Derek Neuland - 489 Reviews

Spring is here. Well, I hope it is. In Buffalo you never know. It could snow tomorrow and no one would be surprised. But for now, I am really enjoying this frozen lemonade. It's not as sour as I had hoped, but I'm sure they have to appease with those who like mild lemonade.

There's not much else to say about this. It's refreshing and light, and good for a warm day like today.

I'm not a big fan of powdered drinks. They are hit or miss in my eyes, but usually a miss. Finding this box at Big Lots (where drinks go to die) didn't make me too excited to try it. But I have to, for science.

When the first ingredient is sugar, you know it's downhill from there. This taste like watered down orange Gatorade and Sunny D. As far as the energy portion goes, I guess it works but the taste is so bland that I'm not very inclined to drink more than a few sips of this so I doubt I'll get the desired "energy". All I can think of now is that I have several more of these tubes of powder, as well as a 2nd flavor, and I'm trying to decide what to do with them. You know those dumb kids who use to snort pixie sticks? I wonder if now that energy powder like this exists they are trying that.

Excuse my ignorance because I've never done it, but wouldn't snorting an energy drink powder be similar to cocaine? I wonder if head shops that sell "legal drug substitutes" would sell this.

This ain't your grandma's loganberry. This, my friends, is the first carbonated loganberry drink. It was hard to avoid loganberry as a kid growing up in Western New York. It seemed like every corner store and restaurant had one of those continuously flowing glass loganberry dispensers next to the soda fountains. I know I would drink a tall glass of the insanely sugary drink easily as a kid, but I wouldn't even dare to do so now. I recently came across some in a fountain and found the flavor nostalgic, but the drink to be too thick with sweetener.

When I heard the news of a sparkling loganberry drink hitting the shelves at Tops this past weekend, I was expecting it to be a loganberry soda. To my surprise when I picked up the 4-pack, I noticed they used pure cane sugar as a sweetener instead of high fructose corn syrup that is usually in loganberry. I wanted to drink a bottle on the way home but I resisted so we could all try it together when we recorded a podcast with Buffalo Eats later that evening.

Was it worth the wait? Most definitely! While this is a sparkling drink, it's very lightly carbonated which is really nice. The cane sugar also makes it very light and lets the loganberry flavor shine through. All my life I've been drinking loganberry that was drowning in corn syrup, so it's nice to finally be able to taste loganberry for what it is. The light and fruity taste reminds me a lot of Izze drinks, or HotLips soda.

I think this drink has a little something for everyone. If you grew up on loganberry, you need to try this. If you've never liked loganberry because it was too sweet, pick up a bottle and see if you like this because it's much different that any loganberry you've ever tasted.

Hawaiian Punch energy drink. I don't know how else to describe it because that is exactly how it tastes. Instead of reading me ramble incoherently, you should listen to The Best Show right now because they are having a fundraiser tonight and those shows are always entertaining: http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/BS

It's been a while since I've had a bottle of Ramune. I had forgotten how hard it is sometimes to push that marble down. Or perhaps I'm just getting weak/old. I bought this bottle on our last trip to the Asian market because I love the little face on the bottle. It looks happy because of the smile, but it's almost a mischievous look. It's as if he's saying, "go ahead, drink this... I DARE you." Maybe I've been watching too much of The Office, but he kind of reminds me of Dwight.

Actually, that is the perfect analogy to this drink. Lychee is great so you think this soda is going to be great. Then you see the mischievous character on the label and you start to second guess yourself. Then you turn it around and notice there is high fructose corn syrup in it and you think to yourself "I thought only Americans used that awful sweetener?" Then the marble is really difficult and gives you a really hard time. So by the time you finally taste it, it's delicious but you're really scared that it might actually be poison.

This drink is Dwight K. Schrute. If only it was beet flavored.

I have been sitting here for 10 minutes drinking this white grape tasting energy drink trying to think of clever plays on "Amp" but I'm coming up empty handed. I'm going to blame the Sabres because they're not playing that great right now despite firing their coach. At least this drink tastes decent for an energy drink. Somehow it tastes more like a juice energy drink, despite not containing a drop of real juice. Why can't more diet energy drinks taste this good? It would make diet drinks have a better name.

Apparently this is supposed to be a morning drink so you can 'kick start your day'. So it's competing against coffee and energy drinks essentially, two things I love and definitely drink a lot. When I first heard about this new drink from Mountain Dew, I thought it was just going to either be a repackaging of their energy drink Amp, or a slightly modified version of Mountain Dew Livewire. At least that was what I was expecting when I tried it.

Those who hate energy drinks will be pleased to hear that this is nothing like them taste wise. And despite high fructose corn syrup being the second ingredient, it's not syrupy like a soda. It has a consistency closer to sparkling juice, but with much more sugar (and caffeine). It's not quite as refreshing as most sparkling juices I've had, but it's definitely easier to drink than soda. As far as the orange taste goes, it's closer to orange soda than orange juice.

So will this drink replace coffee and energy drinks? Maybe for some people but it's not a groundbreaking drink. But that is also coming from someone who loves coffee and energy drinks so I'm probably not their target demographic.

Mountain Dew Code Red used to be my go-to soda. I probably bought a bottle every day I went to high school for a couple years. The problem was I over did it and I got sick of something I used to love. They don't make it obvious anymore, but Pepsi/Mountain Dew makes AMP Energy. It really shows with this flavor because it tastes like someone pour an energy drink into a bottle of Code Red. For those who have never had Code Red before: a. what is your problem? and b. it tastes like a really syrupy cherry soda with a citrus kick in the aftertaste. With the energy drink component in this, the kick is extra strong.


While writing this review I realized I hadn't seen an Amp Energy commercial in a while so I went to youtube to see if I could find any. While I found one featuring Buffalo Sabres goalie Ryan Miller hurling insults at another goalie in some weird underground insult competition, the majority of the videos were of 8-12 year old kids chugging AMP Energy drinks. I knew there were some dark corners of youtube that didn't have funny cat videos or Rebecca Black parodies, but I didn't think there would be adolescent boys in their backyard shotgunning energy drinks in hopes that the video will become viral/impress their friends.

I wonder why this company didn't try and get some Spider Man 3 sponsorship when that movie was coming out. It would have been perfect and tons of comic nerds (like myself) would have bought it just for the bottle. It would have been a lot better than the Spencer Gifts all over print looking snake eye they have on the bottle.

It's a pretty tasty energy drink. Nothing I'd run out and get again, but it tastes like sugary purple drink. It definitely tastes better than it looks.

Good things come in small cans. That sounds like some tagline for drink company X that ended up on the editing floor. I imagine Bob thought of the tagline on the way to work after days of emails that yielded no good ideas. He was probably so excited and couldn't wait to get to work for the first time in 20 years. He gave hints to his co-workers before the 9:30 meeting that he had a great idea.

The problem was he built it up so much that when they heard the mediocre tagline, they passed on it. He was devastated and always told the story over drinks with friends.

I almost forgot that I hadn't reviewed this drink yet. It's delicious is what I was trying to get at. It's really light and crisp and full of mango flavor. If it weren't so full of sugar I would drink these all the time.

What's the perfect drink while you're holed up in your house during a snowstorm? If you said hot chocolate you are wrong. Today my vote goes for this iced tea. It's already warm inside my house so I needed something cool and refreshing that reminds me that spring is only a couple months away.

I'm pretty sure this is my first green tea/coconut half and half and I really hope it's not my last. It's really good and crisp and refreshing and probably a bunch of other positive adjectives.

Have you ever heard the Patton Oswalt bit he does about an open mic he hosted in Toronto? Well it is relevant to this review since the guy he talks about in the bit is named Dr. Pepper. You know what, do yourself a favor and listen to/watch the bit:



Sadly this can of Diet Dr. Pepper isn't as funny as that. It's not as bad as most diet sodas, but it's also not as good as most other varieties of Dr. Pepper. At least we got to hear a funny bit from Patton Oswalt right?

UGH! That is what I exclaimed when I first took a sip of this. I have enjoyed all the other Monster Rehab drinks, but this is borderline undrinkable. It tastes like someone was potting a plant next to it and accidentally got some of the soil inside. They tried to filter all the soil out, but the taste was still there and they just hoped no one would notice.

Well I noticed and it sucks. I hate wasting drinks but I can't even take a third sip.

With a name like 'Royalty', I was expecting this to be a fancy ginger beer. Okay, maybe not THAT fancy since I got it for $1.30 at Spice Bazaar, but still. If ginger beer were as common as cola or root beer, I would call this a 'classic tasting ginger beer'. Mike and Jay will probably know what I mean since they are some of the few humans who have tasted around the same amount of ginger beer as I have. With that I'm saying that it has a good ginger taste, but a very minimal burn. While I prefer a good burn with ginger beer, this is still pretty tasty.

When people make a blanket statement and call all soda "sugar water", I immediately want to cry out and tell them about all the amazing sodas I have had that are far from sugar water.

Then I had this soda, and understood what they meant. There is barely any raspberry flavor in this Windex looking soda. Liquid Jolly Ranchers at it's worst. I thought this was going to be a sweet treat for myself, but I was sadly disappointed.

First impression: this can looks like a "fancy" designer t-shirt you would find at a flea market for $9.99. Also, (much like the Monster Cuba-Lima) this can is textured, adding to the weird image I have of a 11 year old wannabe gangsta from the suburbs exclaiming "Whoa, that can matches my shirt!" which his mom bought him in the boys section of JC Penny. The name of this drink also seems like something said kid (let's call him Chad) would have made up 2 years prior as he was watching Power Rangers Ninja Storm.

Of course Chad will deny he made up his own Power Ranger named Zero Ultra when he's drinking this, even if he secretly still has the cover he drew of Zero Ultra Comics #1 in his closet. Six months from now he will also stop wearing this weird patterned shirt that matches this because his "cooler" friend will say it isn't cool anymore. But at least Chad had a moment where he was a trendsetter and Monster was behind on the times for once.

It's a shame the can and name of this drink are so bad because the drink is actually really good. It tastes like a Squirt snow cone. It's smooth and refreshing, and isn't as sweet as most energy drinks. My advice to Monster: keep making the textured cans, but design the cans better.

I decided I need/want to get into better shape. I'm not going to lie, I'm a chubby dude. I can only blame the beverages from this site so much (seeing as both the other 'dudes' have reviewed much more than me and still weigh much less than me). And no, this is not a "new years resolution" because I joined a gym 2 months before New Years. I just decided today to start getting serious about it.

I did yoga for the first time in a while today and I came to the conclusion that I need something better than pajamas to work out in. So after dinner today, Jenna and I went to Old Navy because I had a gift card from X-mas. I proceeded to purchase 2 different kinds of workout pants and a pair of mesh shorts to workout in.

Did you know Old Navy sells drinks? I've passed by the cooler several times but have never given it more than a half glance. Today they had a decent selection of Jones soda and I had never seen this one so I grabbed it without thinking on the way to the counter. I guess that's how they get you.

Like I expected, this is basically a cream soda with a strong vanilla taste. Even though I'm pretty used to diet soda fake sugars, this has a chemically aftertaste that I don't like. So close Jones, so close.

It's exciting when Village Beer Merchant updates their tap list and posts it to Facebook. Every time, I click "read more" and scroll down to the bottom to see if they have a new soda. Last week, it read "Apple Cinnamon Soda". It makes sense. It's a very winter-esque soda. I feel like it may be a little more appropriate during the fall, but I'm not picky.

It took a little bit of time but I finally made it over there today to get my growler filled with this delicious sounding soda. I have never had an apple cinnamon soda, and as far as I know neither has Mike or Jay. So this first sip was an adventure. I was expecting this to taste like apple cider with carbonation.

Was I right? Nope. It tastes like apple pie filling with extra cinnamon. Not classic mom made apple pie, more so the sugar filled ones you can get at any gas station for 99 cents. While it's not what I was expecting, I really like it. The cinnamon has a nice kick to it and is similar (but not as intense) as a good ginger burn. Village Beer Merchant/Flying Bison did it again, good job!

It's been a while since I've had an aloe drink. Not because I haven't been in the mood for them, I really have. The reason I've been without them is we have reviewed most of the ones I have come across in the last few months. Then I found this wonderful chunky drink at an Asian supermarket.

Korea really knows their aloe drinks. This is delicious with a nice tart pomegranate taste. I wish it had more chunks of aloe, but you can't win them all. So I bow to you, all mighty Aloe Vera King.

I went over to my Mom's house a couple months ago and she was drinking this green algae like drink. I was puzzled because the only things I ever see her drinking is iced coffee or diet soda. When I inquired about it, she started going on about how it's this amazing Matcha drink and it's better than coffee. I tried it and it tasted good, so she sent me home with a few packets.

I finally got around to trying it out myself. The green powder doesn't really mix with water very well. It felt like I was stirring it for a good 3 minutes and I am still finding little chunks in it as I'm drinking. The taste though, just as I remembered, is incredible. It's a lot like the green smoothie drinks that Bolthouse and Naked sells, but not as thick and more fruit flavors in it. I can't pinpoint any, but the website for this says it's made with pomegranates and blueberries mixed with the matcha (which is a type of green tea).

Before I started drinking this I was feeling a bit sleepy, but I'm halfway through the glass and I'm already feeling more awake. I'm glad my mom gave me a few packets so it will hold me over until I have a chance to buy some more.