Hank's Gourmet Diet Root Beer

After helping some students in class this past week, I cracked into a treat I brought from home in my classroom:

Brand: Hank's Gourmet Diet Root Beer.

Origin: Trevose, PA.

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

Sweetener: Aspartame.

Review: This was OK from the start. Nothing fancy, but not horrible. Just OK. As with most diet root beers, it was a little watery and weak. But the flavor was decent - it was a bit earthy and herby, without being to heavy handed. That's the review I guess: a little thin, but decent flavor.

Score: 5.5 out of 10.

Olde Philadelphia Old Fashioned Diet Root Beer

I needed some root beer…

Brand: Olde Philadelphia Old Fashioned Diet Root Beer.

Origin: Philadelphia, PA (which makes sense).

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

Sweetener: Sucralose.

Review: This isn't bad, but it's sure not great either. It's a little "thin" and could use more of a kick (a common diet soda issue). The flavor was OK, just watery. It's a bit herby and a bit "old fashioned" as the name would imply.

Score: 4.5 out of 10.

Bedford's Vanilla Creme Beer

Time for something creamy:

Brand: Bedford's Vanilla Creme Beer.

Origin: Port Angeles, WA.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: This has a fair amount of vanilla, and a lot of creme. It's smooth and goes down easy. It's very sweet/sugary, so if you're OK with that, you'll like this a lot. There's a little bit of a strange aftertaste, but it's not a major issue - it just kept this from being rated another point higher.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.

Rummy Grapefruit Soda

I brought this to a board meeting the other night:

Brand: Rummy Grapefruit Soda.

Origin: Breese, IL.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: It's like Squirt. A lot like squirt. And a little like Fresca. It's good, but nothing special. You like Squirt? You'll like this.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Dr. Brown's Black Cherry Soda

Last night, we grabbed some sandwiches from Cecil's Deli just down the street here in St. Paul. They have a big cooler with sodas, so I grabbed one to take home.

In the front of Cecils. The front is the deli, and the back is the restaurant.

Brand: Dr. Brown's Black Cherry Soda

Origin: College Point, NY.

Purchase Place: Cecil's Deli, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: This was somewhere between a black cherry soda and a black cherry CREME soda. It needed to pick a side. It was too smooth to be a good black cherry soda, but it wasn't smooth enough to be a good black cherry creme soda. I was disappointed.

Score: 4 out of 10.

1990s Pepsi Cans

Someone just found a stash of unopened Pepsi cans from the late 80s / early 90s:

Iron Horse Cream Soda

Yesterday I had the worst cream soda of my life:

Brand: Iron Horse Cream Soda.

Origin: Edina, MN.

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

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: This was bad. You know the sharpness that unsweetened carbonated water has? It tasted like that only slightly more "brown." It was not creamy like a cream soda should be. I couldn't drink the whole bottle.

Score: 1.5 out of 10.