Canada - 143 Reviews

Greg's got a sweet tooth. I love it. I drink a lot of drinks with sugar in it, but it's never sweet enough. Rumor has it, and you could probably ask to confirm, that he once lined up Cadbury Creme Eggs and ate three, one after another. He was the person I had in mind when I brought this drink in. I have been holding on to it for just the right time and today, this dreary, spring day.

I gave it to Greg to try first and with the blink of an eye, half of the bottle was gone. He must have been jonesing for something sweet. I did mention that I brought something in for him, and when I presented him with this, his little mouth probably started working. He had a good "woah" face on when he tried it, which means that it's good. I gave it a whirl, liked it a lot, gave it to Zack to try and he said that it tastes like "liquid Rolo's" which I don't think that I could top in a description, so I won't.

I let Greg finish the rest of the bottle, which he promptly and swiftly did. I think he liked it, and I think that he thinks that you would, too. Take a trip north to Canada, get a little bottle, and share it with your friends because it's got a heart-stopping amount of calories for one person to commit to.

Did you know that all you need to do to get maple syrup is you stick a spigot into any tree in Canada? Any tree at all will do. It won't work at all in any other country, but in Canada if you had a palm tree in your house and stuck a spigot into it, maple syrup would flow out in great torrents. It's a fact. Read a book.

The Kiki company decided to open up their tree faucets and add some lemon and ginger to the sweetness that came pouring out. Something went horribly wrong though. The mixture smells of the air in a high school hallway several minutes after a pile of the nerdy kids vomit has been cleaned up with that weird powder they used. That's definitely the gross lingering scent of vomit. Even if this tasted wonderful (it doesn't) it would be hard to get over the smell. It tastes like diet ginger. I don't know how that's possible since ginger isn't sweet. Also it all tastes very watered down. It's a shame I had high expectations for this.

Dear friends from the "Great White North,"
My intentions are not to offend you, but what do you really know about rodeos? I understand that a good portion of your police force rides horses, but I don't think the words "rodeo" and "Canada" have ever appeared in the same train of thought before. Hockey, now that's something that makes me think about Canada. You were in the right to use that on your cans of cola. The site of maple leaves and a buckin' bronco together just doesn't sit well with me. It's like when someone who obviously has never looked at any print design in his or her life decides to make a flyer for a show. Not only is each band's name in a different wacky font, but so are all the crucial info for the show. Oh and it's all typed over a way pixilated picture of train tracks, or something just as tacky. Maybe that's going a bit overboard. Your general layout isn't bad, I just can't get over that rodeo thing.....Oh wait never mind. I just took a sip and it made me forget about any flaws to the packaging. This is one hell of a root beer. This is in fact a root beer that cowboys would drink...if it were in a glass bottle. A cowboy would loose all of his cred if he were seen drinking out of a can. Did they have cans in the wild west? I think not! Seriously though, this is top notch. It has chicory root, vanilla, coriander and clove in it. I can get into any root beer where all of the spices and ingredients are all boiled down into wonderful syrup. It gives it such a rugged flavor, as if it should be drank out on the prairie while riding your dusty horse down the trail.

I am serious about the glass bottles though. If Vintage Soda packaged their pop in glass bottles I would give them five bottles all around. They make a serious soda.

There are three out of print beverages that are the holy grail to me. They are Crystal Pepsi, Ecto Cooler and Orbitz. Seeing as I am a nerd I refer to them as the three pieces of the Tri-Force. I paid $14 on this bottle of Orbitz and I don't regret it a bit. Clearly Canadian stopped making this drink in 1996, so this is at least 15 years old. We expected vomit, but it actually wasn't too bad. I used to drink cases of this stuff when it was first discontinued. A store by me blew them out at a quarter a piece. You can't beat that.

Check out this video review we did of this mystical beverage. Due to some weird file conversion the video looks like we shot it in the year this drink was put on the market with a huge VHS video camera.

Last night I went up to Canada to see Laura Stevenson and the Cans play. They were fairly incredible, which is to be expected. In-between bands I walked to a convenient store to see if there was anything unknown to the Thirsty Dudes in their coolers. Vitamin Water. Snapple. Coke. Pepsi. Jones. All of the usual suspects were there. As I was about to give up and head back to the show I noticed this little fellow on the bottom shelf. Canada Dry is a fairly standard "safe" ginger ale. No burn. Not even a real ginger flavor. It is still enjoyable for what it is though. Now they have gotten the crazy idea to mix in white tea and raspberry into the mix. Yes sir I will put my toonie down on the counter and take a bottle.

As soon as this passed my lips my mouth was invaded with an intense flavor, or flavors to be more specific. All three of them (tea, ginger ale and raspberry) hit you in their own way. At first it's just a highly carbonated white tea. Then a small hint of raspberry sneaks in to the mix. Finally as you swallow and take a breath the ginger ale flavor sits on your tongue for a bit. This drink has surpassed my expectations. Canada you've done it again. This is just another reason to lure me up north. First it was beavers and moose, then delicious veggie food and now drinks.

Welcome back to Canada Week here at Thirsty Dudes. For today's installment we will take a look at some Vintage Soda. There's something about soda in a can that is kind of a turn off. The expectations I had for this were lower than low. I expected a garbage generic soda that was made with cane sugar instead of HFCS. Our neighbors from the north have proved me wrong yet again.

On first sip it tasted like a pretty standard cola. It was better than I expected, but it didn't stand out much. When I went in for another taste there was something else there. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but something special. Back to the trough I went and is that nutmeg I tasted? Upon inspection of the ingredients yes it was, along with it's friends cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. What's that straggling behind? Oh of course it's maple syrup. There's maple syrup in this pop! Canada you really do live in your stereotypes, and I love you for it. If it were legal for me to marry a country I would have you at the alter before you could pick out a proper dress.

I had expected to drink a couple sips of this, review it and dump the rest. It ended up being one of the best colas I've ever had. If it were in a glass bottle I'm positive it would have gotten a full five-bottle review. I just had to hold back because I know it could be just a tad better when served in the right medium.

It's going to be a long night. I haven't slept much in the past couple of days....stupid Jersey kids and making me laugh all night. I've been watching bands play all day. When did Record Store Day become some kind of fest? Oh I'm just complaining because I'm exhausted. These bands all have been fun and good. I mean how often does one get to see Floor play in this day and age? Ugh, I have to DJ tonight. How am I ever going to make it? I guess it's time to bust open this can of Beaver Buzz.

I'm really glad this obviously Canadian company has a sense of humor. Between the beaver and the "Dam good" joke this company had my support before I even opened the can. I also appreciate that the top of the can in black. It's the small things that amuse me. This smells good. Less chemical than most energy drinks. It also actually tastes like berries. That's a complete and utter shock. In fact this may be the best tasting energy drink I've ever had. It's like I'm drinking some carbonated juice rather than something that could make my heart explode if I drink too much of it. So it tastes great, but will it do it's job properly and keep me up?

*Many hours later*
Well it's now 5:30am and it's six hours after I drank the Beaver Buzz and I'm still wide awake. Seeing as I felt like I was on the verge of falling asleep before I drank it, I'll say it worked. It worked a little too well in fact. I now have to drink a relaxation drink in order to fall asleep. I wonder how cokeheads deal with problems like this.

A couple of years ago I was on tour in the UK. We went to Ireland for a few days and with the exception of the Dublin show those four days were a disaster. There were poor turnouts and the cops shut one of the shows down. Tensions were running high in the tour party. The thing that made things better was that it was blackberry season. I don't know if you're aware of this, but blackberries run rampant in Ireland. They are everywhere. Seeing as they are my favorite berries I was in heaven. I must have consumed over ten pounds of blackberries in those couple of days and every single one was perfectly ripe. Since then I'm constantly let down when I buy some from the store. They are still good, but only a couple out of each bunch is perfectly ripe. The rest are always a bit off and sour. I continue to buy them, but I always look for perfection in the fruit.

This drink is that perfection mixed with a bit of grape juice. It actually tastes like ripe blackberries, which is a shock. Some other fruit overpowers most things that are supposed to be blackberry flavored. This is just another reason to love Canada.

Smell: Not bad.

Taste: Almost like a natural orange juice but with a strange aftertaste, almost dry. Then sometimes is gets a little strange. It sticks to your palate for a long time. Unwelcomely long. Uninvitedly long.

Burp: Disgusting. Seriously, every burp tastes like you just burped and bile came up. What's strange is that when you burp, it resets your taste buds like when your Nintendo, original, not Super Nintendo, game doesn't work and you hit the reset button 40 times to try and get 720 to work so you can see that dude that is clearly inspired by Rodney Dangerfield. So if you drink it and it starts to get grozz, just burp, make matters worse, and then have everything back to before you took your first sip.

This is along the lines of the FRS drink in its citrocity, but doesn't end up tasting like orange flavored chalk at the bottom of the can.

It's apparently Canada day here at Thirsty Dudes. No, no, not the holiday. That's not until the first of July. That would be a long time to "rock your body" as Robin Sparkles may say. I've just reviewed two beverages from the wonderful country of Canada and they were both over the top great.

I first encountered this on tour in Ottawa last year. I got it in a co-op where I also picked up the best samosas I have ever tasted. They were spinach and tofu. I still think about them to this day. This drink perfectly accompanied them. It did not perfectly accompany the burrito I had tonight, but that was because it was fairly spicy and this didn't help cool my mouth down. I don't care. My mouth can deal with the heat. I'm not five years old. What? Do you think I am? I can assure you if I were I would be the fattest five year old ever having drank so many drinks in the past six months. My parents would also be brought up on child abuse charges for the same reasons.

Back to the drink; chai and ginger are two of the best flavors ever. That being said, I would never have imagined mixing the two together. For that fact I am a moron. It's spice heaven in my mouth. It's a mostly chai taste with a great undertone of ginger. There are also orange, lemon and lime juices mixed in to give it a slight fruit kick.

It's very rare that I give a drink a five. It really has to knock my socks off to get that sought after rating. This has gone beyond any expectation I could ever have. I can't press you hard enough to give this a try if you're ever up in Canada and it's in your general vicinity.

Canada gets the worst rap ever. As a country it is the butt of probably 37% of the worlds jokes. I'm not kidding polls were taken pie charts were made up. This is serious business. I love Canada. I would love to move to Toronto, and I even looked into it at one point, but it wasn't in the cards. I've never had anything but a good time while I'm in the Great White North, and seeing as it's less than 10 minutes from my house, I'm there a good deal. I actually have plans to go to Toronto twice this week. With all of my love for our northern neighbor I never expected an outstanding ginger ale to be one of its exports. I always associate ginger ale with Wisconsin (another incredible place). It's probably because of Vernors. That's made in WI right? Either way this is pretty incredible. It stands high above nearly all other ginger based beverages I have tried. It's full flavored with just the slightest bit of burn. I mean this is a ginger ale and not a beer, so it shouldn't burn too much. It's not overly sweet and it's perfectly carbonated. I will surely look to grab some more of this on one of my Toronto trips.

I salute you Canada for your plentiful maple trees, your noble beavers, your abundance of veggie food and now for your wonderful ginger ale.

Ladies and gentlemen I'd like to be the first to thank you for coming to this ceremony and for purchasing this bottle of Under Way. It brings joy to my heart that all of you purchased this beverage in order to help out with breast cancer awareness. As you know breast cancer is a horrible thing, but by purchasing this drink you are.....wait....what? Under Way has nothing to do with awareness? Why on Earth did they use that pink color for the bottle then? Don't they know that that specific pink is reserved for breast cancer and penicillin? Did they want people to think of antibiotics when they drink this? Oh.....it's a Canadian company. I guess that makes sense.

Even though it's packaging is completely misleading in my world, the drink itself is fairly decent. The diet taste is only slight. The acai and pomegranate flavors overpower it nicely. I don't know how a Canadian drink made it's way down to a U.S. discount store, but it did, and I drank it, and I enjoyed it.

Growing up in Buffalo, going to Canada was no big deal at all. It was closer than most suburbs and all you needed was a photo ID to get in the country. On one of my first trips there, I came across a bottle of pink cream soda. I love cream soda, so it really intrigued me. After the first sip, I fell in love immediately. It became a staple for every trip to Canada after that (as well as 'all dressed' flavored chips and Coffee Crisp (before I was vegan)).

It had been far too long since I had a bottle of soda mousse. It is impossible to find in the states, and Portland is not conveniently located 20 minutes from the border. Two weeks ago as I was planning to come to the Chicago Zine Fest, my friend Amy Leigh from Toronto asked if I wanted her to bring me anything from the Great White North. I took her up on the offer and requested a bag of all dressed chips and a bottle of soda mousse. Not only did she deliver on her offer, she brought two of each! I couldn't dream up a better friend.

The taste is just as I remembered it, truly amazing. It's not the creamiest cream soda, but it's really smooth and delicious. My mind is trying to play tricks on me and think that it has a hint of strawberry flavor, but I think it's just due to the pink color. Maybe it's a good thing that I can't buy this at any store, because it's a wonderful treat every few years.

Dad, I don't want to go camping. I love spending time with you, I really do, but the thought of getting all muddy does not thrill me. Oh, I won't get muddy? Dude...sorry, Dad, it's been raining for like 3 days. They don't make boots waterproof enough to keep that much out of my feet. Not to mention, when you have a bonfire, you smell like it for days irregardless of how many showers you take. Sure "irregardless" is a word. I just used it in a sentence. It's always cold and there are so many mosquitoes that, as an adult, I feel that I am rightfully scared of contracting malaria. Can't we just stay home and drink that case of Kiri Spruce Beer? It tastes like spicy trees. Seriously, it tastes like if you bottled a forest and spiced it up a bit. I'm not trying to cop out here, but it really sounds like a miserable time. Look, I'll go, but I want to listen to my tapes in the car. I just got this fresh new Tony! Toni! Tonè! album from The Wall that I really want to listen to. If we can listen to that, drink a refreshing, conifer flavored drink in the truck, and stop at a Denny's on the way home, I'll go. Sweet, see you in the truck!

I'm American. I am probably a poor American for the following reasons:
1. I do not own a Bruce Springsteen record. Not my fault. I bought one and it was out of stock.
2. I do not drive a truck.
3. I do not drive an American car, although Mazda is partially owned by Ford so that's kind of close.
4. I am not a Christian, nor religious at all.
5. I am skinny.

I live on the border of the US and Canada. No, really. From where I am sitting, I can see Canada with ease. For this reason, I know what Coffee Crisp and Smarties are. I also know what a Crispy Crunch is. This does taste like a Crispy Crunch, but half of the fun is the crunch that you get from the candy bar itself. Also, who doesn't love to eat something like a Kit Kat over a nice, dark wood desk, love it, then look down and feel accomplished at the mess you've made. Just brush it on the floor. "The help" comes at night, like ninjas with mops. This isn't bad. It's beyond horrific for you, but it's good. It's just lacking what makes the candy bar good.

This is the strongest tasting mate that I have ever had. It's just sparkling water, mate and cane sugar. The first sip is so incredibly bitter. I almost considered not finishing it, but I'm glad I did. The second sip, not nearly as bad. By the fourth or fifth I was really enjoying drinking this. When I expected the bitterness it stopped being a problem, and it became something to look forward to.

Living on the border of Canada has its advantages. One of them is the awesomeness that is Canadian candy. Seriously, they put the U.S. to shame. When I was in high school/college I knew a ton of people that would take trips up to the Great White North to stock up on confectionery supplies, as well as a lower drinking age and strip clubs. Nowadays there are a ton of convenient stores and gas stations started carrying one of those three.

Even though (for the millionth time) I'm not a big coffee fan, I do enjoy Coffee Crisp. This evening some friends and I went up to Canada to eat at Licks Home Burgers. They seriously have some of the best veggie burgers and onion rings I've ever tasted. We stopped at a corner store to check out the beverage scene up there, and my eyes got pretty huge when I saw this in the cooler. It tastes pretty much like you would expect; chocolate milk with a hint of coffee. It's smooth, but it somehow leaves the impression of the grittiness of the candy bar. Okay it tastes like a liquefied candy bar. Fans of Canadian candy and chocolate milk take note.

I could definitely see this as being an acquired taste. On first sip I thought it was pretty terrible, but the further I got into the bottle the more I thought it wasn't so bad. If this was something that was around all the time, I could really see after drinking it here and there for a while, really starting to love it.
It's mate, so it has a ton of caffeine in it (which I need to stay awake tonight). It also gives it a strong bitter taste. I think the lemon lime flavor takes away from the mate flavor. I'm expecting to like the original one more.

I was shocked by how much this juice smelled like actual peaches. Our experiences with the other Tropical Grove juices haven't been the best. This does have more sugar than juice, but it still tastes like peaches. Unfortunately, the peaches taste like they weren't ripe when they were juiced. Couldn't you have left them on the tree just a little bit longer? I understand that time is a factor in turning a profit, but a couple of days longer and it seems like this juice could have been something pretty good, instead of being on the lower side of mediocre.

The ingredients: water, sugar, juice. Couldn't they have reversed the sugar to juice ratio? I bet this would have been way, way better if they had. It has 15% juice. So that means that more than 15% of this drink is sugar. I probably shouldn't think about that. It does actually have a guava taste, but I can't help but thinking about the insane amount of sugar that's in it, and I can't really get over that. I paid $1 for this, so I didn't really expect it to be much better, but a man can dream.