Diet Faygo Cola

I grabbed this on a car ride back from a camping trip, and didn't get a photo of it until I was back home cleaning out my car:

Messy car... unloading from a wet weekend of camping!

Brand: Diet Faygo Cola.

Origin: Detroit, MI.

Purchase Place: Kwik Trip, Rochester, MN.

Sweetener: Aspartame.

Review: This was a decent cola, but there was nothing fancy, special, or unique about it. It had decent flavor for being diet as well - not that strong, but also not TOO weak. Very decent and what I expected (and wanted). I'll rank this just above average.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Lester's Fixins Horchata Soda

I opened this yesterday as it didn't seem to be too "risky" of a novelty soda:

 
Brand: Lester's Fixins Horchata Soda.

Origin: Incline Village, NV.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: Something felt "wrong" about drinking a horchata from a guy named "Lester." (It's a drink that originated in northern Africa before settling in Spain and often being thought of as a Mexican drink today.) 

The first sip was odd because the flavor was about right on (including a cinnamon-like hit at the end like Mexican horchata has), but it was a bit strange with the carbonation. 

I actually let it sit in the fridge open for a while, and I think it got better - I like this more with a "softer" carbonation. Overall, it tasted pretty right on and nicely sweet, but the carbonation added a sharpness to it that wasn't as great.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.

GT's Alive Root Beer Ancient Mushroom Elixir

I knew this was a risk. I still tried it:

 

Brand: GT's Alive Root Beer Ancient Mushroom Elixir.

Origin: Beverly Hills, CA.

Purchase Place: Fresh Thyme Grocery Store, Minneapolis, MN.

Sweetener: Stevia.

Review: "Mushroom Elixir?" I think that means "mushrooms mushed up in water." Umm... yummy?  Maybe not. When we cracked the top (I say "we" because I tried this with my family), it really smelled of pretty classic root beer. I got my hopes up a little! And PART of the flavor of this was root beer, but a lot of it was based off apple cider vinegar. So... no thanks. There was no mushroom funk to this, but the kombucha-like sharpness from the apple cider vinegar overpowered anything that was decent about the root beer flavor. If you like kombucha, this might be worth a try. But if you get it solely based the fact that it's root beer flavored, you'll be let down. Not for me! 

Score: 2 out of 10.

Fresh Fizz Organic Soda Sparkling Jalapeno Limeade

I opened this while in my car waiting for one of my sons' sports practices:

Sitting in my car

Brand: Fresh Fizz Organic Soda Sparkling Jalapeño Limeade.

Origin: Island Park, NY.

Purchase Place: Fresh Thyme, Minneapolis, MN.

Sweetener: Organic Honey.

Review: This was a risky soda. I grow jalapeño peppers and like cooking with them, but I didn't know how I'd like that flavor in a soda... and if they'd be able to CREATE that flavor in a soda.

The first time bringing it to my mouth gave me a sniff of what smelled like TRUE jalapeño peppers - I was impressed already one second before taking my first sip. After my first sip, I was even more impressed - the jalapeño flavor came through well and was spot on! There are only 4 ingredients (carbonated water, lime juice, honey, and jalapeño peppers) and they all pull their own weight. 

This was not a "gulping" soda... this is definitely a "sipping" soda. My wife enjoyed the flavor and remarked this would be good in a cocktail, which is 100% right. The limeade cuts through the jalapeño nicely, and they work well together! It's hard to give this a score because it's not something I would just open and gulp down because it's so tasty, but I would sip on it for a while because it's refreshing. I was impressed by this!

Score: 6.5 out of 10.

Pop vs Soda: Where in the US

When I grew up in southern Minnesota, it was always "pop." But over the last 2 decades, I've moved to saying "soda." I'd tend to agree with the gist of this map:

Sno-Cap Root Beer

I opened this while making some ribs the other night (to help baste the ribs, and to also enjoy as a drink):

Brand: Sno-Cap Root Beer.

Origin: Green Bay, WI.

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

Sweetener: Granulated Sugar.

Review: This was pretty smooth, creamy, and tasty! My wife said it tasted like A&W, but it was a bit more unique than that - there was a lot of vanilla flavor, and just a HINT of caramel as well. I don't really care for caramel in root beer, but this is subtle enough that it doesn't ruin it.

Score: 8 out of 10.

Premium Fitz's Pumpkin Pop

I cracked into this at work:

Brand: Premium Fitz's Pumpkin Pop.

Origin: St. Louis, MO.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: I was leary about this from the start. If I hadn't read "pumpkin" on the label, I would NOT have known it was supposed to be pumpkin! It was very heavy on the cinnamon - like baking cinnamon and not "red hot" cinnamon. I think they were going for like a "pumpkin spice" but made it very "spice"-heavy. In this case, it tasted all of cinnamon spice.

Now, all that being said, it was GOOD! It still tasted good. It was sweet and dessert-like. This one surprised me!

Score: 8 out of 10.

Appalachian Root Beer

I opened this at work today as another soda from my Grandpa Joe's grand opening stash: 

Yes, my desk is messy... it's the end of the semester...

Brand: Appalachian Root Beer.

Origin: Mechanicsburg, PA.

Purchase Place: Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop, Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar and Honey.

Review: This was OK. I don't mind honey as a sweetner in soda (as I LOVE honey), but it sometimes sits as a strange combo with root beer, and it's doing that here - the honey comes on too strong. The root beer is deep and pretty tasty with a hint of wintergreen and a lot of herby notes, but I just don't care for how much honey flavor there is on top of that. Nice and smooth overall. Not bad, but not great.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Unicorn Magic Honeydew Soda

I cracked into this at work earlier today:

Brand: Unicorn Magic Honeydew Soda 

Origin: Incline Village, NV 

Purchase Place: Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop, Spring Lake Park, MN. 

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar. 

Review: I didn't know what this would taste like... like I wasn't sure what to expect for a "honeydew" flavored soda. And after my first sip, I STILL didn't know what it tasted like. It was like a slightly muted extra sweet Mountain Dew flavor (and I don't think that was just because it was about the same color). 

I kept sipping, and I kept liking it less and less. It had an off flavor to it. I enjoy honeydew, but it SURE wasn't honeydew. I thought this would be decent, but it wasn't. It was like sweet wet cardboard. The score I'm giving it is only as good as it is because it was sweet. 

Score: 2.5 out of 10.

Inotea Brown Sugar Bubble Tea

I grabbed this while shopping with my son at Aldi recently:

Brand: Inotea Brown Sugar Bubble Tea.

Origin: Newark, NJ.

Purchase Place: Aldi, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar and Brown Sugar.

Review: The tea was quite good! I shared a sip with my boys, and they both loved it. It was what I'd expect from a boba tea store when I order a "Milk Tea" or anything along those lines.  (One store near us calls it a "Royal Tea Latte" even though it doesn't have any coffee flavor.) I had no complaints about the tea!

But the tapioca pearls were another story. They were kind of pasty and hard. They weren't "chewy" in a good way, but in a bad way. They almost wanted to disintegrate when bit down on, but only after a fair amount of force. I like tapioca pearls, but apparently they need to be fresh. The drink ("pre-pearls") would have earned about an 8.5, but I had to knock it down after having the pearls. 

Score: 7.5 out of 10.