JACKSON HOLE SODA CO. STRAWBERRY RHUBARB, Soda Pop Review

I loved the Jackson Hole Soda Company’s High Mountain Huckleberry. It was really fruity without the syrupy sweetness. This one had to be good too, although strawberry is really easy to make too sweet. I’m cautious.

Cool label, once again. No photo for this one.

The first sniff is promising. Enough strawberry, but not too sweet.

The sip is good. Yes, folks, we have another winner. Got balance of fruit and sweetness. It’s full and complex and fruity.

Wait for the aftertaste and there it is, even better than the sip.

It’s like your whole mouth is filled with fresh strawberries.

Wow, this one is very good. I’ll be buying this one again. Yes, I will.

Posted in Soda Pop |

FENTIMANS TRADITIONAL VICTORIAN LEMONADE, Soda Pop Review

FENTIMANS TRADITIONAL VICTORIAN LEMONADE

How can anything that’s named “Victorian” be bad? I mean that was a gentler time when people had refined tastes, right?

This was going to be great stuff.

Look at the bottle. How cool is the bottle. If you look closely, you can see that the glass has a slight blue/green tint to it. The shape is unique. It feels good in the hand, just the right size and shape.

The first smell. Nothing. Maybe a tiny whiff of something like lemon, but there’s no real smell here at all.

OK, so it’s gentle and Victorian.

The first sip and bammo! This stuff tastes like battery acid! There’s no sweetness to it. There’s not even a lot of lemon, just sour, sour, sour.

Bleck. Wow. My jaw is hurting. This is the most sour drink I’ve ever had.

I try another sip. Woo. Woo. Woo. This is strong and sour and this is not a pleasant experience at all!

I try to man up and drink the rest. I can’t. This is the first soda that I can not even finish.

I dump it out in the kitchen sink. It instantly cleans the rust spots.
(OK, that last one wasn’t true.)

I save the bottle for my wife because she thinks it’s pretty.

Just don’t think about how it tastes…

INGREDIENTS: Carbonated Water,Fermented Ginger Root Extracts,Sugar,Lemon Juice Concentrate,Glucose Syrup,Natural Flavours(Lemon,Speedwell and Juniper Extracts),Pear Juice Concentrate,Cream of Tartar

Posted in Soda Pop |

DR. BROWN’S CEL-RAY SODA, Soda Pop Review

DR. BROWN'S CEL-RAY SODA

Celery soda pop? Really? This ought to be interesting.

I expect the flavor to be really weak, like celery is. You could eat celery all day long and not get anything out of it.

Compared to creme soda or black cherry or something, this has to be worse. There can’t be much flavor in this stuff.

The smell gets nothing. There’s not really a smell to it, as expected.

OK, the first taste is… wow. This is different.

What is that flavor?

Ack. Not liking this at all. I take another sip to try to figure it out.

It’s not a weak flavor at all. This is strong.

It is sweet. There must be sugar in there somewhere.

But it’s something else more than sweet. It’s really vegetablely. It’s like they boiled celery down so it was stronger and then made soda out of it.

This is what I imagine cabbage soda to taste like.

This is not good. I finish the bottle, because that’s what I do, but this is strange. I shouldn’t say it’s “bad”, as much as it’s not a flavor that I like.

There is a distinct vegetable flavor.

This is soda pop for vegans.

They can keep it. I’m done with it.

I’ll give Dr. Brown’s props for trying this, but bleck.

INGREDIENTS: Carbonated Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Citric Acid, Extract Of Celery Seed, With Other Natural Flavors, Sodium Benzoate (Preservative)And Caramel Color.

Posted in Soda Pop |

JACKSON HOLE SODA CO. HIGH MOUNTAIN HUCKLEBERRY, Soda Pop Review

JACKSON HOLE SODA CO.
HIGH MOUNTAIN HUCKLEBERRY

I was hoping that this one would be good. I love the label. I took extra photos of the label.

I’m wondering if that was all hype to make it looks old and nostalgic or if it was the real deal.

The smell was disappointing. There was not much there.

The sip? The sip was good.

It had a real fruity, berry taste.

There was real berries in the flavor. It was sweet and good and fresh and wonderful.

There was a bit of the mountain meadow in there. Yes, it was good.

The aftertaste was good too. It was stronger than the sip. It stayed with you for a minute.

Ah, berries. Yes, yes, I think I like this one.

It’s not too strong. It’s not too sweet. It’s full of berry flavor and not that artificial stuff.

This is good. I’ll buy it again.

INGREDIENTS: CARBONATED WATER, SUGAR, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS, CITRIC ACID, PROPYLENE GLYCOL, GUM ACACIA, CARAMEL COLOR, RED #40, BLUE #1, SODIUM BENZOATE (PRESERVATIVE).

Posted in Soda Pop |

BUBBLE UP, Soda Pop Review

BUBBLE UP

Bubble up, “A kiss of lemon, kiss of lime”. I used to drink this one when I was a kid too. I remember it being good and just like 7Up. There was always 7up and Bubble Up. I have no idea why it ever died out. Maybe there was a Ninja fight to the death between the owners of the two companies or something.

I was looking forward to this one. I was curious if it was just as good as 7up and as good as I remembered.

First whiff was good. There was the lemon lime smell, clear and strong.

The flavor of the first sip was great. A flood of memories, but also crisp, clean lemon and lime. Not too sweet, but sweet enough. They hit that magic balance between not sweet enough and too syrupy. Very nice.

THe lemon is really strong. It’s nice. There not too much citrus acid bite, but just a hint of that.

It mostly tastes like fruit, like citrus. They got that fruit flavor to come to the center stage.

Very nicely done. This is better than 7up. 7up is more acid, less sweet, and a lot less fruit. This is twice as good as 7up.

It must have been that Ninja thing, because this stuff should be on every grocery store shelf.

INGREDIENTS: “Contains: Carbonated Water, Cane Sugar, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Benzoate (A Preservative), and Flavor derived from Lemon and Lime Oils.”

Posted in Soda Pop |

BOYLAN BOTTLEWORKS DIET CREME SODA, Soda Pop Review

BOYLAN BOTTLEWORKS DIET CREME SODA

I love creme soda too. It always seems decadent. It’s always sweet and smooth and just right.

Will this live up to my expectations?

The open bottle smells right. It’s got the sweet vanilla smell.

I have hope.

Ah, the first sip is perfection. It’s sweet, but not too sweet. Vanilla comes shining through. It’s everything I hoped for. It’s everything I remember about any creme soda I’ve ever had.

This is a great creme soda.

What about the finish? Will there be a bitter or chemical end to my bliss? Ahhh… no, nothing at all, just pure sweet vanilla. This is one of the best creme sodas I’ve ever had.

It’s diet! How can that be? I don’t know how they do it, but this and the black cherry soda were both flavored perfectly with no weird aftertaste.

I’m becoming a fan of Sucralose, I guess. It must be amazing stuff.

This creme soda is a 10 out of 10 for any creme soda anywhere. Truly amazing stuff. Yes, we’ll be buying more of this sweet, magical elixir.

INGREDIENTS: Made From: Carbonated Water, Pure Vanilla Extract, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Caramel Color, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate (Preserves Freshness), Sucralose, Acesulfame Potassium.

Posted in Soda Pop |

LORINA SUGAR FREE SPARKLING LEMONADE, Soda Pop Review

LORINA SUGAR FREE SPARKLING LEMONAD

I’ve seen knock offs of this bottle in supermarkets. It must be good stuff. I actually bought a couple bigger bottles from another store because I expected this to be so good.

It does have a great bottle shape. Unusual and sophisticated. I would expect this in a high end restaurant.

The bottle opens without a real pop. This could be a bad bottle. I’ll taste the others and edit this post if they are different.

There’s not a lot of smell to it. That’s OK. I expect this to be delicate and sophisticated. There’s just a hint of lemon.

The sip is unexpected. There’s not a lot of flavor. There’s not a lot of carbonation.

There’s not a lot of anything.

It tastes flat and boring and blah.

There’s a hint of lemon. There’s a hint of sweetness.

This is more like a flavored water than a soda pop. It’s very disappointing.

I think you could get more out of one of those single serving packets of flavoring you get at the store.

I’ll taste the other bottle of this that I got later, but I’m not expecting it to be much different.

Don’t waste your time with this one.

Posted in Soda Pop |

THE ORIGINAL MABI DRINK, Soda Pop Review

THE ORIGINAL MABI DRINK

I love Alton Brown on Food TV. He’s done a couple “Eating on Asphalt” shows where he traveled around and reported on the local food that he found. The last one he did was “Eating on waves” and was food around the Caribbean.

I remember his finding a local soda pop called “Island Maubi”. He found out and toured where it was made, in this families kitchen. They brewed and bottled it for the whole island.

I was looking forward to drinking this when I found it. It would be exotic, no matter how it tasted.

I open it. I smell. I wonder what that is. There is a smell to it, but it’s unlike anything I imagined it would be.

I take a sip. OMG. This is amazing. I’m not sure I like, but I think I do. I can not tell what those flavors are.

There’s a richness to it. It’s deep and complex. It tastes “brewed” with almost an alcohol after taste. There’s something like Root Beer in it. It’s definitely an earthy flavor.

Then I get apples, or raisins, maybe, something fruity. There’s earthy and fruity and it’s brewed somehow.

This is a strong flavor, but not overpowering. It’s… I don’t know. It’s enticing somehow.

There is sweetness, but also some bitter and some fruit. It’s very carbonated, more so that most sodas.

Wow. I’m repulsed and enticed all at the same time. I want to stop drinking but I can’t.

This is unlike any other soda that I have ever, ever tasted.

I got dig out the Alton Brown show and watch how they make it again. It starts off with Maubi bark, from a tree, that they scrape off and let dry. It’s bitter. then dried oranges. They put that in a big pot and boil it, along with Star Anise, Allspice, cinnamon, and clove.

Clove! That’s taste that I couldn’t identify. It doesn’t taste like clove, just a hint maybe. Nicely done.

They boil that all down and then add more water, before letting it ferment. They bottle it just before it starts to produce alcohol.

I’m sure that this bottle was produced in a sanitized, stainless steel, industrial bottling plant with high quality control standards and not someone’s kitchen, but I wouldn’t care if it wasn’t.

This is good stuff.

INGREDIENTS: Filtered Carbonated Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Natural Mabi Bark Flavor, Citric Acid, and Natural Color. Pasteurized.

Posted in Soda Pop |

SWEET BLOSSOM SODA – LAVENDER, Soda Pop Review

SWEET BLOSSOM SODA – LAVENDER

How good could lavender soda be? I do like lavender. I am a guy, but I’m in touch with my feminine side. I can handle that.

I expected this to taste like perfume. It should be all flowery and taste like soap. Everything else that I’ve seen that is scented with lavender is soapy.

This is soda that you should make your 13 year old boy drink when he says a bad word, right?

I open the bottle. It smells like, well, like nothing. There’s not really a scent to it.

That’s strange and unexpected.

I take my first sip. There is sweetness. It’s fresh and crisp.

Totally unexpected. This is really good. I like it a lot.

There is some lavender flavor in there, but it’s not unpleasant at all. It adds a bit of fruitiness to it. You get the most lavender in the aftertaste.

It lingers at the back of you mouth in a very pleasant, Summer day kind of way.

Images of mountain meadows on a sunny day pop into my head.

Yes, I like this a lot. I will be buying more of it. You can really tell that it’s made with real cane sugar in a glass bottle. It’s got that fresh “real” goodness to it.

Don’t let the lavender scare you off.

This is good stuff. Don’t waste it on your 13 year old son.

INGREDIENTS: Filtered Carbonated Water, Cane Sugar, Natural Lavender Extract, Citric Acid and Vegetable Juice for color. Pasteurized.

Posted in Soda Pop |

RED RIBBON HOME BREWED STYLE ROOT BEER, Soda Pop Review

RED RIBBON HOME BREWED STYLE ROOT BEER

The first smell of the open bottle brings good, fresh root beer smells. This is a good sign. I’m going to like it.

I smell it a few more times, in anticipation. Hhhmmm… Yes.

I take a sip. Not bad as I’m sipping it. It’s root beer. It’s got the root beer flavor. Pretty full flavor. Sweet, but not as sweet as expected.

The disappointment settles in. The aftertaste is a strange chemical taste. Not a horrible taste. I’ve had worse, but not the nice, sweet afterglow of other root beer I’ve had.

This is OK. The flavor is not bad. The aftertaste is almost not bad. Nothing is great about this. I’m sad.

It’s average, through and through. As I was told in high school, it’s “not living up to it’s potential”. It could have been great, but it was merely good, with a below average aftertaste.

There’s something in the “artificial flavor” that’s throwing this one off. You might want to try it and see if I’m wrong, but we won’t be buying any more of this.

Sorry, man. We could have been good together, but it just didn’t work out.

INGREDIENTS: Filtered Carbonated Water, Sugar, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Citric Acid, Caramel Color.

Posted in Soda Pop |

BOYLAN BOTTLEWORKS DIET BLACK CHERRY, soda pop review

BOYLAN BOTTLEWORKS DIET BLACK CHERRY

This is described as “A sweet, tart black cherry soda. Sweetened with Sucralose.”

I like black cherries. I want to like diet soda pops. I want to like this soda pop, but I have my doubts.

I pop it open and the smell if like black cherry soda. It’s that familiar smell of, I don’t know, jelly? candy? something. Something smells very familiar. It’s sweet and fruity. It smells of childhood.

I have hope.

I take a sip. I wait. My taste buds explode with the flavor of black cherry ice cream that I had as a kid. This is sweet, but not too sweet, and very fruity. Very, very black cherry. Very, very good.

I smile wide.

I take another sip and I’m 9 years old, eating a black cherry ice cream cone from the drug store. This takes me back.

I smile some more. This is great soda. I love this stuff. I could buy more of this stuff.

Great aftertaste. Just the right amount of everything. There is nothing wrong with soda.

Wait! Did I say this is a diet soda? This tastes like real cane sugar in there. I need to check the label. Yes, it’s diet. Unbelievable, but true.

This is an amazing diet soda. This is an amazing black cherry soda. The fact that it’s both, means that there will be more of this in our house soon. I can not recommend this enough.

INGREDIENTS: Carbonated Water, Natural Black Cherry Flavors, Citric Acid, Caramel Color, Red 40, Sodium Benzoate (Preserves Freshness), Sucralose, Acesulfame Potassium.

Posted in web site build |

Hotlips Soda Boysenberry Soda, soda pop review

Hotlips Soda Boysenberry Soda

How good is boysenberry soda going to be? Wow. I love boysenberry pie and ice cream. This is going to be great. I’ve been waiting for this one.

The first smell after you pop off the lid is faint. It’s sort of like boysenberrys, I guess, but it’s not very strong. Is this going to live up to my expectations?

I take a sip. As I’m sipping, I think that it’s not bad, but there’s not a lot of flavor here at all. It seems watered down. I was expecting the strong sweet of pie filling, but it’s just a nice, fruity flavor, but even the fruit isn’t strong.

Oh well. Maybe next time.

At the end of the sip, it hits me. The full flavor of boysenberry, like you picked them right off the vine and shoved a fist full in your mouth. Wow! Big flavor.

This was at the end of the sip, not during. The flavor was unmistakably boysenberry. It was full and strong, not too sweet, not like pie filling, but like fresh berries, right off the vine.

I take another sip and again, there’s not a lot of flavor at the beginning. I stop and it hits me again. Very different.

It seems like it’s watered down, then it slams you with the full force of flavor. Very nice.

I’m liking this as I drink the whole bottle. I’m almost done when I get another surprise. Boysenberry pulp! It’s got real boysenberry pulp in it. This is nice, very nice.

I read the contents again:

INGREDIENTS: Carbonated Water, Boysenberries Grown in the Pacific Northwest, Cane Sugar, Organic Lemon Juice, Contains Boysenberry Pulp!

Yup. That sounds right. Nothing artificial about this. Strange experience drinking it, but the aftertaste flavor is amazing. I do like it. Maybe not a favorite, but it’s definitely good. I like it.

Posted in web site build |

Sweet Blossom Soda – Jasmine, soda pop review

Sweet Blossom Soda - Jasmine

I’ve been looking forward to this one. “Sweet Blossom”! How could that be bad?

Well, I was afraid that it might be too sweet. I do like the smell of jasmine on a Summer night, but it could easily go over the edge towards the sweet and perfumery side.

I open the cap and smell it. Not much. I try again and there’s really not much of a smell. I’m disappointed. There’s a faint smell of something flowery, but not much at all. Where’s my jasmine?

I take the first sip. Pow! The sugar hits me. This is powerfully sweet. This is a big flavor, hidden behind that faint smell. I’m shocked. This is a cane sugar, pure and simple.

There, on the back of my tongue, I get the jasmine. It’s not flowery. It’s interesting, complex even. I like it. The sugar is almost overpowering, but the aftertaste of jasmine is like a secret gift. It’s a rich, full flavor, but it’s not what I expect.

I expected it to be flowery, but it’s more on the fruity side of things. I would even say that it tastes like apples. Clean and crisp, sweet and fruity, just short of too sweet, and some strange essence of jasmine in a way that’s unexpected.

This is very good stuff. I would definitely buy this stuff again. I love it, but it’s not what I expected at all. I expect some general note of “artificial flavors” along with a drop of jasmine, but when I read the contents, it’s just sugar, citric acid, and jasmine. That’s it. Amazing.

I taste apples.

INGREDIENTS: Filtered Carbonated Water, Cane Sugar, Citric Acid, Pure Jasmine Extract and Caramel Color. Pasteurized.

Posted in Soda Pop |

MOXIE ORIGINAL ELIXIR, Soda Pop Review

MOXIE ORIGINAL ELIXIR

From the web site:
Moxie Original Elixir; For people who’ve got Moxie! Originally sold as a “nerve food” in 1884. You’ll either love it or hate it! It’s hard to describe this one. The only soda pop defined in the dictionary.

INGREDIENTS: Carbonated Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup and/or Sugar, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Caramel Color, Sodium Benzoate (a preservative), Gentian Root Extractives, Phosphoric Acid, Caffeine and Citric Acid.

From the description in the video and the history of it, I’m not looking forward to this. I’m expecting bitter and harsh, difficult to drink. 1884? Really? How good can it be?

I grab the bottle anyway and pop it open.

I have no idea why, but I get the smell of a dentist office, but not in a bad way. It’s not bad. It’s not good. It’s different, mildly pleasant.

I’m thinking it’s the alcohol in the dentist office, but it’s more like some of the compounds they mix for fillings or something. They put something that tastes good over the top of the bad tasting material.

I take a sip. Not what I expected at all.

It’s almost like root beer, but not as sweet. The actual sip is smooth and flavorful, very pleasant. I like this. It has me saying “wow” over and over again.

The aftertaste has that same dentist office taste. No idea what that is or why. I drink some more.

It’s not overly sweet. It’s not really cola. It’s not really root beer. It’s somewhere in the middle of all of those flavors, with some dental office thrown in. I’m going to have to look up what “Gentian Root Extractives” are now.

The aftertaste stays with you for a while. It’s actually quite nice. This doesn’t jump out and make me love it, but I do really like it. It grows on you. I’m liking it more and more as I drink it.

I would buy this again. Yes, I would.

I have moxie. I want more.

Posted in Soda Pop |

BAWLS GUARANEXX SUGAR FREE SODA, Soda Pop Review

BAWLS GUARANEXX SUGAR FREE SODA

We drank the straight up sugary stuff and it has a lot of caffeine in it. Being a “gamer” as well as a “coder”, we fit into both stereotypes, and we did love our caffeine. I remember the flavor being strange, but we liked it. Those were fond memories.

That was years ago, but Bawls is still around. I wanted to try the diet stuff, because I didn’t want all the syrupy flavor.

Opened the bottle and took a whiff. Not bad. It’s a very strange smell. It’s not quite sweet, but it’s intriguing. I really like it. It’s got maybe a little citrus in there or something. I’m not sure. It reminds me of Zima, if you’ve ever had the pleasure to drink that.

I take a sip, unsure what to expect. It’s not bad. It doesn’t have a strong flavor while you drink it. The flavor that it does have is, well, interesting. I want to call it technical or industrial or something. That doesn’t really translate into something that makes sense though.

It’s strange that while you drink it, there’s not much to it, but as soon as you stop, there is a very pronounced sweet aftertaste. It lasts longer than expected. I start to drink short bursts, just to get the aftertaste.

It’s not a very strong flavor, so I’m not sure I would recommend it. It’s different. The one thing that I do like very much about it is the “high caffeine” aspect. I still love my caffeine.

I want to say that it tastes like what we thought in the 1990s that robots in the future would drink. It’s retro-fururistic-techno-citrus-robot soda. It makes me feel smarter and hipper than I really am. That’s the best I can do.

I don’t hate it. I don’t love it. It’s intriguing.

INGREDIENTS: Water, Citric Acid, Potassium Benzoate (as preservative, Natural Guarana Extract and Artificial Flavor, Caffeine, Sucralose and Acesulfame Potassium. WARNING: This products contains high levels of Caffeine.

Posted in Soda Pop |

JACK BLACK’S BLUE CREAM SODA, Soda Pop Review

Jack Black's Blue Cream Soda

I really didn’t want to try this one after the last soda pop with a skull and cross bones on it, but this could be totally different. I was getting ready to ride my bike and thought maybe this was an energy drink. It’s not.

The label says “It’s better to live for something than to die for nothing.” Of course, I think it’s better to live for nothing than to die for something too…

First smell was a good sign. It seemed sweet and fresh and not too bad. Was this going to be too sweet? I was intrigued. I think I’m going to like this.

First sip and, yes, this is a creme soda. Straight up creme soda. This is good. It’s smooth. It’s got the creme flavor. No bitterness at all. Very nice.

Not getting anything that’s “blue”, which is kind of funny that I would think that “blue” is a flavor.

The worry is that it might be too sweet. I hate the sticky, syrupy sweetness of some creme sodas, but this one is nicely done, laid right down the middle of the sweetness spectrum.

It’s got a nice, fresh sweetness to it, just the right balance. I’m surprised that it’s not cane sugar. It’s got a clean sweet flavor.

I’m very impressed with this one. I really like it. I like it a lot. It’s a nice, fresh, clean, sweet, creme soda. I’d buy it again.

Plus it’s got a skull and cross bones on the label! How cool is that?

INGREDIENTS: Carbonated Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Citric Acid, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Sodium Benzoate (Preservative), Yellow #5 & Blue #1

Wait! What is this? The web site says “High Fructose Corn Syrup”, but the bottle says “Cane Sugar”. I knew it! I knew it tasted like real sugar. I’m getting the knack for telling when it’s got real sugar. It really does make a difference.

This stuff rocks!

It's better to live for something than to die for nothing.

Posted in Soda Pop |

DOUBLE COLA, Soda Pop Review

DOUBLE COLA

I opened the bottle and the smell definitely had twice the aroma. This was going to be good.

I took a sip and the cola taste hit me like a bus. This lived up to the “double” name. It’s flavor was really strong.

It was like they took a regular Coke and boiled it down so it was twice as strong. I could imagine someone boiling down a pot of Coke until it was thicker and syrupy, then yelling “It’s ready, master!”. It tastes like that.

I like cola, but maybe not this much. This really had the cola taste.

It was also made with real cane sugar, which really has a different taste than the corn fructose stuff. The initial taste was of the cola flavor, but it was followed by the sweetness of the sugar. The aftertaste was really sweet, mixed with the bitter cola flavor.

Very interesting stuff.

Here’s what’s in it.

INGREDIENTS: Carbonated Water, Cane Sugar, Carmel Color, Phosphoric Acid, Caffeine, and Natural Flavorings.

If you think Coke is too watered down, then you’ll like this one. It’s got a great, full flavor, with a sweet aftertaste.

I liked it, but I’m probably not going to get another one.

Posted in Soda Pop |