AJ Stephans Black Cherry Soda

I was in the mood for some Black Cherry at the end of last week.

I liked the 2 other AJ Stephans sodas that I'd had in the past: I gave their Cream Soda a 6.5, and I gave their Root Beer a 7. But their Black Cherry kinda sucked...


Brand: AJ Stephans Black Cherry Soda.

Origin: Fall River, Massachusetts.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: The first sip tasted like cardboard. And so did the 2nd. And the 3rd. It had this really funny taste on the front end (the opposite of an "aftertaste"). After 5 minutes, I'd have a faint and decent aftertaste of black cherry in my mouth, and I'd think "OK, time for another sip." But each sip was horrible. No thanks.

Score: 2.5 out of 10.

Cicero Beverage Co. Orange Cream Soda

I grabbed an Orange Creme soda to enjoy as I was grilling burgers the other day:

Brand: Cicero Beverage Co. Orange Cream Soda.

Origin: Chicago, IL.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This was REALLY smooth and creamy. It reminded me of having Orange Floats and Root Beer Floats at my Grandma's house at Christmas and Thanksgiving. (Random but fun holiday tradition.) It was tasty, but had just a slightly odd aftertaste that made it less desirable. But if you like a good Orange Cream, check it out.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.

Frostop Red Birch Beer

My son and I stopped at the Frattallone's Ace Hardware on Lake Street in Minneapolis a few days ago. After seeing that the Ace on Grand Ave in St. Paul had no root beer selection, we had to see what this one had to offer. They had a few things I wanted to try:

They were all Frostops, and I didn't have a great experience with Frostop Root Beer when I had it in 2012. So I wasn't sure if these would be OK or not. I started with the Red Birch Beer as I was doing some yard work.

This had a very red color. I had to pour some in a glass to show it off:

Back-lit by my kitchen window.

Brand: Frostop Red Birch Beer.

Origin: Hopkins, MN.

Purchase Place: Frattallones Ace Hardware, Minneapolis, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup and Cane Sugar.

Review: This was surprisingly good. I got a hint of cherry and cinnamon out of this, and it had a little sharpness. The best way I can describe this is like if you were to eat Bottle Caps candy and pop a Root Beer one and a Cherry one in your mouth at the same time. Boom. It'd taste just like this. A bit of root beer, a hint of cherry, and just a touch of cinnamon. Tasty. Goes down well. And it's nice that it comes in a larger resealable bottle - I enjoyed this over the course of 2 days.

Score: 9 out of 10.

Jones Zero Calorie Black Cherry

After my disappointing Jones Soda this past weekend, it was time to try one more that I had.  My "fortune" under the cap was "avoid a hasty decision." So I took my time with this:

Brand: Jones Zero Calorie Black Cherry.

Origin: Seattle, Washington.

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

Sweetener: Sucralose.

Review: I had low expectations, but this was pretty good. It had a slight creaminess to it, as well as a hint of a bite. Good flavor, nice amount of sweetness, and pretty tasty all around. So I guess I haven't totally written off Jones Soda - I'll have to grab some other flavors shortly.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Jones Cream Soda

I was working on building some raised veggie beds yesterday, so I grabbed a soda to enjoy while working:

Sitting on the corner of one of the raised beds being built.

Brand: Jones Cream Soda.

Origin: Seattle, Washington.

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

Sweetener: Inverted Cane Sugar.

Review: This smelled good, but just tasted off. It had a slight bite that tasted artificial. "Bite" has no place in a cream soda, and an "artificial" taste is never good. I didn't even quite finish this. Not good.

Score: 3 out of 10.

NuGrape Grape Soda

Yesterday, my son and I were working on building a sandbox in the garage, and I grabbed a grape soda to enjoy:

That 2"x12" on the floor in the background is part of his new sandbox.

Brand: NuGrape Grape Soda.

Origin: Winchester, Kentucky.

Purchase Place: Frattallone's Ace Hardware, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: The grape flavor was really good and sugary. But it was a little weak. It had the RIGHT flavor, but it could have used MORE of it. A pretty classic grape flavor, but it could have been amped up a little. It went down easy and fast. Not bad at all - giving it a slightly better than average score of 6.5.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.

Saranac Black Cherry Creme

Lent is over, so I hit my non-root beer stash from Ace the other day. I started with this:

Brand: Saranac Black Cherry Creme.

Origin: Utica, NY.

Purchase Place: Frattallone's Ace Hardware, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: This tasted a little more artificial than I had hoped, and it was a bit sharper than I wanted. It's a "cream" soda, and I want that to be smooth. The black cherry flavor was pretty good, but it just wasn't all put together perfectly. I liked their Shirley Tempe soda better.

Score: 5 out of 10.

New Stash of Sodas!

Easter is this weekend, which means Lent will be over, which means I will be able to drink soda again! In celebration for this glorious day, I headed to Frattallone's Ace Hardware on Grand Ave in St. Paul earlier today to stock up on soda. But I encountered some bad news! They had NO root beer left on their shelves!!

Lots of empty spots where root beer once was.
(And technically, there's 1 diet root beer left on the 2nd shelf next to the blue stuff.)

This marks the first time a "stock up" of soda didn't include a root beer. Depressing. Here's what I brought home:

From left-to-right:

- Jones Cream Soda
- AJ Stephans Raspberry Lime Rickey
- Cicero Beverage Co. Chicago Style Cherry
- Faygo Redpop
- Saranac Black Cherry Cream
- AJ Stephans Black Cherry
- Jones Soda Zero Calorie Black Cherry
- NuGrape Grape
- Double Cola
- Cicero Beverage Co. Chicago Style Orange Cream

Check back early next week as I start to go nuts on this stash.

Joia Blackberry Pomegranate & Ginger Soda

This sounded a little strange, but they're a local company that I WANT to like, and the first kinda strange sounding soda that I had of theirs was actually pretty good. So I gave this a try this past weekend:

Brand: Joia Blackberry Pomegranate & Ginger Soda.

Origin: Minneapolis, MN.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: It's got a pretty strong and unique flavor. It's a little strange, but still drinkable. Barely. My wife said it tasted a little like perfume (and I can see what she means). All of the flavors can be tasted: blackberry, pomegranate, and ginger. It's a bit sharp with very little smoothness. It has a bit of a bite from the ginger. Not a very tasty soda.

Score: 4 out of 10.

Gave Up Soda For Lent

Sorry for not having many posts lately. I gave up soda for Lent, and only have 2 sodas every Sunday (the Lord's "cheat day" during Lent). I'll be posting more again in about 2 weeks.

Also, I need to refill my stash. I only have 1 or 2 bottles left. I think my son and I will be making a stop at Frattallone's Ace Hardware on Grand Ave here in St. Paul shortly…

p.s. I didn't learn anything magical from giving up soda. I'm not sleeping any better/worse, I don't have more/less energy, I'm not gaining/losing weight, etc.