Appalachian Root Beer

I opened this at work today as another soda from my Grandpa Joe's grand opening stash: 

Yes, my desk is messy... it's the end of the semester...

Brand: Appalachian Root Beer.

Origin: Mechanicsburg, PA.

Purchase Place: Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop, Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar and Honey.

Review: This was OK. I don't mind honey as a sweetner in soda (as I LOVE honey), but it sometimes sits as a strange combo with root beer, and it's doing that here - the honey comes on too strong. The root beer is deep and pretty tasty with a hint of wintergreen and a lot of herby notes, but I just don't care for how much honey flavor there is on top of that. Nice and smooth overall. Not bad, but not great.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Unicorn Magic Honeydew Soda

I cracked into this at work earlier today:

Brand: Unicorn Magic Honeydew Soda 

Origin: Incline Village, NV 

Purchase Place: Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop, Spring Lake Park, MN. 

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar. 

Review: I didn't know what this would taste like... like I wasn't sure what to expect for a "honeydew" flavored soda. And after my first sip, I STILL didn't know what it tasted like. It was like a slightly muted extra sweet Mountain Dew flavor (and I don't think that was just because it was about the same color). 

I kept sipping, and I kept liking it less and less. It had an off flavor to it. I enjoy honeydew, but it SURE wasn't honeydew. I thought this would be decent, but it wasn't. It was like sweet wet cardboard. The score I'm giving it is only as good as it is because it was sweet. 

Score: 2.5 out of 10.

Inotea Brown Sugar Bubble Tea

I grabbed this while shopping with my son at Aldi recently:

Brand: Inotea Brown Sugar Bubble Tea.

Origin: Newark, NJ.

Purchase Place: Aldi, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar and Brown Sugar.

Review: The tea was quite good! I shared a sip with my boys, and they both loved it. It was what I'd expect from a boba tea store when I order a "Milk Tea" or anything along those lines.  (One store near us calls it a "Royal Tea Latte" even though it doesn't have any coffee flavor.) I had no complaints about the tea!

But the tapioca pearls were another story. They were kind of pasty and hard. They weren't "chewy" in a good way, but in a bad way. They almost wanted to disintegrate when bit down on, but only after a fair amount of force. I like tapioca pearls, but apparently they need to be fresh. The drink ("pre-pearls") would have earned about an 8.5, but I had to knock it down after having the pearls. 

Score: 7.5 out of 10.

Wild Bill's Root Beer

Last night, I cracked into my first soda from the Grandpa Joe's grand opening a few weeks back:

Cool skinny "wrapped" can.

Brand: Wild Bill's Root Beer.

Origin: Millington, NJ.

Purchase Place: Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop, Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: Maybe it was just the fancy can that "woo-ed" me, but this was good from the first sip. It wasn't trying too hard to be something new - it was just good. It had a bit of an herby bite, but not too much. It had the perfect amount of sweetness, and the flavor was decent - it MAYBE could have had a bit stronger flavor. All-in-all, a very good root beer! I'm excited to try more "Wild Bill" sodas from Grandpa Joes!

Score: 9 out of 10.

A Tasty April Fool's Soda

Mmmm... smooth and salty...