Triple Cola

I had this as a caffeine boost yesterday afternoon:

Brand: Triple Cola.

Origin: Mukilteo, WA.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: The label said "Drink it for Vim & Vigor," but it didn't give me either of those things. I've had a lot of good colas lately, but this wasn't one of them. It was a bit bland and weak, with a slightly "off" aftertaste - almost the slightly "burnt" taste that not-so-great colas can have. Not good.

Score: 3.5 out of 10.

Hosmer Root Beer

I enjoyed this between my classes last week:

On my "instructor station" at class.

Brand: Hosmer Root Beer.

Origin: Willimantic, CT.

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

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Sweetener.

Review: This was really smooth and creamy. There's a bit of a caramel hint that just nearly verges on being too much for me. If you like a bit of caramel in a smooth root beer, then give this a try. It was pretty decent.

Score: 7.5 out of 10.

Hippo Size Colossal Cream

I tried this the other day:

Brand: Hippo Size Colossal Cream.

Origin: Mukilteo, Washington.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: This was super creamy, but had a bit of a sharp "unnatural" flavor. The creaminess came at the start of the sip, and the sharpness came at the end. It wasn't the best. One of my favorite root beers is Hippo Size Root Beer, but this wasn't nearly as good. I'll give it an smack-in-the-middle score.

Score: 5 out of 10.

Nichol Kola

I opened my first bottle from my new stash of sodas:

Brand: Nichol Kola.

Origin: Mukilteo, WA.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: I've started to realize that I like a "good" cola. And this is a good cola. It had a good, deep flavor, and some interesting "kicks" as well: the ingredients listed coriander and cinnamon as well. Good mix of flavors, and worth a try!

Score: 8 out of 10.

Cold Front Ice Cream and my First Egg Cream

This morning, the boys and I stopped at Cold Front Soda Fountain just a few miles away here in St. Paul. Cold Front had just celebrated it's 1-year birthday a few days ago.

Birthday balloons and candy were still all over!

I got the boys 2 mini ice cream cones, and I got an "Egg Cream" soda for myself:

My boys and their ice cream: "Birthday Cake" for my 1-yr-old, and "Superman" for my 4-yr-old.

My first Egg Cream. It's chocolate syrup, milk, and carbonated water.
(So no EGG and no CREAM.)

Steve (the owner) put the 3 ingredients in the glass, got our attention, and said "here's the kinda magical part." It looked just like water with milky bubbles on the top, but then he started stirring the chocolate syrup at the bottom. In just a few seconds, it transformed to what you see above.

My boys drank half my Egg Cream. Really.

My funny dates at Cold Front.

So I suppose I should review the Egg Cream. Here I go:


Brand: Cold Front Egg Cream.

Origin: Cold Front, St. Paul, MN.

Purchase Place: Cold Front, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup and/or Sugar (according to the Fox's U-Bet Chocolate Syrup website).

Review: The owner mentioned that this is a much lighter version of a cold chocolate milk that would be tasty on a hot day (where ACTUAL chocolate milk might be too heavy - remember "milk was a bad choice" from Anchorman?). It was like a light, refreshing, fizzy chocolate milk. It was FAR from heavy - Steve was right in saying it'd be great on a summer afternoon. Interesting flavor combo. I'll rank it just above average, and would totally have it again.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.


Oh, and as the boys were wrapping up their cones, my younger one was tempting and teasing my older one:

"Oh, do you want a bite of my cone?…"

"… PSYCH! It's going in MY mouth!"

This was only our second stop at Cold Front - we only stopped there last February for some sodas just after they opened, and hadn't been back! We need to go back SOONER the 3rd time…

More Sodas from Ace Hardware

I'm working on framing up some work of mine for an upcoming exhibition, so I had to stop at Frattallone's Ace Hardware (near Grand and Snelling) to get some glass. My boys are with my mother-in-law for the weekend, so I *actually* had time to look around without them destroying the place. I snapped 2 photos of their soda selection as I was there:

I looked through those images and compared them to what I had reviewed here on my blog, and I made notes of what to go back and get when I picked up my glass the next day:

Kinda scribbly. But I can read it, and I guess that's all that matters.

My new sodas from Ace!

Combine those with my decent stash that's still left from "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store" this fall, and I should be set for many months!

Dr. Brown's Diet Black Cherry Soda

My wife had a hankering for a ruben tonight, so I swung by Cecil's Deli:

Some of Cecil's sodas.

My soda for the evening, next to my wife's ruben (and fries).

Brand: Dr. Brown's Diet Black Cherry Soda.

Origin: College Point, NY.

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

Sweetener: Aspartame.

Review: I forgot that I tried the non-diet version last year, and it wasn't the best. Well, this one was about the same. It was oddly creamy, which was strange in a black cherry soda. It had a decent amount of flavor for a diet soda, but the flavor was strange. It needed to be less creamy and more smooth (even though it tasted of "cream," it still had a decent "bite," and that was an odd combination). I'm giving it a slightly lower score than it's non-diet version.

Score: 3 out of 10.

Million Dollar Orange

"Million Dollar" is a lot to live up to…

Brand: Million Dollar Orange.

Origin: Breese, IL.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: This was OK, but nothing spectacular. It was a decent orange, but nothing stood out. It's slightly creamy, but definitely not an "orange cream." I'll give it an average score.

Score: 5 out of 10.

Polar Root Beer

Another board meeting, another soda:

Brand: Polar Root Beer.

Origin: Worcester, MA.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: This had a deep flavor, and was slightly on the thick side (without being gross). It has quite a strong caramel flavor that's maybe just a bit too much - this knocked down the score by about a full point. Pretty smooth, pretty sweet, and not bad overall.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Filbert's Old Time Quality Lime

I enjoyed this after a half marathon this weekend:

Brand: Filbert's Old Time Quality Lime.

Origin: Chicago, IL.

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

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: For how neon this is, I was surprised that it had a nice, soft, subtle lime flavor. It wasn't over-powering, or too sugary-sweet. It wasn't anything fantastic or ground-breaking, but it was a simple, tasty lime soda.

Score: 6 out of 10.