Refreshing My Soda Stash

I have ONE soda left in my stash! Well, I should say "had" one soda left. My wife had a day off mid-week a few days ago, so I snuck away for an hour to restock my "soda box" in the basement. I hit up Blue Sun Soda:

I have *not* enjoyed a few of these, but I grabbed some that I hadn't tried before.

A BIG stock of their bottled-in-store Whistler sodas!

I had Kiss Army Root Beer a few years ago, but I hadn't tried the other 2. So I bought them.

Some "fancy" 22 oz $7 bottles. Just out of frame to the right is Indian Wells which we liked.

In the "all natural" section, here's a brand I haven't cared for (2 bottles rated 3.5 and 2).

Blue Sun now has a bigger "Japanese" section, so I grabbed 2!
It didn't seem right to have Elvis and John Wayne in the background...

I left with a case of 24 sodas, but I only had 2 root beers in there. After drinking those, I think I'll have had EVERY kind of root beer at Blue Sun except for 2 of the "big bottle" brands! I saved those for another time.

Thanks for refreshing my stash Blue Sun! I hope to check out your new location sometime soon as well!

Whistler Cream Soda

I opened this tonight:

 

Brand: Whistler Cream Soda.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: I generally don't have strong feelings about cream sodas. And that's true for this one as well. It was good, creamy, smooth, and quite sweet. But nothing too fancy or different than any cream soda. 

Score: 6.5 out of 10. 

Whistler Lime Rickey Soda

I opened this with lunch just now: 

Brand: Whistler Lime Rickey Soda.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This is SUPER neon looking. And it was good. The lime flavor was very smooth verging ALMOST on "milky" (but not quite). It nearly had a "grasshopper" quality to it (talking about the adult beverage). It wasn't overly sweet, and went down easy. A solid soda!

Score: 8 out of 10.

Whistler Cure All Cola

This was my first soda I opened from my recent Blue Sun Soda trip: 

Oops. I moved my phone too quickly before it took the photo. And I didn't notice until after.
Dang it. So there's the bottle sitting back by that bowl of green beans.

Brand: Whistler Cure All Cola.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: The first thing that hit me was a very unique cinnamon-like flavor! It was a mix of "red hot" cinnamon and "cinnamon and sugar" cinnamon. There was a hint of berry as well. Very deep flavor, and super unique. Many “good” colas are quite similar, but this one really stood out. I drank this bottle in no time.

Score: 9.5 out of 10!

A Minor Refill at Blue Sun Soda

Last night, I dropped my boys off at Grandma's house, and I celebrated my freedom by going to a soda and candy store. Of course. The last time I stopped at Blue Sun Soda was pre-COVID back in November. Back then, we stopped by for a cream soda tasting. But now (without the boys), I could take my time.

Colas on the left, root beers on the right.

This note was hung on the wall with no explanation. Perfect.

"Summertime Sodas:" lemon limes, an orange cream, and some novelty "fair" flavors.

Love all the greens and yellows in the lemon lime section.

Worth noting: MN legal "fireworks" are cheap now!

  

Also note that the fireworks are in their "soda fountain" area. Both the soda fountain and the arcade are not open because of COVID-19. That's understandable (I wouldn't have gotten a fresh-made soda while there, and I SURE wouldn't have been playing pinball that all kinds of grubby hands have been on) but still sad. Here's a post from a year ago that shows the soda fountain and arcade pretty well.

The main reason I stopped was because my stash at home was running very low: I was down to 2 sodas! Maybe sometime in 2013 (shortly after starting this blog) my stash got that low, but this was the 2nd lowest it's ever been.  So I picked up a random assortment of 10 bottles at Blue Sun Soda Shop: a few of their Whistler bottles, some random flavors, and even a novelty soda. That should get me through the end of summer.

Whistler Huckleberry Soda

I opened this the other night:

The bottle cap as proof of flavor.

Brand: Whistler Huckleberry Soda.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This has a nostalgic cough syrup feel to it. When I sometimes call something "cough-syrup-like," it's usually because it's THICK and syrupy. But this had the flavor of like the best cough syrup that you LIKED taking as a kid. Like cherry with a slight hint of something sharp. Cherry-like is the best I can describe the flavor. And it was good, and went down easy. This was a good one.

Score: 8 out of 10.
 

Coronavirus Updates from Blue Sun Soda Shop

Here's an update from a few days ago from Blue Sun Soda Shop:

We are still open. The soda fountain is closed and so is the arcade. Those must stay closed until this passes.

We may be reducing hours of operation in the future as well.

We employ 12 jerks in total and would like to keep them employed. We are not Amazon and if we closed up we would not be able to keep paying our jerks so we are day-by-daying this whole thing.

None of the jerks are being forced to work if they do not want to either.

Billy is no longer giving out hugs.

If you come in the store please respect distance, wash your hands, and know that all of us will get through this sooner rather than later.

We are even discussing Whistler Case delivery to your home.

Good luck everyone. Wash your hands. Sneeze in your elbow. Stay away from crowds.

Blue Sun Soda Shop

That was from a week ago. Here's an update from yesterday: you can fill out this form totaling 24 sodas and they will have it ready at the door for you to pick up:

Good luck out there! Support local when you can!

Whistler Wild Cherry Soda

I haven't had a soda in a while. So I opened this earlier tonight for my boys and I to enjoy (as my wife is out of town at the moment, so we enjoyed some extra sugar in her absence):

First of all, YES, it was purple. A purple wild cherry. That IS wild. That threw me for a loop. And I didn't know I had a Whistler soda still in my stash - 75% of the time, I just reach into my soda box and take out whatever I grab. And I was shocked to find a Whistler. (I was concerned because they've had "sealing" issues [note here and here], and now I try to drink my Whistlers shortly after purchasing them.)


Brand: Whistler Wild Cherry Soda 

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: First of all, it HAD a seal. So that was good. And it ended up being a sweet and very easy-to-drink "wild cherry." The flavor seemed about spot-on. My boys loved it as well. It was on the sweeter side (so more "kid friendly" and less "fancy adult soda friendly"), but I tend to enjoy that. Good soda!

Score: 7.5 out of 10.
 

Whistler Lemon Lime Soda

I opened the first of the 8 bottles that I picked up from Blue Sun Soda this past weekend. It was a Whistler Lemon Lime:

Proof that it was Lemon Lime (the bottles all look the same, but the bottle caps have stickers).

I've had issues with Whistler sodas not being sealed (like in my last one which I drank shortly after purchasing it and it STILL had an issue), so I drank this one 3 days after purchase. Luckily (and FINALLY), this soda "psssssstt"-ed when I opened it.


Brand: Whistler Lemon Lime.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This was a really sweet lemon lime. I really enjoyed it! It was heavy on the lemon, and NEARLY seemed "thick" because of how sweet it was. Finally, a Whistler that I enjoyed! I knew I'd like some of their flavors, but they just kept selling my un-sealed bottles that had lost all carbonation. Maybe they figured it out, or maybe I just got lucky with this one, but it was good.

Score: 8 out of 10.

Blueberry Whistler Soda

I've had some issues with Whistler sodas not holding on to their seal. So this soda is one that I picked up earlier this summer before it had time to really lose its carbonation:

Well, the amount that was lost in this bottle wasn't a good sign from the start. And guess what? It was TOTALLY FLAT. Blue Sun Soda really needs to check something on their Whistler bottling machine because they are NOT holding seals!


Brand: Blueberry Whistler Soda.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: The flavor was good, but it was dead flat, and that's just so annoying. From now on, I'll get Whistler sodas and drink then within the week. Heck, I might open one at Blue Sun Soda to make sure it's actually NOT flat right off the bat. Again, the flavor was nice - it reminded me of the blueberry "chips" that are in blueberry muffin mixes. But it was hard to get past the flat-ness.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Photos from the First "Minnesota Soda Festival"

Yesterday morning, my boys and I stopped by the Minnesota Soda Festival at Blue Sun Soda. It was raining when we got there as it started at 10 a.m., so it was pretty quiet at that time:

Soda sampling on 3 sides of the back of the building.

The Whistler Soda bottling machine inside.

Bottles and flavoring (to the right).

My boys playing some pinball inside.

Again, very quiet at 10 a.m. when it was raining.
There's Charlie in the orange, and Henry in the green playing Skee Ball.

The rain had stopped out back, so we headed out again! (They had food trucks there too.)

Of COURSE the boys wanted to try the "gross" sounding sodas (that are actually quite tasty).

For the soda tastings, you purchase tickets for 25 cents each, and then get a tiny shot of each kid of soda that you request. (I believe there were better prices if you wanted to try/drink a LOT.) Here's my boys getting their first sips of "Zombie Brain Juice:"

I tried the purple "Unicorn Yack" which showed a barfing unicorn. Tasty!

Charlie asking for more at the Whistler stand.

More people and families showing up.

I bought $3 worth of tickets (so 12 sips). I really only had 1 all to myself (the Unicorn Yack), and the boys had the rest as I tried tiny sips of theirs. We had 2 kinds of Dad's, a few kinds of Spring Grove, some Frostie root beer, the "gross" flavors above, Whistler above, and we ended by sharing some Virgil's.

They had a few different bouncy things there, and even though they were wet, lots of kids were in them.

More and more people showing up around 11:30.

It was a fun time, and luckily the weather turned around quickly enough to not ruin the whole day for the event. And Charlie had a great time with their famous Soda Jerk Billy who was ALL personality - he got his finger "stuck" trying to clean out an empty soda bottle, and Henry (my older son) yanked and yanked and couldn't pull it off for him. But Charlie zipped it off with one easy try, and felt like a stud. Then Billy did it again. It was cute.

Thanks Blue Sun Soda!

Whistler Vanilla Root Beer

I opened this yesterday afternoon:

Brand: Whistler Vanilla Root Beer.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: Like my last 2 Whistler sodas (this one and this one), this one was completely flat. I have a few more Whistlers in the basement, and I think I need to dump them down the drain - I don't think they hold their seal for very long. I may have to stop back to Blue Sun Soda and pick up a few more, but ONLY ones that I can drink over a month. Because this sucks.

That being said, the flavor was good. Nice vanilla flavor, and a deep root beer flavor. I'll give it a 7, but it could have been an 8 or 9 had their been any sign of carbonation. Like I said, I'll have to try a "fresh" one of these and pick up a few more Whistler sodas sometime.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Whistler Carmel Cream

I had another soda from my Whistler stash the other day:

Brand: Whistler Carmel Cream.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This was flat (as was another Whistler soda I had this past summer), so this local bottler needs to get something figured out or people will be annoyed. (I'm annoyed.) However, the flavor was OK. It tasted about like I figured a "carmel cream" would taste. Flavor was quite good, but it was flat, which turned me off quite a bit. If this had a proper seal and proper carbonation, I'd rank this maybe 2 points higher.

Score: 5.5 out of 10.

Whistler Sarsaparilla

I cracked into this on Sunday:

I suppose it's a bad sign they can't spell "sarsaparilla," right?

Brand: Whistler Sarsaparilla.

Origin: Made in Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: My experience with Whistler has been up and down. And after this (misspelled) soda, it's back up. This was pretty good. The flavor wasn't too deep, and it was a bit subtle. But it was good. Earthy and tasty. It felt "pure" (whatever that means to you). This was very enjoyable.

Score: 8 out of 10.

Whistler Black Cherry Soda

I enjoyed this while in a hotel room in Winona last night:

Watching NCAA track and field in the background.

Brand: Whistler Black Cherry Soda.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: I haven't had great luck with Whistler sodas in the last few weeks, so I didn't have high expectations going into this. But it was pretty good. It was very smooth, and had a deep black cherry flavor. There was a slightly weird "bite" in the aftertaste, but it was subtle and it didn't ruin the experience. I liked this.

Score: 7.5 out of 10.

Whistler Cookie Dough Soda

I cracked into this while my boys were napping this afternoon:

Brand: Whistler Cookie Dough Soda.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: The first thing I noticed is there was no carbonated "SSsssss" when I popped the top, so this wasn't seal properly. It didn't taste like it had "gone bad," it just tasted like it lost it's carbonation. The flavor was weird: like a mild cola with a LOT of caramel. I see what they were going for, but it was odd. Maybe it was because it was no longer carbonated, so I think I might have to try this soda again to be fair. For right now, it was weird...

Score: 3.5 out of 10.

Whistler Cherry Vanilla Cola

I opened this earlier today and thought it could be weird:

Brand: Whistler Cherry Vanilla Cola.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: I thought this sounded weird. So I was ready for weird. But it was actually pretty good. It's a very smooth cola with a nice vanilla undertone. The cherry is a BIT fake-tasting, but it's not bad. In the end, this went down pretty easy.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Whistler Grape Soda

I enjoyed this earlier today:

Brand: Whistler Grape Soda.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This was good, but not outstanding. It was a good grape flavor, without "trying" too hard or being too "out there." Nothing fancy, but went down well.

Score: 6 out of 10.