Blue Sky - 11 Reviews

Although I have never watched it I will just assume that this soda was created as a companion piece for the television show Becker. All I know about it is that it starred Ted Danson and he was a doctor. For all I know it could have been a spin off from Cheers where Ted went into witness protection, changed his name and got a PhD. Let's pretend that's the case. Let's also pretend that Dr Becker also always has a hankering for off-brand Dr. Pepper. He loves the real thing, but no longer feels he can support them because they never sent him his “I'm a Pepper” shirt he ordered when he was a teenager. As a result there is a continuing sub-plot of the show where every episode he tries another brand, but they are never as good. In the series finale he finally finds a brand called Dr Becker and it's everything he dreamed of. It tastes like a classic Dr Pepper made with cane sugar, but with a splash of black cherry in it. It's not syrupy at all. It's the soda of Becker's dreams and as he takes his final sip, he looks at the can and gives a little smile as the credits roll. Now that's good TV.

Look. Everyone knows that one of my favorite pops is Hansen's Cherry Vanilla Cream. Hansen's owns Blue Sky. This is cherry vanilla cream and that is cherry vanilla cream. So why isn't this as good? I don't know. This is great. No doubt about it. It doesn't have as many calories, still has a great taste, and is actually pretty easy for me to find. I think that the one thing that is different is that this is less smooth, probably less cream or creme depending on where you live. French? Creme. American? Cream.

It's odd. They had it. It also seems strange that a subsidiary company would make such an iconic, specific drink as their parent, but they did. It's not far off and it's definitely not a failure, it's just not my baby.

Last night was the US Presidential Election, and Barack Obama will be our president again for the next four years. I was half-heartedly watching the election coverage on my laptop as I read last night. Watching states turn blue was a treat. I was waiting for the swing states to switch over (mostly Ohio, Florida and Virginia). I had decided that when Florida went blue I would celebrate with a nice orange soda to pay my respects to the people in that state who made the right decision. Time went by and Florida stayed grey. I got to thinking about that orange pop and I really wanted it. In my head I justified that by drinking it I would help usher on the counting of the votes. I think I messed things up guys. Luckily other parts of the country picked up the slack and the blue won, but I'm pretty sure the fact that I picked such a lack luster soda was what delayed the count (it's 11am now and it still isn't done).

Blue sky was one of the first organic sodas that I remember seeing on the market. In 2000 or so I remember going to the local health food store to get a nice seitan sandwich and I grabbed my first can of Blue Sky (not Orange Divine). I remember thinking it was good, but nothing spectacular. That's fine, not everything needs to be over the top. I thought I knew what I was getting into with this can. It has natural orange flavor in it, so I was expecting it to be a lesser tasting/more sweetened Orangina. I ended up getting something that was between a sparkling orange juice and your everyday orange soda, except it had been filtered through the general taste of a health food store. Something was definitely off about it. It tasted as if it had been lightly spiced for some unknown reason. There is nothing listed in the ingredient list that should give it such a flavor, so I'm stumped.

Again, I apologize to the folks of Florida for delaying the count of their votes. If I had chosen a better orange soda I bet this would be all wrapped up.

A little bite and a genuine ginger taste: this is the model right here, ladies and gentlemen. If this had been labeled a "ginger beer" I would have been upset that there wasn't enough bite. I have had ginger beers that taste like this, which is disappointing. This little guy packs a punch for a ginger ale. One word ruins a drink. Let it be known. It's all about expectations. I drank the Jamaican Ginger Ale and now I don't remember if there was a difference between the two.

This was probably one of the best ginger ales I have ever had. That's a thing to be said. Now, when people say to me, "Mike, you look great today. What is the best ginger ale you've ever had? I'm nauseous from being on this giant yacht of yours with real gold lions scattered throughout." I will say, "It happens, man. When you go out on a gigantic yacht that you can call your own you get used to it. One of my favorite ginger ales that you can get most places is Blue Sky ginger ale. Also, did you know that those giant gold lions have candy in their mouth? Reach on in and get a Fun Size Kit Kat. Don't puke on my boat."

Earlier today Mike said that he could really go for a nice cola, and he noted that we don't really find too many “non-mainstream” colas. That got me thinking about cola all day, and I didn't think that I had any at home. When I got home later I perused my beverage shelf and discovered that I did have this can hiding in the back. Everything was coming up Milhouse.

Now I don't know what the difference is between this and their Natural Soda Cola. The ingredient lists look the same except this can says “organic cane juice” and the other says “ real sugar.” The order of the ingredients is different as well. This has natural cola nut flavor higher up on the list. I'm assuming they are pretty much the same drink though, except all of the ingredients in this can are organic. Regardless of the difference, the two things that really stand out about this cola over its everyday competitors is the fact that they do use cola nut and also it is caffeine free due to the company using natural ingredients. Neither Coke nor Pepsi use cola nut in their recipes. Instead they use some artificial concoction that they came up with to create a similar flavor. I must say that you can taste the difference, and this certainly tastes more natural and it's not harsh like the previously mentioned brands.

It may not be the best cola I have ever had, and it didn't quite live up to my expectations, but I certainly enjoyed it. If all of the colas in the world were organic this would probably fall somewhere in the middle of the road, but I prefer it over your common gas station alternatives.

Max was a strange boy. He was obsessed with all things orange. Not only did he eat the fruit and drink the juice constantly, but he also used orange soap (hand and dish), burned orange scented candles and painted everything in his home the color. As I said there was something off about that Max boy. No one would ever expect this boy to come down with scurvy. A typical meal for him would be oranges to eat, orange juice to drink and for dessert he would put a little sprits of whipped cream on top of an orange slice. One day it dawned on him that he could recreate his dessert in the form of a beverage. He first tried mixing orange juice with whipped cream, but the cream ended up curdling and even though it tasted fine, the idea of it made him want to vom a little. On his second attempt he used orange soda with a little bit of orange juice mixed in and added the whipped cream to that, then mixed it all together into a uniform consistency. The result was subtler than orange cream sodas he had tasted in the past. Since he used whipped cream instead of the traditional vanilla cream, it wasn't as strong and didn't taste like a creamsicle as much. The flavor actually fell in-between that of an orange cream and regular orange soda. He decided to call it orange crème, so he could pretend he was fancy and foreign. As I said, Max was a strange boy. A strange boy whose complexion eventually turned orange, and not from tanning too much.

Ginseng and I have not gotten along well in the past. My least favorite drink of all time involved ginseng. But in the name of Thirsty Dudes and root beer, I had to try this. The gold shimmer on the can made me think this was going to be a classy root beer.

Verdict? It's not really classy, but it's pretty good. It is indeed a creamy root beer, but the ginseng gives it a nice bite at the end. It also gives it a slight bitterness, but not in a bad way. The more I drink it, I realize that this is one of the better root beers I've had in a while. I hope I can find more Blue Sky sodas with ginseng in it.

You would think that a Jamaican ginger ale would just be called "ginger beer", right? Well that's why I make the big bucks and you are a dummy. You know that Jamaicans love spicy things like ginger beer, salsa, chicken wings, and spicy tuna sushi rolls. Yep, those are the Jamaicans we all know and love. Hey, do you think that every Jamaican teenager has a tapestry of Bob Marley? If so, I hope that it's cheaper since, you know, he's local. I hope that is the case. I would also hate to see that they had to pay full price for a Bob Marley record.

Because of these few prerequisites, I don't think that Jamaicans would like this ginger ale. I, an American, really liked it. It tastes like ginger, doesn't have bite, and is perfectly sweetened. It's better than most ginger ales that I've ever had and now I will not forget it next time I drink some garbage, Joe Lunchpail, ginger ale. I love ginger beer, and the hotter the better, but this is a separate drink all together.

Blue Sky and Hansen's are both made by the some company. I don't really know why they have two different lines of pop, but they do.
This is a pretty standard root beer. It tastes like what I remember root beer to be like when I was a kid. I have to say that if I drank this back-to-back with the root beers I drank as a kid now, this would be worlds better. It doesn't have any added spices or roots extracts, just a general root beer flavor. When something like that is done right, like this is, it's nothing to scoff at.

This is a damn fine can of cream soda! It's exactly how i like my cream soda: light and creamy. Since it's made with sugar (instead of high fructose corn syrup), it's not overloaded with a sugary taste. It may have been just my perception being off, but this can seemed to be carbonated way more than I'm used to. I was burping after the second sip. While it's not the best cream soda I've ever had, it's definitely in the top 10.

On first sip, Blue Sky Cola is a lot lighter than most cola. It also lacks the sharp bitter taste that Coke and Pepsi have, which might please people who don't normally like cola for that reason. This may be due to the fact that Blue Sky uses real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup, or possibly the lack of caffeine (which is uncommon among colas).
Blue Sky is owned by Hansen Natural Corporation (who also make Hansen Natural sodas). These two brands seem to be the most prominent canned natural sodas so it's interesting to see that the same company owns both.
Overall, this is one of the best colas I've had recently. The smooth taste and lack of high fructose corn syrup really puts it ahead of the rest. Though the lack of caffeine throws me off as I usually associated coffee and colas with caffeine.