Hank's Gourmet Diet Root Beer

After helping some students in class this past week, I cracked into a treat I brought from home in my classroom:

Brand: Hank's Gourmet Diet Root Beer.

Origin: Trevose, PA.

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

Sweetener: Aspartame.

Review: This was OK from the start. Nothing fancy, but not horrible. Just OK. As with most diet root beers, it was a little watery and weak. But the flavor was decent - it was a bit earthy and herby, without being to heavy handed. That's the review I guess: a little thin, but decent flavor.

Score: 5.5 out of 10.

Olde Philadelphia Old Fashioned Diet Root Beer

I needed some root beer…

Brand: Olde Philadelphia Old Fashioned Diet Root Beer.

Origin: Philadelphia, PA (which makes sense).

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

Sweetener: Sucralose.

Review: This isn't bad, but it's sure not great either. It's a little "thin" and could use more of a kick (a common diet soda issue). The flavor was OK, just watery. It's a bit herby and a bit "old fashioned" as the name would imply.

Score: 4.5 out of 10.

Bedford's Vanilla Creme Beer

Time for something creamy:

Brand: Bedford's Vanilla Creme Beer.

Origin: Port Angeles, WA.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: This has a fair amount of vanilla, and a lot of creme. It's smooth and goes down easy. It's very sweet/sugary, so if you're OK with that, you'll like this a lot. There's a little bit of a strange aftertaste, but it's not a major issue - it just kept this from being rated another point higher.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.

Rummy Grapefruit Soda

I brought this to a board meeting the other night:

Brand: Rummy Grapefruit Soda.

Origin: Breese, IL.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: It's like Squirt. A lot like squirt. And a little like Fresca. It's good, but nothing special. You like Squirt? You'll like this.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Dr. Brown's Black Cherry Soda

Last night, we grabbed some sandwiches from Cecil's Deli just down the street here in St. Paul. They have a big cooler with sodas, so I grabbed one to take home.

In the front of Cecils. The front is the deli, and the back is the restaurant.

Brand: Dr. Brown's Black Cherry Soda

Origin: College Point, NY.

Purchase Place: Cecil's Deli, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: This was somewhere between a black cherry soda and a black cherry CREME soda. It needed to pick a side. It was too smooth to be a good black cherry soda, but it wasn't smooth enough to be a good black cherry creme soda. I was disappointed.

Score: 4 out of 10.

1990s Pepsi Cans

Someone just found a stash of unopened Pepsi cans from the late 80s / early 90s:

Iron Horse Cream Soda

Yesterday I had the worst cream soda of my life:

Brand: Iron Horse Cream Soda.

Origin: Edina, MN.

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

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: This was bad. You know the sharpness that unsweetened carbonated water has? It tasted like that only slightly more "brown." It was not creamy like a cream soda should be. I couldn't drink the whole bottle.

Score: 1.5 out of 10.

Hapi Mandarin Orange Float Drink

This past weekend, I needed to make a last-minute stop at Cub Foods, and I spotted this while I was there:

It's not "technically" a soda, but it's sweetened with HFCS, so I figured it'd be kinda like a soda. It wasn't.


Brand: Hapi Mandarin Orange Float Drink.

Origin: Korea.

Purchase Place: Cub Foods, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: Well, it tasted like mandarin oranges and it had small chunks of them in it. So that seems about right. But it was kinda gross. It was like bad tasting OJ. The "mandarin orange" flavor was right on (the 2nd ingredient is "mandarin orange pulp" and the 4th is "mandarin orange concentrate"), but it just wasn't good.

Score: 3 out of 10.

Tommyknocker 1859 Original Root Beer

I cracked into this during my boy's nap time today:

Brand: Tommyknocker 1859 Original Root Beer.

Origin: Idaho Springs, CO.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: This had a sharp flavor that almost tastes a little burnt. It's super earthy, but not "mellow" earth - it's a "harsh" herby and earthy flavor. I can see how some people might like it (super hippies), but it wasn't a good flavor too me. If it were toned down a bit, it could be good. But it was just too strong.

Score: 5 out of 10.

Hippo Size Beverages Big Black Cherry

My first "Hippo" soda 2 months ago was FANTASTIC. I thought I'd grab another one from Frattallones Ace's big selection:

Hippos at The Frattallone's Ace on Grand Avenue in St. Paul.

Brand: Hippo Size Beverages Big Black Cherry.

Origin: Mukilteo, Washington.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: The sweetness in this soda was too sharp. I don't expect a Black Cherry to be smooth, but this was just too pungent. The Black Cherry flavor was good, but just didn't care for how sharp this soda was.

Score: 4 out of 10.