Diet Sparkola Cola

I opened this yesterday during some housework:

"No Pickles?!?"  I'm disappointed.

Brand: Diet Sparkola Cola.

Origin: Los Angeles, CA.

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

Sweetener: Sucralose.

Review: This wasn't too bad for a diet. It was a normal "decent" cola flavor that had a hint of berry and even maybe a bit of cinnamon. After a few sips, the flavor got a little weak and it started to "feel" like a diet soda, but it wasn't bad.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Excel Gooey Butter Cake Soda

Up at the cabin this past week, I cracked into this beauty:

Brand: Excel Gooey Butter Cake Soda.

Origin: Breese, IL.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: I poured out little sips for all my family to try, and there were no horrible reactions (which is a little rare with a "novelty" soda). Some of the younger kids even liked it. I took a sniff and it didn't smell like much. When I tasted it, the flavor was quite subtle. There was a true hint of butter, but not rich, thick, super creamy butter. Just a nod of the flavor. And that was about it. It was just a "light butter" flavor, with no real "cake" flavor at all. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't something that I would drink a bottle of, so I have to rank it kinda low.

Score: 3.5 out of 10.

Trying Barq's Frozen Root Beer and Vanilla Ice Cream Float

About exactly a year ago, I posted about seeing that these things exist, but I noted I couldn't find them anywhere. Recently, my wife brought 2 cases of 8 home from Aldi:

It's kind of like a push up where you peel off the top.

A light squeeze makes it slowly rise up.

So it's creamy ice cream mixed in with a root beer flavored ice cream. It's pretty good! Both of my boys loved them! And I thought they were a nice size: just 3 oz and 90 calories.  (And sorry for the speck of paint on my hand in that last photo... I was painting some of my siding, which is why my wife thought of grabbing some root beer and ice cream treats for me.)

Cotton Candy at Remix!

Yesterday, the boys and I stopped by "Remix" on Marshall Ave (near Cleveland) in St. Paul. We hadn't been then since before everything shut down in March. We heard they had cotton candy now and wanted to try it!

My boys staring at bulk candy (now bagged up by employees to avoid spreading germs).

Lots of "Northern" Soda made here in MN!

Some unique root beer combos (they have regular root beer as well).

We waited as they spun some cotton candy for us! They have 8 flavors to choose from, and my boys both asked for root beer (MY BOYS!). I tried pina colada, and I got a bag of mango for my wife:

Pina colada, root beer on top, and mango (as we wait for our final bag of root beer to be spun).

The pina colada wasn't my favorite, but the root beer was great! And one of my boys actually liked the mango better than his root beer (which was surprising). Remix is planning on opening a "cookie dough" bar in the back shortly! We'll be back for that!

Check out Remix on Facebook, and here's my first Remix post from November.

Frostie Root Beer

My wife brought this home for me on a hot day when I was working outside:

The bottle cap.

Brand: Frostie Root Beer.

Origin: Detroit, Michigan.

Purchase Place: Aldi, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: When I had this root beer 7 years ago, the sweetener was HFCS and I noted that it felt "flavored" and not like actual root beer. (Whatever that means.) Frostie changed their formula, as now it's sweetened with "pure cane sugar." And truth be told, I didn't look at that until after I tasted it and thought "oh, this is pretty good!" It was a pretty classic flavor, with a bit of a bite. Last time, I gave it a 6 out of 10, but I'm raising it this time to an 8. Worth a re-try if you've had it in the past!

Score: 8 out of 10. 

An Unlabeled Bottle

Well, here's a review unlike any other...

I just opened a bottle that had no label. I vaguely recall getting this bottle, but I have such a bad memory, that I have no idea when, where, or why. It was in my box with other "MN Largest Candy Store" sodas, but that's the only hint I have.

The "front" of the bottle...

... and the "back." Seriously.

Brand: Unknown.

Origin: Unknown

Purchase Place: "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store" (I think), Jordan, MN.

Sweetener: Unknown.

Review: OK, so the first obvious issue is to determine the flavor. I cracked the top (still heard the sound of carbonation, so that's good) and took a sniff. My eyes lit up and I took another... "It's root beer" I thought. It was a bit heavy on the anise, but otherwise pretty decent and relatively smooth. Wish I knew what this was...

Score: 7 out of 10.
 

Zevia Ginger Root Beer

I was at Fresh Thyme recently and grabbed a large can of ginger root beer:

Brand: Zevia Ginger Root Beer

Origin: Los Angeles, CA.

Purchase Place: Fresh Thyme Farmer's Market, Minneapolis, MN.

Sweetener: Stevia Leaf.

Review: My 3 other "Zevia" sodas were all just OK (receiving "average" scores of 4.5, 5, and 5.5), so I was ready for this to be just OK. I poured some out for my boys to taste, and it was CLEAR, so that was weird. It had a strange tartness (that I think is from the Stevia) that I didn't care for. I didn't taste any of the ginger flavor in it - it was just a kinda strange root beer. And it was so weak that it tasted almost like a flavored water. It didn't taste that great, and it was weak, so no thanks.

Score: 3 out of 10.
 

Soda Humor