Fitz's Root Beer

I opened this during supper the other night:

 

Brand: Fitz's Root Beer.

Origin: St. Louis, MO.

Purchase Place: Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop, Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: This was really, REALLY good. It had a deep flavor, and was smooth and creamy. It didn't have much of a head, but I've had this can for a while, so maybe it lost some carbonation. Either way, it wasn't (much) worse because of it. There was a nice vanilla kick that wasn't overpowering. 

I realized I had this same soda about 12 years ago (from a more traditional glass bottle) and I ranked it a 9. I think after another couple of hundred sodas, I'll rank this a bit higher now... it was GOOD.

Score: 9.5 out of 10.

Fitz's Cardinal Cream Soda

I opened this with supper tonight:

 

Brand: Fitz's Cardinal Cream Soda.

Origin: St. Louis, MO.

Purchase Place: Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop, Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: I didn't know what this would be like under this big aluminum can (the neck is painted aluminum and not the color of the soda). Honestly, I enjoy the screw-top aluminum bottles like this - I think more places should try that.

On to the flavor... it was a bit of a mix of Dr. Pepper and a cream soda. It had a deeper flavor like Dr. Pepper, but then was REALLY creamy. I had to pour some out into a glass to see what color it was, because it could have been cola/brown, clear, or red, and it turns out it was a pretty deep red. It was LIKE their cream soda that I had years ago, but this had a little more depth and interestingness to it. Not bad!

Score: 7.5 out of 10.

Premium Fitz's Pumpkin Pop

I cracked into this at work:

Brand: Premium Fitz's Pumpkin Pop.

Origin: St. Louis, MO.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: I was leary about this from the start. If I hadn't read "pumpkin" on the label, I would NOT have known it was supposed to be pumpkin! It was very heavy on the cinnamon - like baking cinnamon and not "red hot" cinnamon. I think they were going for like a "pumpkin spice" but made it very "spice"-heavy. In this case, it tasted all of cinnamon spice.

Now, all that being said, it was GOOD! It still tasted good. It was sweet and dessert-like. This one surprised me!

Score: 8 out of 10.

Polly's Pop Donutology Glazed Donut

Being I was still hanging out with family earlier this week, we all sampled this treat:

On the counter on vacation.

Brand: Polly's Pop Donutology Glazed Donut.

Origin: Kansas City, MO.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: When I opened this, I passed it around for everyone to sniff. Because it TOTALLY smelled like those waxy Hostess mini chocolate donuts. I was excited to try it. But then it tasted a little "off." The aftertaste was a bit chemically and it just tasted like odd sweetness. It was just OK. I'm shocked to think that the beef jerky soda from earlier in the week was better than this!

Score: 3 out of 10.

Polly's Pop Black Cherry

Last night, I opened this while cleaning the kitchen:

Brand: Polly's Pop Black Cherry.

Origin: Independence, MO.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: This sure wasn't a black cherry "cola" - this was just a black cherry "pop" as the brand name implies. It was pretty smooth and just a bit creamy. Nothing remarkable, but pretty tasty. It went down easy.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.

Fitz's Strawberry Pop

I've had pretty good reactions to Fitz's Pop, and it was time to try another one in my classroom yesterday:

Brand: Fitz's Strawberry Pop.

Origin: St. Louis, MO.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: The smell was unmistakeable when I popped the top, and the taste backed it up: it tasted like like my mother-in-law's strawberry pie. So that means it was very sweet, and almost tasted like rich strawberry Jell-O (which is used as the "binder" in her pie). It was sugary and pretty good. I MIGHT have actually been TOO sugary (which I RARELY say), but it was quite enjoyable. This final score might artificially be 1 point high because it reminds me of that great pie...

Score: 7 out of 10.

Fitz's Grape Pop

I opened this last night:

Brand: Fitz's Grape Pop.

Origin: St. Louis, MO.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: This was quite good! I've mentioned before how I'm OK with "syrupy" sodas (and I figured this could be syrupy), but this wasn't too overly sweet. The grape flavor was strong and tasty. It was rich and full, but stopped before getting too sweet. A pretty good grape soda!

Score: 9 out of 10.

Fitz's Cream Soda

Yesterday, I opened this in my classroom:

Brand: Fitz's Cream Soda.

Origin: St. Louis, MO.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: "All natural pure can sugar."

Review: This was OK. There was nothing too special about this. It was quite creamy, with a strong sweetness too it (nearly too much for this sugar-loving boy). I obviously didn't care for the (slight) over sweetness, but there was a slightly fruity flavor that helped this recover. Nothing stood out - it was OK but not amazing. This gets a middle-of-the-road score from me.

Score: 5 out of 10.

Fitz's Black Cherry

I didn't mean to review 2 black cherry sodas back-to-back, but this is the soda I grabbed on the way out the door to my class today:

At the "instructor station" in my classroom before class started.

Brand: Fitz's Black Cherry

Origin: St. Louis, MO.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: "All natural pure cane sugar" (whew, that's a mouthful).

Review: Actually, it's a lot like Twig's Black Cherry that I just had a few days ago. It was equally sugary and syrupy. This maybe had a SLIGHTLY better aftertaste, so I'll give this one a half point more. Otherwise, they were QUITE similar.

Score: 8.5 out of 10.

Calvin's 1836 Barrel-Style Root Beer

Here was my second soda that I enjoyed during a camping trip (the first being this one):

On the ramp to our little cabin in Forestville State Park.

Brand: Calvin's 1836 Barrel-Style Root Beer.

Origin: Hermann, MO.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: This was OK. It was pretty smooth and went down easy, but had a bit too much wintergreen for me. Not bad, but not great. I'll rate it just above average.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Fitz's Orange Pop

I opened this up with supper tonight:

Brand: Fitz's Orange Pop.

Origin: St. Louis, MO.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: Ehhh, this was OK. Nothing special. It had a bit more of a "bite" than I expected from an orange soda, and that was about it. Otherwise, it was "orangey."

Score: 5 out of 10.

Best Damn Root Beer

I've been seeing billboards like this around the Metro area for the last 2 months or so:

My wife and I were at the liquor store a few nights ago, and we saw a 6-pack, so we picked it up so I could try it.

If you're wondering, YES it's "hard" root beer. It's 5.5% alcohol.


Brand: Best Damn Root Beer.

Origin: St. Louis, MO.

Purchase Place: Marshall Liquors, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Nothing? I'm unsure on this. (Beer is labeled much differently than soda, and everyone online is mentioning they can't find an ingredients list for this.)

Review: It smelled good. The first sip had GOOD (classic) root beer flavor on my tongue. But then the yeastiness of the beer took over, and it ended with not a great flavor. There was a nice amount of vanilla flavor (and on the can it mentions that it's "ale aged on vanilla beans"), but that didn't make up for much. It was an odd flavor combo of root beer and beer that I didn't care for at all. The beer added a strange "bite" to the root beer.

I'm not a big beer fan, so that may be why I was less interested in this. But even on Beer Advocate, it's not getting good reviews and is currently ranked "poor" at 68 out of 100. One reviewer said "it tasted like someone took a cheap light beer and squirted some of that artificial "rootbeer-barrel candy" flavoring into it."

My wife mentioned it could make a good root beer float, so I may have to try that with some of the remaining 5 cans. The Best Damn Root Beer website has some recipes on it, so we might have to give a few of those a try. I'll update if/when I do. But for the time being, this score is just based on the Best Damn Root Beer by itself.

Score: 2.5 out of 10.

Fitz's Hip Hop Pop

I needed a caffeine boast, so I grabbed this cola that looked like a 50's Diner earlier today:

Brand: Fitz's Hip Hop Pop.

Origin: St. Louis, MO.

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

Sweetener: All natural pure cane sugar.

Review: This first sip blew me away. I was expecting "regular" cola, but there was a berry punch. Cherry cola, maybe? I checked their website, and they only say "lots of raspberry and other berry flavors blended with our sugar cane cola along with a caffeine kicker." I didn't really get "raspberry," but I DID like it. A lot. It was a little sugary and syrupy, but not too much. It went down so easily. I've only had this Fitz soda and their root beer, and both were great, so I need to find some more Fitz's!

Score: 9 out of 10.

Ozark Mountain's "The Smugglers Run" Tropical Soda

This was brightly colored...

In front of some of our veggies from our tiny garden.

Brand: Ozark Mountain's "The Smugglers Run" Tropical Soda.

Origin: Branson, Missouri.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This flavor is hard to pin down. I'd say the majority of the flavor is mango, with a little fruit punch in there too. It wasn't really the flavor I thought it'd be, but I don't know what I expected. It's sweet, but not TOO sugary. It's for sure a "summer drink." Good for the sippin'.

Score: 5.5 out of 10.

Route 66 Cream Soda

Time for a creamy cream soda:

Brand: Route 66 Cream Soda.

Origin: Lebanon, MO.

Purchase Place: Frattallones Ace Hardware, Burnsville, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: I expect cream sodas to be smooth. This was not. It had a strange sharpness to it. It wasn't that good. The aftertaste was like cream soda, but the first part of each sip was harsh and not tasty. This was BY FAR my least favorite Route 66 soda to date. No thanks.

Score: 3.5 out of 10.

Fitz's Root Beer

I grabbed a bottle of Root Beer after a long day of working on my new garage...

Brand: Fitz's Root Beer.

Origin: St. Louis, MO.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: This is what "classic" root beer should taste like (in my opinion). It was pretty smooth with just a *slight* bite to it as well. It was a bit creamy and had a hint of vanilla. The flavor wasn't weak, and it wasn't artificial tasting. Pretty dang good stuff!

Score: 9 out of 10.

Route 66 Black Cherry

So far, I've had good luck with "Route 66" sodas: I gave their Root Beer a 9 out of 10, and I gave their Lime Soda an 8 out of 10. So I was hoping their Black Cherry would live up to my past experiences with their sodas.

Brand: Route 66 Black Cherry.

Origin: Lebanon, MO.

Purchase Place: Frattallone's Ace Hardware, Burnsville, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: This is pretty good. It's not too heavy or syrupy (which I actually LIKE in some sodas), and the flavor is spot on. It could have a BIT more punch, but that'd make some people like it more and some like it less - they seem to have taken the "middle road" and made a good soda to please a good number of people. It's a decent Black Cherry soda as it stands. I'd definitely have this again.

Score: 8 out of 10.

Route 66 Lime Soda

I enjoyed Route 66 Root Beer 2 months ago, and now it was time for some lime!

The color was very similar to Simpson Spring Lemon & Lime soda, and I really liked that soda. So I had high hopes for this.

Brand: Route 66 Lime Soda.

Origin: Lebanon, MO.

Purchase Place: "Frattallone's Ace Hardware," Burnsville, MN.

Sweetener: Real Cane Sugar.

Review: So it wasn't QUITE as good as Simpson Spring Lemon & Lime, but it WAS good. It was very smooth and sugary, without being too heavy or syrupy. Honestly, if they called it "Lemon Lime," I would have believed it. It's a solid Lime soda.

Score: 8 out of 10.

Route 66 Root Beer

I opened my first bottle from Frattallones Ace Hardware.

When I checked their website, they had a link with recipes: cake, frosting, pulled pork, cookies, etc. I'll have to try some of those out sometime!

Brand: Route 66 Root Beer.

Origin: Lebanon, Missouri.

Purchase Place: Frattallone's Ace Hardware, Burnsville, MN.

Sweetener: Real Cane Sugar.

Review: Overall, it's smooth, deep, has a subtle-carmel flavor, and nice amount of vanilla. This was quite delicious from the first sip. Pretty smooth with a little bite. This ranks up there as one of my current top-10 favorites.

Score: 9 out of 10.

Ozark Mountain Lemonade

I had one more soda to try from my Ozark Mountain stash. It was pink lemonade:

I've had "lemonade soda" once before, and I remember it being OK. This was pretty fantastic.

Brand: Ozark Mountain Lemonade.

Origin: Branson, Missouri.

Purchase Place: Online.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This had a good lemon kick, but it was also quite sugary. This was REALLY good. As I told me wife, "this would be good in the summer... with a little vodka... sitting in Aunt Jen's backyard on Lake Minnetonka." She really agreed with that statement. It was really sweet with a kick of lemon. It just tasted like summer. This is one of my favorite Ozark Mountain Sodas (along with their Root Beer).

Score: 9 out of 10.