Root Jack Orange Flavored Root Beer Pirate Energy Drink

I opened this earlier today: 

Brand: Root Jack Orange Flavored Root Beer Pirate Energy Drink.

Origin: Mishawaka, IN.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Bloomington, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: This is labeled a "pirate energy drink," so I was a little concerned. It has your daily allowance of vitamin C to "keep scurvy in check," so that's good. It has quillaja which Google tells me is sometimes used to help with foam in root beer. And it has caffeine and guarana seed extract which are both stimulants. I also found online that it has 10 mg of caffeine/oz, so this bottle had 120 mg of caffeine! 

But on to the flavor. It's not great. It has that energy drink chemically-ness to it. The orange flavor with the root beer isn't bad - that's actually kinda fun. If you like energy drinks, then you might like this. If you don't then you might want to steer away from this one. Not bad, totally unique, but not great.

Score: 5.5 out of 10.

Blue Sun Super Sour Soda Pucker Up Grape

Yes, it's been over 2 weeks since my last post... I've had this soda in the fridge, but I kept putting off trying it because I was a bit scared. And it's not just one I can grab and take to class as it could leave a horrible taste in my mouth. But FINALLY, here we are... 

Brand: Blue Sun Super Sour Soda Pucker Up Grape.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Bloomington, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This SMELLED just like a normal grape soda. And even when it first hit my tongue, it tasted like a normal grape soda. But then a second later, the SOUR hits, and it makes my cheeks pucker! 

Not surprisingly, my boys tried this and loved it. They thought it was quite good. 

The grape flavor is quite sweet (almost surprisingly sweet), and then it hits with the "candy" sour. The sour really isn't TOO much - yes, it made my face have a physical reaction each time, but it's still almost subtle. Almost. Not bad, and just a fun soda. This is NOT something I would pick when I just wanted to sip on something, but something I'd grab with a friend. As a "drinking" soda, it's crap. But for the experience, I'll rate this just above average.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.

Frostie Orange Soda

Last night as I was peeling oranges for my wife to take to work today, I opened something orange for myself:

Brand: Frostie Orange Soda.

Origin: Detroit, MI.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Bloomington, MN.

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: Ehh... this was OK. There's nothing that stands out much about it's flavor - it's orange soda. It's just a little odd because it's smooth on the front end but has a slight sharpness in its aftertaste. I liked it more at the first sip when it was a little smooth, and I would have NEARLY called it a "orange cream" soda, but then that changed a little at the end of the sip. Not bad, but nothing great, so it gets a middle-of-the-road score.

Score: 5 out of 10.

The Soda Fountain at the Minnesota History Center

Last week, I chaperoned my son's class on a trip to the Minnesota History Center. My group of kids loved the old soda fountain, and I snapped some photos of that display:

The soda fountain at the MN History Center.

Behind the counter.

The different flavors of syrup.

My son ringing up my bill for some ice cream and a soda.

The menu on the wall. I also ordered a $0.39 banana split.