Summer Selection at Frattallone's Ace in St. Paul

I stopped into Frattallone's Ace earlier this month (to grab some supplies for a project as well as a Frostop Soda) and looked through their soda selection:

I've had most of these, but not all.

I grabbed one of the "Reed's Root Beer" candies on the right.

I still have to crack into the root beer candies, so I'll be back later this summer with a review of those.

Sipping Spider Venom Cherry Cola

Last Friday, I stopped by Frattallone's Ace Hardware on Grand Ave in St. Paul (the "west" one by Macalaster College), and I took a quick look over their soda section:

I grabbed something near the top left of that image, and I opened it earlier today:

Brand: Sipping Spider Venom Cherry Cola.

Origin: Mukilteo, WA.

Purchase Place: Frattallone's Ace Hardware, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: This was good. It had a real deep cherry flavor - very strong and sweet. It was almost a "black cherry" flavor. It has "extract of dark sweet cherry" on the ingredients list, and I don't know if it's that ingredient that makes this so tasty. It was strong flavored classic cherry cola with a bit more "pop." I really enjoyed it!

Score: 9 out of 10.

Dad's Red Cream Soda

Earlier this week, I stopped by Frattallone's Ace on Grand Ave (the one near Macalester College, not near Ramsey Hill), and I looked through their soda selection:

I walked out with a Dad's soda I'd never tried before:

Brand: Dad's Red Cream Soda.

Origin: Jasper, IN.

Purchase Place: Frattallone's Ace Hardware, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: This was OK. As with my only other "red cream soda" that I've tried, I don't know what flavor "red" is. Cherry-like? This one was a little better than that one. It was pretty smooth, but a little "artificial" tasting at the end. Not bad, but not great.

Score: 5.5 out of 10.

Sorted Stock of Sodas

After our weekend trip to Blue Sun Soda, I had to sort my soda stock in the basement:

The open case on top of our "soda fridge" is half "Frattallone Ace" soda and half "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store" soda.  The case on top next to the fridge is the new case from "Blue Sun Soda," and the one below that is a few more bottles from "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store."

In total, I have nearly 60 bottles waiting for me. A few at the back of the top case are "repeats" that I've reviewed before, so they're saved for cooking or for giving to friends. Happy soda drinking!

More Sodas from Ace Hardware

I'm working on framing up some work of mine for an upcoming exhibition, so I had to stop at Frattallone's Ace Hardware (near Grand and Snelling) to get some glass. My boys are with my mother-in-law for the weekend, so I *actually* had time to look around without them destroying the place. I snapped 2 photos of their soda selection as I was there:

I looked through those images and compared them to what I had reviewed here on my blog, and I made notes of what to go back and get when I picked up my glass the next day:

Kinda scribbly. But I can read it, and I guess that's all that matters.

My new sodas from Ace!

Combine those with my decent stash that's still left from "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store" this fall, and I should be set for many months!

Dwindling Soda Stash

Last October, I stocked up with 2 cases of soda from "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store." Well, my last review was my LAST soda from that stash. Not to fear - I'm heading back in a few weeks.

In the meantime, I stopped at Frattallone's Ace Hardware on Grand Ave in St. Paul 2 days ago to get a few more sodas. I walked away with 8 from their selection:

Back with more reviews soon!

Frostop Red Birch Beer

My son and I stopped at the Frattallone's Ace Hardware on Lake Street in Minneapolis a few days ago. After seeing that the Ace on Grand Ave in St. Paul had no root beer selection, we had to see what this one had to offer. They had a few things I wanted to try:

They were all Frostops, and I didn't have a great experience with Frostop Root Beer when I had it in 2012. So I wasn't sure if these would be OK or not. I started with the Red Birch Beer as I was doing some yard work.

This had a very red color. I had to pour some in a glass to show it off:

Back-lit by my kitchen window.

Brand: Frostop Red Birch Beer.

Origin: Hopkins, MN.

Purchase Place: Frattallones Ace Hardware, Minneapolis, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup and Cane Sugar.

Review: This was surprisingly good. I got a hint of cherry and cinnamon out of this, and it had a little sharpness. The best way I can describe this is like if you were to eat Bottle Caps candy and pop a Root Beer one and a Cherry one in your mouth at the same time. Boom. It'd taste just like this. A bit of root beer, a hint of cherry, and just a touch of cinnamon. Tasty. Goes down well. And it's nice that it comes in a larger resealable bottle - I enjoyed this over the course of 2 days.

Score: 9 out of 10.

New Stash of Sodas!

Easter is this weekend, which means Lent will be over, which means I will be able to drink soda again! In celebration for this glorious day, I headed to Frattallone's Ace Hardware on Grand Ave in St. Paul earlier today to stock up on soda. But I encountered some bad news! They had NO root beer left on their shelves!!

Lots of empty spots where root beer once was.
(And technically, there's 1 diet root beer left on the 2nd shelf next to the blue stuff.)

This marks the first time a "stock up" of soda didn't include a root beer. Depressing. Here's what I brought home:

From left-to-right:

- Jones Cream Soda
- AJ Stephans Raspberry Lime Rickey
- Cicero Beverage Co. Chicago Style Cherry
- Faygo Redpop
- Saranac Black Cherry Cream
- AJ Stephans Black Cherry
- Jones Soda Zero Calorie Black Cherry
- NuGrape Grape
- Double Cola
- Cicero Beverage Co. Chicago Style Orange Cream

Check back early next week as I start to go nuts on this stash.

Gave Up Soda For Lent

Sorry for not having many posts lately. I gave up soda for Lent, and only have 2 sodas every Sunday (the Lord's "cheat day" during Lent). I'll be posting more again in about 2 weeks.

Also, I need to refill my stash. I only have 1 or 2 bottles left. I think my son and I will be making a stop at Frattallone's Ace Hardware on Grand Ave here in St. Paul shortly…

p.s. I didn't learn anything magical from giving up soda. I'm not sleeping any better/worse, I don't have more/less energy, I'm not gaining/losing weight, etc.

Spring Grove Soda Pop Black Cherry

I've had this kind a few times in the past, but this is my first time having it since starting this blog. I've really liked most Spring Grove sodas. I was ready for this after a recent hot summer day.

Brand: Spring Grove Black Cherry.

Origin: Spring Grove, MN.

Purchase Place: Frattallone's Ace Hardware, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: This has a more "adult" flavored Black Cherry flavor. It's "deeper" and not as sugary as some some, and it emphasizes the BLACK in the Black Cherry a bit more - if that makes any sense. It's different, but pretty good. It's worth a try. (All Spring Grove sodas are!)

Score: 7.5 out of 10.

A Soda Surprise from my Parents

My parents came up last month to celebrate my birthday. They brought a surprise.

12 sodas (and a drawing from my nephew to the right)

Mom was proud of herself (and she SHOULD be!). She went to my post about getting sodas in Burnsville, she wrote down what I got there, and she made sure to pick other kinds when they stopped by the Frattallone's Ace Hardware on Grand Avenue here in St. Paul (near Macalester College). There were 4 sodas that I've had in the past (2 from "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store" and 2 ordered online), but 3 were good, so I'll be enjoying them again.

PREVIOUSLY DRANK:
- Triple XXX Root Beer
- Barons Boothill Sarsaparilla (my least favorite of these 4)
- Spring Grove Black Cherry (drank before starting this blog)
- Spring Grove Grape (drank before starting this blog)

ROOT BEER:
- Mason's Root Beer
- Barrel Brothers Root Beer
- Dang! That's Good Butterscotch Root Beer
- Berghoff Root Beer

OTHER SODAS:
- Saranac Shirley Temple
- Jolt Cherry Bomb (2x caffeine)
- Frostie Cherry Limeade Soda
- Always Ask for Avery's Zombie Brain Juice (Strawberry Orange)

So I'll be sipping from my TWO different Frattallone's Ace stashes for the next few months. Check back to see what I think!

A New Place to Get Root Beer in the South Metro!

About 2 months ago, someone named Mike sent me an e-mail. Here was the first part of his note:

Hey Steve,
I found a really weird but great place to buy root beer if you're ever in the south metro - Ace Hardware in Burnsville.  It opened a few months ago and I went in to get some caulk and saw a glorious row with about 50 different kinds of soda!  It's mostly root beers but also some cream soda, ginger beer, and others...

On Thursday night, I was heading back to St. Paul from south of the Metro, and I thought I'd swing by and check it out. It's right on County Road 42, just past the Burnsville Mall on the north side of the road, so it's only about a mile from the 35E / 35W split.

I walked in and a woman asked if she could help me. I smirked a bit and said "I heard you have a lot of root beers..." She smirked back and said "Follow me..."  We stopped at this:

37 kinds of soda on this side...

... and 46 more kinds on this side.

Doing the math, they had 88 different kinds of soda!! There are 84 different kinds picture above between those 2 photos, and they had another small shelf of 4 different kinds of slightly cheaper root beers. Oh, and I guess they had a refrigerated case in the front of "normal" sodas like Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper, but I'm not counting those.

I started filling a box, thinking I'd get maybe a dozen different kinds. (There's a price break at 6 bottles and at 24 bottles.) Well, the first time I stopped to count how many bottles were in my box, I already had 20. So I figured I'd grab 4 more and get the "24 bottle discount." (I saved about $0.25 / bottle by getting 24.) Here's a photo of what I bought once I got it home:

The woman who lead me to the sodas and chatted with me as I picked out my selection mentioned that a good dark rum is GREAT with Birch Beer, so I'll have to try that some time.

Oh, and just so I remember what 24 kinds I bought, here's a list of what's in the box:


ROOT BEERS:
- Route 66
- Sea Dog
- Caruso's Legacy Robusto
- Sioux City
- Frostie
- AJ Stephans
- Dog n Suds
- Capt'n Eli's

NON-ROOT BEERS:
- Malta Goya Malt Beverage
- Diet Cheerwine
- AJ Stephans Cream Soda
- Nesbitt's Orange
- Sioux City Birch Beer
- Route 66 Lime Soda
- Route 66 Black Cherry
- Faygo Rock & Rye
- Cock n' Bull Ginger Beer
- Jack Black's Blood Red Cola
- Jarritos Mexican Cola
- Apple Beer (the brand and flavor)
- Flathead Lake Wild White Grape

"UNIQUE" SODAS:
- Coco Fizz Chocolate Soda
- Empire Bottling Works Banana
- Flathead Lake Granny Apple


(Next time I stop by, I'll bring this list to make sure I don't get any repeats...)