Whistler Lime Rickey Soda

I opened this with lunch just now: 

Brand: Whistler Lime Rickey Soda.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This is SUPER neon looking. And it was good. The lime flavor was very smooth verging ALMOST on "milky" (but not quite). It nearly had a "grasshopper" quality to it (talking about the adult beverage). It wasn't overly sweet, and went down easy. A solid soda!

Score: 8 out of 10.

Bedford's Creme Beer

It was hot today, so I cracked into this tonight:

The labels weren't facing the same direction. Awkward.

Brand: Bedford's Creme Beer.

Origin: Mukilteo, WA.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: This was VERY smooth and creamy. I couldn't put my finger on the specific flavor: it wasn't vanilla, but it had a hint of something floral. It was just a real decent cream soda. I'll rate this a little above average. Give it a try!

Score: 7 out of 10.

 

Twig's Orange Soda

I opened this after a big day of working in my basement today: 

Brand: Twig's Orange Soda.

Origin: Shawano, WI.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: The unique thing about this orange soda is that it had quite a sharpness to it. It was like a sharp carbonation. I prefer a smoother orange soda (it's no secret that I tend to lean towards "smooth" on the "smooth-to-sharp" scale). It was unique, but just OK - it was definitely a sipping soda, because I couldn't drink a ton of this at one time. Nor horrible, but not great.

Score: 5.5 out of 10.

Gardena Grape

We were on a quick trip to an AirBNB cabin recently, and I brought this along to try: 

On the deck overlooking the lake. Great mini-vacation!

Brand: Gardena Grape.

Origin: Los Angeles, CA.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: This was just OK - nothing amazing. It was pretty smooth, but didn't have a ton of flavor. It wasn't bad, but it just wasn't that great. I'm kicking myself for saying what I did last year when I said "I don't know that I've had a 'bad' grape soda," and then before that, I said "I think most grape sodas can win me over pretty easily."  This didn't strike me as anything that tasty. It was just fine, but not really worth having again.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Whistler Cure All Cola

This was my first soda I opened from my recent Blue Sun Soda trip: 

Oops. I moved my phone too quickly before it took the photo. And I didn't notice until after.
Dang it. So there's the bottle sitting back by that bowl of green beans.

Brand: Whistler Cure All Cola.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: The first thing that hit me was a very unique cinnamon-like flavor! It was a mix of "red hot" cinnamon and "cinnamon and sugar" cinnamon. There was a hint of berry as well. Very deep flavor, and super unique. Many “good” colas are quite similar, but this one really stood out. I drank this bottle in no time.

Score: 9.5 out of 10!

A Minor Refill at Blue Sun Soda

Last night, I dropped my boys off at Grandma's house, and I celebrated my freedom by going to a soda and candy store. Of course. The last time I stopped at Blue Sun Soda was pre-COVID back in November. Back then, we stopped by for a cream soda tasting. But now (without the boys), I could take my time.

Colas on the left, root beers on the right.

This note was hung on the wall with no explanation. Perfect.

"Summertime Sodas:" lemon limes, an orange cream, and some novelty "fair" flavors.

Love all the greens and yellows in the lemon lime section.

Worth noting: MN legal "fireworks" are cheap now!

  

Also note that the fireworks are in their "soda fountain" area. Both the soda fountain and the arcade are not open because of COVID-19. That's understandable (I wouldn't have gotten a fresh-made soda while there, and I SURE wouldn't have been playing pinball that all kinds of grubby hands have been on) but still sad. Here's a post from a year ago that shows the soda fountain and arcade pretty well.

The main reason I stopped was because my stash at home was running very low: I was down to 2 sodas! Maybe sometime in 2013 (shortly after starting this blog) my stash got that low, but this was the 2nd lowest it's ever been.  So I picked up a random assortment of 10 bottles at Blue Sun Soda Shop: a few of their Whistler bottles, some random flavors, and even a novelty soda. That should get me through the end of summer.

"Froze-N-Lemonade" at Remix

I stopped by Remix earlier this week to try their "Froze-N-Lemonade:"

Nicely sour and super icy.

It's more "whipped" than you might think. Yes, it's kinda like an Icee, but it's a bit more creamy than that. Here's a pic with the top off that shows that a bit:

The next day, I took my boys to try it out. I brought my own "straw cup" so that we could buy 1 and then split it for the boys (so there's no fighting about "but you took a longer sip that time!!!") because they both didn't need 16 oz of deliciousness. They loved it too:

My boys with the split Froze-N-Lemonade (Remix in the background).

Here's a bit about Remix's new cotton candy in a post from last month if you missed it.