Japanese Ramuné Naruto Raspberry Soda

Yesterday my boys and I were "up north" (it's their spring break), and I brought this along: 

On the counter in our tiny motel kitchen.

Close-up of the "marble" after breaking the seal.

Brand: Japanese Ramuné Naruto Raspberry Soda.

Origin: Japan.

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

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup and Sugar.

Review: This is the second Japanese soda like this I've had in this strange bottle - if you want to see more about how to open it by forcing a marble down into the bottle, check out my review of their grape soda. It's still not a bottle that's easy to drink from as the marble tries to wash back and stop the flow of soda. It's a bit annoying.

But this flavor was pretty spot on! I opened the bottle with my boys, and we had enjoyed that process so much that I took a sip before remembering what flavor it was supposed to be. But my sip told me "raspberry... 100% raspberry." It had a nice little tartness to it, and it was decently sweet. It reminded me a bit of a liquid and carbonated blue raspberry Icee. Check it out if you're a fan of raspberry flavored drinks!

Score: 7 out of 10.

O-Zell Grape Moments Soda

I opened this last night:

 

A close-up of the robot Abe Lincoln (??) on the label.

Brand: O-Zell Grape Moments Soda

Origin: Silver Lake, CA.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: I wasn't expecting much, as I noted in this post from December that I haven't had good luck with O-Zell sodas.  (Here was a lack-luster Root Beer Float soda, and a worse Vanilla Creme soda.)

BUT, this was pretty good! It wasn't super syrupy, but still slightly on the overly-sweet side (which I like). My wife took a sip, and I expected her to complain "oh that's too much like cough syrup." But instead she said "oooh, that's pretty good!" So it was sweet enough for my I-like-things-sweet taste, but still normal enough for my wife's tastes. A classic grape soda without too much sweetness!

Score: 8 out of 10.

Marilyn Monroe Lemonade

I opened this last night: 

Brand: Marilyn Monroe Lemonade.

Origin: Camarillo, CA.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: My wife took a sip and laughed. She said "it tasted EXACTLY like I thought it would: like 'ReaLemon' with some sugar." And of course she was right. It had a hint of lime as well which was nice, but it was far from a "lemon lime" soda. It was pretty good, pretty expected, and pretty forgettable. But not bad.

Score: 5.5 out of 10.

Pepsi Delivery Truck

Someone shared this photo in a "Minnesota History" Facebook group I'm a part of.  It's her grandpa in Alexandria, MN. No date was given. I like the tag line on top of the truck: "A nickel drink worth a dime."

Serenity Sodas Lime and Coconut

I've had good luck with "Serenity Sodas" - they make some interesting flavor combinations, and they are "2 for 2" in my book. Last night, I cracked into my 3rd: 

Brand: Serenity Sodas Lime and Coconut.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This is another small bottler that was purchased by Blue Sun Soda, so it's now bottled there. The first sip tastes very "limey," and then it ends with the coconut hit. It's a BIT heavy on the coconut, but maybe that's because I always think of what my wife told me years ago: "everything coconut flavored tastes like sunscreen." She's not wrong. So it totally lives up to it's flavor, but I didn't totally care for the combo. It'd be better sitting on a beach somewhere... not huddled next to our fireplace on a 30 degree evening. Not bad, just not totally for me.

Score: 4 out of 10.

Twig's Diet Forget Me Not Grape

I brought this with me to class last night, and I sipped on it throughout: 

Brand: Twig's Diet Forget Me Not Grape

Origin: Shawano, WI.

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

Sweetener: Sucralose.

Review: As I was taking my first sip, I forgot this was diet. Truly! It was one of the smoothest and richest diet sodas I've had in a long time! Yes, I tend to like grape sodas, and yes, maybe it's easy to fake sweetness with grape sodas. But they're doing it well. There was the SLIGHTEST bit of "thin" taste at the very end of each sip, but this was good and tasted like the real thing.

Also, it's great that this is called "forget me not grape" as a portion goes to the "forget me not fund" for Alzheimer's. That's what the purple ribbons are about on either side of the label.

Score: 8 out of 10.

What's Better? Fountain, Can, or Bottle?

Rhett and Link (the funny friends from the internet) just posted a video where they test sodas to see if they can tell if sodas came from the tap, a can, or a bottle. AND what they like better. They learned something. Check them out:

GLASS VS. BOTTLE VS. FOUNTAIN SODA CHALLENGE

Are fountain drinks as good as you THINK they are?

Posted by Rhett and Link on Friday, March 5, 2021

If the embedded video doesn't work, CLICK HERE to see it on their Facebook page.

Kiss Cherry Kola

It was over 3 years ago that I first tried Kiss Army Root Beer, and it was surprisingly OK. So I was kind of looking forward to this:

Brand: Kiss Cherry Kola.  

Origin: Camarillo, CA.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: Like their root beer, this was a solid beverage. It had a pretty deep cola flavor. But the "cherry" part of the flavor was hardly there! If you had told me it was just "cola," I would have thought "oh, it's a slightly 'fruity' cola like some of the unique ones that I've had." But I don't think I ever would have thought it was a CHERRY cola. 

 

And here's the conundrum for rating this: as a CHERRY cola, it's a bit of a letdown. But as a plain cola, it's pretty good! So I'm going by overall taste, not what I EXPECT it to taste like.

Side note: this is the first soda that I recall seeing anything like this on the label: "Flash Pasteurized for Stability and Safety." Huh.

Score: 7 out of 10.

 

Pepsi vs Coke