Veryfine Chill Fruit Punch

Sometimes my friends, the bargain just isn't worth it. You're in the store looking for something to quench your thirst and you come across a tallboy whose label announced it as “Only $1.” The natural reaction is, “Wow, that's quite a deal. I'd be paying less than five cents per fluid ounce.” The problem with that is, that even if what is contained in the can is the tastiest beverage on Earth, do you really need 23oz of it in one sitting? I understand that the Nutrition Facts state that the can actually holds three servings, but who doesn't drink it all in one go, or throw out the remainder? If this was a resealable bottle, it would be a different story, but these drinks are marketed for people to grab whilst on the go and no one wants to carry around an open can until they are ready for their next serving.

The sad truth is that this is not only too much beverage, but also it is far from being the tastiest beverage on the planet. It's a fruit punch that only contains 5% juice. That means that 95% of what you'd be drinking is composed of weird stuff like ester of wood rosin, brominated vegetable oil and of course corn syrup. I know a lot of that is actually water, but still, come on. Fruit punch is not very good to begin with. I was once told that it was the beverage of children and poor people. While I do think there was a bit of racism meant in that statement, I have to admit that I have never seen anyone who was over the age of 15 and well off drinking anything of this variety (unless it was mixed juices at a fancy juice bar, which I wouldn't consider fruit punch).

This does have couple of things going for it, and they all boil down to the sweeteners used. Veryfine decided to mix sucralose in with their corn syrup to lower the calorie count in the beverage. It leaves it with a slight diet flavor, but nothing unbearable. The big up to that is that it's a fruit punch that doesn't feel like you're drinking syrup.

Overall it still has that generic fruit punch flavor that is like the hotdogs of juices (ie. whatever is leftover). I appreciate the company taking steps to improve fruit punch, but there is still a long ways to go. Also, unless you're planning on sharing this with a friend, I really hope you plan on pouring a bunch of it out, or have a fridge close by to save it for later.