Sakura Cherry Blossom Cola

I grabbed this while out my with boys recently:

I used my phone to translate the Japanese on the side of the bottle.

Brand: Sakura Cherry Blossom Cola.

Origin: Japan.

Purchase Place: Shanghai Wholesale Market, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: This was sweet and tasty, but it wasn't "cherry blossom" at all. It had a slight citrus sweetness to it that reminded be a bit of Fresca. It was good, but very sweet - this 8 oz bottle had 110 calories (8 oz of Coke would be around 93 calories, and 8 oz of Pepsi would be 100 calories). Sweet, citrusy, and just a BIT floral. It was good, but SWEET!

Score: 6 out of 10.

Cock N Bull Bitter Lemon

I opened this last night:

Cool bottle cap!

Brand: Cock N Bull Bitter Lemon.

Origin: Columbus, OH.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: OOOOOoooooo LAWD this was bitter! This tasted like I was biting a grapefruit. Really, the flavor wasn't very "lemon"-like, but much more like a grapefruit. I couldn't handle it at first. But it was good when I put some in a mixed drink last night.

BUT, it got better as it sat in the fridge overnight. I took another drink this morning, and it was much more subtle. The carbonation was adding to the intensity, and once that subdued a bit, it was much more of a pleasant lemon soda. 

Not drinkable on its own, good in a mixed drink, and more palatable after a night in the fridge. 

Score: 3 out of 10.

Assam Milk Tea

Last week, my family and I stopped by Shanghai Wholesale Market Place in St. Paul (across the road from Menards in the Midway neighborhood) for the first time. I found an aisle full of drinks:

Lots of fun things to try!

I went back on Sunday with both of my boys (1 boy was gone we we first stopped by) and I grabbed a drink:

A smaller can: 10.48 oz.

The non-English side of the can.

I love things lost in translation: "If sedimentation or oil slick from the milk fat agglomeration
of the case is a product characteristics, quality without fear, please drink at ease."

Brand: Assam Milk Tea.

Origin: Siehe Village, Taiwan.

Purchase Place: Shanghai Wholesale Market Place, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: unknown.

Review: I often get a "royal milk tea" from local tea shops (like Sencha and Niko Niko Boba), so I know the flavor of that... or at least what I EXPECT. This was a lot sweeter! It almost had a lavender flavor to it. I determined that it wasn't lavender, but some other "perfumy" flavor. It was good, but not as smooth as the milk teas that I knew of. The flavor was sweet and a bit unique. It was tasty!

Score: 8.5 out of 10.

p.s. I picked up some tapioca pearls at Shanghai Wholesale as well, so I made some pearls to have with my milk tea:

Pearson Bros. 1986 Root Beer

Last week, my family and I took a 6 day road trip through Yellowstone National Park! (I posted just a little about it on my other blog, but will be sharing more photos shortly.) We stopped at a Cracker Barrel right off I-90 in Billings Montana on our 2nd morning heading out there. And I found a big selection of sodas in their "country store:"

There or 4 sodas in this small collection that I haven't had!..

... including this root beer! (Being enjoyed outside of the Old Faithful Snow Lodge in Yellowstone.)

Brand: Pearson Bros. 1986 Root Beer

Origin: Newport, VT.

Purchase Place: Cracker Barrel, Billings, MT.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: So I grabbed that root beer (and another soda to try shortly) and we threw it in our fridge at our next hotel. It was cute at just 11 oz (that extra oz was noticeable!). Then my family and I cracked into it the following evening in Yellowstone, just about 1000 feet from Old Faithful!

My wife liked it, my boys thought it was OK, but I just thought it was decent. It was a bit too "sharp" and caramel-heavy for me. It wasn't my favorite. The root beer flavor was OK, but overall just not a great drinking experience. I have to rank this just a bit below average.

Score: 4.5 out of 10.

p.s.  Here's my first post about our trip on my other blog.

Ramune Original Flavor

I was at HyVee earlier today, and I found this in the Asian Foods aisle:

 

Brand: Ramune Original Flavor.

Origin: Japan.

Purchase Place: HyVee, Eagan, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup and Sugar.

Review: "Original Flavor..." what's that? I don't always do well with "mystery" flavors. After the fun task of opening these special bottles, I took a sip. I first thought it was some sort of fruit flavor, but I quickly realized that it's very "bubble gum" favored. My boys both agreed as well. It was very sweet... really TOO sweet. It was good, but I happy it was only 6.7 oz because it was a lot of sugary goodness. It was OK, but just a bit too much sweetness. Between the fun way to open the bottle and the super sweet soda inside, this would be great for a kid... but not an adult.

Score: 4 out of 10.

Lotte Milkis Banana

I grabbed this from an Asian grocery store that I stopped at recently with my boys:

 

Brand: Lotte Milkis Banana.

Origin: Korea.

Purchase Place: Shuang Hur Supermarket, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: This was a cute little 8.45 oz can. I didn't know what to expect from it. I was a little scared. This drink was a bit milky, and "powdered skim milk" was the 4th ingredient (after water, sugar, and carbon dioxide)... and I assume that's why it's called MILKis. 

As far as the taste: it wasn't bad! It didn't REALLY taste like banana, but more like banana-flavored things. It was like a liquid version of a banana Runt candy (remember those?!?) with carbonation. It was good, but a little odd, so I'll give it an average score. A fun thing to try in a small can.

Score: 5 out of 10.

Belvoir Farm Organic Elderflower Lemonade Soft Drink

I opened this last night while cooking (sorry for the mess):

Brand: Belvoir Farm Organic Elderflower Lemonade Soft Drink.

Origin: United Kingdom.

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

Sweetener: Organic Cane Sugar.

Review: This was pretty "elderflower heavy" (which is not a phrase I think I've ever said). It has just a HINT of sourness, but that's about all I could take away from the "lemonade" part of the flavor.  I wish it was a bit more equal on the elderflower and lemonade scale. The flavor is nice and subtle overall. Not bad (especially if you like elderflower), but I wanted a little more from this.

Score: 5.5 out of 10.

NEW! Coca Cola Zero Sugar Limited Edition "Starlight" Space Flavored

So, what is the flavor of "space?" 

Brand: Coca Cola Zero Sugar Limited Edition "Starlight" Space Flavored.

Origin: Atlanta, GA.

Purchase Place: Target, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Aspartame.

Review: My wife grabbed a small pack of these tiny 7.5 oz cans for my this morning at Target. She had to Google the flavor to make sure I wouldn't hate it, and what she found out was that people were calling it very sweet with a raspberry or minty flavor (which seem VERY different to me).

First of all, it's quite red which was surprising. There's really no "normal" Coke taste to it. It has a strong "vanilla" flavor, but more like "plug in air-freshener woodsy vanilla" and not a preferable "vanilla bean." There's a hint of "abandoned humid cardboard warehouse" in there as well. So what I'm saying is that I'm not a fan.

To be honest, if I wasn't expecting Coca Cola, I'd maybe rank this a bit higher. It's a unique flavor, and I can give them that. But when I'm expecting just a "twist" on Coke Zero and get hit with air freshener in a damp cardboard factory, I'm not happy about it. I didn't even finish my 7.5 oz can, and I don't know what to do with the rest of the cans she got me.

Score: 2.5 out of 10.

Bull's Head Root Beer

I opened this yesterday afternoon as I was painting my living room:

My living room is all plastic and paint fumes.

Brand: Bull's Head Root Beer.

Origin: Canada.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: I wanted to like this so badly, but I just didn't. It wasn't good. But listen: it MIGHT be for you. It had a SUPER woodsy, earthy, and herby taste that was just too much for me. Some people might like it that strong, but it wasn't for me. It had such a unique bite because of that flavor but it was a "miss" for my palate. I'm giving it an extra point because it tried so hard. 

Score: 3 out of 10.

Japanese Ramuné Naruto Raspberry Soda

Yesterday my boys and I were "up north" (it's their spring break), and I brought this along: 

On the counter in our tiny motel kitchen.

Close-up of the "marble" after breaking the seal.

Brand: Japanese Ramuné Naruto Raspberry Soda.

Origin: Japan.

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

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup and Sugar.

Review: This is the second Japanese soda like this I've had in this strange bottle - if you want to see more about how to open it by forcing a marble down into the bottle, check out my review of their grape soda. It's still not a bottle that's easy to drink from as the marble tries to wash back and stop the flow of soda. It's a bit annoying.

But this flavor was pretty spot on! I opened the bottle with my boys, and we had enjoyed that process so much that I took a sip before remembering what flavor it was supposed to be. But my sip told me "raspberry... 100% raspberry." It had a nice little tartness to it, and it was decently sweet. It reminded me a bit of a liquid and carbonated blue raspberry Icee. Check it out if you're a fan of raspberry flavored drinks!

Score: 7 out of 10.

Japanese Ramuné Grape Soda

My boys and I cracked into a wacky looking Japanese soda last night:

A unique (small!) bottle.

"For even more delicious this drink chill before drinking." Yes. I love stuff like this.

 

Directions (also written on the right) for "popping" the marble seal into the bottle.

 

See the carbonation-covered marble right in the middle? Now it's just rolling around in there!

 

So yes... there was a plastic "opener" that got snapped out of the plastic cover, and then that got used to force the marble seal into the bottle. And note in that last photo that the glass bottle has a little "pocket" in it where the marble can rest. It's a very unique and heavy bottle - lots of glass "angles" in there. (VERY heavy considering it holds only 6.6 oz of soda!)

Brand: Japanese Ramuné Grape Soda.

Origin: Japan. 

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

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup and Sugar (one of the few sodas that I've had that has BOTH of those on the label).

Review: The bottle was the funnest part. My boys loved watching me open it, and kids would LOVE this bottle. Kids shouldn't open it (as it takes a lot of palm down-force to open it), but otherwise this is great for kids as it's fun and it's not much soda. The grape flavor is just OK. Truly, opening the bottle was the best part. There's a slight bite to this that isn't super. I'm ranking this 1 point higher than I should (if I were basing it ONLY on flavor) because of the "funness" of the bottle.

Score: 6 out of 10.

 

Whistler Cream Soda

I opened this tonight:

 

Brand: Whistler Cream Soda.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: I generally don't have strong feelings about cream sodas. And that's true for this one as well. It was good, creamy, smooth, and quite sweet. But nothing too fancy or different than any cream soda. 

Score: 6.5 out of 10. 

Whistler Lime Rickey Soda

I opened this with lunch just now: 

Brand: Whistler Lime Rickey Soda.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This is SUPER neon looking. And it was good. The lime flavor was very smooth verging ALMOST on "milky" (but not quite). It nearly had a "grasshopper" quality to it (talking about the adult beverage). It wasn't overly sweet, and went down easy. A solid soda!

Score: 8 out of 10.

Whistler Huckleberry Soda

I opened this the other night:

The bottle cap as proof of flavor.

Brand: Whistler Huckleberry Soda.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This has a nostalgic cough syrup feel to it. When I sometimes call something "cough-syrup-like," it's usually because it's THICK and syrupy. But this had the flavor of like the best cough syrup that you LIKED taking as a kid. Like cherry with a slight hint of something sharp. Cherry-like is the best I can describe the flavor. And it was good, and went down easy. This was a good one.

Score: 8 out of 10.
 

Whistler Wild Cherry Soda

I haven't had a soda in a while. So I opened this earlier tonight for my boys and I to enjoy (as my wife is out of town at the moment, so we enjoyed some extra sugar in her absence):

First of all, YES, it was purple. A purple wild cherry. That IS wild. That threw me for a loop. And I didn't know I had a Whistler soda still in my stash - 75% of the time, I just reach into my soda box and take out whatever I grab. And I was shocked to find a Whistler. (I was concerned because they've had "sealing" issues [note here and here], and now I try to drink my Whistlers shortly after purchasing them.)


Brand: Whistler Wild Cherry Soda 

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: First of all, it HAD a seal. So that was good. And it ended up being a sweet and very easy-to-drink "wild cherry." The flavor seemed about spot-on. My boys loved it as well. It was on the sweeter side (so more "kid friendly" and less "fancy adult soda friendly"), but I tend to enjoy that. Good soda!

Score: 7.5 out of 10.
 

Whistler Lemon Lime Soda

I opened the first of the 8 bottles that I picked up from Blue Sun Soda this past weekend. It was a Whistler Lemon Lime:

Proof that it was Lemon Lime (the bottles all look the same, but the bottle caps have stickers).

I've had issues with Whistler sodas not being sealed (like in my last one which I drank shortly after purchasing it and it STILL had an issue), so I drank this one 3 days after purchase. Luckily (and FINALLY), this soda "psssssstt"-ed when I opened it.


Brand: Whistler Lemon Lime.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This was a really sweet lemon lime. I really enjoyed it! It was heavy on the lemon, and NEARLY seemed "thick" because of how sweet it was. Finally, a Whistler that I enjoyed! I knew I'd like some of their flavors, but they just kept selling my un-sealed bottles that had lost all carbonation. Maybe they figured it out, or maybe I just got lucky with this one, but it was good.

Score: 8 out of 10.

J. Gasco's Elderflower Fizzy Italian Soda

Last night, I tried this TINY 6.75 oz bottle of Italian Soda:

I didn't get a photo in comparison to something else - this is TINY!

Brand: J. Gasco's Elderflower Fizzy Italian Soda.

Origin: Torino, Italy.

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

Sweetener: Sugar and "Burnt Sugar."

Review: This had a nice "adult" flavor - it was sweet, but it was a dry sweetness that wasn't too over-the-top. My wife and I enjoyed it. It would be great in a mixed drink, but it was just fine on it's own as well. I had to google "burnt sugar" to see what that was, as it's listed as the last ingredient on the list. This was unique and tasty! Worth a try!

Score: 8 out of 10.

Bawls Guarana Cherry

We stopped at "Fresh Thyme" grocery store over the weekend, and my wife asked "hey, have you had all of these?" as we walked through the soda section. I found a Bawls Cherry that I hadn't tried before:

Hard to photograph - had to hold it in the right spot to make out the label.

Brand: Bawls Guarana Cherry.

Origin: Twinsburg, OH.

Purchase Place: Fresh Thyme Grocery Store, Minneapolis, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: My first Bawls soda / energy drink was a bit of a let down. They made sodas with a super high caffeine content - one of the ingredients is guarana extract which is about twice as potent as coffee beans. This bottle had 64 mg of caffeine. But I still wanted to try this. It wasn't great. The cherry flavor was OK the moment it touched my tongue, but then it immediately became very "chemically" tasting. And it was weak/thin tasting. Both of those things I ended up saying about my first Bawls soda as well. Not a fan of Bawls.

Score: 3 out of 10.

Blueberry Whistler Soda

I've had some issues with Whistler sodas not holding on to their seal. So this soda is one that I picked up earlier this summer before it had time to really lose its carbonation:

Well, the amount that was lost in this bottle wasn't a good sign from the start. And guess what? It was TOTALLY FLAT. Blue Sun Soda really needs to check something on their Whistler bottling machine because they are NOT holding seals!


Brand: Blueberry Whistler Soda.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: The flavor was good, but it was dead flat, and that's just so annoying. From now on, I'll get Whistler sodas and drink then within the week. Heck, I might open one at Blue Sun Soda to make sure it's actually NOT flat right off the bat. Again, the flavor was nice - it reminded me of the blueberry "chips" that are in blueberry muffin mixes. But it was hard to get past the flat-ness.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Whistler Sarsaparilla

I cracked into this on Sunday:

I suppose it's a bad sign they can't spell "sarsaparilla," right?

Brand: Whistler Sarsaparilla.

Origin: Made in Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: My experience with Whistler has been up and down. And after this (misspelled) soda, it's back up. This was pretty good. The flavor wasn't too deep, and it was a bit subtle. But it was good. Earthy and tasty. It felt "pure" (whatever that means to you). This was very enjoyable.

Score: 8 out of 10.