Jones Special Release Sugar Cookie Soda

I brought this to work with me and enjoyed it at my desk: 

 

Brand: Jones Special Release Sugar Cookie Soda.

Origin: Seattle, Washington.

Purchase Place: Cub Foods, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: The bottle said this was "a blast of frosty cookie goodness fresh out of the oven!" And it claims it has the "buttery delight" of a sugar cookie but without the crumbs. Would those statements hold up? I wasn't sure.

At first sip, it was VERY much like a cream soda! It had that smoothness and sweetness that you'd expect with a cream soda. But I can see how there's a "frosting" flavor in there - I'm glad the bottle noted that was a "frosty cookie" flavor, but I get that! It's definitely heavy on the "frosting" front and not as much on the "cookie" front. It was a fun flavor, but nothing too special. It got a little too overly sweet as I drank the bottle, so I'll rank this just barely below average.

Score: 4.5 out of 10.

Jones Special Release Icee Cherry Soda

I opened this last night: 

Brand: Jones Special Release Icee Cherry Soda.

Origin: Seattle, WA.

Purchase Place: Cub Foods, Minneapolis, MN.

Sweetener: Inverted Cane Sugar.

Review: It SMELLS like a cherry Icee at first sniff! And the taste is right on when it first hit my tongue. But then it has a harsh, almost bitter flavor. As I think about it, it's about right on when sipping a melted Icee, but that's just not desirable to me. 

My wife tried it and said "Yum, it tastes like sipping a melted Icee!" But that was the exact reason I did NOT like it. So this soda is going to have varying reviews! If you've ever loved sipping a melted Icee (I haven't), this this soda is made for you.

It seemed to get better as I sipped (and that could partially be due to me just getting used to it), but I was hoping this would just be sweet and delicious... and it wasn't. I figured I'd love this, but it didn't live up to my expectations. Dang.

Score: 2.5 out of 10.

Jarritos Mandarin

The boys and I stopped at Cub Foods 2 days ago (we rarely do because we are more of an "Aldi" family) for some ingredients for some Thai chicken, and we found a Jarritos that we hadn't tried yet:

Brand: Jarritos Mandarin.

Origin: El Paso, TX.

Purchase Place: Cub Foods, Minneapolis, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This had a true "kick" of mandarin orange - it was not just a regular orange soda. And I don't know that I cared for it that much. You know the difference between an "orange" and an "orange cream" soda? Well, take that difference and make an orange soda with more of a bite than creaminess, and you'd have this soda. True that it has an appropriate mandarin kick, but it's just not something that I liked all that much. I'll rate this just below average.

Score: 4 out of 10.

Coca Cola California Raspberry

I stopped at Cub Foods in Midway (St. Paul) this past week to get a few things with my boys. We walked past the sodas, and I found this single bottle (they sell a lot of 4- or 6-packs, so it's nice to find some individual bottles for sale):

Brand: Coca Cola California Raspberry.

Origin: Anywhere?

Purchase Place: Cub Foods, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: This had that oh-so-recognizable Coca Cola flavor, but then there was a berry "tartness" to it as well. I can't call that tartness good or bad - it was just tart. I don't know that I could have labeled it as "raspberry" had I not know what I was drinking, but it was pretty good. So I guess I'm saying the "raspberry" flavor isn't 100% right, but the raspberry "tartness" was about right. Overall, it was a nice version of Coke!

Score: 6.5 out of 10.

Cheerwine

I had the diet version of this 4 years ago, so it was about time to try the regular version (this was the 2nd soda my wife bought for me at Cub recently):

Brand: Cheerwine.

Origin: Salisbury, NC.

Purchase Place: Cub Foods, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: This was good. It's some sort of cherry cola (one place on the bottle it says "wild cherry"). It's pretty sweet, but the carbonation gives it just a little kick. This is a keeper! Bonus: try Cheerwine this year because it's 100 years old in 2017.

Score: 8 out of 10.

Tree Fort Classic Cola

My wife was at Cub Foods in St. Paul over the weekend, and she sent me this picture and asked what I wanted:

I had her grab a Tree Fort Cola and a Cheerwine. I started with the Tree Fort Cola:

Brand: Tree Fort Classic Cola.

Origin: Minneapolis, MN.

Purchase Place: Cub Foods, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: I wasn't sure what to think after the first sip. This had a very deep almost "brown sugar"-like sweetness. After a few more sips, I realized it was a sweetness that was a bit like very almond-flavored frosting. It was a VERY unique cola, and I ended up liking it in the end. But it was so different, that it took me a bit to warm up to it. I'll rate is just above average.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Mong Lee Shang Pearl Soybean Drink with Tapioca Ball

I was getting some groceries at Cub Foods yesterday morning, and I found myself in the ethnic foods section. I ended up leaving with this:

Oh wait, I can't read that side. Here's the english side:

Yeah, I know. A little risky. Still, it sounded like it could be good. I searched the can over for "shake well before opening" because I figured I needed to do that, but I didn't find that anywhere. I shook it well hoping it wasn't carbonated. Here it is partially poured out into a glass:

That glass had NO tapioca balls in it! I felt robbed. But then a fair amount came out in the final pour. They weren't dark like on the can (and like what I'm used to in my bubble tea), and they were tiny. Here's a spoonful of them:

Brand: Mong Lee Shang Pearl Soybean Drink with Tapioca Ball.

Origin: Taipei, Taiwan.

Purchase Place: Cub Foods St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This was pretty tasty. It DID taste like soybeans! (Soybeans was the 2nd ingredient behind water, and before sugar and non-dairy cream.) I was born and raised on a farm, so I know what a soybean tastes like when popped into your mouth. It was like sweet soybeans. It was about as thick as whole milk, and pretty good. I figured this could be something I don't finish, but I downed it all pretty quick.

Score: 7.5 out of 10.

Fanta Orange

On a recent warm evening, I opened this with supper:

Brand: Fanta Orange.

Origin: Mexico.

Purchase Place: Cub Foods, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: Nothing fancy here, but decent orange soda. Smooth. Oh, and as I've noted before about Fanta sodas, the mouth of the bottle is super rounded and smooth. It's awesome.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.

Hapi Mandarin Orange Float Drink

This past weekend, I needed to make a last-minute stop at Cub Foods, and I spotted this while I was there:

It's not "technically" a soda, but it's sweetened with HFCS, so I figured it'd be kinda like a soda. It wasn't.


Brand: Hapi Mandarin Orange Float Drink.

Origin: Korea.

Purchase Place: Cub Foods, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: Well, it tasted like mandarin oranges and it had small chunks of them in it. So that seems about right. But it was kinda gross. It was like bad tasting OJ. The "mandarin orange" flavor was right on (the 2nd ingredient is "mandarin orange pulp" and the 4th is "mandarin orange concentrate"), but it just wasn't good.

Score: 3 out of 10.

Goya Coconut Soda

I recently finished off my small stash of sodas from the Mexican Food section of Cub that I picked up a few months ago.

Brand: Goya Coconut Soda.

Origin: Secaucus, NJ.

Purchase Place: Cub Foods, Minneapolis, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: I'm not a fan of coconut flavored things - I'll admit that. So the best coconut soda might only be able to reach a mark of 7 out of 10 on my scale. Well, this one will do just that. When I opened this, it had no smell what-so-ever, and that worried me. But the first sip was decent. The problem with coconut flavored drinks is that sometimes it tastes like you're drinking sunscreen, but this one didn't taste like that. It was a good, smooth coconut flavor. It tasted very clean and pure. If you like coconut flavored things, give this a shot - it was as good as it could have been.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Jarritos Strawberry

I wanted some sugary sweetness this weekend:

Brand: Jarritos Strawberry.

Origin: Mexico.

Purchase Place: Cub Foods, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This tasted sweet, but not really like strawberry. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't strawberry either. It just tasted "red." Not bad. No bite. All sweet. I'll give it an average score.

Score: 5.5 out of 10.

Fanta Grape

I opened this a few minutes ago, and I'm still enjoying it:

This is the "Mexican version" that I got in the ethnic foods section. The back of the bottle is all in Spanish, and the bottle cap says "Grape" and "Uva" (Spanish for grape).


Brand: Fanta Grape.

Origin: Mexico.

Purchase Place: Cub Foods, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This is very sweet, sugary, and syrupy. The flavor was spot-on. It was "basic" and normal, but extra sweet, and I liked it a lot. Oh, and a BONUS: the top of the bottle is super rounded - I've never sipped soda from a smoother, rounder opening. It was a strange, special treat.

Score: 8 out of 10.
 

Jarritos Lime Soda

Yesterday, I grabbed my 2nd soda from the Mexican Food Section of Cub Foods:

Brand: Jarritos Lime Soda.

Origin: Mexico.

Purchase Place: Cub Foods, Minneapolis, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This was a good Lime Soda. It has a nice bite of Lime, but not too much. Good flavor overall. I think I need to start trying more Lime sodas because I haven't had a bad one yet...

Score: 8 out of 10.

Sidral Mundet Apple Soda

Last week, I grabbed 3 sodas from the Mexican Foods section of Cub Foods:

My 2nd Jarritos and Goya sodas (on either end), and my first Sidral Mundet.

This was the first one I tried:

Sweet embossed bottle.

The cap.

Brand: Sidral Mundet.

Origin: Mexico.

Purchase Place: Cub Foods, Minneapolis, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This is a simple soda: it's tastes a lot like a sweet, carbonated apple juice. If that sounds good to you (which is does to me), try this. I'm actually surprised this is labeled as "less than 1% apple juice" because this could have a lot more in it based on it's flavor. It's an apple SODA, when it really could just be an apple JUICE with some carbonation (that would make it better for you too). Anyway, it was tasty and sweet - tastes more like juice than a soda though.

Score: 8 out of 10.