Refill at Blue Sun Soda

Yesterday afternoon, my boys and I headed to the "original" Blue Sun Soda up in the north metro. I slowly worked my way through the root beer aisle and grabbed just a few bottles that I haven't had before. But now after the 2 or 3 that I just purchased, I'll have had everything in this aisle: 

All root beers way down to the end.

Back by the little game room (they've really made that smaller).

The soda fountain section had some old cans being used as vases.

My assorted case from Blue Sun Soda!

I have a few novelty sodas in there that will be GROSS that I plan to try with my extended family as we get together during the summer. Stay tuned for those reviews!

Cool Mountain Root Beer

I was in a bad mood and wanted some good root beer, but unfortunately I only had this: 

Brand: Cool Mountain Root Beer

Origin: Des Plaines, IL.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Bloomington, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: This wasn't great. It was too caramely with nothing else going for it. Ehh. No thanks.

Score: 3.5 out of 10.

Lime Billy's Bubble Pop

I opened this with supper tonight: 

Brand: Lime Billy's Bubble Pop.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Bloomington, MN.

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: This is another one of Billy's mixed up color sodas, and it's my favorite one yet! (The other's I've had I've ranked around average with scores around 5 to 6.5.) 

This tastes like an extra sweet and extra "limey" lemon/lime soda. It almost tastes like an overly sweet mojito like I've had in Mexico. One of my boys thought it tasted a little "key lime"-like, but I think he was just thinking it was sweet like a dessert. This was sweet, classic, child-like, and tasty. Nothing special, but sweet and drinkable!

Score: 7.5 out of 10.

Candy and Soda from Ely's Old Fashioned Candy

Last week, my boys and I spent 2 days fishing and "camping" (in a camper cabin) up in Bear Head Lake State Park. We stopped into Ely when we first got there, and we found "Ely's Old Fashioned Candy."

My boys starting to look around inside.

Their soda selection.

These are all root beers, but I'd had them all.

Fresh popcorn and other goodies behind the counter.

My boys were picking out taffy flavors. The little buckets on the right were also
"pay by the ounce" like the taffy, so there was a lot of possible "mix and match" going on.

 
I grabbed a soda, but never took a photo of it when I drank it by the campfire. Just a nice sweet stop while playing outside with my sons!

Grandma...

Thomas Kemper Low Calorie Root Beer

It had been years since I had "regular" Thomas Kemper root beer. So it was time to try their low calorie version:

Brand: Thomas Kemper Low Calorie Root Beer.

Origin: Portland, OR.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Bloomington, MN.

Sweetener: Honey and Sucralose.

Review: This was listed as 20 calories, so I looked at the ingredients list: it had sucralose as it's "main" sweetener, but it also had honey. I've had mixed reactions to honey in root beer. But this was OK. It was REALLY creamy (almost to a fault), and the flavor was OK: the honey added a unique sweetness to it, but it wasn't bad. It was a bit herby, but sure not over-the-top. I liked this WAY more than the regular Thomas Kemper's Root Beer. It was unique and decent. Not bad!

Score: 7 out of 10.

Root Jack Orange Flavored Root Beer Pirate Energy Drink

I opened this earlier today: 

Brand: Root Jack Orange Flavored Root Beer Pirate Energy Drink.

Origin: Mishawaka, IN.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Bloomington, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: This is labeled a "pirate energy drink," so I was a little concerned. It has your daily allowance of vitamin C to "keep scurvy in check," so that's good. It has quillaja which Google tells me is sometimes used to help with foam in root beer. And it has caffeine and guarana seed extract which are both stimulants. I also found online that it has 10 mg of caffeine/oz, so this bottle had 120 mg of caffeine! 

But on to the flavor. It's not great. It has that energy drink chemically-ness to it. The orange flavor with the root beer isn't bad - that's actually kinda fun. If you like energy drinks, then you might like this. If you don't then you might want to steer away from this one. Not bad, totally unique, but not great.

Score: 5.5 out of 10.

Blue Sun Super Sour Soda Pucker Up Grape

Yes, it's been over 2 weeks since my last post... I've had this soda in the fridge, but I kept putting off trying it because I was a bit scared. And it's not just one I can grab and take to class as it could leave a horrible taste in my mouth. But FINALLY, here we are... 

Brand: Blue Sun Super Sour Soda Pucker Up Grape.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Bloomington, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This SMELLED just like a normal grape soda. And even when it first hit my tongue, it tasted like a normal grape soda. But then a second later, the SOUR hits, and it makes my cheeks pucker! 

Not surprisingly, my boys tried this and loved it. They thought it was quite good. 

The grape flavor is quite sweet (almost surprisingly sweet), and then it hits with the "candy" sour. The sour really isn't TOO much - yes, it made my face have a physical reaction each time, but it's still almost subtle. Almost. Not bad, and just a fun soda. This is NOT something I would pick when I just wanted to sip on something, but something I'd grab with a friend. As a "drinking" soda, it's crap. But for the experience, I'll rate this just above average.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.

Frostie Orange Soda

Last night as I was peeling oranges for my wife to take to work today, I opened something orange for myself:

Brand: Frostie Orange Soda.

Origin: Detroit, MI.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Bloomington, MN.

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: Ehh... this was OK. There's nothing that stands out much about it's flavor - it's orange soda. It's just a little odd because it's smooth on the front end but has a slight sharpness in its aftertaste. I liked it more at the first sip when it was a little smooth, and I would have NEARLY called it a "orange cream" soda, but then that changed a little at the end of the sip. Not bad, but nothing great, so it gets a middle-of-the-road score.

Score: 5 out of 10.