Canada - 143 Reviews

It's been so very hot and so very humid in the world. Working in my shop it's probably at least 10-15 degrees hotter than it is outside. There is only so much water a human can drink when it seems to instantly sweat out of one's skin. Sure, I switch it up with unsweetened tea and seltzer, but neither tends to be very hydrating. This though, this was just the treat I needed. At just 11oz it refreshed and hydrated me more than a jug of water three times that size could have and it did it with style. This is more delicious than I ever could have imagined it being. This is a sparkling pina colada done in a way that I would consider right. Everything is in a perfect balance with the fruit juice making it slightly sweet. It tastes like fruit and coconuts (which some consider a fruit) and not just a syrupy overly sweet mess. I can't express enough just how hydrating this was and being sparkling gave it a little pizazz to spice up my day. This is going to be a regular for me this summer I can tell you that already.

Canada is the home to some pretty fantastic beverages. This may only be the second Good Drink product I've ever drunk, but I think it's pretty safe to say that it is the cream of an already wonderful crop. This is carbonated water, blackberry juice and cane sugar. It's simple. It's tasty. These days I would expect myself to say that I would have liked it more with less or no sugar in it, but I'm pretty fond of it the way it is. I don't know if I would change a thing. It only has 13% juice in it, but you would be extremely surprised to learn just how flavorful 13% can be. I wonder if the percentage was higher, if the whole thing would seem like too much. Perhaps I will have to buy an obscene amount of blackberries and juice them myself. Then use beakers and such to work out different ratios to carbonated water. How much do you think that little experiment will cost me? Probably about as much as a college education.

Germany may have Club Mate, but Canada now has Matero. Both are yerba mate sodas and both are phenomenal. I really wish I had a Club Mate here so I could do a side by side taste test. In my memory this tastes extremely similar, but I want to say that Matero may be a bit better. Mainly because I think it tastes a little less sweet. I love every sip of this. I'm well aware that this isn't for everyone. In fact, I think a majority of the population would turn their nose up at this, but those people are fools. Just because something isn't like a “normal” soda doesn't make it bad. I would definitely rather drink this over most sodas. It's just carbonated yerba mate tea with a little cane sugar in it. It packs a nice punch caffeine-wise and it's all done naturally. In my dreams this company will trickle down over the border and take over drink coolers everywhere. I may have to go across an ocean to get Club Mate, but I just need to cross a border 15 minutes away to enter Canada to get more of these.

I wish I lived in a perfect world. A world where everything wasn't such a mess. A world where everything wasn't falling apart before my eyes. A world where juice was nothing but the fruit it was named after, especially when it's 100% juice. I want mangos, nothing but mangos. I want it to be thick and syrupy, so I can pretend that I am taking a nice big bite of the most perfectly ripe mango. Since this carton cost me a little over a dollar, I should have known that wasn't going to be the case. How could the company afford it? They would be operating at a loss. Instead they have to mix in some other, cheaper fruits to keep the price point down, but retain the 100% juice certification. I'm sure they proudly display their certificate in their offices. I certainly would, right next to my framed dollar bill.

The other juices in here besides the coveted mango are apple, banana, carrot and orange. That is a lot of juice. The apple takes up the bulk of it. There is even more apple than mango, lucky for us mango is a stronger flavor and overpowers it. You can taste the apple, but it still tastes stronger of mango. The banana is oh so faint, but I still kind of hate knowing that it's there, contaminating this juice even if it's only slightly. The carrots and the orange just kind of blend it and are hardly noticeable. I would definitely call this a mango-apple juice. I think I might enjoy it more if they just were honest with the name. It tastes great, but my taste buds were expecting something a bit different. Now sit back and watch the rest of the horror in this world unfold before your eyes.

I made it through New Year's Eve.2016 was behind me. I finished up the party I was DJing (not in the turd way. I play dumb old music people actually want to hear not electronic noise). I started driving home. I sneezed. That was the end of everything. That one little sneeze shut down my body. I made it home, climbed into bed and violently shook to the point that I wondered if I was having a seizure for hours. The next day I was conscious for maybe two a half hours. This morning I woke up and my body was ready for nourishment again. I drank tons of water and this carton of juice. While the water made it so I wasn't like a dried out husk, this juice gave me a reason to keep on living and not just wither away.

This is nothing but juice, the whole juice and nothing but the juice (again). There are seven different fruits that make it up and I love each and every one of them for the hope they have inspired in me. Well, maybe not banana. They are still gross. Apples, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and pineapple; I salute you and your delicious ways. It's really all of the berries doing the work though. You can taste a faint hint of the apple juice base, but the pineapple is eluding my taste buds.

I'm on my way to recovery and I'm sure several more cartons of this will help me on my way. Maybe I'll even be on solid foods again someday.

Up until I discovered the Just line of pop, the only thing I knew about Canadian sodas was Pop Shoppe, and while they are decent, they are fairly standard. There is nothing standard about Just. They take flavors that you would never imagine meeting in soda and combine them into greatness. When in your life have you ever thought about peach and habanero meeting, except for possibly in a salsa? I'm going to guess that your response is, “Never.” To be fair if I was told that my mean would consist of a pairing of those two foods, I would just assume it was fancy pants cuisine that came in too small of portions that I would not really enjoy. In here though, in here it is fantastic.

The peach actually brought along some friends named apple, pear, pineapple and lemon. Together they forma sort of fruit punch troop in while peach in the ring leader. He's the one who is in charge and your taste buds know it as soon as they meet. The habanero is there all by it's lonesome and it waits in the shadows of the aftertaste. You could swish a gulp of this around your mouth for hours and never detect the pepper, but as soon as you swallow your breath brings the flavor and the heat out. It's similar to the burn from ginger beer, but with a little bit of a different taste.

I would love to have bottles of this on deck for when I get sick this winter. Drinking a bottle would clear my sinuses right out, and do so with flavor and taste. I need to make my way back up to Canada and pick up the other flavors that this wonderful company puts out.

Fruity pop in my eyes usually has a place at outside hootenannies but in this case I might welcome it to my other activities because it's awesome. Seriously, it's really fruity but it's melon, man. Melon is a fruity fruit. America, you can't handle the fruitiness. You'd ruin it by putting in corn syrup or blending it with carrot juice. I'd love to give you the credit but let Canada have something. This was picked up by Editor Dan and I after an awesome night dilly-dallying around a 7-11. In two weeks, Jay and I are going back to see Tom Scharpling and Jon Wurster. Who knows what hijinks and activities will be had and what cool drinks we will uncover. It's been a while for us to go as a couple. Hopefully some bahn mi and delicious buns will be ingested.

Starbucks. Woah. You really nailed it with this thing. It's sparkling makes a huge difference. The pineapple kicks it up another notch because it gives it a little sting. Then, as if that wasn't enough, I love the Passion tea. It's got that licorice that makes me feel kind of funny. Like when we used to climb the ropes in gym class.

This drink rules and if I get back into "the States" and they don't have it, I'm going to be very disappointed. Please be waiting for me when I get home. Wear something sassy or sultry. Not both. One or the other.

I'm pretty sure this is the same as the Frozen Hot Chocolate but I will pretend that drink doesn't exist so I can review this limited time, Toronto based drink that I found.

This is basically a totally chocolate Iced Capp. Where there is some vague and minimal amount of coffee included in those, this is straight chocolate, son. Chocolate whipped cream and chocolate drizzlin's make this one Chocolageddon of a drink.

This drink isn't smooth, really. Not until you do all the work and blend the whippin's with the base and get something that is pretty smooth. Take note, Tim. That should be how this is done.

While I spend time with my dumb family in Toronto, I will be sure not to look back at this decision I made. Was it bad? No. It was guiltily delicious. It's like that time you were sixteen and J.O.'d like nine times. It was great but not really something you're proud of.

Craft beer has been all the rage for a few years now, and I am ever so pleased that the soda game is moving in that direction. The older I get, the harder it is for me to drink an entire can/bottle of regular soda. I blame the corn syrup, but it's really just the general sweetness. I've grown into an old man who prefers seltzer water over pop in most instances. It's a strange world I'm in and I don't think I like it. I actually don't like much these days. It just happens that this soda is one of the few things that has brought me enjoyment recently. I was on a trip to Canada and I stopped in a grocery store, not expecting to find much and came across a slew of Just Craft Soda flavors. I think each and every one caught my eyes, but there was no way that I could say no to an apple and ginger soda. It was 90+ degrees out and as soon as I walked out into that sweltering heat I popped the cap off of this bottle and melted into a puddle of delicious soda.

I'm shocked that ginger isn't listed in the ingredients list because from the taste I would have assumed it was one of the main ingredients. I can only assume it falls under the natural flavours (note the spelling). The only other things listed are fruit juice, carbonated water and cane sugar. It's a simple soda with a big taste. Whenever ginger and apple are mixed it makes me think of the Autumn, which is a great time of year, but saddens me because it's a reminder that summer is winding down. While I can do without this heat wave I have done a lot of summer activities this year and the thought of an approaching winter is enough to make someone want to give up and move to warmer climates. No matter what the season though I would be thoroughly enjoying this soda. This is like someone's parents cut up an apple for their lunch and sprinkled a little lemon juice on it to avoid browning and also decided to get fancy and grate a little ginger on it. Man this imaginary kid has the most thoughtful parents. All I got in my lunch was a peanut butter sandwich and some gummy fruits. They totally win, especially because I never got the white Shark Bite.

I don't know if there will ever be a time where the combination of fruit and mint doesn't throw me for a loop. No matter what my first thought is always, “Wait, am I chewing gum and I forgot?” Luckily with Zpirit, the gum taste isn't really there. The initial thought was, but that was just because I wasn't paying attention to what I was drinking and thought I had grabbed the pear version, which does not contain mint. This is actually one of the better fruit/mint combinations that I have come across. Neither flavor is very strong, due to it being infused water and not “flavored.” There is no syrup being mixed into this drink, mandarin oranges and mint were simply allowed to soak in the water so some of their flavor was transferred. There are even a couple of slices of orange sitting in the bottom of the bottle.

My only real complaint about these beverages is that you can taste the stevia more than I would prefer to. I know they are mixing it with the cane sugar to keep the calories down, but I say if you're going for infused water, leave the sweetener out of the equation completely. No one will really miss it. If they did then this drink isn't for them anyway.

There are chunky drinks and then there is this. Take a good, hard look at that picture that I took. There are four, half inch chunks of pear in this drink. Cut up and thrown right in. It's a good drink, too. Very light. It tastes like somewhat spiced pear. The flavor of a pear isn't really prominent. As they said, it's an infusion. There is a nice, smooth vanilla taste. Since it's an infusion, the "spice" of the spiced pear isn't as strong as you might think. It's tough to accept that it's a spiced fruit drink that is restricted by the fact that it's an infusion rather than, say, and elixir. I do enjoy this even if I do despise pears. I would drink it again but given the opportunity, I would take the stronger one because this is only a teaser for what possibly could be.

Man, I'm so glad you talked me into going to that baseball game. I mean the game itself was just as boring as I expected it to be, but when that guy you brought got that foul ball to the face, man that made everything worthwhile. I mean I guess I feel bad for laughing so hard, but he really just wouldn't shut up and was being such a know-it-all. It just seemed like it was the universe telling him to shut up, just like everyone around us wanted to.

Oh man, he actually broke his jaw and had to get it wired shut? Now I really feel bad for laughing. You know what he did go on for about 40 minutes about how he loved a perfect peanut butter and jelly sandwich, so let me make him one and you can drop it off. First you lightly toast the bread, then you spread peanut butter one piece and a generous amount of grape jelly on the other. Actually he did say about 20 times how he loves his grape jelly, so I better double up on it. Don't worry that it will be messy, he can't chew anyways so I'll throw it in a blender for him. Hmm, I don't know what would be the appropriate liquid to add to this. I guess grape soda will have to do. Now we blend.

This is actually kind of insane. It tastes like a grape soda, but then you get weird flashes of bread and light hints of peanut butter. The grape soda kept it's carbonation as well. That dude is going to love this if he's really into PB&J as much as he claims. Me, I think it's kind of gross after a sip or two. Oh, don't forget the crazy straw!

The Pop Shoppe is a classic Canadian soda company that has had a bit of a resurgence in recent times. They tend to put out pretty standard flavors that taste, well like the standard. That unfortunately is not the case with their orange soda. Generally orange pop has a strong crisp flavor to it that doesn't really taste like oranges, but has still managed to enchant the Western world's taste buds. Sometimes companies use actual orange juice, but that's a whole other ballpark of wonder. This soda tastes like neither of those things. It's like the company got the ratio wrong of flavor to sweetened carbonated water. The orange flavor is much weaker than one would come to expect in a soda such as this. There is a flavor very much there, but the part that makes it anything similar to the fruit is in low quantity. How am I supposed to enjoy my veggie dogs now?

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?

Is there anything more yuppyish than a juice bar? I'm sure there is (perhaps a wine bar) but it's pretty high on the list. The thing is that I love them. They are like a dream to me. I don't venture into one very often, but that is solely due to the cost, and I'm poor. Juice bars may be the only yuppie thing that I actually enjoy, but oh how I enjoy it.

At the juice bar that I occasionally visit along with their dizzying array of press made juices they also have a giant dispenser of water that is infused with a variety of things. Sometimes it's fruit and sometimes it's spices. My favorite times are when they have water infused with basil to sip on as you wait for your juice to be made. That's right, basil isn't just for Italian cooking anymore, and when you let it soak in water the water tastes incredible. It's not something you would chug on, but it's one fine sipping beverage.

When I saw this on a recent trip to Toronto I absolutely needed it. I forwent food and spent what was left of my Canadian money on this drink, and I made a wise decision. This is fantastic. It's simply water that had peaches and basil soaking in it (there are actually some peach chunks floating in the bottle). There is also some sweetener added to it, which I don't think is necessary, but humans like their sweetness. The cane sugar isn't so much of a problem as the stevia is. When you infuse water the flavor is generally pretty light, whereas stevia is a fairly strong flavor. In here it's pretty much kept in check, but it still distracts from the natural flavor of the peach and basil. My advice is ditch the sweetener and let the actual flavors work their magic. I'm excited to try the other flavors on future trips up north.

Where is the classic bottle? I feel cheated that I am drinking a Pop Shoppe soda that is not in a “stubbie” bottle. Look at our other reviews if you don't know what I'm talking about. Growing up 10 minutes from Canada, Pop Shoppe played a role in my childhood and their iconic bottles were a big part of it. Actually it was more likely College Club from Rochester, NY just using their bottles after Pop Shoppe closed down in '83, but my memories are the same. My friends and I would walk down to the store, pay our quarter each and grab a bottle from the cooler. Inevitably one of us would not open the bottle with the opener at the store, and forget that it didn't have a twist off cap, so far too much time would be devoted to trying to get the bottle open on a curb or something. We were kids, we were dumb…€¦.wait I opened a bottle on a curb just last week. Okay, so I may be an adult now, but I'm still dumb apparently. My point is those bottles were a big part of the Pop Shoppe charm. Their sodas generally fall on the better side of average (read: store brand), but the fact that they come in glass bottles makes them seem more legit.

I'll try to put my bottle envy in check to review this. Flat out, it's a strange root beer. It has a slight medicinal taste to it, and it makes me think that someone mixed a bottle of root beer with a bottle of Moxie. It makes me feel like it would be the kind of root beer that would be sold from the back of wagons in the old west. I don't really think that happened, but in my dreams it did, and you have no jurisdiction over my dreams. It also has a fairly strong wintergreen flavoring to it. Somehow after all of that it is still creamy. I don't hate it. In fact I find it fairly interesting. If all root beers tasted the same this planet would be an even more boring place to live.

It's been many moons since I've seen this. I bought it and stored it. I didn't store it for a special moment like a taco party, hot dog extravaganza or anything like that. I just put it away and forgot about it. Sorry, guys. I'm nothing if I'm not honest. So let's carry on with the honesty, shall we?

How is this? It's pretty lemony. Lemonesque. Lemonique. It's a good, sweetened green tea but something about it gets a bit old. It's pretty strong in the lemon and it has real lemon so it's both bitter and sour. The more I drink it and analyzed it, the more appreciative I got but it didn't make the drink any better. The fact that it's sweetened with honey first and cane sugar second gets much respect, though. Credit where credit is due. This is fine. If you like your green tea strong and homemade, you might have found it.

I can tell you that I got this in Canada and I can tell you that Jay and I had a wonderful time eating sandwiches and talking about music and I think we might have seen Cheap Girls with Jay's lady friend but what I couldn't tell you is how long this drink would sit around and not get drank. Did it deserve its purgatory both in a box and on a shelf? No. It should have been drunk sooner because it was rather good. You know, for all intents and purposes, porpoises (?), no, it's purposes, it's just a fruit punch.

No one ever defined what fruit had to be in a fruit punch but here in America, we have really been, figuratively speaking I hope, crapping the bed. Yeah, you've got some cherries and some grapes. Maybe even a crossover blueberry and/or pear. What you don't have is pomegranate and why not? Sure they're a little expensive but there are so many little bits of joy in there that one could go a long way. This drink tastes like a pretty honest and good blend of both blueberry and pomegranate, which doesn't happen too often, but when you don't have sugar, real or fake, mucking up the mix, you can actually taste ingredients. Novel idea, eh? The "eh" was an homage to Canada who produced this drink and allowed my to have an internationally good time with Jay, my dogg.

If bakers know one thing, it's that measurements count. "Heaping" is not a word that bakers use. "Heaping" is a work that cooks use. Learn how to measure, cooks. While making this drink, I was ordered by the Canadian Government that is Tim Horton's to use three "heaping" teaspoons to water. This drink is weak. Weak, son. Get that weak stuff out of here. I am not completely penalizing them because I could have just added more stuff but when I follow directions to their ranged rate, there is clearly room for error since "heaping" is a variable amount.

What does it taste like? It tastes like cappuccino that you might get from a gas station but not as good. Something about those crappy gas station blends are good. It's just that it's so much like an adult hot chocolate that it borders on just a mockery of coffee related drinks and pure, unadulterated garbage. As for the English Toffee, eh, I guess if you left a Heath bar in a crappy cup of cappuccino that it would taste a bit like this so that is a pass. This whole drink is a pass. If this were a graded class, it would be a C+. It would do better on a pass/fail scale where everyone is either one or the other with no quality, just pass or fail.