'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. 

'Breaking Bad's' Los Pollos Hermanos Horchata Soda

I opened this with supper tonight:

The fictional "Los Pollos" restaurant from "Breaking Bad."

Yep... there's the "Breaking Bad" tie-in.

Brand: 'Breaking Bad's' Los Pollos Hermanos Horchata Soda.

Origin: Incline Village, NV.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: This was OK. It had that "milky sweetness" of Horchata that wasn't bad! But it was a little odd when combined with the "sharpness" of carbonation - this could have been better uncarbonated. There was a little hint of cinnamon that was nice too...

... but wait... I recall writing that before. OH WAIT! I wonder if this is the EXACT SAME SODA as the Lester's Fixins Horchata that's also made by Rocket Fizz. Did they just relabel an old soda to appeal to the "Breaking Bad" crowd? Probably. 

Score: 6 out of 10.

Lester's Fixins Horchata Soda

I opened this yesterday as it didn't seem to be too "risky" of a novelty soda:

 
Brand: Lester's Fixins Horchata Soda.

Origin: Incline Village, NV.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: Something felt "wrong" about drinking a horchata from a guy named "Lester." (It's a drink that originated in northern Africa before settling in Spain and often being thought of as a Mexican drink today.) 

The first sip was odd because the flavor was about right on (including a cinnamon-like hit at the end like Mexican horchata has), but it was a bit strange with the carbonation. 

I actually let it sit in the fridge open for a while, and I think it got better - I like this more with a "softer" carbonation. Overall, it tasted pretty right on and nicely sweet, but the carbonation added a sharpness to it that wasn't as great.

Score: 6.5 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.

Grand Opening at "Grandpa Joe's" (formerly Blue Sun Soda)

My son and I just got back from the north metro because we HAD to check out the Grand Opening of Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop! They purchased Blue Sun Soda in Spring Lake Park. They just announced it on Facebook 10 days ago, so a LOT has happened since then. 

A little bummed they painted over the mural out front.

It was HOPPIN' inside! Charlie was handed a sweet soda jerk hat when he walked in.

FUDGE! That's new!

This is where all the long aisles of soda used to be, and now it's all CANDY and GAMES! 

Some soda farther back.

I had to grab a "Wild Bill's" root beer, and Grandpa Joe's has some wild novelty flavors.

"Buy 5 Get 1 FREE." So I did!

This has been a big draw from social media: a $5 candy buffet!

More sodas near the register.

Soda fountain AND ice cream bar!

The bottler was up and running, and people could watch.

Back in the candy area. THEY STLL HAVE "BILLY THE SODA JERK" BACK THERE!
He was cracking people up, including my son. 

New hand-painted details by the door.

This was by the checkout. I need to try these sometime.

I still have some Blue Sun sodas to try, so this might not be my last post with the Blue Sun Soda tag, but it's the first with the Grandpa Joe's tag! My son got a few boxes of candy, and I grabbed a six pack of assorted sodas (because the 6th was free). I can't wait to go back to snoop around more without a hundred other people there. They don't seem to have QUITE as much soda as before, but it's a better experience all around - super excited to take my oldest son there sometime as he couldn't make it tonight. We'll be back!

Check out Grandpa Joe's on Facebook to stay in the loop.

Bacon Soda to the Extreme

Rhett and Link made an entire meal out of bacon. At about the 2:07 mark, they pulled out the bacon soda (which is gross by itself - see this post to read my review), but then they made is SO MUCH WORSE...

If the embedded video doesn't work, click here to watch it on Facebook. 

Granny Tries Gross Sodas

Granny tries to find her beloved Pepsi:

If the embedded video doesn't work, you can find it on Facebook here.

And I've had the 3 "gross" sodas that she tried: click these links to see my reviews of Sweet Corn soda, Buffalo Wing soda, and Bacon soda.

Farrah Fawcett Cream Soda

My boys and I recently spent 3 days in Lake Vermilion State Park and then another 2 days in Grand Marais, and we brought my Mom along for the trip. The town of Ely is near Lake Vermilion State Park, so we stopped into Ely's Old Fashioned Candy like we did last year. 

Free pinball! My son and my Mom.

Soda selection.

I grabbed this to try a few days later:

In the kitchen of our motel room in Grand Marais (after leaving Ely).

 
Brand: Farrah Fawcett Cream Soda.

Origin: Incline Village, NV.

Purchase Place: Ely's Old Fashioned Candy, Ely, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: Ehh, this is OK. It's got a nice sweetness to it, but then it had a "chemically" taste to it. It's not a smooth as it should be, but it's decently rich. Not a great flavor with a poor aftertaste. No thanks. RIP Farrah.

Score: 4 out of 10.

Butter Soda

This was a bad idea...

I grabbed my boys and they both tried a sip:

Brand: Rocket Fizz Butter Soda

Origin: Camarillo, CA.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: So it wasn't great. When I sniffed it, it first just smelled sweet like soda, but then there was a pretty spot-on butter smell. I can see what Henry meant when he said it was a little butterscotch-like as that sort of combines the flavors of "butter" and "sweetness," but it's not as good as butterscotch. It was fun to try, but not great to drink. True hits of butter, but then with a soda-like sweetness as well. Good for the butter lover in your life, and bad for everyone else.

Score: 2.5 out of 10.

Avery's Fungal Fruit

I brought this with me to my office today:

 

Brand: Avery's Fungal Fruit.

Origin: New Britain, Connecticut.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: Yes, that's rotten fruit on the label. Yippie. As always with these "novelty" flavors, I'm happy when they actually note what the flavor is SUPPOSED to be on the bottle: this "fungal fruit" was really pink passion fruit and lime. I made it a point to NOT look at that until AFTER I tried my first sip, and I got a weak "fruity lime" flavor from that initial sip. The flavor isn't very strong, and it's also not very sugary. It tastes a BIT more "adult" than I expected - I thought this would be strong and possibly really sweet, but it's not. The lime flavor is fine, but this needs a little more of a kick of something. It's just a bit lacking. Ranking it just below average.

Score: 4 out of 10.

Melba's Fixins Strawberry Shortcake Soda

I opened this with my boys during supper last night: 

Brand: Melba's Fixins Strawberry Shortcake Soda.

Origin: Camarillo, CA.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: I've only had one other "Melba's Fixins" pseudo-novelty soda, and that was decent, so I had relatively high hopes for this. My boys and I sniffed it, and it DID smell like strawberry short cake. When drinking it, the first thing that hit was the creaminess - it was like a "cream soda." And the strawberry flavor was solid, but a bit subtle. The carbonation was a bit harsh, so it was like a cream soda that just had a little "bite" to it. In the end, we all agreed that it totally was a "strawberry shortcake soda." It was like a subtle strawberry flavored cream soda.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Lester's Fixins Buffalo Wing Soda

Well, it's been a few weeks since my last review, and that's because I've been sitting on this bottle... scared... 

Brand: Lester's Fixins Buffalo Wing Soda.

Origin: Incline Village, NV.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: You might remember first seeing this bottle when I tried Ranch Dressing Soda last month. I FINALLY got around to opening this one up, and it wasn't really what I expected. 

When I first sniffed it, it didn't smell bad - it was like a "sharp orange flavored" smell. I was hopeful.

And you know what? It didn't taste horrible either. The flavor was kind of meaty (but not in a bad way), smokey, and slightly salty. The problem occurred 5-10 seconds after each sip - there's this burning that happened in the back of my throat. It was like a chemical burn feeling. Not pleasant. And it happened sooner and sooner after each sip. I couldn't finish this. So favor was bad but not horrible, but the general experience of this soda was bad. Just bad.

Score: 1.5 out of 10.

Lester Fixins Ranch Dressing Soda

I opened this "Ranch Dressing" soda with my extended family on a trip up north recently:

I thought it could pair well with Buffalo Wing Soda.

My youngest was ready to try a shot of it...

...but he immediately spit it into the sink

My brother-in-law and I sniffed it...

Drinking it!

 

Trying not react to the flavor! Ha! (We agreed ahead of time to try to not show our disgust.)

 

Brand: Lester Fixins Ranch Dressing Soda

Origin: Incline Village, NV.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: You know, this WASN'T horrible. It smelled quite like ranch dressing. And then the aftertaste left a ranch dressing-like film in my mouth (but not in an ABSOLUTELY horrible way). 

The biggest positive for this is that the carbonation really helped. And it had a perfect amount of sweetness to cut the almost savory ranch flavor. Both my brother-in-law and I agreed on this. 

It sure isn't a soda that I'd grab on any given day saying "boy, I sure could go for something 'ranch dressing' flavored right now!" But it wasn't BAD. The ranch dressing flavor was about spot on, so give this a (humorous) try if you're a fan of ranch. This had POTENTIAL for being scored at 1 or 2, but it's honestly better than that.

Score: 3.5 out of 10.

Refill at Blue Sun Soda

Yesterday afternoon, my boys and I headed to the "original" Blue Sun Soda up in the north metro. I slowly worked my way through the root beer aisle and grabbed just a few bottles that I haven't had before. But now after the 2 or 3 that I just purchased, I'll have had everything in this aisle: 

All root beers way down to the end.

Back by the little game room (they've really made that smaller).

The soda fountain section had some old cans being used as vases.

My assorted case from Blue Sun Soda!

I have a few novelty sodas in there that will be GROSS that I plan to try with my extended family as we get together during the summer. Stay tuned for those reviews!

Blue Sun Super Sour Soda Pucker Up Grape

Yes, it's been over 2 weeks since my last post... I've had this soda in the fridge, but I kept putting off trying it because I was a bit scared. And it's not just one I can grab and take to class as it could leave a horrible taste in my mouth. But FINALLY, here we are... 

Brand: Blue Sun Super Sour Soda Pucker Up Grape.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Bloomington, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This SMELLED just like a normal grape soda. And even when it first hit my tongue, it tasted like a normal grape soda. But then a second later, the SOUR hits, and it makes my cheeks pucker! 

Not surprisingly, my boys tried this and loved it. They thought it was quite good. 

The grape flavor is quite sweet (almost surprisingly sweet), and then it hits with the "candy" sour. The sour really isn't TOO much - yes, it made my face have a physical reaction each time, but it's still almost subtle. Almost. Not bad, and just a fun soda. This is NOT something I would pick when I just wanted to sip on something, but something I'd grab with a friend. As a "drinking" soda, it's crap. But for the experience, I'll rate this just above average.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.

State Fair Soda: Chocolate Chip Cookie

I was at a little shindig at my brother-in-law's house over the weekend, and him and his wife did something very sweet: they know I don't drink wine or beer (and the other 5 people there DO), so they grabbed 4 fun bottles of soda for me at the grocery store! This was the one I opened and had with their delicious supper: 

Brand: State Fair Soda: Chocolate Chip Cookie.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

Purchase Place: Unknown (western suburbs of the Twin Cities).

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This had a really sweet initial taste. There was definitely a "dough-like" flavor that came through, but not really anything like chocolate chips. It had a slightly chemically aftertaste, but it wasn't bad! (And we assume it's trying to be "Sweet Martha's Cookies" without saying that...)

I had to look back to when I tried a handful of "State Fair Sodas" 2.5 years ago, and I ranked "Chocolate Chip Cookie" as my LEAST favorite of the 5. So I'm excited to try some of the other flavors as if I called this my least favorite, we're only going up from here!

Score: 6 out of 10.

W.T. Heck Dill Pickle Soda

We had one final Christmas party this past weekend. I brought down a "fun" soda to share.

On my mother-in-laws stove next to some tasty snacks.

 

My sister-in-law tried some before I did. This was her trying to swallow it.

Brand: W.T. Heck Dill Pickle Soda.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: Before my sister-in-law tried it (pictured above), I give my father-in-law a sip and he didn't think it was too bad. But my father-in-law kind of eats/drinks anything, so that didn't mean much. My sister-in-law didn't like it. But when I tried it, I THOUGHT IT WASN'T TOO BAD! 

It smells HORRIBLE (like a jar of pickles that's not quite right) and super salty. And the first part of each sip tastes like salty pickle juice, but then all it tastes like is sweet sugary soda! That "combo" is what my sister-in-law couldn't handle, but I thought it made it quite drinkable! I mean, it's still not "good," but it was way less "bad" than I thought it'd be! This would be a fun gift for the pickle lover in your life.

Score: 4 out of 10 (which feels surprisingly higher than it could be!).

Polly's Pop Donutology Glazed Donut

Being I was still hanging out with family earlier this week, we all sampled this treat:

On the counter on vacation.

Brand: Polly's Pop Donutology Glazed Donut.

Origin: Kansas City, MO.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: When I opened this, I passed it around for everyone to sniff. Because it TOTALLY smelled like those waxy Hostess mini chocolate donuts. I was excited to try it. But then it tasted a little "off." The aftertaste was a bit chemically and it just tasted like odd sweetness. It was just OK. I'm shocked to think that the beef jerky soda from earlier in the week was better than this!

Score: 3 out of 10.

Beefdrinker Teriyaki Beef Jerky Soda

On our summer vacation recently, I opened this to share with family: 

On the railing of our (rented) cabin.

First of all, I was ready for this to be gross.  I mean, obviously. I liked the tagline on the bottom of the label: "For that deep carnivore thirst." Nice. I poured out sips for everyone to try:

My son smiled saying it wasn't too bad.

My nephew wasn't sure what to think.

My brother-in-law didn't mind it.

My niece was the only one who didn't really care for it.

Brand: Beefdrinker Teriyaki Beef Jerky Soda.

Origin: Gardena, CA.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: As far as novelty sodas go, this wasn't too bad! It wasn't overly smokey or salty, which were 2 of my worries. My nephew described the flavor PERFECTLY: he said it tasted like what Cheeseburger Hamburger Helper powder smells like. And that was spot on. My brother-in-law noted after his first sip that it reminded him of some kind of cream soda, and that wasn't a bad point either. As I sipped more and more, it started tasting more and more like beef. In the end, it wasn't really all that tasty, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be, so I'm calling this "3.5 out of 10" soda a "win" in my book.

Score: 3.5 out of 10.

Chumlee Root Beer

I had to look up who "Chumlee" is/was because I had no idea. It turns out he's on "Pawn Stars" and this is possibly the best possible photo of him:

Brand: Chumlee Root Beer.

Origin: Incline Village, NV.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: I feel like I've tasted this before. It was made my "Rocket Fizz," and I have a feeling that many of their semi-novelty sodas are all the same. It's a weak generic tasting root beer. It was a bit creamy and had a good head, but it was just so weak that it wasn't very enjoyable. I'm ranking it just below average.

Score: 4 out of 10.

On a side-note, that's the last bottle from my old soda stash (it's no wonder I left "Chumlee" soda sitting there for so long), so shortly I'll be starting in on the case I got from Minnesota's Largest Candy Store last month! Sweet!