Cascade Ice - 14 Reviews

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.

Blueberry sparkling water; that is what this is. Yep. It's sparkling water, like you would get in a seltzer. You could call it seltzer water but you can also call it sparkling water. The blueberry? Faint. Present. Underwhelming. The whole thing? Fine, totally fine. The flavor is doesn't keep up with the sharpness of the water so you lose a little flavor. You'll always lose flavor. You'll have that when dealing with essence.

How exactly does one get an essence of something, specifically fruit in this situation? The way I see it either it's with magic, or a lot of beakers and Bunsen burners are involved. I'm not sure which route Cascade Ice chose to go, but the results are right her in this bottle. This is nothing but water, carbonation, and organic essences from fruit oils and extracts. It doesn't taste like an entire grapefruit was scaled down to fit in this bottle, but the flavor of it is there lightly. The majority of the flavor in this bottle is just bubbly water and there is a hint of grapefruit flavor. I personally like more flavor in my drinks, but as I get older I see the appeal of lighter drinks more and more. Guys, I think I'm finally growing up.

Something about this seems like I shouldn't be drinking it. It's too sharp and I feel like it got a small composition of poison. It's probably one of the worst Cascade Ice drinks I've had and only slightly tastes like both peach and mango. I guess "some" is better than a lot of drinks but I cannot escape the fact that danger runs through my gullet with every sip. In small sips, it tastes very sweet, very diet and you don't get the uber-sharp, cutting sensation. Take a gulp and you wish you had written a will. With every gulp I winced some I just got a mystery shot in the arm from a sneaky doctor that just likes "practicing" on unsuspecting patients. I don't like him, I don't like shots, and I don't particularly enjoy this drink.

We've come a long way, coconut. From the days of only eating them by way of Mounds candy bars through the coconut shavings on ice cream and now coconut flour and coconut cream pie; Quite a versatile man. Now sure, in liquid form you're better cold but this drink was room temperature and it was pretty great.

It was a little sweet but don't let the "0 Calories" tag discourage you because this is fantastic and doesn't taste diet at all. It also does not taste like coconut water or a coconut milk. It's more a water with coconut flavoring than a coconut base. It tastes like a liquid, fizzy version of a candied coconut. This makes me want to buy a giant bag of dried, candied coconut and just house the whole thing. No sharing. No way. No how. All mine. I'll eat coconut and drink this sparkling coconut water and no one bother me.

If you like pina coladas and songs about proposed infidelity then this is for you. Okay, maybe not the infidelity part, but like millions of people across this great land I can't think of this particular flavor and not get that dumb song stuck in my head. It's supposed to be playful and fun, but in reality it's about two people who believe they are in a loveless relationship that set out to cheat on their partners only to end up together again. The action may not have taken place, but they were both ready willing and able to have relations with whomever was waiting for them. That is dark folks.

Luckily this drink will lighten your spirits. Cascade Ice is the only company I know who has made sucralose palatable. Sure, they haven't done away with the diet flavor completely, but it's masked nicely. This is a mostly pineapple soda, with a little coconut here and there. If the flavors were reversed I probably wouldn't want anything to do with this, but it all falls in line nicely. This is a great option for those of you watching your calorie intake. As far as I know the company also doesn't condone going behind your partners back for some extra loving. That's a plus as well.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Could one of you please clue me in as to when I started to actually enjoy the coconut flavor? I'm going to say for at least 30 years of my life it was the bane of my existence. Many a bake good were ruined with the shavings of this food stuff. Any beverage that it was associated with that I tried tasted like sun tan lotion to me. I simply hated it with every fiber of my being. Now here I am sipping on a sucralose sweetened coconut mango sparkling water, and flat out enjoying it. I don't know what has happened. Is there a tear in the fabric of the universe and I'm getting a glimpse of some opposite dimension? If me enjoying coconuts were the only thing this dimensional rift caused it would be the worst story line ever and would be too dumb for even a SyFy original movie.

I still hate toasted coconut, so not that much has changed, but I am enjoying this. There is mostly mango flavoring this thing (well mango and artificial sweetener), but there are nice little coconut tinges around the edges.

Actually let's ignore the whole coconut thing. The real question is how am I enjoying something that is sweetened with sucralose this much? I mean I wouldn't rush out to buy more, but I would happily drink it if someone handed me a bottle. It still tastes diet, but not in the classic gross way. That is the true accomplishment of this beverage. Stand proud Cascade Ice, you have made a breakthrough on two fronts.

Folks, let's just face the facts. The chances of anyone out there actually making a watermelon flavored drink that tastes like watermelons are slim to none. Most things that are supposed to be watermelon end up tasting like Jolly Ranchers. They only get the credit because there zero amount of research I will claim them as the first company to try and harness the essence of watermelon. It's not a bad flavor, but it certainly tastes absolutely nothing like the fruit. There is so much water in watermelon that it would probably take 50 full grown melons to get enough essence juice to make an 8oz beverage. It's just not cost effective, especially since I don't think there are any real health benefits to that specific fruit. Rant over.

While this doesn't actually taste like watermelon, it does have a decent blueberry flavor to it. It's also the strongest tasting Cascade Ice that I have tried. Sure it's sweetened with sucralose and is essentially flavored seltzer water (a losing combination in my book) it is still remotely enjoyable for me. I keep thinking “I'm really not into this,” but as soon as the flavor leaves my mouth I find myself taking another sip. I can only assume that those of you out there who are into diet drinks, and who are not grossed out by the taste of sucralose, would really enjoy this. With zero calories you could drink an entire case of this and not feel terrible about yourself, well except for the fact that you peed your pants.

These drinks are the beverage worlds equivalent of Tribbles. Don't act like you don't know what a Tribble is. I know you're secretly a nerd and have at least a beginner's knowledge of Star Trek, so you can just stop pretending that you are clueless as to what I'm talking about. Again, this drink=Tribbles. No matter how many I drink of them whenever I open my fridge/cupboard there are more waiting for me. I think they may actually be asexual organisms that are just reproducing. If they were spectacular drinks I would celebrate this and encourage them to reproduce at high volumes. Truth be told, I'm not a fan of diet drinks, or things that taste like seltzer water. I don't flat out hate them, but with so many other drinks floating around my world I'm drinking these out of a sense of duty. In reality these aren't bad at all, but they are completely middle of the road. This one in particular tastes like a slightly dry diet orange soda with just a hint of mango. You really can't even make out that it's mango, but there is definitely another fruit flavor there other than orange. To be completely honest I would have probably enjoyed this a bunch more if they had completely forgone a sweetener instead of using sucralose. Oh well, I'm sure that when I go to move more drinks to my fridge tomorrow I'll find 8 more bottles of this stuff. KKKKKHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAANNNNNN!!!!!!!!

Not all mad scientists are actually "mad." They're usually just very focused and headstrong and insistent that what they are doing is for the greater good. It's not crazy to be passionate about your work. It's admirable. Christopher Lloyd, not the actor, was a mad scientist. He knew it was his calling long before Back to the Future came out. After that movie, people started picking on him because of the name, profession, and messy white hair. He knew he was up to something good, though.

Christopher loved lemonade and fruit but was always concerned about his weight. He didn't have a weight problem. He was just always concerned. He would sit in his basement laboratory day after day and mix ingredients into beakers and pour them back and forth. It's just something scientists do. One day, Christopher was close. He mixed in lemons and strawberries that he had poured liquid nitrogen on and powderized into water. The taste was alright but needed something. He poured some artificial sugar packets that he uses in his coffee in the mix. It was better but needed one more thing. He carbonated the water and tried it. Success. It was great. His experiment was complete. He could check "good tasting diet fruity lemonade" off the list.

Christopher Lloyd was never to be known as that guy that looks like the actor Christopher Lloyd, but as a guy who looks like Christopher Lloyd who invented decent diet fruity lemonade.

Girlfriend, you know I love you. I know you, too, and I know that you like things that sparkle: diamonds, gems, rubies, and the lot. I can't wait until your birthday, Christmas, Valentine's Day, or even Sweetest Day to let you in on this secret, but I bought you something that sparkles. It's not much, but when I saw it I thought of you. Here, my baby. This is for you.

What do you mean "What is it?" It's sparkling lemonade. It's sparkles, like my girl. Go ahead. Taste it. What do you think? It's good, right? Yeah. Baby. That's right. It's good, right? Baby? Do you like it? What's that questioning look? Oh. It's that it wasn't jewelry. That's fine. Oh, you do like it. Great. It's pretty good. A little diet, yes. Your delightful little tongue is no liar. It's not a terrible lemonade flavor. It's not too bad. For only two calories it could surly be a whole lot worse.

So there you are, one bottle of a sparkling drink for my sparkling fiancè. You've earned it. Speaking of earning it, I believe that you mentioned something about a chocolate cream pie. I believe I am quite deserving of that.

The zero calorie Cascade Ice drinks are basically just flavored seltzer water. The 2-calorie version on the other hand is lightly sweetened with sucralose. It's not enough for it to taste overly diet. Actually, this is the least diet tasting diet drink I have ever tasted. It actually is made with pink grapefruit juice concentrate, which gives it an authentic grapefruit taste. The artificial sweetener makes sure that it's not overly bitter like straight grapefruit juice would be. This also has an incredibly strong grapefruit scent to it. I enjoyed this way more than anyone would have expected.

Ahh cascading ice. Nothing tastes better than a nice avalanche rushing over a citrus orchard. A nice, giant ice dam covering all of Florida and pulling forth all the natural juices from oranges and lemons sounds delicious. Mother nature doing her job. Moving millions of tons of ice downward, squeezing juices from fruits to make crisp, cool, fresh water.

If that were the case, awesome, but there is one more step to make this drink do what it's supposed to do and that's to be carbonated. I suppose, at some state, man has to come in, bottle it, and put it on shelves. Using the previous scenario, all would happen as described, then man would break off chunks of this citrus ice into clean wheelbarrows, take them to the carbonation factory where they carbonate whatever is poured into "the hole" and then it bottles it and it's off the consumers everywhere.

The result? An unsweetened Sprite. People, it is just seltzer water with orange and lemon. I guess it would be like an unsweetened Ski. Wait, does Ski have lime or lemon? Now I don't remember.

The first couple of sips of this I absolutely hated it. It's not its fault though. Let me lay it out for you. I love water. Seriously love it. For as much garbage as I drink for Thirsty Dudes, I drink at least 5x more water. The thing is something happens to the glory of water when you carbonate it. The simple act of adding air bubbles changes the flavor in a way that I wish it didn't. What can't carbonated water taste just like regular water, but make you burp? I really want that.

So I took a couple of sips, got kind of grossed out and put it in the fridge because I didn't feel like writing a review. Cut to a couple of days later I came home from band practice and decided to finish off the bottle. At first it was still gross, but the more I drank the more I became acclimated to it. I'm in no way a huge fan of it, but for a style of drink that I don't like, they did a good job with it.

One thing I find odd is that instead of flavoring it with a little bit of juice they used fruit oils. I guess that way there is zero sugar in this.