High Fructose Corn Syrup - 485 Reviews

Often times I just want a simple bottle of pop. Nothing fancy. No herbal juice or exotic brewed tea or drink with chunks of shark in it, although if I could find some, I would drink it. That's where this bottle of Bubble Up comes in. It's been a while since I've had a regular lemon lime pop and as far as lemon lime pops go, this is smack dab in the middle. It was nothing special and I don't really know what you could do to improve it. It's right on par with the likes of Sprite, 7Up, and Sierra Mist. Same ingredients, same flavor, and this isn't a sweetener debate because it was so parallel that it doesn't matter.

Hundreds of kids and adults alike probably love Bubble Up. Until my girlfriend got me a bottle, I had never heard of it, so I would assume that it's a Southern delicacy. Well, the South, enjoy your standard, regular copycat of a drink. I've got something with shark in it to dream about.

Barq's is a fairly controversial root beer. I feel the populace either hates it or adores it. I will admit that in a former life as a caffeine junky I was a fiend for the stuff. At the time I thought, "Root beer with caffeine? I believe there is a god!" Yep, the often-mentioned bite in Barq's is caffeine.

It's been a long time since I've had a Barq's and I didn't know if I would ever say hello to this old friend again. When I went out to eat this evening I got a combo meal thing that was cheaper than if I got the items I wanted separately. It also included a drink. There wasn't much to choose from the in the old cooler, so I went for a Barqs. I don't mean to sound like a snob, but I've become accustomed to a fairly high standard of root beer. When I took a sip of this, it had a familiar root beer taste, but it missed the mark of what I remembered it being like. You can tell it has more spices than your run of the mill root beer, but it almost has a cola-esque undertone. Did I mention that it's really syrupy?

I will admit that it's better than I expected it to be, but it's nothing close to great. I think it's happened I think I've finally become a "grown-ass man," and I can leave the syrupy candy sodas in my past.

If someone were to ask me how many different soda's I have tried over my entire life, I don't think I could come up with even a good estimate. Obviously I could count how many I have reviewed here as a start, but those have only been the past year or so of my 29 years of soda drinking.

Among those many, many sodas, I have tried many different fruit flavored sodas: orange, pineapple, strawberry, grape, apple, raspberry, and many more. Up until now, I have never had (or even seen) a banana soda. When a friend mailed me this bottle, I was really excited to try it and waited for the right time to try it.

Upon opening the bottle, it gave off a very strong banana smell. It was a very familiar smell, but I couldn't put my finger on it. After the first sip it hit me: Runts! This tastes EXACTLY like banana Runts. They were always my least favorite part of the fruit mixture candy, but only because they were the hardest to bite into. Sip after sip, this soda still taste like banana Runts. I heard this company makes a bunch of other fruit flavors. Now I'm very excited to find them and hope they are as good as this.

It scares me to push the marble down on bottles of Ramune. It always feels like I'm going to break it. Then the moment it finally gives, I get scared that the soda is going to bubble up and start spilling out of the cap. To try and prevent this, I keep the plastic plunger in the top until the fizzing dies down. There is a process to this.

Once again, we have a company that doesn't put the flavor of the drink on the label. Hawaiian Blue? Really? What does that even mean? I'll let it pass Ramune because this is actually kind of tasty. Like most Ramune I've had so far, I can't really distinguish a strong flavor. I feel weird writing this, but it really tastes like "blue soda". It's lightly sweetened, and doesn't have the usual syrup flavor that HFCS gives drinks. I keep getting suckered into buying Ramune because of the cool shaped bottle, but I'm always left unsatisfied after drinking it.

I have been searching for this for a long, long time. No lie, like close to 15 years. I always hoped to stumble upon it in some random store while traveling around. I eventually found a handful of places online where you could order "rare" sodas, but they were always out of stock of the blue Brain Wash. I was certain that this drink had gone the way of Crystal Pepsi, Orbits, and Ecto Cooler. On a recent trip to Soda Pop Central up in Canada I was shocked to find a bunch of bottles of it. I grabbed a couple (along with four assorted cases) and hit the road giddy as a small child.

Like many things in life, when you search for it for long enough you build up these absolutely crazy expectations for it. Once I'd get my hands on a bottle that "no woman person in the history of the world is having drinking better sex soda than the sex soda you are having drinking with Ian Brainwash... in my head. That was the worst paraphrase in the history of this site, for the record. As it turns out it's still decent, but it did not live up to the holiness I had built up in my head. It tastes like liquid Smarties mixed with some low-grade chemical acid. I blame the burning acid burning to the jalapeno oil that is listed in the ingredients. I am a glutton for drinks that have a burn to them (I drank a bottle of Prometheus Springs' Lemon Ginger earlier in the day) so I really enjoyed that aspect of the soda.

It also stains everything it comes in contact with blue. I'm not just talking like how Blow Pops stain your tongue blue. After I drank the bottle I looked in the mirror and my tongue appeared to have a thick layer of bright teal paint on it. It was completely solid looking. This drink did a better job painting my tongue than I did painting the walls of my bedroom.

Here is a final thought for you. I now believe that I could not find bottles of this anywhere because Mr. Brainwash of "Exit Through the Gift Shop" fame purchased all that he could find. He then pounded the lot of them and that is how he became insane. I think there's a documentary specifically about that. Seriously, it's streaming on Netflix right now.

I have a love/hate relationship with grapefruit. I really don't like it in fruit form. I have eaten pieces of grapefruit, but have never consumed a whole one. Even the pieces I ate, I didn't enjoy that much. Drinks and candy flavored like grapefruit, that's another story. I absolutely love them! Which is why I was drawn to this bottle. Also, the word "new" on a bottle is an exciting thing for us to see.

I honestly wasn't expecting much out of this, seeing as it looks like a generic citrus soda bottled by the folks at Pepsi. It's a little lighter tasting than Squirt, but it's nothing special. I'm holding out for a citrus/grapefruit soda that is really tart.

What is up with all of these political sodas? Leninade, Not See Kola, and now Red Cola. I had no idea that soda was such a strong propaganda tool. Imagine political leaders standing at the podium, giving their speeches. Instead of emphasizing with a fist, or a thumb gesture, the one in power shakes a bottle of soda. As the speech reaches its crescendo the bottle is opened and the built up carbonation sprays everywhere as cheers explode from the crowd.

It's has a pretty normal cola flavor with a bit of a burn to it. I didn't realize it at first, but the further I got into the bottle the more I felt it in my gut. I expected it to be a cherry cola from the name. You know a little wacky word play, but nope just straight up cola that has a red coloring to it.

I still don't really know what cola has to do with communism, but hey if it helps our proletariat brothers who am I to argue.

Last week was my girlfriend's birthday, so a bunch of us went out to a Greek restaurant. At the restaurant they had two different sodas made by the Ivi company. We picked up the carbonated lemonade variety. It has fairly obnoxious packaging. The label was obviously designed with Illustrator, which I am not a big fan of. Any art that looks like that is going to be so dated in ten years. Unfortunately it is everywhere nowadays. This specifically looks like it was designed to attract the interest of teenagers.

When I spent sometime in Europe I discovered that the people there have a love for carbonated lemonade. It's not something that you see very often in the U.S. Mostly it was pretty much just lemonade with sparkling water, a nice light beverage. This on the other hand is more of a soda. It tastes like a 7Up with way more lemon in it than there normally is. I enjoy it, but it's way thicker than I would have expected.


When I spent sometime in Europe I discovered that the people there have a love for carbonated lemonade. It's not something that you see very often in the U.S. Mostly it was pretty much just lemonade with sparkling water. A nice light beverage. This on the other hand is more of a soda. It tastes like a 7Up with way more lemon in it than there normally is. I enjoy it, but it's way thicker than I would have expected.

Try as I might, Arizona iced tea always reminds me of summer. Skating during the day, going to a show in the evening, and swimming at night. Cans and bottles of Arizona Iced Tea was my beverage of choice in-between and during each activity. That is how I spent many summers in Buffalo. Which is why Arizona iced tea= summer.

It has been a long time since I've had Arizona iced tea, and it's still good. Obviously it isn't the best iced tea out there, but it's just how i like it: sweet and fruit flavored. The only thing I wish is that this was made with cane sugar.

Dear members of the board, let's change the name of the company to "Texas Burst". Why? Well, because "Jersey's Best Drinks" isn't really as strong a name. You've got the "Texas", which is big and large and the "burst", which is flavorful, explosive, and tasty. "Jersey's Best Drinks" was a name given to us by that strange indie kid who used to listen to strange headbanging music on his headphones. Creative department. I took a design class at community college and think that I know a thing or two about design and creativity. Kids, what do they know? So, "Texas Burst" it is. No, John, it's not lying. We don't have to be in Texas to reference the name. It's not misleading at all John. Why are you always challenging me? Man, give it a break.

So flavors...how about something tropical? Mango? No. Pineapple? Yeah. Definitely. Something else...strawberry? Serious? John? Strawberries aren't tropical. Idiot. Watermelon. Nothing's more tropical than a good ol' watermelon. Done. Those two will be perfect together. What else? What?!? John...cane sugar? What are we? Made of money? Corn syrup will do just fine in this application. Let's get a nice big bottle, too. People love quantity over quality. Oh, and mark it down, too. Cheap, like sub dollar cheap. We're going to make a fortune.

When I was a child I had a fixation on the Loch Ness Monster. I thought it was one of the coolest things ever. I blame that Time Life "Mysteries of the Unknown" series that was all the rage at that period in our nation's history. Seriously, as an impressionable youth those books were incredible. I then found out about the local "legend" of the Lake Erie Monster. I may not ever get to Scotland (I did), but to have a lesser legend in your backyard is pretty great. Later on in life I found out about "Champ" the monster in Lake Champlain, but it wasn't until I got this soda that I heard about the monster in Flathead Lake in Montana. This definitely got me interested. The fact that I have been re-watching X-Files helps as well. I'm sure I'm going to spend a good deal of time reading about it this evening.

My girlfriend says this soda tastes like medicine. She says that about way too many things. I rarely agree. This is no exception. To me it tastes like an overly sweet carbonated white grape juice. Okay, maybe not white grape juice, since this is pretty syrupy. But it has that specific white grape flavor to it. Quite an accomplishment seeing as there is no actual grape juice in this.

My soda is done. This review is done. Let the sea monster research begin!

If there is one thing I've learned during my time on this planet, it is that you should never train a seal for the purposes of magic tricks. If you do so, it will inevitably don a bow tie and bite off your younger brothers hand. Sure he will get some prosthetic hands/claws, but he will spend the rest of his life screaming about how he's a "monster". It seems like the fine folks at Gosling knew that information as well. They kept their seal away from magic and let him balance some balls on his nose like every little seal dreams. I call him Stormy and he's a great little mascot. He also adorns a great looking can of soda.

The drink itself is also impressive. It has a great flavor that hits you right in the nose. Just like Stormy's ball will if you ever annoy him. There is a "ginger burn", but it's not out of control. While I do like the craziest of burns in my ginger beer, I understand that the majority of the public probably does not. The pain is decent, but it fades very quickly. That way it is more acceptable for the masses, unlike a one armed brother who has emotional issues as intense as the fiercest ginger beer.

I have never known a blueberry to be florescent blue, and I've known quite a few in my day. Most notably, I've known Blueberry Johnson. He was a wonderful gentleman who had an idea for a television show for kids called "Blueberry Muffins in the Morning with Blueberry Johnson." It was a great idea, but the executives just couldn't figure out a way for him to host the show, even though he literally looked exactly like a human blueberry. Tragically he ended his life when the show didn't work out for him. It was completely horrible. The important thing is that he was not neon blue, nor was his bodily fluids.

I don't know why there are so many beverages out there that look like windshield washer fluid when the fruits they are meant to taste like are a dark blue. Truth be told, this doesn't taste like blueberries at all. It's lemonade that has been over saturated with sweetener and a little bit of "fruity" flavor. There is no bitterness left at all in this bottle. It's a liquid candy. It has its place in the drink world. I do enjoy the way it tastes, but it's just not what I'm looking for in lemonade.

Today Dan, Tony and myself took a day trip up to Toronto to visit Soda Pop Central, which is the largest soda pop store in Canada. It was incredible we got a little out of control and spent way too much money on way too much pop. Afterward we stopped by Toronto for some veggie dogs from a street vendor (50 Toppings Guy for those in the know) and some other great veggie food.

On the way home we decided to open up this can of ICP "Energy Sauce" as it's called on the can. We had a good laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. It is a self-proclaimed can of "Frothy, Freaky Frosty, Refreshing Energy Freshness Can of Shazam!" How can anyone take that seriously? We drank it down and the laughter fell into a comfortable silence. The other two were staring out their widows while I was looking straight ahead as I drove. After a couple of minutes I hear Tony yell "What the hell!" I look over and he's in full clown face paint! I look to the back seat to get confirmation from Dan that this is in fact happening and he too is all painted up! From the look on their faces I quickly ascertained that I also had face paint on. We then noticed that absolutely terrible hip-hop about beating up rednecks and spreading love to "my ninjas" was playing out of the stereo. It was a truly terrifying experience. We had suddenly become Juggalos! We were in fact "Down with the clown." We tried to scrub it off, but it wouldn't go anywhere. After a couple hours it eventually faded away and Smashing Pumpkins came back on the stereo. Beware to all who want to try this drink. It is more powerful than you would ever expect.

Oh yeah it tastes like Red Bull with way more sugar added. Woot! Woot!

Soda pop is supposed to be a delight for children and adults alike. It's supposed to spread joy and wonderment to the masses. It's a sparkling sweetness that is meant to dance the Charleston on your taste buds. What it's not supposed to do is taste like vitamins. That's right, this tastes like a mixture of all natural and Flintstones chewable vitamins that were ground up with a pestle and mortar and poured into a bottle of carbonated sugar water. If Frostie was managed by a member of the Bluth family, they would have surely exclaimed, "I've made a huge mistake", in regards to this soda.

For too long fruit punch has been run by the more tropical areas of the world. Everfresh has decided it was time to put an end to this long running era of tyranny. Although they don't refer to it as such, this drink is a fruit punch for America. Peach, Plum, and Pear can all be found locally (locally meaning in the US) in abundance. They've managed to blend them all together in a way that creates a new flavor that tastes like home. If you search them out you can detect each individual flavor, but if you blindly down a bottle, it just tastes nice and fruity.

We normally don't review beverages that aren't already prepackaged. I made an official decision to make an exception for this review.

McDonald's is gross. I think everyone over the age of 10 knows that. Yet millions of people eat there daily. I don't get it. The last time I ate food from there was in 1995. I remember my friends wanted to go there after school and I got an order of fries. I can't even remember when I last ate one of their burgers. Even though I never eat the food, I still find myself sighing once a year as I walk through their doors. The Shamrock Shake is my weakness. Since I was a kid, I've been obsessed with them. As soon as winter looks like it might end, I get excited because I know this minty milkshake will be available soon.

I decided today that it was time for my yearly visit. On my way to the mall to pick up a birthday present for my lady-friend, and some jeans for myself, I made a pit stop to get a milkshake. The restaurant still looks and smells gross and the Shamrock Shakes are still wonderful. A nice thick vanilla milkshake with just the slightest bit of mint mixed in. It shouldn't be good, but it really is dreamy. They have also switched to a classier clear cup. Also, this year it comes with whipped cream and a cherry on top. Even better. If you want one, hurry up. They will only be available for a few more days.

This is ginger ale. It certainly is. There's no doubt about that. Nope. No question in my head that this is ginger ale. Faygo is no dumb dummy. If you ask them to make ginger ale, that's what they'll do. I reckon, though, that this ginger ale is pretty equal to other company's ginger ale. Go into your local grocery store and grab their knock-off brand of ginger ale and you'll see what I'm getting at. This isn't bad, but it's nothing special. I feel like a job well done is a job done well. This seems like it's the bare necessity of what makes a ginger ale good. It's probably easy to make, easy to keep consistent, and possibly/probably cheaper. I know someone is looking for a generic drink for things like mixers and parties where it's not the star player.

Faygo, I'm not dissing you. I am not in the position to dis, or give props, but I did rate your root beer pretty highly. I have nothing against you or the city of Detroit. Keep up the good work. Just step up your ginger ale game. Second to that would be to make your cane sugar versions easily accessible.

Dear Olde Brooklyn,
I marked this correspondence as private and personal, so I hope you took the proper precautions before opening it. I don't know how to tell you this without shocking your system, so I'll just come out with it. You have a spy in your product line. No, I don't mean a pointy nosed fella wearing all black or white. I'm talking about real deal espionage here. I would have called you, but I fear our phones may be tapped. This is serious business. Who knows how far their plants go into your company.

I blame the youth culture that has taken over the once fair neighborhood of "Billysburg." I believe they may have used their terrible sense of irony and love of PBR to work their way into your company. As far as I can tell, once they gained access to your factory, they found the barrels that you store your root beer in (Root beer is always stored in barrels right? Candy wouldn't lie to me!). They dumped out your supply of precious root beer and replaced it with root beer scented cola. While it may be a decent enough cola, and the little root beer that was left in the barrels flavored it slightly, it still clearly tastes like cola.

I can hear the sound of fixed gear bikes closing in on my office. I fear they may be on to me. I don't know what end these spies are working towards, but please use the knowledge I have passed onto you in whatever manner you see fit.

Sincerely,
I. M. Fletcher


ps. This message will self destruct in five seconds.

Beware cheap beverages with the price tag built into the design of the label. That is one thing I have learned from Thirsty Dudes. The only exception to this rule so far has been Arizona Iced Tea, but even most of them are on the low side of the tea spectrum. For the most part a cheap tea is still fairly decent. That same rule does not apply for soda. Cheap pop is just the pits. Towne Club Grape is a little better than most cheap soda, but not by much. It tastes like a syrupy version of melted grape freezie pops with a butt load of sugar added. I don't know who decided that this is what grapes taste like; because I can assure them they certainly do not.