Casey's Cola

We recently got together with my parents for Christmas, and they just opened a bottle of "Casey's Cola" that they didn't want to keep, so they sent it with me:

A few glasses poured out, but still 2/3 full.

Brand: Casey's Cola.  

Origin: Ankeny, IA.

Purchase Place: Casey's General Store, Wells, MN. 

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup. 

Review: This was a bit weird. It had that strong and sharp "fruity" flavor of some colas that I like, but it was super sharp in this one. It was just harsh to drink. It was OK to sip, but it wasn't that enjoyable. I know that there are people that will like this sharpness, but it wasn't for me. It wasn't HORRIBLE, but it's just not what I'm looking for out of a cola.

Score: 4 out of 10.

Blue Sky Black Cherry Soda

My boys and I brought another one of the Blue Sky Sodas that my wife bought me on a recent trip up to Itasca State Park: 

On the porch table outside of our "four seasons" cabin at Lake Itasca.

Brand: Blue Sky Black Cherry Soda.

Origin: Tustin, CA.

Purchase Place: Mississippi Market, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Invert Cane Sugar.

Review: I've made this mistake before: when I took a sip, I was surprised that it was a CLEAR and NON-COLA "black cherry." That's my own issue - I just see "black cherry" and assume cola for some reason. Once I was past that, it had a pretty decent flavor. It seemed a LITTLE weak, but I think I was just visualizing that it was clear, and it was affecting me. It was good, but nothing special. I'll rank it just over average.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Blue Sky Cream Soda

My wife was out getting some groceries yesterday, and she grabbed a few Blue Sky sodas. The cashier was ADAMANT that Blue Sky's Cream Soda was one of his favorite sodas of all time. So she went back and grabbed that for me to try. And then she wanted me to try that one first: 

Brand: Blue Sky Soda.

Origin: Tustin, CA.

Purchase Place: Mississippi Market, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Invert Cane Sugar.

Review: OK, I'm not the BIGGEST fan of cream sodas... but this WAS pretty good. It was really sweet and SUPER smooth. It wasn't as life-changing for me as it was for the cashier. But my family and I all enjoyed it. If you are someone who likes cream sodas, make sure to give this a shot to see if the cashier was on to something...

Score: 7 out of 10.

Drinking 29-Year-Old Pepsi

Rhett and Link recently tried some discontinued Pepsi flavors from 1991.

CLICK HERE to see the video.

The entire video is just over 5 minutes long, and they start talking about the Pepsi at the 2:06 point.

There's first a surprisingly GOOD thing, but then a (not so surprisingly) bad thing.

Japanese Ramuné Grape Soda

My boys and I cracked into a wacky looking Japanese soda last night:

A unique (small!) bottle.

"For even more delicious this drink chill before drinking." Yes. I love stuff like this.

 

Directions (also written on the right) for "popping" the marble seal into the bottle.

 

See the carbonation-covered marble right in the middle? Now it's just rolling around in there!

 

So yes... there was a plastic "opener" that got snapped out of the plastic cover, and then that got used to force the marble seal into the bottle. And note in that last photo that the glass bottle has a little "pocket" in it where the marble can rest. It's a very unique and heavy bottle - lots of glass "angles" in there. (VERY heavy considering it holds only 6.6 oz of soda!)

Brand: Japanese Ramuné Grape Soda.

Origin: Japan. 

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

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup and Sugar (one of the few sodas that I've had that has BOTH of those on the label).

Review: The bottle was the funnest part. My boys loved watching me open it, and kids would LOVE this bottle. Kids shouldn't open it (as it takes a lot of palm down-force to open it), but otherwise this is great for kids as it's fun and it's not much soda. The grape flavor is just OK. Truly, opening the bottle was the best part. There's a slight bite to this that isn't super. I'm ranking this 1 point higher than I should (if I were basing it ONLY on flavor) because of the "funness" of the bottle.

Score: 6 out of 10.

 

North Star Blue Raspberry Soda

My boys and I spent a night at Forestville State Park recently, and this soda made the trip: 

Brand: North Star Blue Raspberry Soda.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This was my first soda from my recent soda resupply trip, and it is VERY sugary! It tastes like a liquid blue raspberry Icee, or maybe a liquid version of blue cotton candy (and yes, both of those are very sugary). It's pretty good and fun to drink - my boys LOVED it. If you like SWEET, then you'll love this. But it seems to be more of a "kids" soda instead of an "adult" soda.

Score: 7.5 out of 10.

(See more photos from our "camping" trip here.)

Refreshing My Soda Stash

I have ONE soda left in my stash! Well, I should say "had" one soda left. My wife had a day off mid-week a few days ago, so I snuck away for an hour to restock my "soda box" in the basement. I hit up Blue Sun Soda:

I have *not* enjoyed a few of these, but I grabbed some that I hadn't tried before.

A BIG stock of their bottled-in-store Whistler sodas!

I had Kiss Army Root Beer a few years ago, but I hadn't tried the other 2. So I bought them.

Some "fancy" 22 oz $7 bottles. Just out of frame to the right is Indian Wells which we liked.

In the "all natural" section, here's a brand I haven't cared for (2 bottles rated 3.5 and 2).

Blue Sun now has a bigger "Japanese" section, so I grabbed 2!
It didn't seem right to have Elvis and John Wayne in the background...

I left with a case of 24 sodas, but I only had 2 root beers in there. After drinking those, I think I'll have had EVERY kind of root beer at Blue Sun except for 2 of the "big bottle" brands! I saved those for another time.

Thanks for refreshing my stash Blue Sun! I hope to check out your new location sometime soon as well!

Northern Soda Company Black Berry

I stopped by Remix quickly this past week to grab another can of Northern Soda:

Brand: Northern Soda Company Black Cherry. 

Origin: Arden Hills, MN.

Purchase Place: Remix, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: First of all, it took me a few glances to realize this said "Black BERRY" and not "Black CHERRY." I didn't know if it was "blackberry" flavored (which is ONE word according to the dictionary), or if it was like a deep "berry" version of "black cherry" (which would be a good reason for making it TWO words like it appears on the label).

 

Well, I can't tell you if it's "blackberry" or black berry" after tasting it, but it doesn't matter. Because it was TASTY. It had a rich, deep flavor, but it wasn't heavy and/or syrupy. It was light and fresh, but far from weak! My wife usually doesn't share my soda taste (I'm OK with syrupy, and she's not), but she loved this one as well. This was my favorite Northern Soda by far!

(See more cans of Northern Soda at Remix in this post from July.)

Score: 9 out of 10.

 

Grape Soda Doesn't Taste Like Grapes

I stumbled across this recently, and it's very, very true:

Henry Weinhard's Vanilla Cream

I really enjoyed my first Henry Weinhard's soda (which was their root beer), so I was hoping this would live up to that:

 

Brand: Henry Weinhard's Vanilla Cream

Origin: Fort Worth, TX.

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

Sweetener: Sucrose and Honey.

Review: This was just OK. The vanilla was OK, but there was a slight syrupiness that was slightly off-putting. There was a nice floral hint to it. Overall, it was just "fine" - nothing great.

In my review of Henry Weinhard's Root Beer, I noted that it had a touch of honey that was surprisingly nice and subtle, and it worked well with the root beer. Well, there's another little touch of honey in this soda, but it doesn't work with the vanilla as well. It's just a bit odd. Sorry.

Score: 5 out of 10.

 

Northern Soda at Target

I spotted this end cap near the front of the Roseville Target recently:

Our local candy and popcorn store (Remix Delights) carries cans of Northern Soda, but this is the only other place I've seen them so far. They have 8 kinds here, so check it out!

Iron Horse Root Beer

I opened this earlier today as I was doing some grading: 

Brand: Iron Horse Root Beer.

Origin: Edina, MN.

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

Sweetener: Invert Sugar.

Review: In my mind, there as 2 "classic" root beer tastes: one that super creamy and smooth, and one that's got a bit of an anise bite. This is the latter. This has a full flavor and still has some creamy notes, but then it ends with a nice anise bite. It's a little much for me (I'm not huge on very anisey flavors), but still decent. For a second I was ready to say that this was a good hybrid of "smooth and bite," but there's WAY more anise flavor compared to the smoothness. I thought it was OK, but it'd be great for someone who prefers a bit more anise.

Score: 6 out of 10.

 

Minnesota (Mini soda?)

Northern Soda Company 1950's Lime

I swung by Remix today for 2 small bags of popcorn, and I also grabbed this soda: 

Brand: Northern Soda Company 1950's Lime.

Origin: Arden Hills, MN.

Purchase Place: Remix, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: This was NEON green - I didn't realize that until I poured a little into a glass for my boys to share. And it was pretty good. It had a strong, sweet lime flavor that was enjoyable. My only complaint is that it was a little medicinal after a bit. Not bad overall, so I'll rank it as average.

Score: 5 out of 10. 

 

Northern Soda Company Maple Root Beer

I shared this with my boys last night: 

Brand: Northern Soda Company Maple Root Beer.

Origin: Arden Hills, MN.

Purchase Place: Remix, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: This smelled pretty normal when I cracked into it - just a slight whiff of maple. But OH MY GOODNESS the flavor is about ALLLLLL pancake syrup. There's really no reason to call this a version of a root beer as it's basically a more liquid version of maple syrup. I'm OK with that, but it was a bit shocking when I first sipped it. And both of my boys agreed - it was basically "pancake syrup soda" if that appeals to you. It was good for sipping, but too rich to chug.

Score: 5 out of 10.

(This was my 3rd root beer this month! But unfortunately, it was my worst with just an "average" score of 5. The other two root beers had 8s seen HERE and HERE. A decent month for root beer!)

Casey's General Store Root Beer

My parents visited this past weekend, and they brought up a bottle of root beer from their drive up:

Photo after most of it was drank. Sorry.

Brand: Casey's General Store Root Beer.  

Origin: Ankeny, IA.

Purchase Place: Casey's General Store, Wells, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: This had a pretty rich and "classic" root beer flavor. I was pleasantly surprised as I expected a "store brand" to be weaker / stranger / worse. But this was good! The flavor really hit hard, but it was pretty spot-on. It's a solid root beer!

Score: 8 out of 10.

"The Bottlecap Score:" a tasting journal for tracking your soda experiences!

I was recently contacted by a fellow Minnesotan named Jason who was finishing up a new book. He wondered if he could send me a copy and I could review it here. It's SUPER appropriate for this blog, as it's called "The Bottlecap Score: A Tasting Journal for Pop Connoisseurs, Soda Jerks, & Soft Drink Enthusiasts." I was pumped to receive it!

My copy in my hand!

This is a great book (and for sure great GIFT IDEA) for those like me who (one) love soda and (two) like to keep track of what's good and what stinks. This book goes a bit more in-depth than I do for each review, but we'll get to that in a moment.

Jason writes about how this ranking system works, he has a chapter on different ways to host "tasting parties" (which I have wanted to do for YEARS), he has a section for tracking your favorite and your worst sodas, and then he has a lot of room for your personal reviews that are broken into 13 different flavor-based sections (like cherry, citrus, cola, cream soda, diet, etc).

He writes a lot about the intricacies of his ranking system, but here's the simple breakdown after all those pages:

There's a lot to unpack there, but like I said, this comes AFTER a lengthy description of how to break this all down, so this is like the Cliff Notes version. Just like my blog, a "5" is considered an average score. Notice you rank ALL kinds of things. I like the idea of including things like carbonation, aroma, and memorability into the system! Those are NOT things I have in my personal ranking system (or maybe I DO have those, but they're not explicitly stated like this). But I don't know if the bottle shape or the value are things I'm personally concerned about. But the great thing is if you think the same as me, you could just decide to give everything the same score for a category or 2, and then you're just effectively ignoring it. (If it's not something you care to rank or to consider for every soda.) Overall, I LOVE how there's more info/categories here than what I share in my reviews. I'm sort of excitedly jealous of his ideas in this system!

Here's what all the later pages look like where you review your sodas:

Picture of the top half of a page in the "root beer and sarsaparilla" section (sure to be my favorite).

Each review is a half page, so you can see 4 reviews/spread. You note the brand and flavor, and then you can circle the "flavor type." I REALLY like the idea of having a scale where you can mark the "flavor strength" anywhere between "too weak," "just right," and "too strong," because that's TOTALLY something I write about, but have never thought to put in a "scale" form. Nice! 

Below the flavor scale, you can make notes, write down the date, and note if it has caffeine (something readers have asked me to note as well, but I haven't implemented that). And then there's the "bottlecap score" tally on the right.

The "favorite" and "worst" listings. Also, there's a "favorite brands" list which I would use.

There are also fun soda-related illustrations alllllll through the book:

Notice the tiny man in the corner: the entire book is a flip book of him enjoying a soda.

Jason and I emailed back-and-forth a few times about this book. In his final note, he said something that I could see happening: "As an aside, I sincerely hope you like and enjoy the Bottlecap Score. My own family has. Sometimes there is temptation to fudge numbers for the category to force a particular score, but I am generally impressed how close on the scale the final number is to my true feelings." I had already looked through the book and had that same thought of "well, I wonder if all these points would REALLY add up the way I'd WANT them to" before I went back and read that he addressed that in an email from a week ago. The book must work!

Side note: I also spotted the book in a post on Blue Sun Soda Shop's Facebook page about 2 weeks ago:

You can find it there, or check it out on Amazon here. Good luck with the book Jason! It's very helpful and a lot of fun! I'm hoping people pick it up as a gift for the soda lover in their family...

Northern Soda Company Root Beer

I grabbed these from Remix a few days ago:

Remix has a large variety of this brand, so I hope I like these!

I had to start with the "normal" root beer.

Brand: Northern Soda Company Root Beer.

Origin: Arden Hills, MN.

Purchase Place: Remix, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: The first sip was pretty "classic" root beer, which is what I was expecting based on the retro can design. (Side note: the cans are just plain aluminum with a big sticker that wraps around it as the label, and that seems unique for canned sodas.) 

But after the initial root-beer-on-the-lips taste, it really ends with a strong unique taste: it's a little "herby" and a lot "cherry-like!" It shocked me at first, but then I really started to like it. Super unique, and fruity. The only complaint is that it tastes just a LITTLE weak. This is totally one of those that everyone might not like because they "took a chance," but I sure like it. It makes me excited to try their maple root beer, and excited to head back to Remix to try other kids of Northern Soda Company sodas!

Score: 8.5 out of 10.

BREAKING NEWS: Tab Soda to be Discontinued

Coca Cola announced today that they are going to stop making Tab soda.

Here's an excerpt from CNN:

After nearly 60 years, Coca-Cola is discontinuing its first-ever diet soda, Tab, which acquired a huge fan base in the '70s and '80s and maintained a small but devoted following through the years.

"Tab had an amazing run," said Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition and a longtime Tab enthusiast. Bixby said messages of condolences have been pouring in. "As a business decision I can understand it, but it's a very sad day ... I do feel it's like losing a friend."

Tab is one of several "underperforming" products Coke has said it is eliminating from its brand lineup by the end of the year as the company seeks to streamline production and focus on bestsellers.

Coke is working to kill their "zombie" brands that aren't making them much money. More than half of Coca Cola's 400 brands are ones with "little to no scale" and have sales that represent only 2% of total revenue. I'll keep an eye out for more brands on the chopping block.

I think I've had a Tab YEARS ago, but I guess I'll have to try to find one quickly so I can taste/review it before it goes away forever.  R.I.P.

Goslings Ginger Beer

This BIG bottle (1 liter) has been sitting in my basement for a while. It was time to crack it open:

Brand: Goslings Ginger Beer.

Origin: Worcester, MA.

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

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: Maybe it's because I've had this sitting at home for a while, but it was flat. It didn't taste bad, so I had to check the ingredients: yes, "carbonated water" was the first ingredient, so it was meant to have bubbles. It had the normal and familiar "bite" of ginger in the back of my throat. But it otherwise didn't stand out in any way. Just a decent "ginger ale-y" ginger beer.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Whistler Cream Soda

I opened this tonight:

 

Brand: Whistler Cream Soda.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: I generally don't have strong feelings about cream sodas. And that's true for this one as well. It was good, creamy, smooth, and quite sweet. But nothing too fancy or different than any cream soda. 

Score: 6.5 out of 10. 

Rhett and Link's "100 Years of Soda Taste Test"

Here's a semi-entertaining video about sodas (skip to below the video for a shorter version):


Direct link: https://youtu.be/5pqwsep-Lco

That video is 15 minutes long. If you want to see an edited version that gets right to the "important" parts, check out this video on Facebook that's only 5 minutes. (SERIOUSLY, THE FACEBOOK LINK IS SO MUCH BETTER BECAUSE IT'S EDITED DOWN.)

W.T. Heck Waffles and Syrup Soda

I opened this with my boys tonight:

Brand: W.T. Heck Waffles and Syrup Soda

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: Yes, it tastes like syrup. It's like a thin, watered-down syrup (but not in a bad way). My 9-year-old said it was a bit like butterscotch, and he's not wrong! In fact, I'd say the "waffle" flavor comes across more like "butterscotch." So if the thought of a syrupy-butterscotchy soda sounds good to you, give it a try! But for me, it was more of a sipping soda - it didn't have a bad flavor, but I couldn't chug this.

Score: 5 out of 10. 

 

Another "Pop vs Soda vs Coke" Map

I grew up in rural southern MN, and it was always "pop." But since I've moved to the Cities, it's always been "soda."

Channel 45's Dr. Chuck Ells Orange/Banana Soda

So... a local TV station's "mascot" has his own soda (and yes, I'm jealous):

So there's no info on the bottle as to who makes or distributes this, but I wondered if it wasn't Blue Sun Soda. And when I found this video, my suspicion was confirmed as he standing in front of the old Whistler bottling machine at Blue Sun:

Click here to see the video on the Channel 45 website if it doesn't work above.

Brand: Channel 45's Dr. Chuck Ells Orange/Banana Soda.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This tasted like an extra creamy orange soda. The "first" part of each sip is very orange, and then it "ends" with more of the creaminess of a banana. I can't really taste the banana, but there's a sensation of it there. For being a "funny" soda, it's not bad! I'm ranking it just a bit above average.

Score: 6 out of 10.

 

Raspberry and Basil Serenity Soda

Honestly, I haven't been looking forward to trying this:

Brand: Raspberry and Basil Serenity Soda.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: I was ready for an "odd" flavor, but that didn't happen. The first sip was quite good. I would definitely call it "raspberry," but the other flavor didn't seem like basil. It had another little "bite" of something, but it paired well with the raspberry making it a very drinkable soda. I'd almost call this more of an "adult" soda, but that implies that it's not sweet, and it's still quite sweet. Just a unique flavor that's totally worth a try! So far, I'm 2-for-2 with Serenity Sodas! 

Score: 8.5 out of 10.

 

Root Beer Popcorn at Remix!

I stopped by Remix yesterday to see if they had done it... and they had!!

The last time I was in, the owner was telling me that her husband was working on the "formula" in the back at the moment, and we would occasionally get whiff of root beer in the air. Yesterday, she said it's still not perfected, but it's for sale!

It's a very subtle flavor, but the real root beer flavor hit me just after I chewed it up. Suddenly, my mouth tasted like old-school root beer barrels! And when I shared it with my boys last night, they said the same thing. Nice work, Remix!

(Here's my first post about Remix, and here's a post right after they started making root beer cotton candy.)

Serious Bean Co Baked Beans with Dr. Pepper

So I just HAD to grab this from Aldi a few weeks ago:

The boys and I cracked into it recently. The beans were just OK, and then they had a ZING of extra flavor at the end that was reminiscent of Dr. Pepper. I'm used to having "doctored up" baked beans, and these straight from the can couldn't hold up to that. But they were OK. Just worth a fun try.

Lemon Billy's Bubble Pop

I opened this with lunch today:

Brand: Lemon Billy's Bubble Pop.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: Billy's sodas are meant to be goofy so they are not the color you'd expect them to be based on the flavor.  But I swear I can taste the red! It's like a soft, smooth lemon flavor with some sweet grenadine added. I kept sipping this to confirm - it TASTES "red." Really. All that being said, it's not horrible. It's a real subtle/gentle lemon flavor that has no bitter "punch" like lemonade. It was just OK.

Score: 5 out of 10.

 

Pulled Pork Root Beer Sliders

This past weekend, I defrosted a big pork roast. I threw it in the crock pot with some seasoning salt, an onion (fresh from my Mom's garden), and most of a bottle of Frostie Root Beer. (We had an extra bottle left from the 4-pack of Frostie my wife bought me back in July.)

After about 3 hours on high, I took out the pork, trimmed off the fat, saved the liquid and onions, and shredded the meat.  Here's what it looked like when it was done, with the extra liquid on the bowl at the back, and the fat on the tray:

My wife and boys made some wheat rolls, and also some coleslaw with a cabbage from my Mom (her last of the year). So I made pulled pork root beer sliders with coleslaw for supper:

The great thing about doing it this way is you can add just as much liquid back as you'd like. So you can make it juicy and sloppy, or drier and cleaner. We leaned a bit towards the sloppy side. So good!!

 

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.