Cane Sugar - 601 Reviews

Why don't more people make melon pop? Who doesn't like melon? It's so darn refreshing. I personally like cantaloupe more than honeydew, the flavor of this drink, but if either are available at a party, and I am there, you had better make your plate sooner than later because I am going to house that thing like I haven't eaten in days. When I was on a cruise over the Fall I probably ate ten pounds of fruit. I love it. Melon is great. I love it. The end.

This pop is probably the best melon pop I've ever had. It's sweet and right on the cusp of too sweet but it's not there so it's acceptable. It tastes remarkably like actual melon, not like candy melon, which, I will also append, there is not enough of. It was actually refreshing and that's not something that happens when I drink dranks. Yeah, dranks.

Buy it. Love it. Do you like melon? Do it, son!

After my disappointment with yesterday's birch beer I needed a soda that would be redeeming. While I have issues with Johnnie Ryan because I have emailed them several times about their products and I have never heard back from them, I also know that they know what they are doing when it comes to making soda. Also, they are local to us so that makes it hard to stay mad. One of the emails I actually sent to the company a couple of years ago was regarding whether or not their birch beer would be made available in bottles. I had a glass of it in a “fair/carnival” themed restaurant in the mall once and it was pretty great. As I said I never got a response, but here I am with a bottle in front of me, so I guess the answer to my question was “Yes.”

The Mercury Brewing Company messed up their birch beer pretty bad, but Johnnie Ryan got everything right. The bottle doesn't mention it, but the cardboard the four packs come in say that it is “black birch beer.” I was intrigued by this, but assumed it was just a quirky name. Wrong. This is the darkest birch beer I have ever tasted. The store in the mall was correct to carry this as their main beverage because it definitely falls under the category of “fair birch beer,” but they took it further and made it very dark, full bodied and flavorful. This is a new product in bottle form and I really hope it sticks around. I always have a hankering for some birch beer, and it can be a pain to find a decent one around these parts.

To sum things up, this may be the best birch beer I have ever tasted. You should definitely pick some up if you see it. Also, Johnnie Ryan you make great sodas, just try to get better at responding to emails. Your mother wants to make sure you're doing okay out there by the falls.

When you hear the words “birch beer” you get certain expectations in your head. Images of a root beer that has evolved dance across your mind. It's crisp. It's clean. It's woodsy. One thing that does not enter your thoughts is vanilla. Definitely not crappy vanilla, that is for sure. Yet, that is what is in this bottle. It taste like the company had a vat that was 1/3 filled with birch beer, and when they went to make more they accidentally put in the ingredients for cream soda. In a blind taste test I would guess that this was a store brand cream soda that someone put a little extra baking vanilla into. Would I be wrong, or would Mercury Brewing Company be wrong for claiming this was a birch beer? You be the judge. Actually don't waste your time and money on it.

I lasted through almost the entire winter without succumbing to sickness, and then this week it finally hit me. I felt like “cold diarrhea on a paper plate.” I drank obscene amounts of juice to an extent that my stomach was in pain. Yeah, I'm an idiot. I'm on the mend now, but still feeling a little bit on the terrible side. Lucky for me MBS sent us a nice package of their vitamin shots. I wish I would have had these when I first started feeling like doo-doo, but oh well any help is accepted by me.

I expected this to taste completely horrible as most things in shot form do, but the folks at My Body Shots supplied me with a pleasant surprise. It tastes like someone took a citrus-based fruit punch concentrate and only used 1/3 of the recommended water to dilute it. It also has a slight herbal flavor to it, but it's mostly juice coming through. Those iPod doctors on the label sure know how to make a vitamin concentrate taste decently. This is in fact chock full of ridiculous amounts of vitamins with some astragalus, eleutherococcus and panax ginseng extract mixed in to help boost immunity. From the amount of stuff in here one would stupidly believe that one of these shots would knock whatever sickness you have into your body into next winter, but the recommended use for when you start to feel sick is three bottles the first day, two the second and one the third. So apparently six shots is what is necessary to banish virus' from your system. At least the six shots will taste decent.

Ma'am, what do you think you're doing? Yes you ma'am. What are you trying to hide ma'am? I know for a fact that you are not really a hula dancer. You see, I went to Hawaii on vacation once, and I saw a whole slew of hula dancers and not to be rude, but they were a thick lot. It was a great show, and I had no complaints, but I did learn a thing or two about the art of hula. I'd even go as far as to say that show made me an expert. You ma'am look like a starving child, you are certainly no hula dancer. So what's the deal? Are you a spy? Don't make me call the police on you. I learned form billboards that if I see something I should say something, and I'm pretty sure this constitutes something. Oh you're doing promotion for a line of all natural energy sodas? Well if they really were all natural I think they really should have gotten an actual hula dancer, and not some random in a skirt and a lei. If you are who you say you are you better give me one of them there sodas, so I know they aren't a bomb or poison.

This smells decent. Nothing like any other energy drinks that I've had before. Oh wow it doesn't taste like an energy drink at all either. It has an almost herbal flavor to it, with a bit of light fruit flavoring as well. If the label in any indicator it's a mixture of pineapple and lime. It's pleasant. It also has a very clean taste to it, which I feel is a strange thing to say about a drink, but that's the way I feel, so I'm going to say it. Who are you to judge, you're posing as a hula girl for minimum wage. I actually like this a lot. I would definitely buy this over that artificial garbage I see in all the gas stations. Where can I buy this around Denali, Alaska? Nowhere? Well you're certainly of no help to me. Why don't you go off and finish your life as a faker!

Buddy Schaub is the trombonist for Less Than Jake. He did this review for us after a show in Niagara Falls in a haunted theatre.

Vinnie is the drummer from Less Than Jake and he also owns Paper & Plastick. I met up with him at their recent show in Niagara Falls. After this review we went and explored some haunted "tunnels" underneath the theatre. Good times!

This is another old soda that the good folks at Orca Beverage Soda Works had the right mind to bring back from the grave. Apparently Jersey-Creme was originally available as flavored concentrate used to make cream flavored products in the early 1900's. This magical concentrate was so good it was turned into a cream flavored beverage that had the slogan "The Perfect Drink".

Calling yourself the perfect drink is a bold and dangerous statement. It almost makes people have more scrutiny over you. This is a good cream soda, but I would never say it was perfect. In a weird way, I think it's too creamy. I like it when cream soda has a little bite to it, a little edge. This is just smooth sailing all the way down. Maybe I'm the weirdo that thinks cream soda shouldn't be extra creamy. All this talk about 'cream' is starting to gross me out a little.

Some nights you just sit to kick back and relax with a bottle of soda and a good movie. What good movie should you watch? Well obviously the answer to that is Elvira's Haunted Hills. Wait, you mean you've never heard of the sequel (prequel?) to Mistress of the Dark that came out 13 years later? You my friend are in for a treat. Imagine if you will if you took a common household blender and threw in Elvira and the Mel Brook's classic Young Frankenstein. Puree that up a bit and the result is Haunted Hills. It's fun and hysterical in the dumbest way possible; exactly the way I like it.

What else could accompany this movie than a drink endorsed by the Mistress herself? The picture on the label even looks like one of the half dozen times she screams as some one (namely Lady Hellsubus) opens a door at the same time as her. This is a (s)cream soda of the red variety, much like the infamous Crush “soda mousse.” The vanilla isn't incredibly strong, but it does have a faint sweet kind of berry taste to it. It's not a standout cream soda, but it's slightly better than most other cane sugar sodas of the flavor. Now if you are a fan of fun like I know you are go out and get some soda and get your hands on Haunted Hills and enjoy your night. You've earned it.

Or you could just take a day trip to the beach, but don't forget your SPF 1000 sunblock.

Kel loves orange soda. I don't really know why he chose to mention it so much. Orange, to me, is never fantastic. It's just "good" all the time. It's better in certain scenarios, like BBQ's and picnics, but for the most part, it's not something to love. Kel, I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm saying you should update your "love list" of pop. I know you've got one. You seem like the type of guy that has an ongoing list of things he loves and more frequently than you would imagine he updates it, reorders it, and tweaks it so he knows just what he wants out of life. The more you think about it, the better of an idea it seems. It's like a wish board that inspires you to go for what you want in life.

This pop shouldn't be on the list. It's good. Nicely sweet, nicely flavored, but it's just an orange pop. Cane sugar or not, sweeteners can't bring this drink out of the rut that it is destined to be in.

If his list is anything like mine, there are things like a Lamborghini Countach, tacos, and a vintage stainless steel Rolex Datejust on it. He and I may be completely different, though. I've never met the dude. Kel, if you're listening, you are more than welcome to do a guest review and clear up with the general public exactly what is on your wish list.

Sally, you've got your science project due tomorrow right? Did you do it? Oh really? Come on, Sally. Don't lie to your daddy. Did you do it? You did? Well let me see it. As a scientist, I need to see what science projects leave this house. I know you're only ten but I've got a reputation in this community as a fantastic scientist and if you leave this house with a Styrofoam mobile of planets or a baking soda volcano I will be the laughing stock of the science community.

What was your project on? Mixing liquids? That seems interesting. Acids and bases? That type of stuff? Oh, look at you. Using words like carbon dioxide and oxygen. You're a regular chip off the old block. So, what did you make? Oh, a bottle of pop. That's actually a pretty good use of mixing liquids, Sally. Oh, you drew a little cartoon on the label. What's that? A bear driving a hot rod down the road filled with bubbles on a picnic placemat. Well, I've got to say, for a ten year old, that's pretty detailed. How does it taste? Oh, you like it. Well that's good. Do you have any extra? Oh, thank you. I'll just have a little glass. It's close to bedtime and I don't like sweets so close to bed, but my doctor does. Ha ha ha! Oh, that's a little dad joke. No big deal. Sally, how much sugar did you use in this? What did you use for the flavor? You mushed up mixed berry jelly you took from IHOP this morning? I guess that is a pretty easy way to get flavor. It does taste just like how “berry” would taste, not knowing what kind or kinds of berry or berries I'm ingesting.

This isn't good and it meets my approval. I think that the teacher might agree with me but if you could make some more bottles, I bet your little friends would love it. You kids love your sugar but my checkbook sure doesn't. Ha ha ha! Oh just another dad joke.

High school life for Alex and Ryan was rough, especially after Ryan's girlfriend got kidnapped. Ryan told Cyndi time and time again not to mess with Slick, but she wouldn't listen. They knew they couldn't let him get away with it, so they grabbed some lead pipes and took to the streets of River City.

They came across a lot of nasty gangs along the way. The Generic Dudes were more annoying than troublesome. The Frat Guys were as dumb as they looked. But it was The Squids that really gave them trouble. Throwing wooden crates at them just wouldn't work, so they had to bust out their Acro Circus skills. That showed The Squids who was the boss.

After that, they really needed to relax with a sauna and a nice bottle of root beer. Unfortunately you couldn't find any root beer in River City if your life depended on it, but at least we now know what it would have tasted like. It's really sweet and smooth, with a slight bit and a whole lot of flavor to it. Not special flavor, just your classic root beer flavor. It's too bad they didn't have this because it would have definitely helped them.

I found this on tour and was pretty excited to find it. Caffeine in root beer is a very rare thing. Of the 130+ root beers we have reviewed so far, only three have contained caffeine (Skeleteens Jack Black's Dead Red Root Beer, Barq's, and Bawl's G33K Beer). This bottle I have in my hand brings us to number 4. With all the added energy ingredients in this, I was fearing that it would taste more like a gross energy drink with artificial root beer flavor sprinkled in. To my surprise, it was actually really good! It has a very classic root beer taste, with a medium bite to it. If I had not seen the label, I would have never known this was also an energy drink.

I see that Eric's Famous also makes a cola. Hopefully we'll be able to find that one soon, and hopefully it's as good as this.

Not too long ago Dublin Dr Pepper got the old cease and desist letter from the Dr Pepper Snapple Group. For decades the Dublin Bottling Company followed the original Dr Pepper recipe, except they used cane sugar instead of HFCS. I'm not a huge fan of Dr Pepper, but I have to say I definitely enjoyed the Dublin variety more than the normal version. In the wake of this news fans will now have to resort to other companies knock offs if they still want cane sugar. Real Soda has stepped up to the plate with their Doctor Dublin. It's not quite the same as Dr Pepper, but I think they have improved upon the recipe. From the flavor I can only imagine that they lowered the ingredients that add the cola style flavor to Dr Pepper and increased the ingredients that caused the fruity flavor. It's nothing crazy or shocking. The difference in flavor is subtle, but I like it. If you're a Pepper I suggest keeping your eye out for this.

Grape soda comes in two varieties. The more natural version and the classic generic children's party drink. The prior is grape juice, sweetener and carbonated water. The latter is loads of sugary syrup, a flavor that doesn't actually taste like grapes that we have accepted as a grape flavor and carbonated water. I'm no fool. I knew that a pop made by Real Soda was going to land in the fake category. I was perfectly fine with that. Fake grape is actually a soda flavor that I can really get behind. It's not something that I would drink all of the time, but it has its place. This drink surprised me though by falling somewhere in-between the two poles. It's definitely more fake grape than carbonated grape juice, but it actually has hints of real grape flavor and not just the garbage fake kind. Also, since it is sweetened with cane sugar instead of HFCS it's not as thick as most grape soda. Calling it light isn't quite right because it is still bursting with flavor. The consistency is just different. In the barbeque and kid's party filled world of fake grape soda this is the best I have ever tried.

You know James, the one who traveled the ocean in a giant peach? We all know that upon his arrival to NYC children devoured his magically fruit, much like the rhino devoured his parents. What isn't very well known is that founder of the Tazo company, Bill Tazo, brought in a bunch of tankers and filled them with peach residue. Bill then used that goop to create one of the world's most perfect peach teas. He mixed the peach with green tea, apple juice and the smallest amount of ginger juice. Bill was a visionary. He knew the peach itself would be too strong and everyone's taste buds would be blown. You don't want your customer's taste buds to be blown. If they were why would they buy his products. He balanced out the strength of the peach with the apple juice, and added the ginger to attract the taste buds attention in a slightly different direction. His basic training as a magician finally proved to be useful. It's classic misdirection and it works perfectly. Pouring gallons of this tea down your throat still wouldn't be enough.

Shoppers played a show in Buffalo last night and I was so excited when I saw this lavender soda in Derek's cupboard. Watch the video to see what I thought of it.

Mark, I quit. I thought this was going to be a dream job for me, but everything went wrong. Dealing with soda day in and out is what fills my mind grapes as I sleep. You know how people count sheep to help them fall asleep? Well, I count soda bottles. I know it sounds insane, but it's my passion. The thing is I can't have my work be a lie. When I submitted my resume to Best Health I believed this company believed in the betterment of the state of our fellow man's health. I suppose it's my fault that I didn't do more research on the company, but I really thought that what we made here was going to be carbonated fruit juice with no sweetener added. That is what I think of when I think of healthy soda. That's not what we make here at all though. What we produce and peddle is flavored sugar water with some bubbles in it. Actually the bubbles aren't a part of the problem at all. They are actually pretty great. The problem is that this soda isn't even close to healthy. Sure it's better for people that corn syrup sweetened soda, but what isn't? On top of that our flavors aren't even that grape. I'm really only basing this statement off of our raspberry flavor. When it's in your mouth it is just sugar soda. There is only the smallest tinge of fruit flavor. When you swallow it does have a generic berry aftertaste, but that's not what a good soda is. Mark, I really think this company needs a complete overhaul, and unless that begins now I'm walking out that door and never looking back.

Sir I assure you that no matter what number you write down it's not going to change my mind. Fine write it down and then I'm out that door. Oh wow! A quarter raise?! If you need me I'll be down in the bottling area. We can't afford to miss a single shipment!

Death Valley gets a bad wrap. Whomever named it should go back to marketing school, assuming they didn't graduate, and try again because they forever blackened the name of that place. Look, sure, things happened, it's hot, it doesn't have a quenching water park, and there isn't a nice suburb filled with crap like Applebee's, TGI Friday's, and Joe's Crab Shack for families to go to on the weekend. I am no city planner but I can tell you that you don't need those things to make things happen. I do know you can't have a place called "Death Valley" and have it give off the "fun" vibe.

Here is a start. Everyone that crosses the border from outside to inside Death Valley gets a complimentary bottle of their root beer. This root beer has a fantastic, real vanilla taste that is with you on every sip and a nice, dark flavor throughout. Dark like Death Valley at night but cool, unlike Death Valley, like...ever.

This might have to be limited to one bottle per car as we are trying to fix the image of Death Valley, not bankrupt them. Limit one per car, please share. Don't forget to stop at the Death Valley memorial on your way in and out for great prices on sweatshirts you would have to be crazy to wear anywhere within 250 miles of Death Valley.

When I purchased this I thought that the ice cream company of the same name made it. It wasn't until I was looking up the website that I realized that the ice cream company spells their name Breyers. Oops. It has the same name (different spelling) and it's a cream based soda. I don't think I was too far off base. Oh well.

Where Breyers makes quality ice cream, Briar's makes a mediocre lemon cream soda. I wanted this to be a really creamy cream soda, but instead I got a bottle of lemon soda with trace amounts of cream. Actually, the lemon wasn't even that strong. This would have been awesome if it was strong lemonade mixed with cream soda, but alas it's lackluster lemon soda.

Briar's red birch beer looks pretty great. I can't wait to try that. Breyer's Blasts Snickers looks more than great. It looks otherworldly. I should probably mix the two together and lose my mind for a while.


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UPDATE
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We received an email from the company asking us where we purchased this because this flavor has been out of production for several years. They also said, "It would be more like an antique bottle with liquid in it than a soda pop!" Ick.