Rocky Mountain Soda Company Palisade Peaches & Cream

As I was caulking and spot-priming the siding on our new garage this past weekend, I enjoyed a bottle of this:

Brand: Rocky Mountain Soda Company Palisade Peaches & Cream.

Origin: Commerce City, CO.

Purchase Place: Rocket Fizz, somewhere in CO.

Sweetener: Beet Sugar.

Review: I expect "peaches and cream" to be creamy and smooth. But this was a pretty sharp - both the peaches and the cream flavor. Truth be told, I'm not a HUGE peaches and cream fan anyway, and this was a little off. Not my favorite.

Score: 4 out of 10.

Rocky Mountain Soda Company Breckenridge Blackberry Soda

I busted out this soda while working on constructing my new garage last week:

I took a sip of this, and my first reaction was a head nod and a "Uh huh!!" That's a good sign! (And pretty rare.)


Brand: Rocky Mountain Soda Company Breckenridge Blackberry Soda.

Origin: Commerce City, CO.

Purchase Place: Rocket Fizz, somewhere in CO.

Sweetener: Beet Sugar.

Review: It tasted just like very sweet blackberries. This was pretty fantastic. There was a slight crisp bite from the blackberry flavor, and then a lot of smooth sweetness from the sugar. The taste was fantastic! (And it wasn't because it was a cold drink on a hot day... look at the photo above - it was a chilly and rainy day.) My only complaint was that it started getting a little TOO sweet by the end of the bottle.

Score: 9.5 out of 10.

Rocky Mountain Soda Company Boulder Birch Beer

After a big day of running around with my 2 year old son, I needed something tasty during his nap...

Brand: Rocky Mountain Soda Company Boulder Birch Beer.

Origin: Commerce City, CO.

Purchase Place: Rocket Fizz, somewhere in CO.

Sweetener: Beet Sugar.

Review: This tasted surprisingly like root beer, but it was a bit more "earthy" and "woodsy." If you told me it was root beer, I'd think it was MAYBE slightly sub-par because it didn't taste like true root beer. But as a birch beer, it's not bad. It's not as good as my first birch beer, but it's still pretty good. I think need to search out more birch beers...

Score: 7 out of 10.

Tommyknocker Strawberry Creme

I popped the top on this and it smelled strong of creme:

Brand: Tommyknocker Strawberry Creme.

Origin: Idaho Springs, CO.

Purchase Place: Rocket Fizz (somewhere in CO).

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: Well, it tasted like it should: part strawberry, and part creme. But it was a bit of a strange combination. It was really frothy and pretty smooth, but it was just a little strange. The "strawberry" part of the flavor was OK, but the "creme" was off. Didn't care for it overall...

Score: 3.5 out of 10.

Rocky Mountain Soda Company Loveland Lemon-Limeade

My first Rocky Mountain Soda wasn't that great, and I was hoping this would be a bit better:

Brand: Rocky Mountain Soda Company Loveland Lemon-Limeade.

Origin: Commerce City, CO.

Purchase Place: Rocket Fizz, somewhere in CO.

Sweetener: Beet Sugar.

Review: This didn't stand out as anything super special, but it was GOOD. Lemon Lime soda is usually "crisp," but this Lemon LimeADE leaned more towards "smooth." It had good Lemon Lime flavor, and went down nice like a sweet and just slightly tart lemonade. Nothing too special, but still a decent soda! If you like Lemon Lime or Lemonade, check out this Rocky Mountain Soda Company Loveland Lemon-Limeade.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Rocky Mountain Soda Company Grand Mesa Grape

Time to crack into the first bottle from my surprise shipment of sodas.

Brand: Rocky Mountain Soda Company Grand Mesa Grape.

Origin: Commerce City, CO.

Purchase Place: Rocket Fizz, somewhere in CO.

Sweetener: Beet Sugar.

Review: Very strong grape smell - syrupy like cough syrup. But it's almost like it's over-cabonated, and it has bit more of a bite than I'd like. The grape flavor itself is good, but the rest needs a little something more. Or less. I'm just not a big fan.

Score: 4 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.

Sioux City Sarsaparilla

Fifth in my Vegas sodas was Sioux City Sarsaparilla:

Image source.

All my Vegas Sodas: Bulldog Root Beer, Dad's Root Beer, Faygo Root Beer, Sioux City Sarsaparilla,
Lester's Fixins Bacon Soda, and Snooki's Wild Cherry.

Brand: Sioux City Sarsaparilla.

Origin: Whitestone, NY.  (Then WHY is it called "Sioux City?")

Purchase Place: Rocket Fizz, Las Vegas, NV.

Sweetener: Pure cane sugar.

Review: Really smooth, and really caramely. I'm not into that much caramel flavor, but the smoothness was nice. Good amount of head.

Score: 8 out of 10.

Lester's Fixins Bacon Soda. Yes, BACON Soda.

Alright... It was our last day in Vegas, and it was time to get adventurous.  I busted out the Bacon Soda.

Image source.

The label.

Brand: Lester's Fixins Bacon Soda.

Origin: Camarillo, CA.

Purchase Place: Rocket Fizz, Las Vegas, NV.

Sweetener: Cane sugar.

Review: It didn't taste like bacon. It tasted like Bac-Os or Bacon Bits... only in liquid form... with carbonation. That's all a nasty combination. It was salty and smoky, much like bacon (or a hairy, sweaty, Russian man). But in soda form, this is just disgusting. I took 2 tiny sips and had to dump the rest. Lester's Fixins Sweet Corn Soda had slightly more (better) flavor, but I could not stomach this.

Score: 1 out of 10.

Faygo Root Beer

Onto my 3rd soda purchased in Vegas... Faygo Root Beer.

My Faygo and another soda on ice in our Vegas hotel room.

I really like Grape Faygo, but I'd never had their root beer. Time to try it out.

Brand: Faygo Original Root Beer.

Origin: Detroit, MI.

Purchase Place: Rocket Fizz, Las Vegas, NV.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: The first taste is perfect. PERFECT! (It reminds me a bit of Root Beer Barrels - the candy.) But then it has a strange aftertaste that I can't put my finger on. My wife completely agrees with this assessment: great at first, and then not quite right 2 seconds later. Still, pretty damn good overall.  So far, my favorite of my 3 "Vegas" sodas.

Score: 8.5 out of 10.

Snooki Wild Cherry

My second soda from Rocket Fizz while I was in Vegas was Snooki's Wild Cherry soda:

Snooki in the bathroom of our Vegas hotel room.

Yeah, I can't believe I bought it either. I do NOT like Snooki (or Jersey Shore), but based on the sheer randomness that Snooki has her own soda led me to try it. I'm not proud of it. But that's what I did.

Brand: Snooki Wild Cherry (by Rocket Fizz).

Origin: Camarillo, CA (I think... it's not well labeled).

Purchase Place: Rocket Fizz, Las Vegas, NV.

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: The cherry flavor was too "fake," but it had a nice amount of fizz. Just a little too "fake" tasting overall, probably a lot like Snooki...

Score: 4 out of 10.

Bulldog Root Beer

The first soda I opened in Vegas was this Bulldog Root Beer:

Bulldog in the bathroom of our Bellagio hotel room.

Brand: Bulldog Handcrafted Root Beer.

Origin: Mukilteo, Washington.

Purchase Place: Rocket Fizz, Las Vegas, NV.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: REALLY creamy. Nice vanilla flavor. It's not perfect, but if you like "creamy," then you'll like this!

Score: 8 out of 10.