Rugged Mountain Root Beer

I opened this last night while FINISHING UP MY GRADING for the school year! (Yay!)

Brand: Rugged Mountain Root Beer

Origin: Poultney, VT.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: Evaporated Cane Juice.

Review: First of all, IT'S CLEAR! That's unusual. And maybe that made it taste a little weak to me - I don't know. It was oddly sweet. It had that slightly herby flavor of root beer, but this was just so generically smooth and sweet. It was unique, but a little odd. Not bad, but slightly strange at the same time. I still really don't know how I feel about this, so I'll just give it a middle-of-the-road score.

Score: 5 out of 10.
 

North Star Vanilla Cream Soda

I opened this earlier tonight:

Brand: North Star Vanilla Cream Soda.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN. (Purchased by Blue Sun Soda; formerly of Forest Lake, MN.)

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: I first had a sip of this at a "cream soda tasting" event at Blue Sun Soda 6 months ago, and I noted in that post that "I remember the North Star being very creamy." It wasn't my favorite at the tasting, but because I noted that, I must have thought it was OK.

Well, it trying it again, I found that quote to be super true. This *MIGHT* be the creamiest and smoothest soda I've ever had. It just floated above my tongue and down my throat. It's pleasantly sweet and almost a bit floral. And there's definitely a little smooth kick of vanilla - I can see why it's called a "vanilla" cream. Its flavor is almost overpowered by just HOW sweet it is. This is quite unique and worth a taste.

Score: 9 out of 10.
 

Soda-Flavored Jelly

Blue Sun Soda has "Soda-Pop Jelly," and root beer sounds horrible. But I'd also love to try it.

Summit Craft Root Beer

This past weekend, we took a quick trip to a local state park, and I brought along some root beer to share. My wife had picked up a 4-pack of this at Aldi here in St. Paul last week:

On the picnic table during our lunch.

I gave my boys some in their own cups, and then Henry cleaned up the bottle when it was time.

Brand: Summit Craft Root Beer.

Origin: Batavia, IL.

Purchase Place: Aldi, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: It had a good head and was pretty smooth. The end of each sip had a bit of a wintergreen bite, and it was maybe a BIT more than I cared for, but it wasn't too bad. Pretty decent overall.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.
 

Soda on The Simpsons

"Mountain Deuteronomy."  Nice.

Yacht Club Hillary's Liberal Limeade

Here's the 2nd part of my "Donald vs Hillary" drink off:

(In case you missed it, here's part 1 from Tuesday. I tried both sodas at the same time to compare them head-to-head.)

Brand: Yacht Club Hillary's Liberal Limeade.

Origin: Centredale, RI.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: Donald's was a bit sharper, but Hillary's was sweeter. The limeade flavor had a refreshing kick.  It was pretty good, but I couldn't get over just HOW unnaturally neon it was. It tasted like a fun summer drink. My wife and 2 boys both thought Hillary was better (my oldest son noting that it was sweeter), but I HONESTLY was pretty split. Donald maybe have better "adult" flavor, and Hillary was a "sweeter" sipper. I'm not trying to ride the political fence here, but I'm giving them the exact same score.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.