Sugar - 840 Reviews

So I'm out hanging out with these guys I met at a They Might Be Giants concert in `96. Back then we were just kids, but now they have grown into full blown scientists. I know, it's not very shocking that TMBG fans would become scientists. Anyway I ran into them at this bar and we're out for the night if you know what I mean. Oh you don't, I mean they took me under their wing and we hit the bar trivia circuit and we hit it hard. These guys were maniacs, going for the gold in every saloon we entered. Around 2am, I started to falter. It was a long day and I'm not used to being up that late. Suddenly one of the guys passes me this can under the table and says it's the science energy drink. It's made from herbs and it helps to improve focus, motivation and drive, not just jack you up and give you the jitters like that gas station junk. I guess they had secretly been downing them all night. He said for me to sneak off to the bathroom and down it in the stall; it would help me to concentrate on the trivia.

So I do as he says, and I have to tell you I think the guys might have been playing a joke on me. You see the only thing this drink helped me focus on was how gross it tasted. As soon as I popped the can the air was filled with what I can only describe as a sour coffee smell. Actually I can tell you that it smells exactly like someone spilled an entire iced coffee all over them and then went into Subway to clean it up. That weird non-bread bread smell and old gross coffee have no business mingling together, yet that is what I feel is happening in my nasal passage. I was disgusted and I hadn't even tasted it yet.

Once I finally managed to bring myself to drink it the old coffee flavor was definitely there, but unfortunately it wasn't alone. It brought along some friends. It tasted like what I imagined green tea soda from a gun at a bar would taste like; fake, watered down and syrupy all at the same time. Oh did I mention that the tea was very heavily flavored with ginseng? You know that root that tastes just like dirt? So we have all of that mixed together, and it might not have been all that terrible, but then hidden underneath it all was this weird fruity flavor that derailed any hope for a decent drink. Oh top off all that it was harsh on the throat.

I drank as much of the can as I could stand and then I realized that this night wasn't even fun. I just got swept up in the glamor of science, and why was I paying for all the drinks? I slam dunked the can in the trash and left by the back door. Remember as a rule, don't trust They Might Be Giants fans who only like the goofy educational songs.

With a name like Sprizz-O for a beverage that boasts to be “Juice & Seltzer Water” I would expect simplicity. In my head its creation would go something along the lines of putting juice in a glass and adding just a spritz of seltzer water to give it some carbonation. That it's that's all that would go into it, and you know what it would be great. Sure in this instance it would be sour because of the grapefruit juice and a tad bitter because of the seltzer water, but it would be pure and simple. It would be something to embrace. Unfortunately, most of the world would not share in my jubilation for such a beverage, and Sprizz-O knows it. As a result they included sugar into the mix to tame the sour/bitter taste that nature had intended.

I can't blame them. They are a business and I'm sure they will sell way more bottles this way instead of the way I envisioned. To be fair they also only added minimal sugar (9g), and you still get most of the sourness from the grapefruit. They added just enough to take a bit of the edge off. It's not ideal for one such as me, but it's close enough that I can't complain. So ignore everything I wrote previously. This is a great sparkling beverage that more people should replace their normal soda intake with.

Where is the classic bottle? I feel cheated that I am drinking a Pop Shoppe soda that is not in a “stubbie” bottle. Look at our other reviews if you don't know what I'm talking about. Growing up 10 minutes from Canada, Pop Shoppe played a role in my childhood and their iconic bottles were a big part of it. Actually it was more likely College Club from Rochester, NY just using their bottles after Pop Shoppe closed down in '83, but my memories are the same. My friends and I would walk down to the store, pay our quarter each and grab a bottle from the cooler. Inevitably one of us would not open the bottle with the opener at the store, and forget that it didn't have a twist off cap, so far too much time would be devoted to trying to get the bottle open on a curb or something. We were kids, we were dumb…€¦.wait I opened a bottle on a curb just last week. Okay, so I may be an adult now, but I'm still dumb apparently. My point is those bottles were a big part of the Pop Shoppe charm. Their sodas generally fall on the better side of average (read: store brand), but the fact that they come in glass bottles makes them seem more legit.

I'll try to put my bottle envy in check to review this. Flat out, it's a strange root beer. It has a slight medicinal taste to it, and it makes me think that someone mixed a bottle of root beer with a bottle of Moxie. It makes me feel like it would be the kind of root beer that would be sold from the back of wagons in the old west. I don't really think that happened, but in my dreams it did, and you have no jurisdiction over my dreams. It also has a fairly strong wintergreen flavoring to it. Somehow after all of that it is still creamy. I don't hate it. In fact I find it fairly interesting. If all root beers tasted the same this planet would be an even more boring place to live.

I think it might be a stone cold fact that every American elderly woman who was a grandmother in the late 80's/early 90's drank Red Rose tea. Mine certainly did and everyone I've questioned about it came back with an affirmative response. Red Rose ruled the tea world at that time, and as an added bonus, the boxes came with little animal (Wade) figurines, which were nice for the grandchildren; everyone was a winner.

As I drank this tea all I could think of was Red Rose. This tastes exactly like how my grandmother's tea would taste cold. It's a nice black tea with a bit of sugar in it. It's actually probably about a spoonful. This is a nice genuine tea. It's not particularly fancy, but it's just black tea and sugar with a little citric acid in it. I've had many a cup of tea in my life from all sorts of companies, and this has the very specific Red Rose taste. I had other try this to confirm my thoughts and we all agreed. So where …€˜s my little figurine?

I was hanging out the other night. You know just sitting around with some friends having a nice relaxing evening, when my friend Jay tosses me this drink and says it's for review on my blog. After several minutes of me berating him and telling him it's not a blog, it's a fully functional database that was coded by Mike and runs off of a database, I thanked Hova for the drink that he had made named after his chain of sports bars, which are in turn names after the baseball term for people who have gotten over 40 home runs and stolen bases in a single season. What, you're not close and personal friends with Jay Z? well I guess everyone can't be or else he would have no time to sit around listening to the new Morrissey album with me and discussing how it seems like he's just parodying himself at this point.

As far as the tea goes, I'm a fan. It's a slightly different take on an Arnold Palmer. It's black tea with a bunch of lemon in it (it doesn't taste like cleaner), but there is also a bit of citrus in there that reminds me of a mellower version of Sweet Leaf's Citrus Tea. It's on the sweeter side of teas, but the flavors involved lean towards that, so I have no qualms with it.

This isn't your typical iced tea in taste or experience. When you scan the bottle with your smart phone it unlocks a world of information about the clubs and sportsmen. I personally wasn't able to test it out, but that's what Jay tells me, and I'm not about to call him a liar. Maybe he's a bit of a no it all, but not a liar. Me? Oh, I'm the one who is the liar. The only time I saw Jay was at a football stadium in Washington DC. I was waiting for The Cure to play and he was on stage doing his thing. We were a field away from each other, but in that moment he placed all of that information into my brain.

Like many of us, from time to time you have probably found yourself wondering what exactly happened to the river of psychomagnotheric slime from Ghostbusters 2. Sure Vigo was using it as a power source, but after we was blasted back into the painting and drained of his powers, what happened to the slime?

Well the truth of the matter is that the slime was a bit of a problem for the city. As you know it fed off of emotions, and being such an angry city (at least while Lady Liberty herself isn't walking around blasting feel good tunes), it was only a matter of time before the city destroyed itself. Not wanting that to occur officials loaded it up into thousands of tanker trucks and shipped it off to Chicago, without them knowing. Hey, if a city is going to destroy itself it might as well be in the Midwest, right? A weird thing happened though, Chicago's love of food and sweets somehow changed the river of slime into a river of salted caramel, which can be seen on this bottle's label. Strange times indeed.

The Cicero company dips into this river from time to time when they want to make root beer. They put just a dab into each bottle and it flavors it right up. There's already caramel in a lot of darker sodas and the addition of the “slime” really amped it up. Luckily it's not overly salted. Wouldn't a really salty soda be the worst thing ever? Can you imagine your disappointment? There's a bit of salt in here, but it's not over the top. In reality this just makes me think of pretzels. Actually, I want some really bad. A bag of pretzels and a bottle of this would pair up for the perfect Midwest snack.

I'm not the world's biggest caramel guy, so I admit that I couldn't finish this entire bottle, but if you are a lover of that specific form of sugar, this has your name written all over it. Especially if your name is Vigo of Gozer.

Oh what a different world we live in when things are backwards. Lemon & lime soda is very boring and I don't know a single person whose first choice it would be. Switch those two around and you got something. The science behind this is that lemons are boring and don't actually taste very good, even though “big lemon” has been trying to convince the world otherwise for decades. Limes on the other hand aren't just unripe lemons; they are their own fruit with a wonderfully bold flavor. This energy drink is most definitely heavier on the green instead of the yellow, and the result is an energy drink that is quite enjoyable and the opposite of boring. It definitely has the candied chemical classic energy drink undertones, but the lime is right there in your face like a mojito, minus the mint. There is also some lemon in there, but it's finally taking the back seat it has always deserved, but whined so much that it got shotgun. Dive in folks, the water is fine.

Oh that summer heat. James just couldn't deal with it. His 1988 Honda Accord was once nice but now is held together with hope and rust. He is a traveling salesman whose sales of motor homes on an island aren't what they used to be. He was once the best salesman on the west of the island but it seems that everyone had already bought one and there was no one left. He looked back fondly of the days where he bought that Accord in cash and had enough for a steak dinner that night. Now it's nothing but pasta and rice. Why was he still there? There were plenty of other jobs he could do and make enough to at least get him out of the rut that he was in.

One hot and humid summer day he had to take a stop from going in between towns. He stopped at a gas station to get something to drink and they were stocked with ice cold pop. He saw the orange and his hand just grabbed it. It was like the kid in him made him reach out and take it. To be a child on the island was a simpler time. All you had to do was go to school and then come home and the rest of the day was yours. No responsibility. No tasks. Nothing. You could just hang out with your friends and drink pop on the way to go to the movies and then get ice cream. As an adult, though, James was plagued with things like payments for his child's braces, water bills, and lawn mowing. He needed to mentally get back to what it was like to be a kid. One sip and he remembered it all. He sat down on a bench outside the station and drank almost the whole bottle. It tasted like simple, basic, everyday orange pop. It's what he would drink on hot summer days while sitting around with his friends not doing much of anything.

Just then his phone rang and it was Doctor Clemens asking him to sell him a new motor home. Today would be James' day at last. His day in the blistering sun.

Children, as lovable as they are, can be some of the most annoying creatures to ever crawl across this planet. To begin with, as soon as you pop one out you have given up most of your personal freedoms for at least 15 or so years. The nights out that you took for granted when you were younger are a thing of the past, unless you want to shell out some cash for a babysitter, which in my social circle is rare. On top of that are the messes and constant fear that they will do something dumb and badly hurt themselves. Even beyond all of that is the never ending curiosity. I'm all for learning and growth, but when kids get to the age where they respond to every explanation with, “Why?” I was to punt them off of a bridge. If you were to feed those same curious little ones a bunch of coffee and their questioning became somehow even more frequent, I can assure you that would start asking you, “Whynatte?” Then even the most loving parent would be drop kicking their children into ravines all over the US.

The thing is that if children were to like coffee, this would probably be what they would enjoy the most. It's milky and even though there are only 9g of sugar in it, it's pretty sweet (without being a cavity factory) due to the combination of sugar and sucralose. It still has a coffee flavor in it, but in the way that coffee iced cream does. It's become a treat instead of just a way to kick start your morning. To be honest I'm right there with the kids. If I were to drink coffee this is the kind of thing I would want. The unsweetened, black stuff is just not for me. This transforms that flavor into something that I find enjoyable, but it doesn't taste cheap like a lot of canned coffee.

I still don't advise giving into the constant Whynattes. Those rug rats really don't need this coffee, and neither does your sanity.

Just look at the face of any father when his son or daughter says he is getting married to someone who truly sucks and you will see the face of someone who just took a sip of this iced tea. "Dad, I'm marrying Tabitha." you say to your daddy who takes a moment to remember the totally and unfortunately forgettable Tabitha. This is the same Tabitha who has shirts with wildlife on it and loves to read fantasy novels. This is the same Tabitha who works "really hard" at her father's hot dog restaurant but, regardless of being a blood relative, just doesn't have what it takes to be "management material."

A sweet tea from New Orleans shouldn't have the same bite as a Lipton Brisk from God knows where. These people from Louisiana must picket day and night trying to get Luzianne to shut down production on this disgusting line of "sweet tea" that can only be described as "sweet tea" when in quotes both in print and in person by way of air quotes. Saying "It's like Brisk but a little better." is like saying you have "the good cancer."

Many times in my life I have forgotten how much I love grapes. It's a well-known fact that most things that are grape flavored resemble the fruit about as much as infants love chewing tobacco. Is that the most random comparison of all time? I think it just might be. The thing is that the trouble with grape doesn't end there. On top of being defamed by impersonators, there is a decent chance that when you eat a grape you're going to get a crappy soggy one; such a disappointing treat. When you get a good one though, life is good. A nice firm, juicy grape can go a long way with one's taste buds.

This here drink is a good middle ground between juice and drink. It's what all grape flavored things should aspire to be. Sure it would be much better if it was just grape juice with chunks of grape “meat” in it, but we all know that would be expensive, and also probably too tart for most consumers. To solve this conundrum Wei Chuan watered it down a bit, and then added a healthy dose of sugar. The result is a candied grape flavor, which isn't nearly as bad as it sounds. If were carbonated it would be the best grape soda I've ever tasted. Instead it winds up being a better than average grape drink. To be fair if it didn't have the chunks of grape in it, I probably would have only awarded it a three out of five bottle rating, but the meat is great. It's very similar in texture, size and flavor to aloe drinks. Everyone knows I can't get enough of those.

Between Filberts and Green River one would be led to believe that Chicago has it rough when it comes to sodas. Those are two companies that are as bland as bland can be. Don't feel bad for the windy city though, as it is a large place and there is more than enough room for a plethora of different soda companies. For every Filbert there is a Berghoff. For every Green River there is a Capone Family Secret. For every…€¦actually I only know of two bad soda companies from Chicago, so I'm stuck with nothing to counter the greatness of Cicero with.

Let's start by saying that this is not your typical cherry cola. I know you've all had a Cherry Coke or Pepsi before, and they are a nice change of pace. This is a different beast though. It has a nice classic cola flavor to it, but the cherry is something out of the ordinary. It must be a Midwest thing because it reminds me a lot of the Sprecher Cherry Cola. The cherry is very strong and leaves you with a slightly weird aftertaste that I always associated with the Sprecher being fire roasted. I have no idea if Cicero prepares their sodas the same way, but they taste great, and you'll hear no complaints from this side of the table.

Does this bottle contain the secret to Mariah Carey's reported five octave vocal range? Is this a recreation of the potion she got from an old witch near a lake house while she was riding a tire swing? If it is the concoction doesn't work without some properly placed spell words, because I still can't sing correctly in on octave, let alone five.

One thing I can certainly say is that this tastes just like hone…€¦wait no that's night right. It does taste exactly like how I would imagine magical butterflies to taste though, and that is like some sort of berry Wonka candy. I mean that in the best possible way. I absolutely love this drink. It tastes like a tropical berry energy drink without the garbage that keeps me up all night with the shakes. There is even sucralose in here, which is normally the kiss of death for any drink, and it doesn't bother me at all, probably because there's so little of it. There's still 42g of sugar in this bottle. That's two servings of 21g of sweet, sweet gold.

Normally things that are overly sweet just aren't my bag these days. This really gets me though. It's got me feeling emotions. In fact they are deeper than I've ever dreamed of. Get me a convertible, a case of these drinks and let's celebrate the summer.

Welp, the Thirsty Dudes have sold out. Jay reviewed 7Up and I'm reviewing Pepsi. All that street cred that we once had is out the window. Out the window like a finished apple on a highway. Out the window like Axel Foley after getting too personal with one Victor Maitland, famed and loved art dealer.

Since we're cashing in our chips, we might as well go full bore and say the following; this is great. I really liked it. Classic cola taste, like from when you were a kid and pop was really good. It's that mixed with the calm, smooth taste of vanilla. I don't know why (the reason is probably money and greased palms) that they don't use real sugar as it is noticeably better. This is something you could share with your toothless grandpappy if you feel like sitting and talking about things like "malt shops" and "sock hops." The Fourties. Boring.

This only has two ingredients, three if you're going to be a jerk and count "citric acid" as an ingredient. That's all that is in here. In many previous reviews I mention that is all that is needed to make the perfect sweet tea. So why is this so boring? I don't like the taste of it. It's black tea and you can taste it. Credit where credit is due. The sugar and/or the citric acid make this drink taste like mass produced junk. It's real sugar. I don't get it. So close. Something in this drink sucks. The drink doesn't suck but there is a weak link in here bringing it down. It's the inverse of the kid that gets high grades in a weighted test and screws the rest of the kids by being good. That kid is at an Ivy League college during the making of this drink and you're stuck with solid "C" students. Read a book, you idiots.

While Philadelphia may be the trash can of the United States its inhabitants sure know what they are doing when it comes to food and drink. Before you get all offended, please present your counter argument, but know that I have been to the city more than two dozen times, in many different neighborhoods and there has not been a single visit where I did not witness a decent amount of trash being blown around. I always have a good time there, but it is the dirtiest city I have ever visited. Let's wash those visions of garbage away and think about the good things like soft pretzels, (vegan) cheesesteaks, peanut chews, Wawa iced tea and of course Hank's soda.

Hank's root beer has been a staple of my Philly trips for years, and now they have expanded their reach into the world of iced teas. Normally I would say that they needn't have bothered with the existence of Wawa and their delicious teas, but I'm pretty sure Hanks took the mighty mini-mart into consideration and went for more unusual flavors. As much as I love Wawa, you're not going to see a cucumber watermelon tea in their line. This is where I think hanks will find its new market and thrive.

When the days are hot such as these, a good melon or cucumber drink is always what is needed to hit the spot, when you get tired of lemonade. A combination of the two is a dream for some. I just happen to be included in that some. The watermelon in here is nice, as it actually tastes a bit like the summer treat and not like a Jolly Rancher aka the candy that nearly destroyed the fruits entire reputation. I could use a bit stronger cucumber flavor, as it's really only there in the aftertaste. It's still better than nothing though.

My only suggestions are that I believe this would have worked much better with a green or white tea. I'm just tired of black iced tea. It tastes so standard. There's really nothing wrong with it, and I'm sure in six months I'll be on a black tea kick again, but at the moment all I can think of is lemon tea, and that's not what I want to think of with this.

Also, there are three sweeteners in this game; sugar, agave nectar and Rebiana. I made it through about half the bottle before the stevia started to show itself. I think that's only because it started to warm up a bit. Even when it's there it's not very strong and doesn't distract from the beverage much. I understand why it's included, but I am the type of tea drinker that would rather have less sugar than to have a zero calorie one included. Tea doesn't need to be very sweet (if at all).

Like the benefactor in the Dickens' classic I had great expectations for this beverage. While all of my hopes and dreams were not met, I feel this it was worth my time, and with some tweaking I think that future flavors in this line could do great things for the convenient stores of the north east.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm here today to discuss a very important topic with you, the death of the mango. You see for the last 10-15 years mango has been everywhere in the beverage world. At first it was a wonderful thing having such a glorious fruit flavor readily available, but then the quality began to slip, the same way that it had in the past for orange, grape and the beloved cherry. People were tricked into thinking that a weird artificial flavor was an acceptable substitute and people have come to believe that this flavor is what this great fruit really tastes like.

We are here to ask for donations to help revive the reputation of the mango. We need to make people aware that this is not a cheap tasting flavor. That it is strong and robust and truly wonderful. We are not asking for direct donations, we are simply asking you to only buy beverages that have real mango in them. Kicking this off we are pleased to unveil the newest product from Peace Tea; Viva Mango.

This is made with real mango puree as well as apple, orange and pineapple juice. While this is better than a lot of mango flavored beverages on the market, it does miss its mark a bit. The apple and the orange juice take away from the robustness of the mango. That causes the natural flavor to be watered down, or juiced down if you want to be fair. It doesn't so much taste like those juices, as it just tastes like weaker mango. Ideally they would have been left out and this would have just been mango puree with a splash of pineapple juice thrown in for good measure.

As I said, this is a step in the right direction, but the added ingredients, which I assume were used to lower the price point, distract from this potentially wonderful juice drink. Let the mango live people. Let it live!

This feels like some sort of riddle; what do you get when you mix mediocre coconut water with espresso? A mixture I could take or leave that also has milk in it for some reason. Really though, why is the milk here? Isn't the coconut water supposed to act as the milk like substance? It's as if they combined espresso, chocolate and milk to create a normal mocha drink, and then watered it down with coconut water. It's like the coconut water was more of an afterthought rather than an integral part of the creating process.

For those of you out there, like me, who are not huge coffee fans, this has a bearable coffee flavoring. Unfortunately the chocolate isn't as strong as I would like it to be. Coco Cafè came out with a similar product a while ago and they achieved what this was reaching for and missed.

Swamp Pop may be my current favorite soda company going these days. They take classic soda flavors and mix them up with a Louisiana twist. Oh you want a cola, how about we throw some figs into the mix? That cream soda you so desperately crave? Well you're not getting that until we add in some pralines. This is the flavor I have been saving for a rainy day, or a perfectly nice day when I'm sitting around a fire at night. With embers a blazing I cracked open the cap of the combination I feel I have been waiting for all my life; ginger ale and cucumber. People always laugh at me when I rant about my love of cucumber beverages. They are fools who don't understand that it is the most refreshing flavor of all times. It is both crisp and cool, which is just what you need on a hot balmy day.

This soda is named after the local “gentlemen pirate” Jean Lafitte, who basically ran the Gulf of Mexico during the 18th century. The man did it all; bootlegging, smuggling, spy work, and he even worked as a wartime defender under General Andrew Jackson. All of those activities have to take a lot out of a person so I can only imagine him kicking back after a long day of raiding ships and sipping on a bottle of this soda. I assure you that he would in fact be sipping and not chugging, as that is the sort of pop this is. You want to mull over the flavor in your mouth, letting it wash over your taste buds with each sip.

This is much sweeter than I anticipated, but it feels right in its level of sugar. The folks of the south like their sugar, as is evident with sweet tea, and that has been translated here. It's a ginger ale that you can taste the ginger in. It has the slightest of burns to it, but nothing that a small child couldn't handle. So as a base you have a nicely sweet, slightly hot ginger ale. What better way to improve that than by cooling it down with some cucumber? With that addition you have near perfection. It is also a flavor that instantly makes me think of Louisiana, heat, humidity and how to make it all bearable.

This is the last day that I'm working in this office. I'm excited. Bigger and better things. Same job, same position, different office. On my last day here, I got a decent sandwich from a gas station I frequent and this little drink. The sandwich took forever, I was reminded why the lady behind the counter blows, and kissed that place goodbye for a while.

This drink, unlike that turd behind the counter, wasn't half bad. It tasted like blueberry and lacked the crud that acai often brings with it. It had a little bit of the bitterness from the Erythritol and coffee fruit but not enough for it to be penalized.

Goodbye gas station. Hello energy.