Updating my Blog Feed

Just a quick note: if you've followed this blog with Feedburner, they are stopping their email service in a few days. You can find a new "Enter Your Email" to subscribe link on the right sidebar on my non-mobile site, as well as a "Follow Me" link. Both of those links take you to a new subscription service I'm using called Follow.It. It's a way to get my blog posts sent to you via email like Feedburner used to.

So follow me on follow.it here! Thanks!

 

Bar Harbor Old Soaker Root Beer

I opened this earlier today: 

Brand: Bar Harbor Old Soaker Root Beer.

Origin: Bar Harbor & Portland, Maine.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: This was quite creamy, and a bit heavy on the anise. The flavor was pretty deep and "natural" - it wasn't overly "chemically" or anything. As root beers go, it's not my favorite, but it's still a decent soda overall.  It's a bit generic, but it's nice and creamy, so I'll rank this just a bit above average.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.

Different Ways to Open a Bottle of Soda

Rhett and Link show us ways they've tried to open a bottle of soda:

If the embedded video doesn't work, CLICK HERE to see the video on their FB page.

And here's their full 12 minute video about this (although I prefer the more edited 5 minute Facebook version above):

YouTube link to the video above: https://youtu.be/TeC4lPwABCY?t=61

Manhattan Special Sarsaparilla

I opened this earlier today as I was cleaning the basement: 

Brand: Manhattan Special Sarsaparilla.

Origin: Brooklyn, NY.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This was the first bottle from my new collection of sodas from Minnesota's Largest Candy Store last month.  I didn't hunt this one out - I just reached into the case and pulled out the first thing I touched. 

As for how I liked this one, it was very creamy and very tasty. It formed a good head, and just tasted "natural" - there wasn't anything fake or chemically about this. It was an easy-to-drink soda on this warm day.

Score: 7.5 out of 10.

Inventing Coca Cola...

 

Ba dum tss!

Chumlee Root Beer

I had to look up who "Chumlee" is/was because I had no idea. It turns out he's on "Pawn Stars" and this is possibly the best possible photo of him:

Brand: Chumlee Root Beer.

Origin: Incline Village, NV.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: I feel like I've tasted this before. It was made my "Rocket Fizz," and I have a feeling that many of their semi-novelty sodas are all the same. It's a weak generic tasting root beer. It was a bit creamy and had a good head, but it was just so weak that it wasn't very enjoyable. I'm ranking it just below average.

Score: 4 out of 10.

On a side-note, that's the last bottle from my old soda stash (it's no wonder I left "Chumlee" soda sitting there for so long), so shortly I'll be starting in on the case I got from Minnesota's Largest Candy Store last month! Sweet!

Second Opinion Soda

This was a weird bottle:

Brand: Second Opinion Soda.

Origin: Gardena, CA.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: The tagline on the front of the bottle is "we do it right the second time." And there's a big speech bubble coming out of the duck that says "It is hereby recommended that for effective quenching of your thirst along with opportunity for refreshment and an invigorating experience that you consume this beverage immediately if not sooner; you may experience a prehistoric euphoria reminiscent of a time when delicious beverages in glass bottles were not yet extinct." It seems to be a bit snobbish as if glass bottle sodas don't exist and it wasn't in a soda shop surrounded by thousands of other glass bottles. It turned me off right away. 

But how did it taste? Well, after a sip, I determined it to be some sort of cola (because that wasn't listed anywhere on the bottle). It's flavor seemed a bit watered down, but it had a nice fruity kick to it - the way many decent colas taste. It's nothing special, but a decent (oddly bottled) cola.

Score: 7 out of 10.

 

O-So Key Lime Soda

My wife was at the Mall of America recently, and she got me this:

She was at Legacy Toys at MOA.

She sent me 2 photos asking if I'd had all of these...

... and the only ones I hadn't had were O-So Peach (not interested) and O-So Key Lime.

Brand: O-So Key Lime Soda.  

Origin: Mukilteo, WA.

Purchase Place: Legacy Toy Store, Mall of America, Bloomington, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: This REALLY tasted like Key Lime! My wife took a sip, and I thought she'd hate it (as it's pretty sweet, and she doesn't like overly-sweet things), but she said "wow... that's like liquid pie!" And she meant that in a good way. Very spot on key lime flavor, and quite sweet. Not bad!

Score: 7 out of 10.

Stopping at Minnesota's Largest Candy Store

It had been nearly 3 years since we stepped foot in this place! We got down there last week right as they opened at 8 a.m. And if you are still leery about crowds, THAT'S the time to stop!

This was the view that greeted me as I walked in.

Spongebob, Bruce the Shark (from "Finding Nemo"), and Ariel back there.

Standing in the sodas, looking past the jellys and baked goods
into the candy with NO ONE visible! It was quiet at 8 a.m.!

All root beer! There were a few I hadn't tried.

Other sodas sorted by flavor.

One of a few banks of cold sodas. Notice the price: $1.99/bottle or $1.49/bottle if you get 24.
I wasn't PLANNING on getting a case, but it was the fiscally responsible thing to do.

Looking through the homemade section towards the candy with no one in sight.

The last room at Minnesota's Largest Candy Store.

My boys have loved this huge Hulk in the past.

Ant-Man (and Ant-ony) are easy to miss, as they are "life-size."

As they sell thousands of puzzles, the bathrooms have puzzle artworks on the walls.

Thanos is new since our last time there!

My oldest (who loves reading fantasy) loved the little Harry Potter section!

My youngest still loves the Hulkbuster!

 

So I still have 2-3 bottles to finish up from my last Blue Sun Soda stop, but then I have a case of assorted sodas from Minnesota's Largest Candy Store to work my way through for the summer! After that, I'm DANGEROUSLY close to having had every root beer that Minnesota stores have to offer!

McCormick Taco Pale Ale