Sparkling - 501 Reviews

This drink should come with a rabbit and a top hat, because it is a magic trick. Frisa makes nothing but quality beverages, but I did not know that they also were practitioners of the dark arts. You seem confused, so let me explain. When you pen this bottle you are greeted with the most wonderful ginger scent. Just the smell alone you know you are in for a treat, as if the fancy looking bottle wasn't enough to inform you. So you pour yourself a nice glass and get ready for the ride of your life. You take a sip and you know you were right, this is fantastic. It is a perfect blend of ginger and hibiscus with a little lemon thrown in. There is no burn from the ginger at all, but it tastes so good that you can't bring yourself to care in the least. Then you swallow and a look of befuddlement passes over your face. What happened to the flavor? You take another sip and the greatness is back, but yet again as soon as you swallow it is gone. There must be some enchantment on this sparkling beverage because the instant it is swallowed all trace of it is pretty much gone from your taste buds. I don't know how it works, but I guess that is part of the trick. I tried to let it sit in my mouth for a while and the flavor stayed as long as I kept it in there, but as soon as I swallowed it was gone. I've never had a beverage do this before. It's like someone invited David Blaine to a party in my mouth and didn't inform me. I can get over the strangeness though as it just tastes so damn good while it's still on my tongue.

Here's an idea, let's take a less than stellar beverage and make it somehow worse by taking out the sugar/stevia mix and replacing it with sucralose. Seriously why would they not just use all stevia? It may not be the best, but it is way better than the poison taste of sucralose. Nothing tastes real in this beverage. The peach tastes artificial and even the tea flavor seems fake somehow.. It's not undrinkable, but it's by no means enjoyable by my standards. It's like there was a science fair and a kid decided to make a soda in his home laboratory. Oh yeah, that kid is a super scientist in the making, just don't let her near anything you want to ingest. I really wanted to like this line and it just wasn't meant to be.

You have to appreciate when a company makes a large effort with their presentation. The size/shape of bottles and cans has become so uniform and standard that when a company mixes things up it's hard not to take notice. Sure, Galvanina didn't create something new, but their embossed glass bottles with minimum label are just classy. They could have easily thrown their sparkling juice into any old bottle and it would have just blended in with the scenery, but the way they present it makes it stand out and makes it special. It's similar to the way that San Pellegrino stands out because of the foil they put over the top of their cans. You feel a small specialness when you drink them. Just one glance at this bottle and I could tell it was most likely made it Europe. It feels old in the best possible way.

On top of having all the right looks this also tastes pretty fantastic. Normally when beverages are made sparkling carbonation is just added to regular water. In here mineral water is used and it does give it a bit of a regal feel. Also involved are clementine and carrot juice concentrates as well as orange and lemon pulp. It does fall on the sweeter side of how I like my sparkling juice, but it still mostly tastes like juice and that is the important thing. This wins all around.

I've been holding onto this seltzer for a while now, just waiting for the perfect time. I am a sucker for all things blackberry, as well as all things cucumber, so this sounded like a dream. When I purchased it there was only one can, and for fear that I would never find it again I wanted it to be special. For weeks it has sat in my fridge, just staring me down, daring me to drink it. Today was the day. The thing is that there is nothing special about today. I was just sitting there reading and thought to myself, now is the perfect time for that drink. I was not wrong. This is fantastic, and perhaps the best seltzer I have ever tasted. While the flavor is mostly blackberry, it does have the crispness that only cucumber can bring and its flavor was pleasant underneath the berry.

This is a beverage that I can just imagine sweetened. It has the potential to be an incredible soda, just by adding a little cane sugar. The thing is that it is just as wonderful without the sugar. This drink could exist in both worlds and get top marks. I hope this flavor makes it into the multipacks soon, because I will devour it like there is no tomorrow and not horde it like a sucker.

Is this a treat? Eh, it's not bad. Some of the other versions of this have been less diet tasting. This, so far, has taken the cake as far as "the award for the most diet goes to..." It's not awful. It's really not. It's not remarkable. It just unfortunately falls into that "just another diet drink" pile that only people like your aunt drink. Your poor aunt, she'll never lose that weight if she keeps eating Quarter Pounders like she does. No matter how much diet drinks she drinks.

Things got rough for the members of Guns and Roses after the mid 90's. I mean just take a look at Axl Rose. Most of the members wallowed in their former fame and fell into the gutter, but guitarist Izzy Stradlin worked with his money and invested in beverages. He hung up his Gibson for bubbles and slowly started an empire. Wait…€¦Oh…€¦his name and the company name are spelled differently. He has nothing to do with the beverage company, huh? I'm just having another one of my fever dreams brought on from boredom. Sorry about that. Imagine is a guitarist with that fame, from that era had the restraint to use such simple packaging on his beverages. That would be the real miracle. If what I said had been true I'm sure this bottle would have been covered in Ed Hardy style design. Let's count our blessings that the two are not related and sit back and enjoy this sparkling water.

The Izze sparkling waters are essentially seltzer with the smallest amount of cane sugar added to take away a little of the bitterness. There are only 2g of sugar and that leads to 10 calories. Not bad at all. The lime is definitely a bit stronger than the mandarin orange, but it's still in there and this is quite pleasant. I imagine it would make a great mixer for some sort of alcohol, but what do I know. I'm just going to enjoy it the way it is. It gives me tropical feelings. I need those in this snow.

We were sent so many different Claire Baie drinks to review. I don't know if we have even got through half of them and I'm running out of things to say. Most of them (this one) are flavored sparkling waters that are sweetened by sucralose. I am not a fan of this particular sweetener, so it kind of ruins the lot of them for me. The flavors of these drinks are pleasant enough, and they would have made for a whole mess of seltzers that I would have enjoyed had they just left out the sweetener. Unfortunately they did not and they all have that diet-death taste to them. It just changes the whole feel of the drink in a way that I don't see a need for. This would have been a great tangerine orange seltzer. From what I can gather of the flavor that is not sweetener I probably could drink a case of this if the sucralose were left out. Oh well. I mean this is pretty much on par with other brands doing a similar thing, but I'm not a fan of them either.

You know what's periodically refreshing? Grapefruit. I might drink one Squirt per year and it's a great day. Ting? Always a good time. I don't know what does it. It could be the immense amount of citrus but there is something refreshing about it. This, even being a diet drink, is a good time. It's got good flavor and sure, with every sip you know that it's not "real" but it's good. It's got the same "sharpness" that you would get from anything in this shaped bottle (read: Sparkling Ice) but I don't hate that either. This is a good time in a bottle and it's not terrible for you. I'd call that a win in my book.

Do you have anything to celebrate? Honestly, who cares? Celebrate this drink by drinking this drink because it's great. Open it up, blow some noisemakers, throw some confetti around, pull one of those things that pop and fill the air with strands of colorful paper and the smell of farts. It's time to celebrate this drink.

It doesn't taste like armpits or feet which, often, to me, black current tastes like. Rosehip I've had before but couldn't pick it out in a lineup. Basically, this tastes like a good, almost grape sparkling, non-alcoholic champagne. It's really good. I shared it with a handful of people and the only complaint is that it was really sweet and they couldn't do more than one glass of it. That's fine.

Blackberry raspberry. Recipe for wonder, right? Eh, add fake/faux sugar to it and you'll be amazed at how quickly this drink is dropped pegs or rungs or steps or whatever form of dissension you so desire. It could have been good but then it wouldn't be diet. I think that's a lose/win or a win/lose depending on which you want more. Do you want it to be good for you? Than it doesn't taste wonderful. Do you want it to taste good? Than it's going to do a great job helping you gain that "freshman fifteen" you've so wanted.

Look. It isn't that bad. It's just a diet, sparkling drink but if you've ever had something like a Sparkling Ice, it's like that but less sharp. It's just a regular drink for regular people. Are you extraordinary? This might not be for you. You should be drinking something with some more pizzazz or zip. You're better than this. You're better than me.

Look at you Sotea, you're moving up in the world. You've taken off the training wheels and have put out a flavor that is actually pretty decent. You may not be ready to go on a 40 mile bike trip yet, but you are moving out of the driveway and onto the sidewalks. This may be the dumbest analogy I have ever used and it doesn't even really make sense. My point is that while the other two Sotea flavors we have reviewed left a lot to be desired this one is actually pretty good. It tastes like carbonated green tea (always a bit weird, but sometimes enjoyable) with a fairly good (black)berry flavor to it. Sure, there is stevia in the mix with the cane sugar that is messing with the taste a bit, but it's nothing horrible and I can easily see past it. I feel like this is what they were reaching for (and missing) for the other flavors. I can only hope that with the other flavors we have on deck that they get even better.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have a question that I would like to pose to all of you; who are these drinks for? I'm not trying to be a jerk; I just really want to know. Who are all of the people who are buying and consuming flavored sparkling waters that are sweetened with zero calorie sweeteners? I have never witnessed anyone buy anything like this, let alone drink it. There must be market though because there are a decent amount of companies making them, and you can find them all over the place, where they are not covered in decades of dust. In my experience when someone is looking to drink a diet beverage it's usually a Diet Coke. I have seen countless numbers of them being consumed across the country. Never once have a watched anyone drink one of these though. Are Americans ashamed that they enjoy these and they purchase/consume them in secret? Do they hide them in the center of their shopping cart so that they can surround them with other groceries so that their fellow shoppers are none the wiser?

My opinion on it is if you're looking to drink sparkling water and are watching your calories, just grab a seltzer. Of course who is going to listen to me though? Very few people that is who. Would I ever purchase this drink? No, but I am not the intended consumer. I can't get down with the taste of sucralose. This is actually right at the cusp of the proportion of sucralose to the intended flavor of a beverage. While I wouldn't buy this, I will drink it since it was given to me. I don't hate it, but it's certainly not my favorite. It has a decent strawberry taste that fade into a little lemon flavor. Both of which are combating the chemical taste of the sweetener.

I understand this is made for a certain demographic, and it must sell to them. I'm just not sure who they are.

Okay, let's see…€¦Shoes? Check. Bowtie? Check. Spats? Check. Cumberbund? Check. Coat w/ tails? Check. Oh and I almost forgot the top hat to round it out. There, now that I am dressed in the fanciest clothes I could possibly wear I am prepared to drink this bottle of Frisa. Since I won't ever be drinking champagne in my lifetime I think it is safe to say that this is the fanciest beverage I will ever consume, and I might as well dress accordingly. It's imported, it's simple and it's wonderful.

I was surprised when I unwrapped the bottle that there was a twist off cap and not a cork. I mean there really was no need for a cork, but for the way I'm dressed it would have been nice. I can't really hold that against the company. They have everything else perfect, and I'm sure that would just be a hassle and ruin the drink somehow anyway. I want nothing to ruin this drink. I want a lifetime supply of it. If I could make the taps in my home flow with sparkling elderflower beverage I would die a happy man, and probably sooner than I would otherwise.

I really can't get over how much I enjoy this. It may be the best beverage we have ever reviewed. If not, it is certainly in the top 3. It's sweet and floral in all the right ways. Nothing about this is like sucking on a perfume bottle. It's a totally different beast in the best possible way. I really don't know when the last time was that my taste buds were this happy. This is simply perfect. I expected the price tag to be much higher than it is as well. $10/bottle is not bad at all, especially for the magic you are receiving. I am going to insist that any fancy event I attend from here on out serves me this. If they turn me down I will just refuse to go. That is how much this means to me.

Now my bottle is empty. I feel like a glutton for consuming so much, and I feel ridiculous sitting at my computer in full formal wear, but yes, it was worth it.

My first thought when I went to drink this was, “Awesome, another company is using the bottle can hybrid design, and I love it.” The second thing I thought was “What the hell is levulose?” I can't remember where I picked this up, but there was a good chance it was from some strange bodega somewhere in the middle of America, or an Asian market so the origin of the what I assumed to be a sweetener was up in the air. The top of the can/bottle doesn't have any recycling info and just says “Please don't litter. Dispose of properly.” Something about that didn't put mea t ease either. I did learn that it was made is Las Vegas by actually reading the small print. See reading does make life better.

After all of that I still did not know a thing about levulose, so I took to the internet. I have no idea how I have never heard of it before because it is a monosaccharide that is found in honey and fruit. It is also known as fruit sugar. You would think something like that would make cherry flavored water great, but something went horribly wrong. It tastes like a new version of diet. It doesn't taste like sucralose, aspartame or even stevia but it still has a strange “off” taste to it that if I didn't know any better I might claim was someone trying to poison me.

I had expected it to me a lighter flavored beverage, but it's more like someone took a can of cherry pop and mixed it evenly with a bottle of unflavored seltzer. Well that and that weird not quite diet taste I mentioned earlier. I can appreciate companies trying new things, but sometimes they just don't land correctly.

Blood orange, the most metal of flavors, is quickly becoming a hackneyed flavor for me. It's like people are making it the "cooler orange" when it's really just a little bit different. Sweeter than citric. That's all. Does that make it cooler? I don't think so. You know what would make it cooler? If it came around in a dope leather jacket. That would make it different than all the other citric lemmings.

How does this fare? A little bit different than an orange pop. A little bit different than any old orange pop. This is fine. It's not going to win any awards but if you did something to make it different (leather jacket) it might be something special. For now it's just orange pop to someone that isn't familiar with the likes of Thirsty Dudes. At this point we've reached millions of people though. Right? Millions? Is my decimal in the right place. No? Tens? Oh come on! We're better than that. Jay! Tell them we're better than that.

There are a whole mess of zero calorie, sweetened sparkling waters on the market. While that statement is a fact this may be the only one who's name isn't a reference to ice or being frozen. So for that, I thank you Claire Baie. Those names irrationally drove me crazy. Another difference is that this beverage has some juice in it, and as a result it is better than the rest, even though it is still sweetened with sucralose.

Oh how I wish this wasn't sweetened with sucralose. I understand it's a drink with a purpose, but tasting it I can tell how great this could have been. Actually, if they wanted to keep it zero calories they should have just forgone the sweetener altogether. I probably would have loved it that way. As it stands it's not horrible and is on the better side of the sucralose scale. It really tastes like berries and the diet taste is a bit hidden under that. It still has that coldness, which the other companies base their names off of. That coldness is simply not for me, but for what this is and compared to its contemporaries it's a clear winner.

I've been duped again. I see a larger bottle labeled “sparking water” and my mind goes to seltzer. I think, “Oh, this will be good to drink at band practice” only to take a sip and realize that it is sweetened with sucralose. This is the third or fourth time this has happened to me over the past year, and you'd think that I would learn to just look at the ingredients. Maybe I just like living on the edge. Maybe I crave the danger and excitement to breathe life into my veins. Maybe I am just dumb and I keep forgetting.

If this were a seltzer it would have a nice cherry flavor that doesn't resemble medicine too much. I would have been perfectly content with it. As it stands it is more diet than cherry, and that bodes well for no one.

I just thought to myself, “Who could ever drink all of this in one sitting?” Then I realized that it's meant for multiple servings. Yup, I was right at the end. I am in fact dumb.

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.

Izze has expanded their grasp and now they have a line of “sparkling water beverages,” which is kind of just code for seltzer water. At least it would be if they didn't add just a touch of sugar (2g per bottle). It's a good marketing strategy. A lot of people are turned off when they hear the word seltzer, and when people see a drink is only 10 calories and it doesn't have stevia, erythritol, sucralose or any of those other guys in there I feel like they would be more likely to grab one.

It tastes like seltzer with the dryness rolled back just a little. I get a berry flavor, but no pear. There is a weird grain-esque aftertaste that I do not understand at all. Do pears taste like barley in some world that I am not a part of? It gives it a strange twist, but it's one of those flavors that you quickly become acclimated to and no longer notice.

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 “no” 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.