Fitz's Hip Hop Pop

I needed a caffeine boast, so I grabbed this cola that looked like a 50's Diner earlier today:

Brand: Fitz's Hip Hop Pop.

Origin: St. Louis, MO.

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

Sweetener: All natural pure cane sugar.

Review: This first sip blew me away. I was expecting "regular" cola, but there was a berry punch. Cherry cola, maybe? I checked their website, and they only say "lots of raspberry and other berry flavors blended with our sugar cane cola along with a caffeine kicker." I didn't really get "raspberry," but I DID like it. A lot. It was a little sugary and syrupy, but not too much. It went down so easily. I've only had this Fitz soda and their root beer, and both were great, so I need to find some more Fitz's!

Score: 9 out of 10.

Earp's Original Sarsaparilla

I cracked into this while cooking yesterday:

Sorry for the mess - busy cooking.

Brand: Earp's Original Sarsaparilla.

Origin: Mukilteo, WA.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: This was good, but nothing memorable. Decent flavor - what I expected. Smooth with a little bite. Nothing fancy, but good.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Mexican Squirt

I grabbed this at the corner store this past weekend:

Brand: (Mexican) Squirt.

Origin: Mexico.

Purchase Place: Marshall Stop, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This had a little more "kick" than the Squirt I'm used to. And I don't think it's all in my head. Squirt that I'm used to is a little smoother, and this isn't. It's sure not bad, but it's just slightly different. Otherwise, the pretty normal citrus flavor I'm used to. (Oh, but COOL bottle. The slight spiral was nice.)

Score: 6 out of 10.

Martian Poop Soda

This said it was "marionberry" flavored. I didn't know what that was. Turns out, it's a kind of blackberry.

Brand: Martian Poop Soda.

Origin: Camarillo, CA.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: I expected this to be bad, but it was pretty good. It was sweet and had a good berry flavor. It wasn't TOO sweet (which I was afraid of with the pink color), but it got a little sugary by the end. A lot better than poop.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Minnesota State Fair Goodies

I was at the Minnesota State Fair the other day, and one of my first stops is always the Horticulture Building and the 25 cent "honey sticks:"

Lots of flavors.

ROOT BEER HONEY!

Last year, I stopped at the Spring Grove Soda stand (a tasty line of sodas from southern MN).  This year, I was saving my calories for other food, but I still walked by to snap a photo:

A Minnesota fav.

Here's lots of photos from my state fair trip last year (including photos of my cute son).  And in that post, I noted it was my 199th post.  The year before, my state fair post was my 100th post.  And now this year, it's my 299th post.  Keeping the rhythm nicely, I guess.  :)

Largest Coca Cola Can Collection

Meet Davide Andreani, an Italian man with a record-breaking Coke can collection:

Image source

Image source

In 2013, he was in possession of a record 10,558 unique single-brand cans from 87 countries, setting a new Guinness World Records title for Largest collection of soft drink cans - same brand. He has cans from nearly every country in the world, apart from Cuba and North Korea who don't sell Coca Cola. See more in this article.

Hires Root Beer

"Since 1876"… would this be any good?

Brand: Hires Root Beer.

Origin: Plano, Texas.

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

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: This tastes like a straight-up mix of popular root beers. It has the smoothness of A&W, with a little bite from Barq's. If you told me it was a mix of those, I would have totally believed it. There's a little hint of something else in the aftertaste, but it's pretty good overall. Nothing fancy, but a slightly better-than-average score from me.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.

Ozark Mountain's "The Smugglers Run" Tropical Soda

This was brightly colored...

In front of some of our veggies from our tiny garden.

Brand: Ozark Mountain's "The Smugglers Run" Tropical Soda.

Origin: Branson, Missouri.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This flavor is hard to pin down. I'd say the majority of the flavor is mango, with a little fruit punch in there too. It wasn't really the flavor I thought it'd be, but I don't know what I expected. It's sweet, but not TOO sugary. It's for sure a "summer drink." Good for the sippin'.

Score: 5.5 out of 10.

Fanta Cans

Just a fun photo that I wanted to share that I found on 9gag:

Yacht Club Root Beer

I tried Yacht Club DIET root beer about 2 months ago, so now it was time to see if their regular root beer could out-score the average "5" that I gave to their diet.

Brand: Yacht Club Root Beer.

Origin: Centredale, RI.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: Ehh. It was OK. It had a bit of an anise flavor, and it wasn't very creamy at all. It was a little too "sharp" for my liking. The flavor was earthy, but not that great. Again, this will get an average 5. It was OK.

Score: 5 out of 10.