Jones Cream Soda

I was working on building some raised veggie beds yesterday, so I grabbed a soda to enjoy while working:

Sitting on the corner of one of the raised beds being built.

Brand: Jones Cream Soda.

Origin: Seattle, Washington.

Purchase Place: Frattallones Ace Hardware, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Inverted Cane Sugar.

Review: This smelled good, but just tasted off. It had a slight bite that tasted artificial. "Bite" has no place in a cream soda, and an "artificial" taste is never good. I didn't even quite finish this. Not good.

Score: 3 out of 10.

NuGrape Grape Soda

Yesterday, my son and I were working on building a sandbox in the garage, and I grabbed a grape soda to enjoy:

That 2"x12" on the floor in the background is part of his new sandbox.

Brand: NuGrape Grape Soda.

Origin: Winchester, Kentucky.

Purchase Place: Frattallone's Ace Hardware, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: The grape flavor was really good and sugary. But it was a little weak. It had the RIGHT flavor, but it could have used MORE of it. A pretty classic grape flavor, but it could have been amped up a little. It went down easy and fast. Not bad at all - giving it a slightly better than average score of 6.5.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.

Saranac Black Cherry Creme

Lent is over, so I hit my non-root beer stash from Ace the other day. I started with this:

Brand: Saranac Black Cherry Creme.

Origin: Utica, NY.

Purchase Place: Frattallone's Ace Hardware, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: This tasted a little more artificial than I had hoped, and it was a bit sharper than I wanted. It's a "cream" soda, and I want that to be smooth. The black cherry flavor was pretty good, but it just wasn't all put together perfectly. I liked their Shirley Tempe soda better.

Score: 5 out of 10.

New Stash of Sodas!

Easter is this weekend, which means Lent will be over, which means I will be able to drink soda again! In celebration for this glorious day, I headed to Frattallone's Ace Hardware on Grand Ave in St. Paul earlier today to stock up on soda. But I encountered some bad news! They had NO root beer left on their shelves!!

Lots of empty spots where root beer once was.
(And technically, there's 1 diet root beer left on the 2nd shelf next to the blue stuff.)

This marks the first time a "stock up" of soda didn't include a root beer. Depressing. Here's what I brought home:

From left-to-right:

- Jones Cream Soda
- AJ Stephans Raspberry Lime Rickey
- Cicero Beverage Co. Chicago Style Cherry
- Faygo Redpop
- Saranac Black Cherry Cream
- AJ Stephans Black Cherry
- Jones Soda Zero Calorie Black Cherry
- NuGrape Grape
- Double Cola
- Cicero Beverage Co. Chicago Style Orange Cream

Check back early next week as I start to go nuts on this stash.

Joia Blackberry Pomegranate & Ginger Soda

This sounded a little strange, but they're a local company that I WANT to like, and the first kinda strange sounding soda that I had of theirs was actually pretty good. So I gave this a try this past weekend:

Brand: Joia Blackberry Pomegranate & Ginger Soda.

Origin: Minneapolis, MN.

Purchase Place: Lunds Grocery Store, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: It's got a pretty strong and unique flavor. It's a little strange, but still drinkable. Barely. My wife said it tasted a little like perfume (and I can see what she means). All of the flavors can be tasted: blackberry, pomegranate, and ginger. It's a bit sharp with very little smoothness. It has a bit of a bite from the ginger. Not a very tasty soda.

Score: 4 out of 10.

Gave Up Soda For Lent

Sorry for not having many posts lately. I gave up soda for Lent, and only have 2 sodas every Sunday (the Lord's "cheat day" during Lent). I'll be posting more again in about 2 weeks.

Also, I need to refill my stash. I only have 1 or 2 bottles left. I think my son and I will be making a stop at Frattallone's Ace Hardware on Grand Ave here in St. Paul shortly…

p.s. I didn't learn anything magical from giving up soda. I'm not sleeping any better/worse, I don't have more/less energy, I'm not gaining/losing weight, etc.

Pineapple Faygo

My wife got this from my parents a few months ago (she loves Diet Grape Faygo, so my parents got her a lot of that along with this random bottle), and it's just been sitting in our fridge. I got the OK to crack into it and try it.

Brand: Pineapple Faygo.

Origin: Detroit, MI.

Purchase Place: Some Kwik Trip in southern MN (maybe Mankato?).

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: I'm not a fan of pineapples. Surprisingly, I'm also not a fan of pineapple-flavored things. Wait, maybe that's not that surprising. So I didn't expect much here. BUT I LIKED IT. I expected it to be sharp, but it was quite sweet and smooth. It had Faygo's typical over-sweetness, but I'm OK with overly sweet.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.

Spiffy Cola

This had a great label:

Brand: Spiffy Cola.

Origin: Mukilteo, WA.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: This was "normal" and good. It was like Coke with just a little more "deepness" and maybe a little more bite. There's not much more to say about this one. A decent cola for sure.

Score: 7 out of 10.