Scary Soda Black Lemonade Private Reserve Soda

This looked... interesting. I cracked into this yesterday:

"Animal testing was consensual." Sassy.

More sassiness.

Brand: Scary Soda Black Lemonade Private Reserve Soda.

Origin: Gardena, CA.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: OK, the first thing is that this is not just a dark brown "cola" color. When I poured some in a glass, it left a true blueish-black ring. It's really dark. That's odd.

It was almost shocking that it tastes like lemonade! And it was STRONG. It is not a "chugging" soda - it's a "sipping" soda. It would be good as a mixer with alcohol because it's so strong and lemony. As is, it's too sour for me to drink. I'd label this as a "lemon sour" and not a "lemonade." So if you like a strong and sour lemonade / lemon sour, then this is a fun one for you to try! I don't think it's necessarily bad, but I just couldn't drink it as is.

Score: 3.5 out of 10.
 

Christmas Soda Display

Buddy's Orange Soda

I opened this tonight as we worked on wrapping presents:

Brand: Buddy's Orange Soda.

Origin: New Ulm, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This was just OK. It had a little sharpness to it that made it taste less like a super sweet orange soda, and more like a "clementine" soda. (And yes, clementines are sweeter than oranges, but they are NOT sweeter than your typical orange soda.) This wasn't bad, but it just had that sharpness that I didn't totally care for. My boys thought it was fine, but they like any sugar they can get their hands on. I'll rank it middle-of-the-road average.

Score: 5 out of 10. 
 

Soda Deal at Lunds

At Lunds the other day, I noticed a new promotion:

Lunds soda selection.

Mix-and-match any 6 bottles for $9.99.

That's a $1.95 savings for 6 bottles - normally, they are $1.99 individually. I think I have a decent stock of sodas in the basement right now, but I might have to stop by Lunds if I need a fresh assorted 6-pack.

Henry Weinhard's Black Cherry Cream

I celebrated a final "work week" before finals with a soda in class today:

Before any of my students showed up. Obviously.

Brand: Henry Weinhard's Black Cherry Cream.

Origin: Fort Worth, TX.

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

Sweetener: Sucrose.

Review: This was QUITE creamy. I think I may have tasted the creaminess before actually tasting the black cherry. It was nearly too much. The black cherry part of it had a good deep flavor, but it was paired with this intense creaminess. I don't think it was bad, but it was just a bit more than I expected. I didn't "chug" this, but it was very "sip-able" throughout the morning in my classroom. Not bad. Different. CREAMY.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.

Reading Draft Root Beer

I opened this earlier today:

Brand: Reading Draft Root Beer.

Origin: Reading, PA.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: This was a very creamy root beer. It was nearly TOO creamy. It has decent flavor, but it's almost a little weak because of the creaminess. And it had just a hint of anise - not too much. Nothing too fancy, but pretty solid overall.

Score: 7.5 out of 10.
 

Cub Foods Thanksgiving Soda Display

When my boys and I stopped at Cub Foods in St. Paul (Midway neighborhood) last week, we were greeted with this "Pepsi Products" Thanksgiving turkey:

Happy Thanksgiving!!

O-So Cherry Soda

I stopped at Lunds to get some BOGO deals, and I grabbed this in their soda aisle:

Brand: O-So Cherry Soda.

Origin: Mukilteo, WA.

Purchase Place: Lunds Grocery Store, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: This isn't a kids cherry soda. It's not overly sweet, and it's got a full, deep flavor. However, I didn't care for it a ton. It was a bit sharper than I'd care for, so I found it to be a "sipping" soda (not a "chugging" soda). If you've ever said that some sodas are too sweet for you, then you might like this. However, if you're like me and you kind of like a super sweet soda, then this might be a bit too harsh for you. It's not *bad*, but I'll rank it a bit lower than average.

Score: 4 out of 10.
 

"Remix:" A New Candy and Popcorn Shop in the Merriam Park Neighborhood of St. Paul

Earlier this week, we stopped by the newest addition to our neighborhood: the popcorn and candy shop named "Remix." (Seen as "Remix Delights" and/or "Remix Popcorn and Delights" in a few places as well.) It's located at 2042 Marshall Ave in St. Paul - near Cleveland and Marshall, on the same block as Izzy's Ice Cream and Choo Choo Bob's Train Store.

Half the candy at "Remix." This is the back half. There's a rack like this in the front.

The candy is all in "bulk" where you scoop your own. Everything is the same price, so you can just pick and choose as you fill you bag! My boys each picked a few treats for their individual bags, and then it got weighed at the counter.

The front wall is decorated with lots of old cassettes...

.... and the light fixtures are even made out of cassettes!

Decorative tubes of flavored popcorn in the front window.

They have fudge in different flavors that is $4 a piece (for a LARGE piece). And their flavored popcorn has a few different "tiers" with lots of different flavors in each tier, and different sizes available to purchase.

Fudge!

Some of the popcorn flavors.

Different size options.

No major signage out front yet, so you have to find it on Marshall!

My boys and I think it's great! Stop by sometime! 2042 Marshall Ave in St. Paul.

Cream Soda Tasting at Blue Sun Soda

Yesterday, my boys and I headed to another free tasting event at Blue Sun Soda Shop. It was similar to the tasting the 3 of us went to 2 months ago: they just set out some sodas and some mini-cups, and you can sample them all.

The "event banner" from Blue Sun Soda's Facebook page.

Cream Sodas: Dad's, Fiz, Iron Horse, Sioux City, North Star, Tower, and Henry Weinhard.

The "voting" table: take a bottle cap (far right) and put it in the cup that you
thought was best. They even had a roll of "I voted" stickers to put on (left foreground).

My oldest and I both agreed that Sioux City was our favorite, and my youngest voted for Dad's. I remember the North Star being very creamy (it was called "Vanilla Creme"), and I think it was Henry Weinhard's that had an odd sharpness. Fiz was decent.

Some new "kiddie cocktail" sodas made right at Blue Sun Soda.

All the flavors of "fresh" soda at the soda counter at Blue Sun Soda.

My boys and I split a fresh Root Beer. It was good! My oldest got
a tear in his eye because he said it was SOOO carbonated.

I also stocked up on root beers. I had a few sodas in the basement before this trip to Blue Sun, but only 1 of them was a root beer. I took my time looking through their root beer selection, and I picked up 7 new ones (and 6 other sodas to bring home a baker's dozen). I think I've now had (or have just purchased) EVERY root beer at Blue Sun Soda Shop! Oh no! I'll need to find some new root beers somewhere else soon...