Jackson Hole - 8 Reviews

Hey folks, I'm here to dismiss the myth that cowboys are all whiskey and sarsaparilla. They are not two dimensional beings; they have more depth than that. One top of those two classic beverages cowboys also love lemonade. Actually that's it. Cowboys only drink whiskey, sarsaparilla and lemonade. They just don't have a taste for anything else, well of course they do love beans cooked on an open fire, but we're talking beverages here folks. Does the banner at the top of this page read “Hungry Dudes?” I think not.

Jackson Hole makes some very special sodas and I can now report to you that they also make some kinda great lemonades. This beverage is very tart, but at the same time it's very sweet, like proper lemonade should be. There is 42g of sugar in this bottle, which I wish I didn't know, but I'll force myself to forget that fact. The lemon juice used to make this is from concentrate, but the huckleberry juice is not. That leads to a nice tartness, as lemon juice concentrate can be very strong, and for a great berry taste. One thing that is for certain is that this is not a beverage for gulping, but instead it was formulated for sipping on horseback out of the range. That is on the extremely rare occasions that cowboys had access to ice.

I have to say folks, snowy mountain tops do not me think of grape soda. I understand that Jackson Hole is going for a Wyoming aesthetic and even though it may be unrelated, a snowy mountain is visually more appealing than “Cheyenne Backyard BBQ” would be. Maybe a “Rock Springs Vineyard” could have worked out for them. Actually, screw it, fitting or not the Grand Tetons are great and are better than anything I can think of. I would happily drink this bottle of grape soda after trekking up a mountain. Well as long as I had time to rest and cook up some veggie dogs to accompany it.

This is a fairly standard grape soda, with the exception of it being sweetened with real sugar. It's ridiculous how a specific sweetener can make all of the difference. It brings out the flavor a big more and makes it less syrupy than you are probably used to. Why am I sitting in my office writing this review when I could be climbing a mountain in Wyoming? I think I may have made some poor life choices.

Sheriff: Son, I'm going to have to ask you to not dump all of that chemical waste into our fair Snake River.

Jimmy the Dumper: Screw you cop! My daddy is paying me five American dollars to do this for him.

Sheriff: Son, if you keep talking that way I'm going to have to place you under arrest for violating some sort of environmental law, and well for hurting my feelings.

Jimmy the Dumper: Wait a minute! You're in cut off shorts, crocs, and an FBI (Female Body Inspector) shirt. You're not a real cop!

Sheriff: Son, I have a bottle cap from a Jackson Hole soda that looks like a badge of some sort that proves otherwise. Now if you'll please come quietly we'll get this all sorted out back at the station.

Jimmy the Dumper: You mean that creepy shed behind your house? Screw this I'm out of here. *He then pushes over the sheriff and dumps the rest of the waste on him, ensuring that his daddy will give him the five dollars he so deserves to go buy some chew down at Art's Dairy Bar.*


The moral of this story is don't be a chump. Drinking Jackson Hole does not make you a law official, but it does mean that you have great taste. All of their sodas have gotten outstanding marks here at Thirsty Dudes. Their sarsaparilla is no different. It tastes like the darkest, heaviest root beer I have ever tried. When it's in your mouth it taste more like a root beer than other sarsaparilla's I've had, but as I said in a unique way. After you swallow, the aftertaste is pure sarsaparilla. That's the way things should be.

On a final note:
Dear Jackson Hole,
Please start distributing your sodas to Buffalo, NY as soon as possible. You're from Wyoming. There is a Buffalo in Wyoming. Pretend that's where you're sending it and send it to New York instead. We really need you in our lives on a more constant basis.
Sincerely,
The City of Buffalo

Like everyone else in this ghost town, I like to go to the saloon everyday. The usual characters are always there: One-Eyed Jack and the blacksmith playing poker, the owners son 'lil Johnny playing with his dog in the corner, and Davey playing the piano while two women danced on the balcony. The only problem is I always get made fun of for my drink of choice. While I'm told Smitty's Saloon has the best whiskey this side of the Mississippi, I don't like the hard stuff. My father was a drinker and I didn't like what it did to him so I swore I'd never try it.

I prefer Outlaw Orange Cream. No, it's not because I'm a criminal. I only had that one run in with 'the law' once when I was playing a prank on my best friend and took his horse around back. The sheriff and I straightened that all out years ago. I like this soda pop because it has a classic orange cream flavor. I've heard some fancy hot shots in New York City are trying to make orange cream soda that will appeal to everyone, but what do they know? This is great the way it is. It has a great orange flavor, with a really nice smooth aftertaste. Sure I wouldn't mind if it was a tad bit smoother, but it's a damn fine orange cream if I do say so myself. In fact, when this one is gone, I just might order another one if Smitty ever comes back to this side of the bar.

I wonder if they wanted to put the strawberry seeds in here? Is there any pop with stuff in it? Aloe has chunks. Some lemonade has chunks. All of those Kato drinks have chunks in it. Juice seems to take the cake when it comes to accompaniment. I bet, if done well, this drink would be awesome if it had actual strawberry seeds in it.

Where is this all coming from? This might be the most honest fruit flavored pop I've ever had. Not to mention it's mixed with everyone's favorite sweet fruit, rhubarb. Yeah, rhubarb is technically a fruit. I thought it was a root, but I guess roots would grow underground. "Plant" would be a good second categorization, but it would also be wrong. Either way, the taste of strawberries and rhubarb...rhubarbs(?)...rhubarb is pretty fantastic.

I feel like this is a real "country guy" pop. Like you get this at farmers markets and ho-downs. I would like Jackson Hole to please respond if you read this and let me know if either of these assumptions is true. I hope they are.

"The thing about huckleberries is, once you've had fresh, you'll never go back to canned..." Well Nelson, I can't say if that's true or not, as this marks my first experience with huckleberries at all. That is a lie I suppose. I do have some history with Huckleberry Hound and Huckleberry Finn, but I've never tasted either of them and I will make a pledge this self same day to never do so. There, are you happy now?

As far as I knew, until today, huckleberries were some archaic fruit that had long since gone extinct. The olde-timey picture on the label does nothing but support that idea. As it turns out the fruit still flourishes, but has gone out of vogue. The fine folks at Jackson Hole understand that this is nothing more than a hate crime against the fruit world. As a result they are taking it back.

Every Jackson Hole soda we've had so far has been spectacular and they just stepped up their game with this one. This and the Thomas Kemper Bumble Berry sodas stand as the two best fruit sodas that have ever graced my taste buds. High Mountain Huckleberry is reminiscent of a Shirley Temple made with high quality berries instead of grenadine. It's sweet and fruity in all of the right ways. I had assumed that huckleberries were a specific subset of raspberries, but a quick internet search informed me that they were closer to the blueberry. Whatever they are they are completely incredible and I now must search out the actual fruit. Even if it requires I complete the time machine I've been building in my attic.

With a name like "Buckin' Root Beer", I was fully expecting this to have a lot of bite. I like that in a root beer. The more bite, the better. Or maybe the folks at Jackson Hole want me to drink this on the back of a bull at a rodeo? I have a feeling that isn't the case, as I'd probably wear more of the bottle than what I could manage to drink.

I've been saving this root beer for a week now. Was it worth the wait? Very much so! This is a really heavy root beer, but it also has lots of flavors. As I suspected, this has a good amount of bite to it, with a really nice anise taste. It just gets better and better with every sip, unlike some sodas which lose flavor as the bottle goes down. The bottle says that this is batch brewed, and I must say that this is a great batch!

Given that the company who makes this soda is based out of Wyoming, they're really going after that "olde time western" feel. Judging by the label, I feel like I should be watching an old Clint Eastwood movie as I drink this. Sadly, I don't have a copy of The Outlaw Josey Wales (which is my favorite western of all time) so I'll have to do without it for this bottle.

By now, I've tried enough different ginger beers to be able to smell it and know how spicy it's going to be. This has a light ginger smell, so I knew it wasn't going to be too intense. With little sips, there's barely any burn. Big sips you get a nice burn, but it's not overwhelming. This would be a perfect entry-level ginger beer for someone who doesn't want to burn their throat just yet. What makes this ginger beer unique is the sweet after taste. It's not in the ingredients, but a brown sugar sweetness lingers a little after some sips. It's a really nice contrast to the ginger.