Sparkling - 501 Reviews

For you drinkers out there in the world, this is a classy way to use soda as a mixer. No longer will you have to bust out plastic bottle and aluminum cans of syrup heavy soda to mix with your liquors. Now you have a nice glass bottle of higher quality soda (or sparkling beverage for you fancy types) to mix with your adult beverages. To me everything about this bottle screams mixer, and it looks like it's not meant to be drunk on its own. Oh but it is.

This is a mixture of the extracts of Valencia and Pera oranges, tangerines, key limes as well as pumpkins and carrots (hey why not?). It's on the dryer side of things and isn't very sweet (14g of sugar per serving). The flavor is lighter than you would expect from a soda, and it has a citrus taste that is heavy on the orange. I personally can't taste the pumpkin or carrot, but I will assume that it would taste differently if they were excluded.

This is nice because it is dry and light. It's the kind of beverage that I could sip all night at a party and not feel terrible, emotionally and physically, for doing so. In fact I did just that Friday night. This is about as classy as I get folks. It's the antithesis of brands like Faygo. Those companies have their places and so does Q.

2014 is winding down, and if someone were to ask me as a professional imbiber of beverages to sum up the year I would have to say that these 365 days have been all about low/zero calorie sparkling waters. The past couple years have been owned by fake Vitamin Water, but man sparkling water is everywhere this year.

While I may not be the biggest fan of these drinks, I do appreciate their growth and that humans are taking more interest in what they ingest, particularly their sugar intake. Americans drink far too much soda, diet or not it's just too much. Since I've cut most of it out of my diet (minus reviews) I feel better and I dropped pounds pretty quickly. Now a lot of these sparkling water companies are just dumping some sucralose into flavored water and calling it a day, and their lack of effort is very noticeable. Skinny Girl (I still hate the name) takes things a bit further. They use fruit juice (albeit from concentrate), sweeten it with honey, cane sugar and sucralose (culminating in only 2g of sugar per bottle) and then add some vitamins and super fruits so your body is actually getting something beneficial from this drink. That's right they have combined the former champion with the reigning one, and they mingle oh so well.

This is made with grapefruit juice and it tastes like it. It's not an overly strong taste, but it's stronger than if you just left some grapefruit soak in water. It has a bit of a diet taste to it, but it's not bad at all. Arizona it's hard to stay mad at you for your dumb brand name, when you make it taste so good. Who needs garbage grapefruit pop that doesn't even taste like fruit when this is available with only the slightest fraction of calories?

Every time I got into a grocery store I like to spend a couple minutes going through the array of drinks. Usually they are the same as they were since the last time I was there. We've been doing this for a couple years now and after nearly 4100 drinks, it's hard to find things that we haven't reviewed. Sure, that is impressive in its own right but it's frustrating when you are trying to find something new.

This visit I found a couple things but this was the one that I selected for today. It's by Hint, a company that I have had good luck with in the past with a seasonal favorite, apple cider. It is, as all Hint's flavors are, subtle. It's got a pretty present aftertaste, though. It tastes like apple cider. The promise has been kept! I can say for certain that Hint delivers on their promise time and time again. I've been drinking this all day and I've got to say, I never stopped liking it.

It's not often that we get a lemon lime drink that actually tastes like it has lemons and limes in it. There's nothing wrong with your Sprites or your Sierra Mist or your 7-Ups but after drinking this it makes them almost seem like they aren't real. Now look, they might not be real but this tastes like something different. It tastes as if in the Polar plant they actually house lemons and limes.

This tastes like sparkling water that is flavored with lemons and limes. It's actually good; kind of sweet, but not terrible. It's nice and doesn't taste diet. I don't know how many of these Frost drinks we have left but I think I can honestly say that for a diet drink, these don't taste like diet.

Jay might not like it because of his distaste for lemon lime but I actually enjoyed it. A welcome addition to anyone's diet repertoire.

Excuse me, waiter? I have a question about the menu. It says here that you serve “Classic Margarita Pizza,” what is that all about? Is it like a pizza that has margarita mix stirred into the sauce? I mean I'm assuming it's not a pizza with a drink poured on it. Oh, it's “margheritra” not “margarita.” So it's just a pizza with sauce, moz cheese and basil? That makes much more sense. The thing is that I now have a hankering for a margarita since we've been talking about it. I understand that we're at an arcade for a children's birthday party, but I've got the itch. Do you have anything that would scratch it? Of a mocktail? That would work.

You know what, this is pretty darn good. It's like a lime soda with a little bit of a twist. I have to be honest here; I have never actually had a margarita, so I don't know what they are supposed to taste like. I always assumed it was something festive and slightly tropical, and that is exactly what is being served to me in this can. It makes me with this party had an island theme so all the kids could have a reason to enjoy this, and I wouldn't look like a total creep trying to get them to drink it. Man, that lime taste is strong, and it's great. Now where's my pizza?

Black raspberry, the "goth" fruit. Black raspberry, the older, darker brother of raspberry never studies, smokes cigarettes and listens to Skinny Puppy and Front Line Assembly. He drives an old car that he painted black but the funny thing is that it was already black.

This brooding, trench coat wearing fruit matched with sparkles, a match no one thought that would work out, actually make a pretty nice couple. As long as it's cold, this drink is pretty good and not super diet. “As long as it's cold it's good (like black raspberry knows anything about being warm and comforting). When room temperature o'clock happens, it gets thick but we're not going to go there. When it's in its natural state, cold and filled with hatred for his father for no reason, it's actually nice. It's sharp and fruity and doesn't taste like something your mom would like. You know what I'm talking about.

At children's parties, Natalie is typically offered a very limited selection of drinks including juice boxes, wine and beer. She did not want any of these things. She wanted something different and not just different from those options, something different than she was used to. She gave the birthday girl her gift and went into the kitchen to see what she was going to be stuck with and she found it. She noticed a peculiar label on the counter and approached it only to see that it was something she hadn't seen before. It was ginger apple flavored seltzer water. She promptly poured herself a glass and took a sip.

She liked it because it tasted a little like a carbonated apple juice mixed with some of the flavors of ginger. There wasn't any of the burn from a ginger beer or some ginger ales but the flavor of a ginger ale was there. She asked whomever brought it and they said that it was a seasonal flavor that wasn't going to be around forever. She liked it so much that she went on the way home from the party to buy more bottles for herself.

Guys, I finally cracked the secret. The reason all of these zero calorie, flavored, sparkling waters are all named after things ice related is that they taste their best just above the freezing point. You see when they are that cold the taste of the (normally) artificial sweetener is harder to detect. That's nice because colder drinks are generally more refreshing. The downside of that is that you have to either drink them really fast, water them down with ice, or be a big shot and use whiskey stones. The issue with the latter two solutions are the drinking hole of the bottle (the mouth, I know) isn't big enough for either to fit in, and I like drinking out of bottles, more than glasses. I'm a savage.

This drink tastes like a cleaner, and I somehow mean that in a good way. It doesn't so much taste like chemicals, because it doesn't at all, it more smells like lemon pledge. I know lemon pledge smells like lemons, but it also has a little something else in the odor, and it's perfectly captured in the taste of this beverage. I like the way it tasted, well that is until it started to warm up and the sucralose became more apparent.

Polar has taken this line a bit further than its competition by adding vitamins, antioxidants and caffeine, which they felt the need to list in all caps. Keep in mind the vitamins are at low levels (10% of your daily intake at most), but at least you're getting a little something extra for your time. Now chug folks, you don't want this warming up on you.

Let me start off by saying that I hate the name of this company/line. I'm not a fan when any product (with the exception of feminine care products) is marketed towards one gender. I know just as many males who are concerned about their weight as females. Also, the whole “skinny” thing is a bit demeaning. Skinny people are fine, but so are bigger people, as long as they are happy and healthy. Perhaps someone with a bit more weight on them isn't trying to lose weight, but just likes the tastes of these drinks; does their comfort in their weight keep them from enjoying this?

I'm fairly certain that Arizona (this product's parent company) didn't mean anything by what they did. It's a diet drink and for most people diet means skinny. It's one of those situations in which someone can be offense without knowing/meaning it. Since I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt, I will say some nice things about this.

First off, this bottle feels great. It feels like the plastic version of matte paper. It's not glossy and smooth. It has a slight texture to it that just feels great when I hold it. If you see this in a store, just pick it up. I don't know why more companies don't go for this kind of label.

Secondly, and more importantly, this is the best tasting sparkling water I have ever tried. Even though there is sucralose in here it doesn't have that overly diet gross flavor that normally accompanies such a sweetener. It could be because there is also cane sugar in the mix, but more than likely it's because fruit juice was used in here and not garbage artificial flavoring. It really tastes like a light version of mango and orange. I feel like in most of these styles of beverages the flavor is more of an afterthought and it takes a back seat to the taste of the zero calorie sweeteners. Skinny Girl (ugh) made flavor their priority. As a result this isn't a zero calorie drink, but they did get it down to 10 per bottle and only 2g of sugar. Those are quantities I can deal with if it means a better flavor.

It looks like the storm is clearing up. I mean there's still some ominous clouds in the sky, but at least it's stopped raining and if you look to the west you can see the sun peeking out a bit. Bai, that is exactly how I feel about this drink. After the less than stellar coconut and guava version of this I feel like you're finally getting some things right. This is a diet sparkling blood orange drink in which the diet taste isn't punishing your taste buds. The blood orange flavor comes first and it tastes great. It's a hard flavor to mess up, but then again so is guava and look where that got us. The taste of the erythritol/stevia is still there in the aftertaste, but it's fairly subdued. The orange flavor is breaking through those dumb sweetener clouds. I'm glad this is good because up until this carbonated line came around I was really into this companies work.

"Does it taste like an old woman?" I said to my mom as she tried this drink. She answered with a confident "No." Look, sometimes lychee tastes like old women and that's fine because old women need love, too. This drink tastes like sparkling limeade but you honestly don't get much of a lychee taste. This drink grabbed my interest because of that fact that did a great job designing the can and the flavor sounded great. You know what? It was great. Everyone who tried it liked it. My dad did not try it because I'm pretty sure my dad only eats chicken. I saw him eat a burrito the other day and it might have been his first one. Strange considering I'm his son. Or am I? Something to think about.

Anyhow the drink is honestly good. It's got a nice, tart limeade taste and the "sparkles" make all the difference in the world. The strawberry gives it an extra sweetness that you can't get from just adding sugar. The lychee, eh, we'll let it slide. I'm still giving it four out of five regardless of the ingredient that might be too faint to mention. That's saying a lot.

Men can drink Skinny Girl, too, right? I mean, calling something "Skinny Girl" is no different that calling your company "Skinny Cow," right? It's not like only cows can eat their own brand of diet ice cream. I would actually enjoy seeing a cow eat an ice cream cone. I think that tongue could do some damage. I love ice cream but I think if there was a race between myself and a cow at who could eat ice cream the fastest, the cow would win. That being said, I do not think that I want to see a cow with an ice cream headache.

Likewise, I don't think that I would like to see the lovely and talented Miss Bethenny Frankel get an ice cream headache but I feel that she and I would be a way more balanced race of "who can eat ice cream the fastest." Just to people eating ice cream fast in a competitive fashion. It's the American way.

This drink has nothing to do with ice cream but it does have everything to do with being a good tasting diet drink. It's made by, or in partnership with, Arizona which I did not know. Whoever is behind this, they should know that they did good work. It has a good tart flavor with some fruit kicks in there. It's sparkling but not like a seltzer, just like a sweetened carbonated juice drink. I shared it with "the new girl" at she thought the same thing. We agree. It's good.

I haven't heard anyone say the word "blizzard" but as many of you know, Buffalo is under attack by snow. It starts immediately south of downtown, as if a line was drawn between the central area and South Buffalo .That area has been covered by upwards of five feet of snow as if in a cartoon. You know the ones. They say something like, "I wish it would snow." and a mound of snow would come up to their necks. That's exactly what happened. Don't believe me? Go look it up. I'll wait.

In the meantime, I'll drink this drink that is like an homage to the weather patterns my Southern brethren have dealing with. Polar, maker of some pretty good seltzer water decided to delve into the wide world of diet sparkling juices that are named after cold things. Ice, Frost, Snow, Sno, and so on and so forth. It only tastes, and I'm rounding here, 20% diet which isn't too bad. The good part is that it's actually made with real orange juice. Who knows where the mango comes from? Wherever the rest of the flavors are coming from, they're pretty good and this is pretty good on this very brisk, snow filled week in the tropical village known as Western New York.

Fun fact: The Something Natural Company is entirely run by birds. I'm not talking in British slang here; I mean honest to goodness hollow boned, feathered creatures of the sky. The entire reason that these beverages are natural is that the employees don't have the thumbs needed to process…€¦..okay this is just dumb. I think that by insinuating that birds run a company, my idea tank is officially running low. Ignore the birds. There are simply birds on the various labels the company has used in the past. They are nice looking birds, but they are not producing any sort of beverage, well maybe birds nest.

This is a fairly dry beverage, although they do use cane sugar as well as stevia in its production. Even with both of those sweeteners there are only 7g of sugar in this bottle. Not too shabby. The strawberry and peach flavors are both decently strong without being very sweet. That is a nice trick that I'm sure the magicians at the company will reveal the secrets of. At the end of the day this is labeled a sparkling water, but if you called it soda pop and gave it to kids they wouldn't know the difference and it would be much healthier for them. If they put up a fuss, steal my bird lie and they will love it.

Dry Soda is known for their more “outsider” flavors. When they hit the market it was with flavors such as lavender, juniper berry and vanilla bean. Since then they have expanded their line to include their take on more traditional flavors, which are available only in cans and not glass bottles. At first I was unsure of this company, as like most Americans I was a soda junky. Over the years my palate has refined and I have grown to enjoy a light, dry soda. I don't need so much sugar in my life, and these sodas work perfectly to cover my need for bubbles that are flavorful.

If you are familiar with most apple sodas that are on the market, then you know that they tend to be some of the sweetest pops that you can find. Dry didn't fall into that trap. They kept their mission statement, which I can only assume is “Use sugar sparingly,” and made a lightly sweetened soda that is just great. I could drink this stuff all day. It's mostly sparkling water, but there is enough apple flavor in there to quench your longing, without being overpowering. It almost tastes unnatural for an apple flavor to be so light in a drink, but it's well worth your time and money, so I can only hope you are at the market looking up what we thought of this drink, and then you go and buy them out.

When I first read this companies website, I immediately thought to myself, “These people are either completely unaware of the market, or they are a bunch of dirty liars.” You see they claimed that in 2012 they released “the first packaged, shelf stable, ready-to-drink, & natural Vietnamese Sparkling Limeade beverage.” I thought to myself, I've had limeade before, this is nothing new, those liars!” Then I looked back at prior reviews on Thirsty Dudes and I realized that all of the limeades I have drunk in the past were either still beverages or they were mixed with cherry if they were carbonated. None of them would be considered classic sparkling limeade. I take back the thoughts I had in my head Phancy. Your statement may very well be correct, even if it blows my mind that this hasn't been marketed before.

The genius of this beverage is in its simplicity. The only ingredients are sparkling water, lime juice and cane sugar. It tastes authentic and homemade. It actually tastes like someone squeezed a lime into sweetened water, which is how it should taste, because that is what it is.

Obviously this leads me to think of lemonade with the primary ingredient swapped out for limes. That lead me to wonder if children in Vietnam set up limeade stands in front of their house, like kids sell lemonade in the states. I hope they do, because that sounds delicious.

I don't really know why that I am shocked that I like this, but I am. It just sounds like something that would be terrible. Whenever companies try to grasp outside of their safe zone, I am always very skeptical. For some reason with this line I expect the results to be less than stellar, even though I have had several other flavors that I have enjoyed. Each time I expect my mouth to be greeted with a gush of grossness. You can just tell looking at this that it has a zero calorie sweetener in it somewhere. The thing is that the stevia mixed with the cane sugar works in here. It has a bit of a diet taste to it, but the actual berry flavoring is much stronger, and that is all that you can ask for.

I think the saving grace for Glaceau is that they went for their own thing. They didn't take a classic energy drink and try to mix it with their pre-existing products. They took what they were good at and added green coffee bean extract an B vitamins to give it a little energy push. There's no chemical garbage in here, and as a result it just tastes like a carbonated Vitamin Water. It may not give you the crazy rush as other products do, but you can feel better about drinking it, and really when in your life did you actually need the shot to your heart that the other players give? To me it just seems like overkill.

I'm glad that I have continuously been wrong about the Vitamin Water Energy line. It's nice to be surprised in a positive way.

I would like to speak with whoever was in charge of deciding how much sweetener was to be put in this beverage? Did they have a cold the day the decision was made? Were their collective noses stuffed, so that it affected their sense of taste? I don't know what situation would make me not want to fire them, but I hope something is brought to my attention, because this is just ridiculous(drinkers of a product have the ability to fire employees of the company right). Normally when stevia/erythritol are used in a beverage it's towards the bottom of the ingredients list. In here it's the second thing listed; carbonated water then zero calorie sweetener blend. It's so overly fake sweet that it's hard to make out the intended flavor of the drink. Guava is generally a very strong flavor, like passion fruit. In here it gets lost and it seems like an afterthought.

There are people out there who will really like this. I personally just don't understand using that much zero calorie sweetener, just use less. No one will complain.

From the get go I wanted nothing to do with this beverage. My interest in coconut water is still relatively new and a carbonated version sounded absolutely terrible to me. Just as I feared this drink fell on the sunscreen side of the spectrum. It wasn't to the extent that it tasted like someone watered down their Coppertone and then introducing it to a Soda Stream, but it is close enough. If that wasn't a bad enough description for you, take into consideration that the all-natural, zero calorie sweetener is ridiculously strong, and nearly unbearable. Simply put, this is not for me.

Ah the lemon zest; an attractive garnish on many of the dishes on the Food Network. They just take that lemon, roll it on a cutting board lifting the fruit from that pesky rind and then rub it against a grater like a bear scratching itself against a tree. I wonder if they have a slew of interns just rolling and grinding lemons all of the day for college credit. I think that they also might have entry level, minimum wage workers juicing all the zest into a little drink. Then, the full timers are bottles and packaging. Then, at the end of it all, is the big wigs. The big wigs sit back, smoke big, fat cigars and just count money all day.

What we're left with, in short, is a lemon seltzer water. All that zesting and bottling and smoking just leaves you with a bottle of fairly generic lemon seltzer. Look, it's fine. It's good, right? It's just lemon seltzer water. No need to beat around the bush. Get back to school so you can learn how to cut corners and hire the unhirable slobs that are college students and start learning to count to really high numbers because soon you, too will be swimming in dollar bills and small coins.