Quick Stop at an "Up North" Candy Store

When my boys and niece and nephew and I took at 4 day trip up to Grand Marais, MN, we swung by a candy store on the way home.  It was the Sweetly Kismet Candy Store just south of Duluth near Jay Cooke State Park. It's a new "suburban barn" looking candy shop just off the freeway at the Carlton exit.

Some cold sodas...

... and a lot on the shelf!

The bathroom is fun too.

I'm a sucker for traditional "Cow Tales," but I haven't seen all these flavors!

I grabbed a few sodas that I'll have to try shortly. Here are more photos from the Grand Marais trip with the 4 kids!

'Rocket Fizz Soda Pop & Candy Shop' in the Mall of America

We were at the Mall of America this past weekend celebrating my youngest son’s birthday, and we stopped at Rocket Fizz Soda Pop & Candy Shop for the first time. I had been to Rocket Fizz in Vegas 12 years ago, but didn't realize I had one so close to home:

Sodas were kinda expensive at $2.99/bottle, but they had a huge selection of novelty sodas if you’re into that sort of thing!

Lots of candy and novelty metal signs as well. (And sodas down low.)

The middle part of this cooler is all birch beer, root beer, and sarsaparilla.

I didn't get anything, but I'd stop back (if I was willing to spend a little more) if I wanted to find some funky flavored novelty sodas! I think I've had all of the root beers in the image above, but I wouldn't be surprised if I stopped in sometime to grab a few other sodas. 

Favorite Halloween Candy in Each State

Think this is true?...

Pretzel M&Ms?  What's wrong with Wisconsin??!?...

Making Root Beer Ribbon Candies

Logan's Candies shared a video of how they make their root beer ribbon candy:


Direct link: https://youtu.be/K3AUb6D6oN4?si=T_qYuuBemJ-G8zvt

Freeze-Dried Candy: Coming Soon to Remix?

I stopped into Remix on Marshall Ave in St. Paul just before Christmas to get some popcorn goodies for my parents. The owner saw me and gave me a few new treats to try:

These are all freeze-dried candy! They are NOT for sale yet as the owner is still "perfecting" her strategy on making these. She gave them to me so my boys could try them!

The 2 on the left are both Skittles (one plain and one sour). The middle tub is Jolly Ranchers - they are big and airy and puffy and dissolve QUICKLY in your mouth, but taste JUST like Jolly Ranchers! And I think the ones on the right are Sprees. 

They are all very good and very unique! I took them home to try with my extended family over Christmas, and they were all enjoyable!

So look for these new menu items coming soon to Remix: 2042 Marshall Ave, St Paul, MN 55104. Open Wed-Sun, 12-5 pm, and until 6 pm on Saturday. Check out their shave ice if you haven't yet.

Closing Soon for the 2023 Year: Minnesota's Largest Candy Store

My boys and I made a quick stop to Minnesota's Largest Candy Store on Wednesday. I needed to refresh my soda stash, and they are closing for the season on Sunday evening, Nov 26th, 2023! Here are a few photos from our stop:

A HUGE (sun-faded) puzzle out front.

Whoa.

Some of the "superhero room" at Minnesota's Largest Candy Store.

Looking across the big candy area. Notice all the puzzles in the ceiling!

The "final" room full of space-related things. And a large Thanos!

The "Harry Potter hallway" near the end of the store.

Batman in the foreground, Harley Quinn in the background, and lots of treats in between.

See you next May!

I picked up 25 sodas (a case +1), so look for reviews on those shortly! I actually didn't take any photos of the soda section, but check out this post from 2.5 years ago for lots of photos of the soda sections.

IT'SUGAR on Navy Pier

My family and I got back yesterday morning from 3 days in Chicago (see lots of photos in this post on my other blog), and we found a store called "IT'SUGAR" (not misspelled) on Navy Pier. It turns out there's one locally in Mall of America as well, so I might have to stop in sometime. It had... well... lots of sugar, including some fun sodas:

Some fun sodas in one section.

I only purchased one thing there, and it wasn't soda. They had "Cow Tales" that my family and I enjoy, but they had OREO Cow Tales which we'd never tried. They were good, but none of us could really tell any difference from REGULAR Cow Tales, so we didn't really understand the point. Still a quick tasty treat!

Again, click here for more photos from our long-weekend Chicago trip.

"Root Beer Float" Shave Ice At Remix!

My family swung into Remix on Marshall Ave in St. Paul this afternoon just before they closed. We heard they have shave ice (and not "shaveD ice"), and people have been saying good things about it. So we had to try it! It was the first time we were back inside after they re-opened their doors since the pandemic started (they were always open from a counter to the street, but it was our first time stepping inside in nearly 3 years):

My wife looking at goodies.

Their shave ice menu posted outside. LOTS of options!

My wife spotted a root beer variety pack and may have picked it up as another last-minute Father's Day present...

Behold! The "Root Beer Float" shave ice! It's HUGE!

Showing the inside after a few minutes of eating.

Charlie got a medium grape and cherry with a side of boba. TASTY.

Henry got a Cookie Coma shave ice!

On that big "shave ice" menu, I want to try "Unicorns Are Real," "Wizard's Brew," and maybe "OG Snowball." As we were there, the boys picked up 2 small bags of assorted candy (from all the bins you see on the right in the first photo), and my wife picked up 2 blocks of cheese. We can't wait to go back for more shave ice!

Check out Remix at 2042 Marshall Ave, Saint Paul, MN 55104. Open Wed - Sun from noon - 5 pm. (For now... the owner hinted that hours could get a little extended through the summer.)

Reed's Root Beer Hard Candy

These caught my eye at Ace Hardware last month:

Individually wrapped like the packaging says. Seems old fashioned (and a touch wasteful).

The candy inside.

I don't often "review" CANDY, but being this is root beer flavored, I feel like I need to...  

Brand: Reed's Root Beer Hard Candy

Origin: Great Neck, NY.

Purchase Place: Frattallone's Ace Hardware, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar and Glucose Syrup.

Review: Obviously, my main point of reference is a "root beer barrel," but I expected this to be better (or maybe "more refined") than a root beer barrel. And I was right. It was a bit more caramel flavored, but just a touch. The flavor was actually more subtle than a root beer barrel - it didn't have that same harshness. And it was very long lasting. So it's a slightly more refined, slightly more gentle, and slightly more caramely version of a classic root beer barrel. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it's pretty good and quite enjoyable!

Score: 7.5 out of 10.

Summer Selection at Frattallone's Ace in St. Paul

I stopped into Frattallone's Ace earlier this month (to grab some supplies for a project as well as a Frostop Soda) and looked through their soda selection:

I've had most of these, but not all.

I grabbed one of the "Reed's Root Beer" candies on the right.

I still have to crack into the root beer candies, so I'll be back later this summer with a review of those.

Candy and Soda from Ely's Old Fashioned Candy

Last week, my boys and I spent 2 days fishing and "camping" (in a camper cabin) up in Bear Head Lake State Park. We stopped into Ely when we first got there, and we found "Ely's Old Fashioned Candy."

My boys starting to look around inside.

Their soda selection.

These are all root beers, but I'd had them all.

Fresh popcorn and other goodies behind the counter.

My boys were picking out taffy flavors. The little buckets on the right were also
"pay by the ounce" like the taffy, so there was a lot of possible "mix and match" going on.

 
I grabbed a soda, but never took a photo of it when I drank it by the campfire. Just a nice sweet stop while playing outside with my sons!

Candy at Legacy Toys at the Mall of America

My boys and I were at the Mall of America on Friday morning. They wanted to stop at Legacy Toys on the 3rd floor, so I looked at sweet treats as they browsed the toys:

 

5 lb gummy bears!

I haven't seen candy cigarettes in MN for a while, but these don't
say "cigarette" anywhere on them so maybe that makes them legal again. 

You can make some happy little trees with this Bob Ross gummy candy kit!

These are one of my favorites, so I got a few (including one to sneak into my wife's lunch for her).

 
I grabbed a can of "Duff Beer" (not actually beer) that was packaged to look just like the "real thing" from The Simpsons. It's in the fridge and I hope to crack into that shortly! They didn't have as much soda as I showed in this post from last year, but they still had a few fun bottles.

p.s. I realized that maybe the candy cigarette issue was just with St. Paul as I went back and looked at this post from 2013. So maybe the packaging has made them OK again, or maybe it was just St. Paul that banned them, or maybe Legacy Toys is breaking a law that no one cares about.  :) 

Jelly Belly A&W Root Beer Jelly Beans

I forget where we picked these up, but they showed up in my boys's Christmas stockings 2 months ago: 

We just recently opened it, and my oldest son really enjoyed them! Root beer barrels have a bit more of a "bite" to them, but these jelly beans have a bit more of a "smooth" root beer flavor (which is usually what I prefer). You might have to check these out!

It's Hard Out There on the Playground...

A Visit to the Bloomington Location of Blue Sun Soda

Yesterday, I stopped by the Bloomington location of Blue Sun Soda Shop. It was my first time at that location - I'd only been to the "original" store in Spring Lake Park, and I still need to visit their Richfield location as well at some point. I pulled in to their Bloomington location and was the only one in the lot:

A handful of short soda aisles.

The line of root beers!!!

Root beers more straight on.

I thought this was raisin soda at first... until I realized it was just the French translation.

The candy section of the store (past all the sodas).

I *nearly* walked away with a "vanilla bean" container of cotton candy as that sounded interesting!

Root beer barrels - these would have been good stocking stuffers!

 

I also refreshed my stash as I was there - I walked out with an assorted case of 12 sodas, including a few root beers that I've never had (and a novelty soda to take to a family gathering shortly).