Dr. Wells Soda

This had no "flavor" listed, so I assumed it was Dr. Pepper rip-off:

 

Brand: Dr. Wells Soda.

Origin: Jasper, IN.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: I was right. This is a lot like Dr. Pepper, just a bit worse. It really tastes similar, but just has an extra "artificial" flavor at the end that makes it not as great. It was OK... I'll rank this right in the middle.

Score: 5 out of 10.

Root Jack Orange Flavored Root Beer Pirate Energy Drink

I opened this earlier today: 

Brand: Root Jack Orange Flavored Root Beer Pirate Energy Drink.

Origin: Mishawaka, IN.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Bloomington, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: This is labeled a "pirate energy drink," so I was a little concerned. It has your daily allowance of vitamin C to "keep scurvy in check," so that's good. It has quillaja which Google tells me is sometimes used to help with foam in root beer. And it has caffeine and guarana seed extract which are both stimulants. I also found online that it has 10 mg of caffeine/oz, so this bottle had 120 mg of caffeine! 

But on to the flavor. It's not great. It has that energy drink chemically-ness to it. The orange flavor with the root beer isn't bad - that's actually kinda fun. If you like energy drinks, then you might like this. If you don't then you might want to steer away from this one. Not bad, totally unique, but not great.

Score: 5.5 out of 10.

Dad's Diet Old Fashioned Root Beer

This Diet Dad's was another gift from my brother-in-law and sister-in-law from their party:

Brand: Dad's Diet Old Fashioned Root Beer.

Origin: Jasper, IN.

Purchase Place: unknown (western suburbs).

Sweetener: Sucralose.

Review: This was quite tasty! It had a real deep (almost smokey) flavor which was surprising being it was a diet root beer. There wasn't that "thin and watered down" flavor that many diet sodas (especially root beers) have. Deep classic flavor, just a little bite, and quite easy to drink. Solid soda!

Score: 8 out of 10.

Dad's Old Fashioned Red Cream Soda

I opened this earlier today before teaching my class at the U: 

In an empty classroom.

Brand: Dad's Old Fashioned Red Cream Soda.

Origin: Jasper, IN.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: Is it a CREAM soda? Is it the flavor of the color RED? I still really don't know. The initial sip is smooth and creamy and pretty tasty with a hit of fruitiness (and I'm not just imagining that because it's red). But then it quickly turns "artificial" and kind of "wet cardboard" tasting. If it could capture and hold on to the initial flavor, it'd be more like an "8" for me. But all things considered (meaning the way the taste gets crappier at the end of each sip), it's being marked a bit lower.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Dad's Red Cream Soda

Earlier this week, I stopped by Frattallone's Ace on Grand Ave (the one near Macalester College, not near Ramsey Hill), and I looked through their soda selection:

I walked out with a Dad's soda I'd never tried before:

Brand: Dad's Red Cream Soda.

Origin: Jasper, IN.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: This was OK. As with my only other "red cream soda" that I've tried, I don't know what flavor "red" is. Cherry-like? This one was a little better than that one. It was pretty smooth, but a little "artificial" tasting at the end. Not bad, but not great.

Score: 5.5 out of 10.

Claeys Root Beer Old Fashioned Hard Candies

I've had this bag of Root Beer Candies that I've been working on for many years:

I picked these up over 3 years ago as seen in this post!

My wife was about to throw it away because I was eating them very slowly, but I'm not a huge "hard candy" guy. But then she tried one and was NOT going to throw them away. They are good! When I first started to write this, they had 21 ratings on Amazon, and 17 are a full 5 stars. (There were two 4 star, a 3 star, and a 1 star rating, but the 1 star rating is someone saying they LOVE them, so I don't think they know how to work the "star system.") Now there are many more reviews, so I think they're catching on!


Brand: Claeys Root Beer Old Fashioned Hard Candies.

Origin: South Bend, Indiana.

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

Sweetener: Sugar and Corn Syrup.

Review: These have a very "true" Root Beer flavor. They taste like a better "adult" version of the root beer barrels we all had at parades as kids. I don't often rate candies here, but if I were to give this a score like I do sodas, I'd have to say it was a better-than-average 8.

Score: 8 out of 10.

Dad's Diet Root Beer

I made homemade pizza the other night, and I grabbed this diet root beer to go along with it:

That my hot-out-of-the-oven pizza in the background!

Brand: Dad's Diet Root Beer.

Origin: Jasper, IN.

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

Sweetener: Sucralose.

Review: This was good. Quite good. It had a bit of a bite, but still a nice creamy head. This would have been a good "regular" root beer, so I was very happily surprised that it was actually diet! Try this. It was great.

Score: 9 out of 10.

Dad's Old Fashioned Root Beer (Round 2)

I first reviewed Dad's Root Beer over a year ago, and I only gave it a 3 out of 10 - it did not go over well with me. But in that review, I said "I think I'll have to try Dad's again because I don't remember it being this bad when I've had it in the past."

Well, my sister-in-law showed up with a bottle of Dad's for me because I just became a Dad for the 2nd time.

My new son Charlie.

Charlie and Henry - my 2 boys.

Charlie's first bath at home when he was 6 days old.

So here was the Dad's I got:

Brand: Dad's Old Fashioned Root Beer.

Origin: Jasper, IN.

Purchase Place: Some convenience store, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Cane sugar.

Review: This wasn't nearly as bad as the one I had over a year ago. It had a bite, and a slightly "classic" root beer flavor. It had a bit more bite than I cared for, but was still pretty good. I'll take back my "3 out of 10" from my first review, and now I'll give it a 6.5.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.

Dad's Old Fashioned Root Beer

I never got a photo of my last soda in Vegas. (Actually, I never got a photo of my final few bottles.) My last soda was Dad's Old Fashioned Root Beer.

Image source.

Brand: Dad's Old Fashioned Root Beer.

Origin: Jasper, IN.

Purchase Place: Rocket Fizz, Las Vegas, NV.

Sweetener: Cane sugar.

Review: Too "smokey." It almost tasted burnt. I wanted to like this a lot more, but I was really disappointed. It didn't even taste like root beer to me - it was like bad cola. No thanks. (I think I'll have to try Dad's again because I don't remember it being this bad when I've had it in the past. Stay tuned for an update on this.)

Score: 3 out of 10.

Triple XXX Root Beer

I'm starting to run low in my "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store" stash of root beer. I'll need to restock by Thanksgiving! Over the weekend, I busted out some Triple XXX Root Beer:

Across the bottom, it says "MAKES THIRST A JOY"

Their website shares a nice history of the company, which was originally started in Texas. It also says it's "tastes like root beer used to taste." And that's about right - it tastes like "classic" root beer.

Brand: Triple XXX Root Beer.

Origin: Lafayette, IN.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: This is sort of a "can't go wrong" root beer. It's nothing fancy, but it tastes (in my opinion) the way root beer should. And it has a great freakin' label!

Score: 8 out of 10.

Dad's Blue Cream Soda

I tend to like unnaturally colorful sodas. If it's redder than a sports car or bluer than the sky, it's going to be sugary and delicious. So I was intrigued by "Dad's Old Fashioned Blue Cream Soda."

Brand: Dad's Old Fashioned Blue Cream Soda.

Origin: Jasper, Indiana.

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

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: It's really sugary, but the super unnatural blue color tipped me off to that.  I DO like sugary soda, but this is almost a bit much for me.  However, the "cream soda" flavor that emerges right after the sugar rush is delicious!  It's super creamy and leaves a great taste in your mouth.  If you like cream soda AND sugary soda, then this is for you.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.

Bubble Up Lemon Lime Soda

I got to try a "classic" 2 nights ago when I got home from work. I pulled my frosty bottle of "Bubble Up" lemon-lime soda (born 10 years before 7-Up) out of the fridge to enjoy with supper.

Brand: Bubble Up Lemon Lime Soda

Origin: Jasper, Indiana (bottled by Dad's Root Beer).

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

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: I tend to like lemon-lime sodas. This one was just OK. (I've always wanted to try Bubble Up, and I think I was just expecting more.) It's very sharp and crisp, but it had more lemon in it's lemon-to-lime ratio than I'm used to, so it was a bit "strong." My wife even commented that it was a bit like drinking "ReaLemon." However, it seemed to taste better as I drank more of it, and the post-consumption burps were tasty.

Score: 5 out of 10.