Rubicon - 7 Reviews

I recently started a new job designing/developing websites. I have been freelancing for a while so getting this job was a nice change. Seeing as I do a lot of reviews in the office, my co-workers have taken an interest in the drinks I bring in. Our project manager Carly mentioned that she liked lychee in the past so I knew she was going to be excited about this drink. Given the track record Rubicon has been having with us lately, I had a good feeling this wouldn't be disappointing.

First thoughts were it had a nice lychee smell to it, but there was something else in there that I couldn't put my finger on. It has a sour after taste, in a good way. Carly said it tasted like grapefruit and I totally agree. It really works well with the lychee, though mysteriously is not present in the ingredients. Keep up the awesome work Rubicon.

Good things come in small cans. That sounds like some tagline for drink company X that ended up on the editing floor. I imagine Bob thought of the tagline on the way to work after days of emails that yielded no good ideas. He was probably so excited and couldn't wait to get to work for the first time in 20 years. He gave hints to his co-workers before the 9:30 meeting that he had a great idea.

The problem was he built it up so much that when they heard the mediocre tagline, they passed on it. He was devastated and always told the story over drinks with friends.

I almost forgot that I hadn't reviewed this drink yet. It's delicious is what I was trying to get at. It's really light and crisp and full of mango flavor. If it weren't so full of sugar I would drink these all the time.

Dear Rubicon, I wanted to tell you that you've come a long way, but then I remembered that I actually loved the juices you sold in juice box form. I had expected them to be overly sweetened and watered down versions of the pure fruit, and while they did have extra sugar added to them, they were fairly spectacular. Any slight reservations I had about your juices have been thrown out the window by the addition of a few tiny bubbles. This actually tastes less sweet than the juice version, and I am fine with that. It's guava puree spiced up with a little sugar and some carbonated water. It tastes like real guavas, which makes it automatically better than 90% of the drinks in the world. Rubicon, you have proved yourself yet again and I can't wait to see what you have planned next.

Look at Rubicon stepping up their line and their image. They have given the contents of their juice boxes with some carbonation and packaged them in these fancy little cans. Seriously it's the same juice, just carbonated and it's glorious. For those of us with dreams of passionfruit, mango and guava sodas that actually taste like juice and not some weird bastardization of it, the dream has become a reality. Sure this is pretty sweet, but so is the actual fruit, and it's pop now, so it's supposed to be sweet. Don't complain, just be grateful that they actually did things right and it tastes like you're eating fruit, and not like fake flavoring or seltzer.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again; I'm extremely jealous of young kids these days for their juice box options. When I was a kid our choices were Ssips, Hi-C and Minute Maid. I never complained. I loved what I had at the time, but now that I see what the world has to offer I feel cheated. Maybe it's because I grew up in white-bred suburbia, but I keep running into exotic juice boxes these days. What kid wouldn't love a mango juice box? It's so sweet and thick. Think of the awesome treats it could bring in through lunchroom trades. When you've finished remember to unglue the flaps, blow it up with air and stomp on it so it explodes and the straw shoots across the room. That is the true joy of the juice box.

In the wild world of Canada, there are live exotic fruits. It's true. You don't believe me? Take a trip up to Toronto. While you're there, go do yourself a favor and go to "Fifty Toppings Guy". It's a hot dog cartman on the corner of Queen and Spadina who has wonderful veggie and non-veggie dogs. I'm assuming that you've got a satchel or a fanny pack or something to carry your exotic fruits in, so I am not even going to address it. So once you get past the Eaton Centre, up on your left is a jungle. Ask James, the night watchman, if you can go in. You know the secret hand gesture, right? That's right. It's the same one as the Van Buren Boys hand signal that George Costanza used to save his life. Once James lets you in, get your shoving arms ready because it's a madhouse in there. The pushing and shoving, you would think you were in one of those Filene's "Running of the Brides" events.

Wait, did I tell you that all the exotic juices are in juice box format? Ooops. Sorry. Did you think that it was just fruit hanging off of trees? Are you kidding? Passionfruit, Guava, and all that other good stuff doesn't grow in Toronto. They have to package it up so that it doesn't get damaged when dropped, and since you're going to be fighting your way through said juice, you'd better have a nice, cardboard carrying case around it.

Whilt pushing fat men and skinny ladies, fight your way over to the Rubicon table to grab some of their guava, or as they like to say "goyave". It's pretty close to the bare essentials of what guava is all about. Water, guava pulp, and sugar and then some preservatives and stabilizers to keep it from surprising you with a straw full of brown juice. Oh man, the thought of that makes me want to puke. It's a little gritty like nectar and just the right amount of sweetness so you don't get cavities and probably get some sort of legitimate nutrition. Your mom would be proud, but don't show her that you got your school clothes dirty because some angry woman just pushed you in the dirt so she could get her grubby, rather large hands on the pineapple juice boxes.

I love passionfruit. It's my go to flavor whenever I get bubble tea. That being said, this is my first go at a straight up passionfruit juice. Normally it's mixed with a handful of other flavors in some sort of fruit medley. After drinking this I am further convinced it is a superior fruit. It somehow reminds me of a non-sour grapefruit juice. It's such a distinct taste. I don't think I could drink more than a glass of it in a day. It would be too much.