Limited Time: Diet Coke with Plant Based Sweetener

I saw a "bin" of these at Target, so I had to grab one of these funky tall cans: 

In front of my "broken camera shelf" in my office.

(And it's hard to tell in that photo, but the can is not a normal "Diet Coke gray" color.  It's got a touch of green to it, presumably because of the "plant-based" nature of it.)
 
Brand: Diet Coke with Plant Based Sweeteners.

Origin: Atlanta, GA.

Purchase Place: Target, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Stevia Extract and Monk Fruit Extract.

Review: I feel like I can taste Stevia in things, and it's not the best flavor. But I didn't know anything about Monk Fruit (turns out it's a calorie-free sweetener that also has some anti-inflammatory properties). And it turns out I feel like I can KIND OF taste the Stevia in this - it's not as blatant as some sodas. It tasted a little "softer" than regular Diet Coke, but not necessarily "weaker." It wasn't bad, but I think I preferred regular Diet Coke better - I often drink Diet Coke, but I don't have any at home right now so I could do a side-by-side comparison. Quite decent.

Score: 7 out of 10.

John Wayne Root Beer

I swear I've had this before, but there's no record of it on this blog. So I brought a bottle to work with me a few days ago:

Brand: John Wayne Root Beer.

Origin: Reno, NV.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: This was another Rocket Fizz "novelty" soda, and I've had decent luck with their sodas recently. I never know what to expect (and there's no sort of indication of what [if any] "twist" on root beer this will have), so it's always just an adventure.

It turns out it's quite good! It's very herby with a nice bite. It's sure nothing that unique, but it's also not bland or boring - it chose a side and made a decent root beer over there. Worth a try!

Score: 8 out of 10.

King Kong Cola

I brought this to work with me recently:

 

Close-up of the label. Nice.

Brand: King Kong Cola.

Origin: Incline Village, NV.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: The style of the classic illustration on the bottle drew me in (and in reading the label, it appears to have been initially started as a marketing ploy for the [non-classic] 2017 film "Kong: Skull Island"). But it didn't give me any hint as to how this was going to taste. It was a pretty classic and slightly "fruity" cola. It's nothing fancy, nothing unique, but it's quite good.

Score: 7.5 out of 10.

Original Coca Cola!

I've made this joke here before, but after 2 new gross Coke flavors last year (seen here and here), I fully support this:

(And for what it's worth, Pepsi can stop doing that as well...)

Butter Soda

This was a bad idea...

I grabbed my boys and they both tried a sip:

Brand: Rocket Fizz Butter Soda

Origin: Camarillo, CA.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: So it wasn't great. When I sniffed it, it first just smelled sweet like soda, but then there was a pretty spot-on butter smell. I can see what Henry meant when he said it was a little butterscotch-like as that sort of combines the flavors of "butter" and "sweetness," but it's not as good as butterscotch. It was fun to try, but not great to drink. True hits of butter, but then with a soda-like sweetness as well. Good for the butter lover in your life, and bad for everyone else.

Score: 2.5 out of 10.

2023 Limited Edition Pepsi Peeps Soda (Pepsi x Peeps)

I saw these at Target and just HAD to try one:

Pepsi x Peeps

Close-up of the label.

 

Brand: 2023 Limited Edition Pepsi Peeps Soda (Pepsi x Peeps).

Origin: Purchase, NY.

Purchase Place: Target, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: A few weeks ago, I was grocery shopping with my wife when we first came across this. We looked at it, and one of the Pepsi delivery guys who was stocking shelves next to us said it was pretty horrible. So we left without getting a bottle.

But his reaction has been making me want to try one ever since! So when I swung by a few days ago, I noticed there were still a few left in then bin where we originally saw them. So against my better judgement, I grabbed one.

It smelled like an extra sweet Pepsi. And it tasted like an extra sweet Pepsi... at first. Then the end of each taste turned into something weird. Like hot wet landfill. Like sugar trash. Like sweet death. It's super "chemically" and really nothing like marshmallows. I was excited for this, but they just couldn't get a real marshmallow taste, or maybe the taste of Pepsi just didn't vibe with it. I don't know how this through Pepsi's team (much like Coke's limited edition "Dreamworld").

Score: 2 out of 10.

Coke or Pepsi?

This seems like an appropriate post on a soda-based blog on April Fool's Day: