United States - 4098 Reviews

This is another local soda from Portland, OR. I had tried this when I first moved here but Thirsty Dudes was just an idea in my head at that point. Maybe it's because I'm drinking this on an empty stomach, but this is one of the heaviest root beer's I've ever drank. It has a really rich flavor. There is a hint of a honey aftertaste (one of the ingredients), but besides that it's a fairly run of the mill root beer.

I for one am glad that the great pomegranate rush of 2007 is over. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy pomegranate, but during that time it was everywhere you looked. It was as if there was a great surplus of the fruit, and companies were putting it in anything they could, just to get rid of it. I think enough time has passed that I can really start enjoying the fruit again and all of its antioxidant powers.
This is nice because it's not a tangerine/pomegranate tea. It's tangerine tea that was brewed and then mixed with pomegranate juice. The end result is a blend of two separate flavors that come in waves, instead of them being forced together. You can still taste the tea, but it still has a nice juicy flavor as well. Bravo on the drink, and the wonderful bottle.

Our friend Martin gave us this bottle of root beer to review. It's a pretty decent one. It has an initial taste that is reminiscent of Barq's, but then a really nice after taste takes over. It's made of natural root beer flavor, panama bark extract, hops, star anise, juniper berries and vanilla bean. I love a good root beer with a nice selection of natural ingredients. It gives the root beer a personality of it's own. The after taste is like no other root beer I've ever had.

Right off the bat, I can tell you that this is not Sweet Rose part deux. This is actually drinkable. No, I didn't/couldn't finish the whole thing, but it was actually drinkable. The texture/viscosity/consistency is something to get used to. Think of this:

Go to your local grocery store. While your mom is buying girl stuff and boring vegetables, you take a quarter you found in between the seats of your family's Pontiac 6000 where you spent countless road trips sitting by yourself in "the way-back" watching other families watch you watch them watch you watch them. You check out the vending machines...plastic guns? No. Homies? Funny, and clearly racist, but no. Slime in an egg? Yep-ahh. You put your quarter with all it's french fry grease and dog hair into the slot, turn the crank, and down comes your clear egg with a creamy, pastel, yellow slime. All of a sudden, two punk kids come up to you and say, "Hey, kid. Nice slime. Eat it!" and you, who are no match for two kids wearing leather jackets with the sleeves cut off, open your mouth hole and slurp it down. Just as your finished with the last glob, you mom comes out with some stupid carrots and yells at those kids to go home.

That's what the texture was like, but the taste wasn't too bad. It tastes lightly of mango. Not bad. I won't have it again since each small bottle is 280 calories and it wasn't that much to come back to, but it wasn't bad.

What better way to ring in another year with a nice, tall glass of refreshing sparkling grape juice? Kids love it because they feel like their parents even though their parents drink about 6 nice, tall glasses of the real stuff when the kids get scorned when they reach for their second glasses. What goes for more in hospitals? Kidneys or teeth? I'm no doctor, but I am a scientist and I will say that this was not the best drink I've ever had. Do I need to be a scientist to say that? No, but you trust my opinion more.

It was fruity, yes, and it might have been grape-y but it wasn't all there. I was really hoping for a sequel to the Apple Cider so I went to the store and bought everything different type they had. I was wrong. Oops. It just wasn't all there for me. Sure, some people would drink it and not care or tell the difference, but I do this for a living (not really) and you people deserve the truth. The truth? You can do better. Happy New Year. You can do better.

This is juice #2 for the day in the war against sickness. This time I went for something that was 100% juice. If I'm going to do this I should do it right. Well if I was going to do it right, I should be pounding some pomegranate and acai juices. I don't have any of that in my fridge at the moment, so I have to make due with this delicious juice. Kiwis and strawberries are two of my favorite fruits. They have been paired together hundreds of times in the past. Unfortunately, the companies who have paired them have diluted the flavor with so much sugar that they just end up tasting like liquid sweetness. I have it on good authority that the pope is in talks to declare that a mortal sin. Yes, you heard it hear first, you will go to hell if you ruin the flavor of delicious fruits with too much sugar. R.W. Knudsen apparently also caught word of this papal act, because they have kept their fruit juices natural and sugar free. I think I'm feeling better already.

Of course I woke up sick today. It's only a cold mind you, but it is New Years Eve. I'm going to fight my way through this with a strict regiment of juice. I will float this sickness out through my bladder. That's just what you want to hear when you're looking for a drink review isn't it?
This is a pretty standard fruit punch. This reminds me of the stuff they used to feed us in elementary school. You don't believe me that I remember? Maybe I have the world's craziest memory. Maybe I remember everything. Or, maybe I'm just assuming this is what that tasted like. I have no idea. I'm sick, remember?

Man. This was delightful. It was perfect for the time of day, mood, and just about everything in between and around. It was awesome, simply awesome. It started out with an orange juice and then quickly was followed up by a lemon passion fruit. Not passionfruit lemonade, but a lemon flavored passion fruit. It was soft, sweet, and just about everything I want in a drink.

I think an added bonus was that there was tons of stuff in it. When I got the drink, I didn't look at it, but when I picked it up to drink today, I noticed tons of pulp and stuff at the bottom and that excited me. I love a pulpy juice. When you give it a vigorous shake and then quickly drink some, you get a nice mix of juice and fruit pieces. I loved it. I want more. Zack probably wants more since we split it.

If you know me, you may know that I have stomach problems. I've had them since early high school. I have a tendency to get way stressed over things I can't control. I've learned to keep it to a minimum, but it seems my stomach issues are a permanent fixture in my life. I learned that high fructose corn syrup contributes to my problem as well. As long as I keep it to a minimum in my diet I won't be writhing in pain at night. Due to that back-story, you will understand how I was excited when we received a package of PRE in the mail. I was told that pro-biotic drinks would help with my issues, and I'm always looking for help.
I expected it to be a pretty thick drink, which it was not. Yogurt naturally has the same bacteria as they use in the drink, so I had associated the two. It ends up it has a similar consistency to a Vitamin Water. The flavor isn't that far off either, except unlike Vitamin Water this actually has real fruit in it. With passion fruit, oranges and guava in the mix, there are some pretty heavy hitters on this team. They blend together nicely to make this a winning drink.

I haven't eaten all day. It's quarter after twelve and I've been up for a good three hours. I would have slept in longer but between my dogs and my girlfriend calling me on my day off, I can't. I decided to take advantage of the day by:

• Cleaning up the backyard which was previously covered by snowy poop


• Strip some paint off the doors, which led to me taking the battery out of the smoke alarm and opening the doors to ventilate some smoke and fumes.


• Sit on the computer for an hour and wait for my company to come to a meeting which never started

All of this basically nothing led me to get a bit hungry. Since I didn't feel like making something to eat and there really isn't anything in the house to eat, I decided that today would be the day that I would test out a dietary supplement. Lucky for me, it was a delectable chocolaty treat.

I don't really like smoothies too much. All fruit ones are good, but once you start mixing things like carrots, beets, potatoes, and the like, it gets to be a little too much. When I saw that Bolthouse made a chocolate protein shake, I was intrigued and promptly bought it. Now it's been sitting in my fridge for about a month and I see it every time I open the door. I will say that this is a wonderful drink. It's super rich and smooth and doesn't at all taste like it has a ton of protein, vitamins, and minerals, but it's actually not that bad for you. Like many other Bolthouse drinks, there isn't additional sugar, just apple juice used as a sweetener, which is smart. It's really chocolaty and you could easily destroy the whole bottle and then probably feel a tad sluggish as you just ingested way too much.

Anyone who likes supplement drinks or protein shakes or someone who is on a diet and just wants to enjoy chocolate again, try this on for size.

As you may well know, the Thirsty Dudes are scientists. We are obligated by the scientific community to conduct experiments constantly. We barely have time to drink all of these beverages for you our loyal readers. This review is one such experiment.
Clear root beer is a strange, strange thing. You crack it open and the smell is there; the scent of a decent root beer. Tasting it is a different story. It tastes like the lightest root beer ever. My hypothesis was correct that the fact that it's clear really messed with my taste buds. I really believe that if it were brown it would taste more like root beer to me. So, so strange.

In the first time in Thirsty Dudes history, a company challenged me. I loved it. A lady who shall remain nameless, challenged me personally to rethink my position on New Leaf based on my opinion of her company's lemonade.

To recap, I said that New Leaf lemonade is exactly what lemonade should taste like and I don't retract that one bit, even after drinking this.

So on to my review of this Purity Organic lemonade.

This is very good lemonade. It's got a great stingy bite to it and leaves you with the taste of real lemons on your lips. It's sweet, but real lemonade is sweet so that's good. It's not too sweet and actually, I can't think of anything that I would do to change it. I wouldn't say it's better, but it's so parallel with the New Leaf that I will say it's a tie and deserves the same rating.

Congratulations, Purity and you nameless lady/girl/woman. Your challenge has been accepted and you passed. You did it right. It says a lot since I've reviewed some lame lemonades on this site.

Based off the taste of this lemonade, I'm excited to try the half and half I have on a shelf at home. Come back for the review soon.

Blah blah blah I like flavored waters.

This is different, though. It's relaxing. Yes, it's a given since lavender kind of runs the table on relaxing scents/soaps/tastes. When was the last time you tasted it in nice water, though? Never? Oh, then read on and learn yourself something. This has such a strong initial scent of lavender. It is, as Jay and our friend Dan said, a bit reminiscent of Fruit Loops. That's not bad at all. You drink, and it mints out and cools you down and then, at the very end, you are left with a nice return, sequel if you will, of that lavender gentleman.

Ha. Lavender gentleman.

This is it. This is what I have waited about 15 years to have again. I drank this all the time in high school (well the blue Brain Wash, this is the red one). I'll tell you something, it's still awesome. It tastes like no other soda I've ever had. This is definitely unusual. I think cherry is supposed to be the base flavor of this. You get a slight hint of it, and then the craziness sets in. I have no frame of reference for what the compare the flavor to. It's highly carbonated, and it has got a bit of a burn to it. Why is that? Oh because it has jalapeno oil in it. What other company would do that? I love it. It's also insanely caffeinated due to the herbal blend (and the straight up caffeine) in it.
Dan said it's tastes like Spencer Gifts, he's a bit off. It tastes more like something you would buy from a "head shop," which happens to be where I would buy them in high school. This drink should always have a place reserved right in-between the "bubblers" and the bootleg "live-side" Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Red Hot Chili Pepper CDs.

Amazing. That's the first word that comes to mind when I try this soda. This is one of the creamiest cream soda's I've ever tasted. I've never had a soda with honey in it, and it adds a really nice flavor to the mix. There's a really unique aftertaste that I can't quite identify. It might be due to the fact that the soda is "fire-brewed". Whatever it is, it's delicious and I can't wait to try other sodas by Sprecher.

I'm not going to lie. I almost didn't drink this. When I opened it I took a whiff of the not at all appealing fluid contained in the bottle. My friend Dan said "It smells like a girl who chewed strawberry gum, who had terrible breath." For the sake of you, our loyal readers, I followed through and introduced bottle to lips. It didn't taste as terrible as it's odor. It was also not very good. Like the other Abbot Farms' sodas I've had, it tasted like a cheap liquefied candy. Not even like those candies wrapped in foil made to look like strawberries that your great aunt Millie keeps in her winter coat, an even cheaper candy than that.
While I do appreciate the attempt you have made Abbot Farms, please stick to cider in your future ventures.

Adventure number two in the return to the world of Skeleteens didn't go as amazingly as number one. The Black Lemonade is still pretty rad, but it's not something that I'm going to crave.
On first sip, I was in love. This is really strong bitter slightly carbonated lemonade. The problem is it's a bit too strong. About 1/3 of the way through the 12oz bottle I could already tell I was starting to get a stomachache. I took about an hour break, and now I'm back into it.
Now that I'm at it again, it now tastes like carbonated lemonade that had some candy dissolved into it. You know how cola tastes when you drink it through a licorice straw? It's a similar effect as that, but with a different candy.
This also has all the crazy herbal ingredients in it, so I'm sure I'll have an energy freak out shortly.
Oh and they weren't kidding. This stuff is black. Hold it up to a light and it is just darkness, it doesn't have a red or blue tint at all.

You know what can be enjoyable? Going to the moving pictures theatre. You know what is never enjoyable? Paying exorbitant amounts of money for the syrupy trash they pass off as drinks in said establishments. Am I a scumbag because I bring my own beverages to the theatre? If you say yes, then I demand you talk to the establishments and get them to start carrying some decent drinks.
Today I went and saw True Grit. I thought it was rad, but that is neither here nor there in the world of beverage reviews. About halfway through what I will call the second act, I busted out this tea. I had bought it in NJ on a recent trip. I thought it was something I had drank a while back, and as soon as it hit my lips, I knew I was correct. Ah yes the day we got back from touring the UK to discover that our van had close to zero stopping power in the brakes world. We waited all day for a garage to fix it (which they never did) and I drank iced tea from a close by grocery store. You like how my thoughts on a movie play no part in a review, but my tales of vehicular woes do? Well I was pissed off, and this tea brought me a little enjoyment in the middle of a very annoying situation. It's pretty outstanding in the world of overly sweet fruit teas, which I do love on occasion. It actually tastes like raspberries, and not just fruity sugary sweetness. That I can get into.
Oh and when I was on my most recent trip to Jersey, I noticed that the previously mentioned garage had gone out of business. Serves them right.

This is easily the most flavorful cherry soda I've ever had. It tastes like someone carbonated a bottle of grenadine and added some sugar. It's not as heavy tasting as you might think, but unless you LOVE cherry flavor this might be too much for you. My mouth is going to taste like cherry all day now.

Jay says to me he says, "I've got something for you." Naturally, I got excited, even thought I knew it was a drink because that's all we exchange anymore. "Anymore" like we used to give each other gifts all the time. Eh, we probably did. We're great friends. So, Jay got me something but he can't find it. We take a trip out to his car and it's not there. I was getting let down by the second. Then, with a stroke of genius, he lifted that spare tire cover and pulled out a fresh bottle of Ale-8-One. He told me he got it on tour and it had caffeine in it. It's a ginger ale but it has a bit extra to it. It doesn't contain, but feels like it should contain, capsicum in it. It has a little baby-sized bite to it. It's nice because it's not a ginger ale trying to be a ginger beer. It's just a ginger ale with some spice to it.

I have had a long weekend. Not a rough weekend, but a long one. It was hard to get out of bed and while looking through my cache of drinks I grabbed this and didn't look back. I felt I needed a little pick me up, even though I don't think that I've ever need "pick me up's."


Jay, thanks. Ale-8-One, thanks. Everyone for leaving me at work to listen to The Best Show by myself on a snowy Monday...you's guys are kind of jerks.