Premium Fitz's Pumpkin Pop

I cracked into this at work:

Brand: Premium Fitz's Pumpkin Pop.

Origin: St. Louis, MO.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: I was leary about this from the start. If I hadn't read "pumpkin" on the label, I would NOT have known it was supposed to be pumpkin! It was very heavy on the cinnamon - like baking cinnamon and not "red hot" cinnamon. I think they were going for like a "pumpkin spice" but made it very "spice"-heavy. In this case, it tasted all of cinnamon spice.

Now, all that being said, it was GOOD! It still tasted good. It was sweet and dessert-like. This one surprised me!

Score: 8 out of 10.

Family Trip to Minnesota's Largest Candy Store

My boys and I stopped by "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store" yesterday.

My boys out front when we got there at 9 a.m.

It was DEAD inside right as it opened!  I love that.

My boys and their cousins by the Iron Man Hulkbuster suit!

Hulk and lots of taffy!

Pumpkin and pumpkin pie sodas.

Wheeling around my case of assorted sodas in my mini cart.

A panorama of the store as we took off.

Hanging out with some family a few miles farther south at the Scarecrow Festival at Emma Krumbees.

So I have a new case of soda to start on!  I have a few more left from Blue Sun Soda Shop (actually, nearly a case), so I think I'm stocked up for the winter.

Maine Root Pumpkin Pie Soda

Happy (day after) Thanksgiving!  I thought I'd try an appropriately seasonal soda today:

I let my son try a sip.

He thought it was good. (But he never gets soda, so that's not worth much.)

Brand: Maine Root Pumpkin Pie Soda.

Origin: Portland, Maine.

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

Sweetener: Fair Trade Certified organic cane juice (sheesh).

Review: I was ready to not like this. I mean, it sounds kinda gross. But I was intrigued because it only had 3 ingredients: carbonated water, Fair Trade Certified organic cane juice, and spices. Turns out, it was OK. It didn't REALLY taste like pumpkin pie, but it was herby and spicy like a real flavorful pumpkin pie is. It SMELLED really like pumpkin pie. It wasn't bad. I mean, it wasn't GREAT either, but it was one of the better "novelty" sodas that I've had. And, as seen above, my 5-year-old liked it.

Score: 6 out of 10.
 

Tis the Season for a Sparkling Pumpkin Cider

I spotted this at Aldi this morning:

I reviewed this "soda" 4 years ago as one of my first reviews on this site. CLICK HERE to check out the review - it was pretty good! (Oh, and I still have the bottle, but still haven't done anything with it like I claimed I would in the review...)

Nature's Nectar Pumpkin Cider at Aldi

My wife stopped at Aldi a few days ago, and she found a treat for me. She introduced it saying "I'm not sure if this will be great or horrible..."

We both sniffed it after we popped the top. It smelled strongly of ginger, and I thought it might taste too "harsh" for my liking. But the first sip was pretty good! And it was in a ceramic-cork bottle that I'll be able to save for when I start brewing some of my own root beer. (I think you can use bottles like that... I guess I'm not totally sure because I haven't done it yet.)

Brand: Nature’s Nectar Sparkling Spiced Pumpkin Cider.

Origin: Batavia, IL.

Purchase Place: Aldi, St. Paul.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: It tastes like an apple cider / pumpkin spice / sparkling soda. It actually tastes MORE of apple than it does of pumpkin (apple juice is the second ingredient behind carbonated water), but I'm not complaining. It's unique but not too "out there." It tastes like fall. It's a good Oct-Nov treat.

Score: 7 out of 10.