The Wizard of Oz Cherry Cola

This was a little too "unique" to pass up....

This was made my Rocket Fizz - I visited one of their stores in Las Vegas earlier this year.

(image source)

Brand: The Wizard of Oz Cherry Cola (by Rocket Fizz).

Origin: Camarillo, CA.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: This had a very strong and good cherry flavor - a little "dark," but not quite BLACK cherry. It had a decent head which I haven't seen much of in cherry sodas in the past. The only downside is there's a slightly strange (slightly chemically) aftertaste which keeps this score just slightly better than average.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Dog N Suds Diet Root Beer

About 9 months ago, I had "Dog N Suds" Root Beer, and it was pretty good. Now it was time to try their diet root beer:

I enjoyed this while working on my new studio space above our garage.

Brand: Dog N Suds Diet Root Beer.

Origin: Norton Shores, MI.

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

Sweetener: Aspartame.

Review: It tasted "diet." It was a little thin and watery, but the flavor was pretty good. It was smooth with a hint of vanilla. If it didn't have that thin (and slightly chemically) diet taste, it'd rank better. But for a diet root beer, it wasn't bad.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Hank's Gourmet Wishniar Black Cherry Soda

As with my other "Hank's Soda," I bought this because it was named after my son. (Not really.)

Brand: Hank's Gourmet Wishniar Black Cherry Soda

Origin: Trevose, PA.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: This had pretty strong flavor. It had a smooth black cherry flavor (the other Hank's Soda that I had was also very smooth, so maybe that's a thing they do). It was pretty syrupy and tasty. Good stuff!

Score: 7.5 out of 10.

Bedford's Root Beer

I like this bottle, so I grabbed this to drink late last week:

Brand: Bedford's Root Beer.

Origin: Port Angeles, Washington.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: The first sniff was strong with vanilla. When I tried it, it was pretty "heavy." It's one of the "deepest" flavored root beers I've had. Pretty normal, but pretty heavy and tasty.

Score: 7.5 out of 10.

Empire Orange Soda

I had Empire Soda one other time, and it was pretty crappy. This one was a bit better...

Brand: Empire Orange.

Origin: Bristol, Rhode Island.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: This was a pretty "sharp" for orange soda - I tend to prefer my orange drink to be smoother. My wife interpreted the sharpness as a chemically flavor, and she didn't care for the soda at all. I thought the orange flavor was good, and overall, I'd say it was pretty average.

Score: 5 out of 10.

Bawls Root Beer

I did NOT expect much from this when I opened it. A root beer from an energy drink company? Yeah, that's probably not going to be the best...

Sitting in the little bit of snow we just got - first snow of Winter 13/14.

CAFFEINE!! I think Barq's is the only root beer that I'd had prior to this that contained caffeine, and Barq's doesn't have much (22.5 mg of caffeine per 12 oz, or 1.8 mg / oz). This 10 oz bottle of Bawls had 65 mg of caffeine (or 6.5 mg / oz), which is pretty average when compared to your "average" cup of coffee which has 6.25 - 12.5 mg of caffeine / oz (according to Wikipedia). Red Bull, Monster, Full Throttle, or Nos energy drinks of equal size contains more than double the amount of caffeine than in Bawls. It's the guarana seeds that give Bawls it's caffeine - there's about double the amount of caffeine in a guarana seed than there is in a coffee bean.

Anyway... on to the review...


Brand: Bawls Root Beer.

Origin: Miami, Florida.

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

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: It was better than I thought, but it still wasn't great. The flavor was decent, but it was a bit watered-down. And the aftertaste was "chemical-like," which is maybe to-be-expected from an energy drink company. I'll rank it just below average.

Score: 4.5 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.

Lost Trail Black Cherry Soda

This was my first soda from my most recent trip to "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store:"

Brand: Lost Trail Black Cherry Soda.

Origin: Louisberg, KS.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This had a really deep and rich black cherry flavor. The bottle nailed it when it said "Rich, dark cherry flavor teases your taste buds..." It's good, but it's pretty "heavy." It's close to cough syrup. But if you like real sugary, then check this out.

Score: 6 out of 10.