Sprite Can from 1988

This was recently found in the ceiling of a shopping mall:

New York Seltzer Root Beer Soda

My wife brought this home for me from the grocery store: 

This was sort of an accidental re-review. I had this YEARS ago and I felt like I didn't like it, so I've been ignoring "New York Seltzers" when I see them around. But as it turns out, I ranked it a 6.5 when I first had it nearly 6 years ago, and that's not horrible. So when my wife brought this home for me, I had to try it again.

Brand: New York Seltzer Root Beer Soda.

Origin: Walnut, CA.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: Yep, not horrible. It has a decent root beer flavor, but you NEED to keep in mind that it's water. If you want "root beer," don't have this. This is a sparkling root beer flavored water. Check out my first review, because that still holds pretty true. I think it's time to try a few more of these seltzers...

Score: 6.5 out of 10.  (still)

Bernie Memes at Cold Front and Blue Sun Soda

In the last few days, my Facebook feed has been full of Bernie Sanders memes. And Cold Front (coffee, tea, ice cream, and homemade sodas) and Blue Sun Soda Shop (candy and sodas) have gotten in on the fun. These were their posts from yesterday on their Facebook pages: 

Well played.  :) 

A Cherry Lime Rickey (and Ice Cream) at Cold Front

Whoa. It's been a while, Cold Front. Looking at my "Cold Front" tag (which has some CUTE pictures of my LITTLE boys from years ago), I haven't been in to visit in over 2 years! But I promised the boys we'd stop in sometime this week, so we did 2 days ago.

My boys went straight for the ice cream!

Charlie went for Superman...

... and Henry went with the SUPER dark brownie-like Zanzibar Chocolate.

And I went for a cherry lime rickey!

Henry's ice cream was very good - very fudge-like and brownie-like. He got it ALL over his face.

My cherry lime rickey was sharp and sweet. I didn't think the boys would like it as it's very lime-heavy (and then it turns bright red with just a little addition of cherry syrup), but they both asked for a 2nd and 3rd sip. I probably only got about half of it. It was quite sour (in a good way), but that made it a "sipping" soda, and not a "chugging" soda.

I picked up an ice cream punch card, so now we have 2 punches on our way to a free ice cream cone after a total of 9. We'll be back!

Cold Front is near the corner of Randolph and Hamline Avenues in St. Paul.

Blue Sky Root Beer Soda

I cracked into this earlier today: 

Brand: Blue Sky Root Beer Soda

Origin: Tustin, CA.

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

Sweetener: Invert Cane Sugar.

Review: This is still from my collection that my wife picked up for my last month. You may remember that their cream soda went over pretty well, and their black cherry was decent. Unfortunately, this one was the worst of the 3 so far. First of all, it was very weak, and I had to check that it wasn't diet. Second, it was oddly sharp/harsh. The root beer flavor was just OK. This wasn't a good root beer. I drank it all, but didn't love any moment of it.

Score: 3.5 out of 10.

Dublin Retro Grape Soda

I opened this earlier today after coming home from my J-Term class:

Brand: Dublin Retro Grape Soda.

Origin: Dublin, Texas (I mean, I'd HOPE that was the case).

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: Oh yeah. This is good. It's what I hoped it would be: a sugary, syrupy grape soda. It goes down easy and has a bold taste. Smooth and delicious. (And both of my boys loved this one as well... although their tastes aren't that discerning...) I've had 2 other "Dublin Texas" sodas in the past, and one was OK and one was quite good. This 3rd one was probably the best. This gets a high score.

Score: 9 out of 10. 

 

1936 Coca Cola Can

1919 Classic American Root Beer

My wife bought me this on New Year's Eve, and I had it with my boys:

Brand: 1919 Classic American Root Beer.

Origin: New Ulm and Sleepy Eye, MN.

Purchase Place: Kowalski's Market, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: First of all, I thought I had this YEARS ago, so I've been passing it up when I've come across it. But it turns out I've never had it. It might be the same as the root beer I had 8 years ago from Lynden's Soda Fountain (now "Cold Front") because the mug had this same logo and the same phrase at the top: "America's Original Brewery Made 1919 Classic American Root Beer." (And maybe part of the reason I thought I'd had this before is that I posted about the pony keg they had of this at Kowalski's back in 2015.)

So how was it? It was VERY strong on the vanilla. It was quite creamy! I poured out 2 glasses for my boys (as this is a big 16 oz can with lots to share) and it formed a good head. I wish the flavor was a little "deeper" though as it seemed a little weak. But that's about my only complaint - otherwise, it was smooth, creamy, heavy on the vanilla, and light on the anise which is the way I like my root beer.

Score: 8.5 out of 10.