Jic Jac Grape

We went camping last weekend, and I brought this soda along to enjoy:

Brand: Jic Jac Grape.

Origin: Mukilteo, WA.

Purchase Place: "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store," Jordan, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar

Review: Classic grape flavor. Went down smooth. I shared some of it with my wife's Godchild, and she thought it was tasty too. It wasn't anything amazing, but it as good!

Score: 7 out of 10.

p.s. Here's a lot of photos from our camping trip on my triathlon blog.

Jic Jac Black Cherry

I brought this to class with me this week:

Brand: Jic Jac Black Cherry.

Origin: Mukilteo, WA.

Purchase Place: "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store," Jordan, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar

Review: Whoa. This has to be the syrupy-est and sugariest soda I've ever had. When I took a sniff of the soda before taking my first sip, it had a deep black cherry smell that I got excited about. But the taste and sweetness was just too much. I'm generally OK with slightly syrupy sodas, but this is extreme. The flavor just seemed to stick to the back of my throat. Too much. No thanks.

I let this sit next to me for most of my class, and then I tired another few sips at the end of class. Still too much. This barely deserves a 2.

Score: 2 out of 10.

Jic Jac Blue Raspberry

This soda has been sitting in my basement for a year - since my first stop at "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store." I really did NOT like my first 2 Jic Jac sodas (Strawberry and Lemon Lime), so I was in NO hurry to try their final bottle in my stash: Blue Raspberry.

Verdict: this is BY FAR their best soda of the 3 I tried!

Brand: Jic Jac Blue Raspberry.

Origin: Mukilteo, WA.

Purchase Place: "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store," Jordan, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: Sugary, sweet, and tasty. It tasted like blue cotton candy or a melted blue raspberry Icee. It was quite sugary (possibly too sweet for some), but I enjoyed it. It was much better than their sub-par Strawberry and Lemon Lime sodas. And my son LOVED the sip that he had.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Jic Jac Strawberry Soda

So after my poor experience with Jic Jac Lemon Lime Soda as noted in my last post, I thought I'd give Jic Jac another try. (I have 3 different Jic Jac flavors to try: Lemon Lime, Strawberry, and Blue Raspberry.) So Thursday night, I tried Jic Jac Strawberry Soda.

Unfortunately, this didn't win me over either. Dang.

Brand: Jic Jac Strawberry Soda.

Origin: Mukilteo, WA (first produced in St. Louis).

Purchase Place: "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store," Jordan, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: This wasn't bad, but I wanted it to be better. This had a weird "chemically" aftertaste. I wish the strawberry flavor was stronger - it just tasted a lot like sugar. My wife thought it tasted a little like Crush, and I thought it tasted a little like a cherry Icee that had melted. I've had better strawberry soda before, but this wasn't horrible.  It earned an extra point for having delicious post-consumption burps.

Score: 4 out of 10.

Jic Jac Lemon Lime

I bought a few bottles of Jic Jac soda when we first stopped at "Minnesota's Largest Candy Story" last month. The other night, I tried their Lemon Lime soda.

The logo looked old, so I looked up a bit of Jic Jac's history and where it fit into the "Lemon Lime Soda timeline." This is what I learned on Wikipedia:

Bubble Up is the oldest common Lemon Lime soda, as it was introduced in 1919. (I just recently tried Bubble Up, and it was just OK.) 7-Up was introduced 10 years later in 1929, and Sprite was introduced in the early 1960s. Jic Jac was first produced in the 1950s in St. Louis, and then it moved west about 20 years later. But how would it taste?...

Brand: Jic Jac Lemon Lime Soda.

Origin: Mukilteo, WA (first produced in St. Louis).

Purchase Place: "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store," Jordan, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: It was just OK. The Lemon Lime flavor was good, but it had a slightly harsh / chemical aftertaste that was undesirable. Sprite or 7-Up tastes better.

Score: 3.5 out of 10.