If Soda Commercials Were Honest

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Blumers Root Beer

I brought another soda to class with me this past week:

 
Brand: Blumers Root Beer.

Origin: Monroe, WI.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This was smooooth! It had a pretty classic root beer flavor with a hint of wintergreen, but it didn't have too much of anything. It really fell on the "smooth" side of root beer (on the "smooth" to "bite" scale). It was frothy and pretty tasty. It wasn't anything unique or amazing, but it was a solid root beer!

Score: 8 out of 10.

Twig's Diet Forget Me Not Grape

I opened this during darkroom time in class earlier today:

 

Brand: Twig's Diet Forget Me Not Grape.  

Origin: Shawano, WI.

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

Sweetener: Sucralose.

Review: This was my first soda from my renewed stash from my run to MN's Largest Candy Store last month before they closed for the season. I've always had decent luck with Twig sodas, and this one didn't disappoint. It does NOT taste diet - it has a full, rich, sugary flavor. There might be the SLIGHTEST "chemically" taste in the aftertaste, but I have to concentrate to really notice if it's there. This was good! (Oh, and a portion of sales goes to the "Forget Me Not Fund" in support of Alzheimer's awareness and education - hence the name and purple ribbons on the bottle.)

Score: 8 out of 10.

Rocky Mountain Soda Company Root Beer

I opened this up with my boys last night:

Brand: Rocky Mountain Soda Company Root Beer

Origin: Denver, CO.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.  

Review: I SWEAR I've had this before. But it turns out that all of the other Rocky Mountain Soda Company sodas that I had TEN YEARS AGO did NOT include a root beer. (And something has happened in the last 10 years because those older sodas were sweetened with sugar beets and were made in Commerce City, and this was sweetened with cane sugar and was made in Denver.) So I bought this to try last night after cooking supper with my boys. 

I first noticed the label was a little... maybe... "pretentious" as it noted in its ingredients list that it contained "vegan cane sugar" - I guess I wasn't aware there was a non-vegan cane sugar option, but apparently animal products can be used in the processing of sugar unless it's "organic."  (So they also could have said "organic" sugar as that's always "vegan" as well.)  It also noted "non-GMO citric acid" which made a little more sense at first.

But beyond that, the root beer was decent! It was a bit heavy on the wintergreen, but otherwise a pretty middle-of-road root beer: it didn't have much BITE but it also wasn't super SMOOTH. Normal, decent, tasty root beer. I'll rank this just a bit above average.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Chilling Your Soda Real Quick...

Can anyone else relate?...