. I don't know if you thought you were drinking poorly made lemonade but it's far from that. This is something you wonder if they made it wrong or if you're supposed to mix it with something. This is a drink to drink in the land of confusion.
- Rating
- Company
- Doppelganger Sparkling Bitters β Website
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- No Sugar Added
- Author
- Mike Literman on 1/14/16, 5:16 PM
- Buy It Amazon.com
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Galvania Organic Fruit Sparkling Beverage Blood Orange
What we have here is a beverage with an identity problem. It knows what it is as a beverage, but not where it's from. It most certainly is a sparkling blood orange juice with sugar added. That is obvious from one delicious taste of the bitter fruit whose edge has been taken off by something sweet. What of its origins? The bottle says that it is a product of Italy, the website says that it is from the UK, and yet I found it in a run of the mill grocery store in Lansing, MI of all places. Where does It's story start, and will it come to an end in Michigan? I can safely answer βnoβ to that as I traveled with it through Canada back to Buffalo, NY, where I consumed it. It's a drink of the world, and you can enjoy it wherever you happen to be.
- Rating
- Company
- Galvania β Website β @GalvaninaUK
- Country
- Italy
- Sweetener
- Organic Cane Sugar
- Author
- Jason Draper on 1/12/16, 6:28 PM
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Caruso's Dark Cream
Sometimes in life you just want a nice cold bottle of cream soda. When the vanilla hits your taste buds, sometimes it's just what you need. It's not often that I get these cravings, but when I do, it feels so good to have that itch scratched. When an descriptor is added to a soda flavor that you don't normally hear, it intrigues me. When I read βdark creamβ my mind wandered to two places. A soda that is very intensely vanilla and secondly, and more probably a cream soda that is heavy on caramel. I didn't quite get either. Actually I'm not sure what exactly is making this cream soda dark. It's actually a little light on the vanilla and there is an aftertaste that I cannot place. That unknown flavor may actually be stronger than the vanilla. I find it distracting, but it could be one of those things that once someone tells me what it is, it will all make sense and I will enjoy it more. Right now, it's just not doing much for me.
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- Soda Pop
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Sugar
- Author
- Jason Draper on 1/10/16, 3:07 PM
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Diabolo French Soda Tangerine Pomegranate
Well, la-di-da, Mr. Frenchman. French soda. What a great name for something that just pop as far as I'm concerned. Added to the fact that erythritol is in it which makes it totally more American, don't expect something exotic. This is not escargot. This is pop and I will review it as such.
Tangerine pomegranate. It's a nice, lighter flavor. Maybe that's what makes it "French" is that it's not a million grams of sugar and syrup. I'm not giving it to them. I'm not holding an embargo on France, but I'm not accepting that this is anything different that a lightly flavored pop. It's good. Ol' fashioned American pop can come across as heavy and too sweet. This is absolutely not that and I don't miss the "extra" or "bonus" flavor at all. This would be a nice transition between, say "American pop" and something like a seltzer or even a Dry pop as that is basically "almost soda."
A car hole.
Tangerine pomegranate. It's a nice, lighter flavor. Maybe that's what makes it "French" is that it's not a million grams of sugar and syrup. I'm not giving it to them. I'm not holding an embargo on France, but I'm not accepting that this is anything different that a lightly flavored pop. It's good. Ol' fashioned American pop can come across as heavy and too sweet. This is absolutely not that and I don't miss the "extra" or "bonus" flavor at all. This would be a nice transition between, say "American pop" and something like a seltzer or even a Dry pop as that is basically "almost soda."
A car hole.
- Rating
- Company
- Diabolo β Website β @DrinkDiabolo
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Cane Sugar
- Author
- Mike Literman on 1/7/16, 5:12 PM
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Baumeister Cherry
Yes, it is January. Yes, it is cold and snowy. Yes, it is the time of year when people get sick. No, Voodoo Donuts no longer serves donuts that have cough syrup mixed in with the jelly. Yes, I think that is a great idea if not abused. Finally, no, I do not want my cherry soda to taste like cold medicine.
I often wonder if I would find such distaste in this version of cherry flavoring if it wasn't for medicine. Has it always been a gross flavor, or has it become tainted in our minds because we associate it with being sick. I guess it doesn't really matter because with every sip of this I feel like I should be swaddled in blankets blowing my nose.
There is a wide variety of flavors that have been called cherry in the world. Most cherry sodas gravitate towards one of those extremes. Baumeister tried to take things in a different direction and while I think that is great they took a wrong turn and ended up at Medicinal Blvd. We're looking for Fruit St here people. How hard is it to have a soda taste like the actual fruit it is named after?
I often wonder if I would find such distaste in this version of cherry flavoring if it wasn't for medicine. Has it always been a gross flavor, or has it become tainted in our minds because we associate it with being sick. I guess it doesn't really matter because with every sip of this I feel like I should be swaddled in blankets blowing my nose.
There is a wide variety of flavors that have been called cherry in the world. Most cherry sodas gravitate towards one of those extremes. Baumeister tried to take things in a different direction and while I think that is great they took a wrong turn and ended up at Medicinal Blvd. We're looking for Fruit St here people. How hard is it to have a soda taste like the actual fruit it is named after?
- Rating
- Categories
- Soda Pop
- Company
- Baumeister β Website
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- High Fructose Corn Syrup and/or Sugar
- Author
- Jason Draper on 1/3/16, 7:02 PM
- Buy It Amazon.com
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Barr Originals Ginger Beer
We live in a world where there is a bear in New Jersey that just walks around erect on its hind legs all of the time. It's not someone in a costume; it's just the coolest bear ever. It's just a matter of time until more bears adopt this mode of conveyance and that will most certainly lead to bears riding skateboards, as seen on this can. This portrayal of our furry friend is the peak coolness that any bear could hope to achieve. It makes sense that it should adorn the can of one of the best ginger beers I have tasted in a long time.
Now I love a good burn in my ginger beer, which you may know as I never shut up about it. This soda has somehow surpassed that love of mine. There is definitely some heat to this drink, but it's more on the mild side and it does not overpower the actual delicious flavor of this soda. There is a ridiculous amount of ginger flavor in here with some burn at the end. It's very, very good and the kicker is that this is βcheapβ soda in Scotland. The cans are like 40p each. If I lived there it wouldn't just be the deep fried everything that would make me fat.
Now I love a good burn in my ginger beer, which you may know as I never shut up about it. This soda has somehow surpassed that love of mine. There is definitely some heat to this drink, but it's more on the mild side and it does not overpower the actual delicious flavor of this soda. There is a ridiculous amount of ginger flavor in here with some burn at the end. It's very, very good and the kicker is that this is βcheapβ soda in Scotland. The cans are like 40p each. If I lived there it wouldn't just be the deep fried everything that would make me fat.
- Rating
- Company
- Barr β Website β @ironbrumusic
- Country
- Scotland
- Sweetener
- Sugar
- Author
- Jason Draper on 1/2/16, 6:07 PM
- Buy It Amazon.com
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2B Sparkling Soda Double Cherry Fizz
I'm deep in the forest. The forest is actually a swamp. The swamp is actually made up of soda. I want to enjoy this experience and get lost in it all, but there is a problem. The problem is monk fruit. I don't know how it actually grows, but for the sake of this review it is covering the surface of the swamp a la cranberries. This is causing a problem because for the life of me I can't get past the monk fruit to figure out if this is a cherry cola, or just a plain ole' cherry soda. I'm pretty sure it's cherry cola, but nothing on the cane denotes that. I'm not sure if it's the taste of the monk fruit that is giving it a quasi-taste of cola, or if that flavor is distracting from the pure cola taste. This soda is floating in some weird dream state limbo where it doesn't know what it wants to be. I can't say that I really enjoyed it, but at the same time I also did not dislike it. It is low in sugar, thus low in calories, which more likely than not is going to put it at some sort of disadvantage taste wise. I really just want to know what the flavor is supposed to be. I feel like that would make it easier to form a more solid opinion.
- Rating
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Pure Cane Sugar
- Author
- Jason Draper on 12/28/15, 5:31 PM
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Jones Stripped Orange Mango Soda
It seems to be a trend these days to be healthier. It may just be the best trend of all time. Everywhere I look healthier food options are popping up, including many drink companies making lower calorie beverages and presenting them in a βcoolβ way and not labeling them as diet. In the past diet drinks were pretty much marketed towards housewives. Now they are attempting to make them more attractive to the general population. Jones is doing so with their βStripped β line. The typeface they use looks as though it should say something along the lines of βextreme.β That's what the kids want I guess.
Another change these days is that in the past a single sweetener, such as sucralose or aspartame, would be used and I'm fairly certain we are all familiar with that diet death taste they would leave behind. A few years ago stevia started to get popular. It was more palatable, but still had a very distinct taste that it added to whatever it sweetened. At some point in the recent history of the world someone realized that no matter how diet drinks were marketed if they tasted more like the sweetener than the flavor of the drink, they weren't going to change many minds. This genius decided that while most people wouldn't drink zero calorie beverages, lower calorie was better than nothing, so they proposed using stevia as well as lower quantities of cane sugar. The result was beverages that I can drink without feeling like I need to run a mile to work off the calories.
The orange and mango flavor in this soda may be on the lighter side of the spectrum, but they are still stronger than whatever diet taste that is barely noticeable. It's not perfect, but it's a step in the right direction. As a nation we embrace sugar far too much. I know I just crave it sometimes, but this is helping move us to a place where we don't need as much of a fix. It's to soda what methadone is to heroin. Junkies, all of us.
Another change these days is that in the past a single sweetener, such as sucralose or aspartame, would be used and I'm fairly certain we are all familiar with that diet death taste they would leave behind. A few years ago stevia started to get popular. It was more palatable, but still had a very distinct taste that it added to whatever it sweetened. At some point in the recent history of the world someone realized that no matter how diet drinks were marketed if they tasted more like the sweetener than the flavor of the drink, they weren't going to change many minds. This genius decided that while most people wouldn't drink zero calorie beverages, lower calorie was better than nothing, so they proposed using stevia as well as lower quantities of cane sugar. The result was beverages that I can drink without feeling like I need to run a mile to work off the calories.
The orange and mango flavor in this soda may be on the lighter side of the spectrum, but they are still stronger than whatever diet taste that is barely noticeable. It's not perfect, but it's a step in the right direction. As a nation we embrace sugar far too much. I know I just crave it sometimes, but this is helping move us to a place where we don't need as much of a fix. It's to soda what methadone is to heroin. Junkies, all of us.
- Rating
- Company
- Jones β Website β @jonessodaco
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Cane Sugar
- Author
- Jason Draper on 12/22/15, 4:42 PM
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Rocky Mountain Soda Co Evergreen Elderberry
Up until this point Rocky Mountain Soda Co has had a consistently great record here on Thirsty Dudes. They have put their own twist on some standard sodas, and their use of beet sugar is commendable. Unfortunately this flavor falls short. I've enjoyed other elderberry beverages that I have tried, but this just misses the mark. Perhaps the deer, or elk, on the label licked the berries a bit, and perhaps those same animals have saliva that tastes like Orajel, but without the numbing factor. The taste of this falls somewhere between fruity and floral, but with a medicinal twist. I don't get it. I expected to love this, but it's just not happening.
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- Categories
- Soda Pop
- Company
- Rocky Mountain Soda Co β Website
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Rocky Mountain Beet Sugar
- Author
- Jason Draper on 12/20/15, 3:24 PM
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Just Craft Soda Peach and Habanero Flavour
Up until I discovered the Just line of pop, the only thing I knew about Canadian sodas was Pop Shoppe, and while they are decent, they are fairly standard. There is nothing standard about Just. They take flavors that you would never imagine meeting in soda and combine them into greatness. When in your life have you ever thought about peach and habanero meeting, except for possibly in a salsa? I'm going to guess that your response is, βNever.β To be fair if I was told that my mean would consist of a pairing of those two foods, I would just assume it was fancy pants cuisine that came in too small of portions that I would not really enjoy. In here though, in here it is fantastic.
The peach actually brought along some friends named apple, pear, pineapple and lemon. Together they forma sort of fruit punch troop in while peach in the ring leader. He's the one who is in charge and your taste buds know it as soon as they meet. The habanero is there all by it's lonesome and it waits in the shadows of the aftertaste. You could swish a gulp of this around your mouth for hours and never detect the pepper, but as soon as you swallow your breath brings the flavor and the heat out. It's similar to the burn from ginger beer, but with a little bit of a different taste.
I would love to have bottles of this on deck for when I get sick this winter. Drinking a bottle would clear my sinuses right out, and do so with flavor and taste. I need to make my way back up to Canada and pick up the other flavors that this wonderful company puts out.
The peach actually brought along some friends named apple, pear, pineapple and lemon. Together they forma sort of fruit punch troop in while peach in the ring leader. He's the one who is in charge and your taste buds know it as soon as they meet. The habanero is there all by it's lonesome and it waits in the shadows of the aftertaste. You could swish a gulp of this around your mouth for hours and never detect the pepper, but as soon as you swallow your breath brings the flavor and the heat out. It's similar to the burn from ginger beer, but with a little bit of a different taste.
I would love to have bottles of this on deck for when I get sick this winter. Drinking a bottle would clear my sinuses right out, and do so with flavor and taste. I need to make my way back up to Canada and pick up the other flavors that this wonderful company puts out.
- Rating
- Categories
- Soda Pop
- Company
- Just β Website β @just_craft_soda
- Country
- Canada
- Sweetener
- Organic Cane Sugar
- Author
- Jason Draper on 12/13/15, 2:26 PM
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Melba's Fixins Cherries & Cream
Melba loves that sugar, man. She adds it to everything. If the recipe called for eight ounces, she puts in ten. It's healthy. It's energy. In doing so, this is one sweet treat, dude. I shared this with people and this was too much. Way too much. It might taste like cherry and I suppose there could have been an element of "cream" in there but cherry cream soda this is not. Cherry cream soda does come at your teeth like a thousand minuscule jackhammers. I could feel my dentist getting richer as I drank this. Was it good? Eh. It wasn't her finest. It was alright. Melba, you're alright in my book but you might want to keep an eye on your fat grandkids before they get "the sugar."
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- Categories
- Soda Pop
- Company
- Melba's Fixins β Website
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Sugar
- Author
- Mike Literman on 12/11/15, 4:25 PM
- Buy It Amazon.com β Galcoβs Pop Stop
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2B Sparkling Soda Vanilla Cream
Here is a brief story of me buying a handful of 2B flavors. I was somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the Midwest. I was as central as one can be. We had a ridiculously long drive to get to a show and we stopped in a town to eat, which to the best of my searching had nothing quick that was suitable for vegetarians except for French fries, onion rings and ice cream. I'm no fool and knew that on such an empty stomach that anything deep fried would destroy my stomach, so I of course got ice cream like a champ. In said horrible town we stopped to get gas as well and I found these cans in the cooler. I grabbed this vanilla one, and let the others be. Then as I approached the counter as say a mixed case of them for 50 cents each. In the cooler they were listed as $1.89 or something like that, so I grabbed the other flavors, because a deal is a deal and I have a duty to report to you, our readers. When the woman rung me out the vanilla rang up as full price. When I questioned her, so said only the room temperature ones were on sale. Does that make sense to anyone? They are the same product. They obviously paid the same amount for them. Also, the cooler is running the same amount whether they are in it or not, so it's not costing them any more money. I swapped my cold one out for a counter one, paid the woman and off we went. There's no real point to that other than me pointing out that if you're not in a bigger city the Midwest is a weird place.
Now, on to the soda; the entire shtick of this company is that they use monk fruit in combination with cane sugar to lower the sugar content by 80%. I've had too many diet drinks lately and have been putting this off because of it. I have to admit it's not bad. It has a little strange aftertaste from the monk fruit, but the βdietβ flavor is not there. This is one of the strongest vanilla beverages I have ever come across. I'm venturing a guess that a good portion of the population has snuck a taste out of a bottle of extract of vanilla at some point in their childhood, with horrible results. It just smells so good, but it should never be tasted in that form. This tastes like a healthy dose of that was put into a generic soda water. It's kind of strange because overall it's a fairly light beverage, but the vanilla is so strong that you expect it to be creamy. It's a light, diet cream soda that doesn't' taste overly diet. It wouldn't be a go-to for me, but it falls under the category of I would happily drink it if it were served to me.
Now, on to the soda; the entire shtick of this company is that they use monk fruit in combination with cane sugar to lower the sugar content by 80%. I've had too many diet drinks lately and have been putting this off because of it. I have to admit it's not bad. It has a little strange aftertaste from the monk fruit, but the βdietβ flavor is not there. This is one of the strongest vanilla beverages I have ever come across. I'm venturing a guess that a good portion of the population has snuck a taste out of a bottle of extract of vanilla at some point in their childhood, with horrible results. It just smells so good, but it should never be tasted in that form. This tastes like a healthy dose of that was put into a generic soda water. It's kind of strange because overall it's a fairly light beverage, but the vanilla is so strong that you expect it to be creamy. It's a light, diet cream soda that doesn't' taste overly diet. It wouldn't be a go-to for me, but it falls under the category of I would happily drink it if it were served to me.
- Rating
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Pure Cane Sugar
- Author
- Jason Draper on 12/6/15, 4:30 PM
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Sotea Carbonated Tea Peach Passion
Strange things are afoot at the Circle K, and by Circle K I mean this bottle of carbonated tea. I've had a handful of tea sodas in my days on this planet and to be honest I don't know if any of the flavored ones have really impressed me. Give me a straight up sparkling black, green, white, or yerba mate tea and I'll be all over it, but something gets lost in the translation when you mix carbon dioxide, tea and fruit flavors. Something especially seems wrong when a zero calorie sweetener is brought into the mix. Look, I've made my peace with stevia. I don't love it, but I know it has its place and I've even been known to enjoy it in some drinks. In this bottle of Sotea it's blended with real sugar, so it should be actually decent, but it mixes with the peach flavor in a way that just makes the whole thing taste artificial. The ingredients say nothing about the peach juice, but βnatural flavorsβ is listed, so I'm assuming it has something to do with an actual peach, but it just doesn't taste authentic. I was excited to try this line when I came across it, but it really is just not for me and my taste buds.
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- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Sugar
- Author
- Jason Draper on 12/4/15, 9:16 PM
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Diabolo French Soda Dragon Fruit Plum
I can just imagine Christian groups being up in arms over this beverage. I envision picket lines and protestors screaming about how this beverage is luring the youth of America on a dark path; that they will become possessed by the devil if they drink it. Then someone will calmly explain to them that βdiabloβ is devil and βdiaboloβ is actually a prop for juggling and has nothing to do with the dark lord. As I've said in the past one letter can make a huge difference. For some reason the protestors will think that they already took things too far and won't believe the facts presented to them. It would be nice publicity for the company, so maybe that will actually happen and it will help them out.
In other worlds Diabolo is apparently a beverage that you can get in French cafes. They are fruity sparkling sodas and that is exactly what we have here. The twist with this company is that their products are low in calories and blend cane sugar, erythritol and stevia to sweeten their beverages. I'm not sure if it is this flavor in particular, but as soon as I took one sip my mind began to compare it to Clearly Canadian. It's very light and fruity. Unfortunately the diet taste can be a bit strong, but the dragon fruit and plum are flavors that it blends with nicely.
This is a nice alternative to the sodas that the American public is used to. It's a different beast that is not as horrible for you. Even compared to other diet sodas this feels lighter and not as thick. It definitely makes sense that it is the type of beverage that is popular in European cafes.
In other worlds Diabolo is apparently a beverage that you can get in French cafes. They are fruity sparkling sodas and that is exactly what we have here. The twist with this company is that their products are low in calories and blend cane sugar, erythritol and stevia to sweeten their beverages. I'm not sure if it is this flavor in particular, but as soon as I took one sip my mind began to compare it to Clearly Canadian. It's very light and fruity. Unfortunately the diet taste can be a bit strong, but the dragon fruit and plum are flavors that it blends with nicely.
This is a nice alternative to the sodas that the American public is used to. It's a different beast that is not as horrible for you. Even compared to other diet sodas this feels lighter and not as thick. It definitely makes sense that it is the type of beverage that is popular in European cafes.
- Rating
- Company
- Diabolo β Website β @DrinkDiabolo
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Cane Sugar
- Author
- Jason Draper on 12/4/15, 10:44 AM
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Boylan's Limited Release Sparkling Cider
When I see the word βciderβ I have a very specific flavor in mind. It's a fall flavor that is created by juicing apples in a certain way, and a lot of the time it involves spices. It is not simply just any apple drink. It's a flavor that I am particularly protective over, because there is a cider mill in my home town and to be honest, it's one of the best beverages ever created.
This, this is not cider. It definitely tastes like apples, but nothing like apple cider. To me it tastes like all of those apple sodas that you can get in the UK. My ladyfriend tells me that it tastes like alcoholic cider, without the alcohol. It's sweet, it's appley, but it lacks the bold warmness that comes with real cider (even when served cold).
If this were not presented as cider, I would say that it is one of the better apple sodas, but as I said I'm a protective man, and cider this is not.
This, this is not cider. It definitely tastes like apples, but nothing like apple cider. To me it tastes like all of those apple sodas that you can get in the UK. My ladyfriend tells me that it tastes like alcoholic cider, without the alcohol. It's sweet, it's appley, but it lacks the bold warmness that comes with real cider (even when served cold).
If this were not presented as cider, I would say that it is one of the better apple sodas, but as I said I'm a protective man, and cider this is not.
- Rating
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Cane Sugar
- Author
- Jason Draper on 11/23/15, 3:55 PM
- Buy It Amazon.com
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Northwoods Soda Wild Bill's Root Beer
First things first; This is Northwoods Soda's βWild Bill's Root Beerβ and it is not to be confused with the company Wild Bill's that also makes root beer. I'm not sure which company came first and who is the proper owner of the title according to the judicial system in this country, but it can be confusing. Northwoods is made in northern Michigan, and I grabbed it on a recent drive through the U.P., which I hope I can do again when the weather gets nicer.
On question I have is who named this gentleman Wild Bill? Is it a joke name like calling a fat man Slim? The picture on the label shows an aging man who looks proud of the root beer he has concocted. There is nothing about the picture that would make me question his sanity or think of him as a crazy party animal. He does have something to be proud of though, as he has made a tasty bubbly beverage.
This is a root beer with a heavy caramel flavor to it, especially in the aftertaste. It's a nice soda that lets you pick out the flavors that make up root beer and not just a general amalgamation of them all mixed together. There is some nice licorice and vanilla in here, without either being extremely present. I'm not a huge caramel guy, but the way it's done in here is quite nice and it left me wanting more when the bottle was done.
On question I have is who named this gentleman Wild Bill? Is it a joke name like calling a fat man Slim? The picture on the label shows an aging man who looks proud of the root beer he has concocted. There is nothing about the picture that would make me question his sanity or think of him as a crazy party animal. He does have something to be proud of though, as he has made a tasty bubbly beverage.
This is a root beer with a heavy caramel flavor to it, especially in the aftertaste. It's a nice soda that lets you pick out the flavors that make up root beer and not just a general amalgamation of them all mixed together. There is some nice licorice and vanilla in here, without either being extremely present. I'm not a huge caramel guy, but the way it's done in here is quite nice and it left me wanting more when the bottle was done.
- Rating
- Company
- Northwoods Soda β Website
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Pure Granulated Sugar
- Author
- Jason Draper on 11/22/15, 12:20 PM
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New York Seltzer Raspberry Soda
For those of you too young to remember this company was everywhere in the late 80's/early 90's. Back when corner stores and bodegas did not have a large selection of beverages this was always right alongside the Coke and Pepsi. I don't know if this was the case all around the country, but in Western New York, we loved our New York Seltzer. Now I have to be honest with you, I don't know if I ever actually tried one of these back in the day. By the time I was of age to be purchasing my own beverages I was far more interested in straight up soda and Mistic (they looked like wine coolers and made you feel cooler than you were, because you know wine coolers were always the thing the cool kids drank). Perhaps it's because of similar choices made by the youth of the 80's that caused this beverage to disappear from the shelves and production to grind to a halt. I will choose to believe that because who doesn't want to think that they had that sort of power as a pre-teen?
Here we are over twenty years later and New York Seltzer is back in business and cranking out six of their classic flavors. We really should have gotten to this earlier, as we like to review the classic drinks when they come back, but for some reason I hadn't been able to find it until I was in Michigan of all places. Strange times.
My first thought as I took a sip of this was, βWhat the hell there is sugar in here!β I had always thought that seltzer was just (possibly flavored) carbonated water with no added sweeteners. A quick look online informed me that any carbonated water beverage is considered a seltzer and even soda falls under that umbrella. In fact in my world this is just a soda. There is 31g of sugar in this 10oz bottle, and well it tastes like a raspberry soda. It's a little on the light side, but it's a fruity soda through and through. To be honest, I feel a bit cheated, but it's solely because I was uninformed. It's a decent soda and I just need to get in the headspace for that kind of beverage.
Here we are over twenty years later and New York Seltzer is back in business and cranking out six of their classic flavors. We really should have gotten to this earlier, as we like to review the classic drinks when they come back, but for some reason I hadn't been able to find it until I was in Michigan of all places. Strange times.
My first thought as I took a sip of this was, βWhat the hell there is sugar in here!β I had always thought that seltzer was just (possibly flavored) carbonated water with no added sweeteners. A quick look online informed me that any carbonated water beverage is considered a seltzer and even soda falls under that umbrella. In fact in my world this is just a soda. There is 31g of sugar in this 10oz bottle, and well it tastes like a raspberry soda. It's a little on the light side, but it's a fruity soda through and through. To be honest, I feel a bit cheated, but it's solely because I was uninformed. It's a decent soda and I just need to get in the headspace for that kind of beverage.
- Rating
- Company
- New York Seltzer β Website β @DrinkONYS
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Cane Sugar
- Author
- Jason Draper on 11/16/15, 1:06 PM
- Buy It Amazon.com
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Point Premium Root Beer
A vast majority of the people in the United States, let alone the world know of the wonder that is the state of Wisconsin. It's famous for cheese and beer, two things that I couldn't care less about, yet it may be my favorite state. I know it's probably all in my mind, but it feels like a simpler place where everyone is friendly (Well, except Milwaukee. I've almost gotten into a fight with Nazis there, have witnessed a drug deal gone wrong, and played a house that had a drive by a few weeks prior). I have had conversations with people about how a band could do a two week tour of just the state playing all of the wonderfully named towns. I also played my best game of Galaga ever in a laundromat in Appleton. If all of this isn't enough for you, they also have the grocery store chain Woodmans, which comes in second after Wegmans in my world.
Another thing that Wisconsin has is a decent amount of breweries that make sodas. I came across Point in a cheese shop that my traveling companions wanted to stop at, and was excited to pick up a few flavors. Later that night I decided to enjoy this root beer while I ate one of the most disappointing calzones of my life (not in Wisconsin). On paper this should be a wonderful soda. It's small batch brewed, it's sweetened with Wisconsin honey and it has real vanilla in it. Unfortunately all of these great things somehow couldn't save this root beer. Things started pleasantly enough it's nice and creamy but then there was something lingering underneath. It wasn't anything that made me dump out the bottle, but it tasted off, almost burnt. I checked some other review sites and everyone else seems to love this root beer, so I'm left wondering if I got a bad batch, or if the bottle was old. If I ever come across it again I will pick up another bottle and give it a second chance, because it's from Wisconsin, and it has premium ingredients. I just don't want to accept that this isn't good.
Another thing that Wisconsin has is a decent amount of breweries that make sodas. I came across Point in a cheese shop that my traveling companions wanted to stop at, and was excited to pick up a few flavors. Later that night I decided to enjoy this root beer while I ate one of the most disappointing calzones of my life (not in Wisconsin). On paper this should be a wonderful soda. It's small batch brewed, it's sweetened with Wisconsin honey and it has real vanilla in it. Unfortunately all of these great things somehow couldn't save this root beer. Things started pleasantly enough it's nice and creamy but then there was something lingering underneath. It wasn't anything that made me dump out the bottle, but it tasted off, almost burnt. I checked some other review sites and everyone else seems to love this root beer, so I'm left wondering if I got a bad batch, or if the bottle was old. If I ever come across it again I will pick up another bottle and give it a second chance, because it's from Wisconsin, and it has premium ingredients. I just don't want to accept that this isn't good.
- Rating
- Company
- Point β Website β @pointbrewery
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Sugar
- Author
- Jason Draper on 11/12/15, 5:06 PM
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Jones Crushed Melon
Fruity pop in my eyes usually has a place at outside hootenannies but in this case I might welcome it to my other activities because it's awesome. Seriously, it's really fruity but it's melon, man. Melon is a fruity fruit. America, you can't handle the fruitiness. You'd ruin it by putting in corn syrup or blending it with carrot juice. I'd love to give you the credit but let Canada have something. This was picked up by Editor Dan and I after an awesome night dilly-dallying around a 7-11. In two weeks, Jay and I are going back to see Tom Scharpling and Jon Wurster. Who knows what hijinks and activities will be had and what cool drinks we will uncover. It's been a while for us to go as a couple. Hopefully some bahn mi and delicious buns will be ingested.
- Rating
- Categories
- Soda Pop
- Company
- Jones β Website β @jonessodaco
- Country
- Canada
- Sweetener
- Invert Cane Sugar
- Author
- Mike Literman on 11/12/15, 3:45 PM
- Buy It Galcoβs Pop Stop
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