Mike's Hard Black Cherry Lemonade

It's been a long time since I reviewed an adult beverage. But I grabbed this when I was getting some wine for my wife for Christmas, and then I cracked into it last night:

Brand: Mike's Hard Black Cherry Lemonade.

Origin: Waddell, AZ.

Purchase Place: Total Wine, Roseville, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup and Cane Sugar (not on the label because it's booze).

Review: This is considered a "beer" or a beer-like drink, but tastes NOTHING like beer (which is good as I don't care for beer). It's not as overly sweet as I was afraid it was going to be. There's a pretty deep "black cherry" flavor with just a bit of tartness that's supposed to be the "lemonade" flavor. This went down easy and was quite tasty. Sure, a wussy drink, but I'll have it any day.

Score: 7.5 out of 10.

Rhett and Link Test "Soda Products"

One of my favorite internet duos tested "soda products." Here's the shortened Facebook version which is a cool 6 minutes (and click that link if this embed doesn't work):



And here's the longer YouTube version (which is 22 mins):


Direct link: youtu.be/ONDZTEwuJ6s

Strawberry Vanilla Health-Ade Pop

I was at Whole Foods last night, and I saw these:

Is "last chance" a bad sign?...

I looked over the flavors, and I first thought about the "Apple Snap" on the left. But it was giving me kombucha vibes, and I'm not a fan of kombucha. So I went with the "Strawberry Vanilla:"

Brand: Strawberry Vanilla Health-Ade Pop.

Origin: Torrance, CA.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: So there's still SLIGHT kombucha vibes here as the first ingredient is "organic fermented tea." But it's not as harsh and vinegar-heavy like kombucha is. (But there is a warning that there could be "small piece of culture" floating around.  NO THANKS.) There's only 35 calories in each can, so there's just a little sweetener. And there's also inulin which is supposed to be good for your lower gut.

At first sip, the sparkles hit hard, kind of like a La Croix. And there's a little kombucha-like tang, but it's subtle. The smooth vanilla mixes oddly with the sharpness of the carbonation. I'm left with more of an apple-like aftertaste, with not much strawberry flavor there. It's not bad... I thought it'd be worse. I still can't give this a GREAT score, but it's not horrible. My kombucha-loving wife would probably find this to be a little of a treat.

Score: 4.5 out of 10.

Rocket Fizz Root Beer

I opened this last night: 

Brand: Rocket Fizz Root Beer.

Origin: Incline Village, NV.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: I'm no stranger to Rocket Fizz root beers, but I've never had this one. Their "root beer float" soda was NOT good. But their "boosted" root beer loaded with caffeine was decent. And their "Kiss Army" root beer (yes, as in "KISS" the band) was quite tasty. So I was curious what this one would be like.

At first sip, it's quite smooth and flavorful. Nutmeg is listed on the front ("Root Beer with nutmeg" is listed at the bottom of the front label), but it's not listed in the ingredients, unless that can just be under the "natural flavors" listing. I felt like I COULD taste the nutmeg with a little extra smooth herbiness at the end of each sip. There was also a punch of wintergreen that was nearly a bit too much. This would be closer to a perfect root beer if that wintergreen flavor was toned down a bit, but this was still quite good!

Score: 8.5 out of 10.

North Star Nuclear Dew

I opened this with supper tonight:

Brand: North Star Nuclear Dew.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: I was ready for this to be a version of Mountain Dew. Obviously. But it was a bit more unique than I was expecting... it was a bit heavier on the lime (and in a GOOD way), and it was a bit smoother than Mountain Dew. It was quite good!

Score: 8 out of 10.

Coke in 1885

If you know, you know... ;)

Melba's Fixins Strawberry Shortcake Soda

I opened this with my boys during supper last night: 

Brand: Melba's Fixins Strawberry Shortcake Soda.

Origin: Camarillo, CA.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: I've only had one other "Melba's Fixins" pseudo-novelty soda, and that was decent, so I had relatively high hopes for this. My boys and I sniffed it, and it DID smell like strawberry short cake. When drinking it, the first thing that hit was the creaminess - it was like a "cream soda." And the strawberry flavor was solid, but a bit subtle. The carbonation was a bit harsh, so it was like a cream soda that just had a little "bite" to it. In the end, we all agreed that it totally was a "strawberry shortcake soda." It was like a subtle strawberry flavored cream soda.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Barq's Lip Balm

I have this Barq's lip balm in my car:

It's surprisingly "correct" in it's flavor! If I had to guess what major root beer company this was, I'd say Barq's as it has the slight "bite" to it.

Olipop Classic Grape Sparkling Tonic

I opened this before class yesterday: 

 

Brand: Olipop Classic Grape Sparkling Tonic.

Origin: Oakland, CA.

Purchase Place: Kowalski's Market, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Stevia and their "olismart" blend.

Review: Interestingly enough, this can contained 45 calories whereas their "cola" that I had last winter had 35 calories. This one had more fruit juice concentrates, so that must have been the difference: the cola just had apple and lime juice, but this had grape, apple, and lime. (Which makes the sugar content go from 2g to 4g.) But it had the same NINE grams of fiber added to it!

This was pretty good! It wasn't an overly sweet child-like grape soda (or "tonic" I suppose I should say). It was still tinted purple, but the flavor was a little deeper and almost "herbier" than a standard grape - there was more depth to it. I didn't get a bad aftertaste from the Stevia which happens with some drinks. This was a bit better than their cola in my mind! I'll need to keep exploring these tonics!

Score: 7 out of 10.

When Enjoying High Fructose Corn Syrup in a Soda...