Dang! That's Good Diet Root Beer

Five years ago, I had "Dang! That's Good" root beer, and it was pretty good. Would the diet version hold up?

Oops... popped the top before getting my photo.

Brand: Dang! That's Good Diet Root Beer.

Origin: Milwaukee, WI.

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

Sweetener: Aspartame.

Review: The first sip tasted really weak - I think I "expect" full flavor from a bottle, so diet sodas are a kick in the teeth right off the bat. But the flavor was good. It was a pretty classic root beer with just a little bite. Yes, it was weaker ("waterier") that I'd like, but it was a decent diet root beer. I'll call this just a point above average.

Score: 6 out of 10.
 

A quick trip to Blue Sun Soda

My 2nd grader and I took a trip to Blue Sun Soda this afternoon. His teacher loves root beer, so I made a list of my favorite root beers from this blog (ones rated 9 or 10) and picked up 8 for him as an upcoming Christmas present.

We brought a few dollars worth of quarters for Henry and me.

Playing a slightly older pinball machine.

Rocky Mountain had a nice end cap.

SODAS! The aisle along the wall on the right is all root beer.
Colas are in the middle of this pic. Everything is divided by flavor.

There was a birthday party going on in a back room, which is a great idea! The kids seemed to be having fun. Henry and I grabbed some free popcorn and some goodies for his teacher. I ended up getting:

- Capt'n Eli's Root Beer
- Old Fashioned Killebrew Root Beer
- Dang! That's Good Root Beer
- Barrel Brother's Creamy Vanilla Root Beer
- The Three Stooges Wise Guy Root Beer
- Route 66 Root Beer
- Hippo Size Jumbo Root Beer
- Abita Root Beer

Those last 2 on the list have been the ONLY sodas on this blog that have received "10 out of 10." The rest on this list either got 9s or 9.5s. (You can find reviews of all of these in the sidebar - look for the brand name in the tags.) I hope his teacher likes his Christmas present!

Root Beer Tasting at Blue Sun Soda

On Saturday morning, my boys had a cross country race at Como Park. After that, we headed north to Blue Sun Soda for their free root beer tasting party.

The 10 sodas (and tiny sipping cups on either end) ready for sampling.

I had previously had all but "Fiz Roc City" root beer. Left to right in that photo above was Red Arrow, Dorothy's, Always Ask for Avery's, Bedford's, Death Valley, Squamscot, Fiz, Zuberfizz, Dang!, and Cool Mountain.

My 1st grader got in on the action. We tried all of them and kept track of what one we liked best.

You were supposed to grab a bottle cap and vote for your favorite by putting it in the corresponding bucket.

Henry liked Dang! the best.

Dorothy won for me. Dang! and Zuberfizz weren't far behind.

Dorothy was my 2nd ever review on this blog nearly 6 years ago. I gave it an 8. Dang! actually got a 9 from me when I reviewed it, so I guess my tastes were a little different this past weekend. Blue Sun Soda noted on Facebook that Zuberfizz was the overall winner.

Their selection of their made-in-house Whistler soda.

My pre-schooler played some pinball.

Playing an old bowling game.

"Springtime Sodas."

The boys on a noisy elephant with games and the root beer tasting in the background.

Enjoying some small sugary treats on the way home.

 I left with 10 bottles of new soda. I had just a few more from my old stash to drink first, but then I'll start in on these new sodas. I bought 2 Whistler sodas that I'll need to have soon because as I've noted recently, their caps don't seem to hold their seal for very long.

UPDATE: Blue Sun Soda added on Facebook the ranking of the top 4 of the taste test: "#1 Zuberfizz, #2 Dang, #3 Red Arrow, #4 Dorothy's." So Henry's and my picks were #2 and #4 out of 10. They also noted that they go through about a case of each soda at these "tasting" events, so they went through about 240 bottles total!

Dang! That's Good Italian Cherry Soda

I enjoyed this on a hot afternoon yesterday:

(With flowers in the background that my son brought home from his Great-Grandpa's funeral.)

Brand: Dang! That's Good Italian Cherry Soda.

Origin: Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: The first thing I would describe this as is "crisp." It has a sharp carbonated kick to it that is a little like having a freshly-made soda at an old-fashioned soda fountain. The cherry flavor was initially good, but then leaves a little bit of a funky aftertaste. Overall, it's nothing special, but it was better than I thought it would be.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Dang! That's Good Root Beer

I've had a good "Dang!" soda and a bad "Dang!" soda. Today, it was time to try their root beer:

Brand: Dang! That's Good Root Beer.

Origin: Milwaukee, WI.

Purchase Place: Frattallones Ace Hardware, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This was super smooth with a decent amount of vanilla flavor. It was very creamy, but it was a DEEP creaminess. Not much anise, and went down quickly. Classic, smooth flavor.

Score: 9 out of 10.

Dang! That's Good Red Cream Soda

What flavor is "red?"

Brand: Dang! That's Good Red Cream Soda.

Origin: Milwaukee, WI.

Purchase Place: Frattallones Ace Hardware, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: The first sip (and the first smell) of this was pretty great. It tasted "red" and it was VERY creamy. The "red" flavor seemed to be mainly cherry, but there was a bit more (maybe strawberry too?) But then a very chemically tastes comes through that sort of ruins it all. I can't describe it very well, but it's pretty "sharp" and not good. It totally takes away from the initial part of the sip that tastes so good. It's good for the first 0.3 seconds, and bad for the rest of the drink. Dang.

Score: 4 out of 10.

Dang That's Good Butterscotch Root Beer

With a brand name like this, it had BETTER be good...

Brand: Dang That's Good Butterscotch Root Beer.

Origin: Milwaukee, WI.

Purchase Place: Frattallone's Ace Hardware, Burnsville, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This was pretty tasty. The root beer and the butterscotch flavor were both a bit subtle and smooth. If you like butterscotch and root beer (separately), I think you'll enjoy this. It's not over-powering or offensive.

Score: 7 out of 10.