Hosmer Mountain White Birch Beer

As we were doing a lot of cooking last night, I opened this:

Brand: Hosmer Mountain White Birch Beer.

Origin: Willimantic, CT.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: This was good! If I wasn't told it was a "white birch beer," I would have called it a clear root beer. It tasted like a rich root beer that was heavy on the anise (but not TOO heavy). My boys tried sips of this too, and they loved it. I really don't have any complaints! I'm ranking this quite high!

Score: 9.5 out of 10!
 

Kiss Army Root Beer

I've had this in the fridge for a few days, and I finally opened it today:

Brand: Kiss Army Root Beer.

Origin: Camarillo, CA.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: Of course, this semi-novelty soda was made by Rocket Fizz. I've had a lot of bad luck with their sodas, but some good luck too, so I didn't know what to expect from this root beer. Turns out, it was pretty good. It was pretty flavorful and strong, with a pretty noticeable anise flavor (JUST shy of being too much). It had a bit more bite than I'd like, but was very enjoyable overall. I've been on a good run and having a few good sodas lately...

Score: 8 out of 10.
 

Spring Grove Soda at Holiday!

Spring Grove just made this announcement on Facebook:

 Make sure to follow Spring Grove Soda on Facebook.

Fitz's Black Cherry

I didn't mean to review 2 black cherry sodas back-to-back, but this is the soda I grabbed on the way out the door to my class today:

At the "instructor station" in my classroom before class started.

Brand: Fitz's Black Cherry

Origin: St. Louis, MO.

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

Sweetener: "All natural pure cane sugar" (whew, that's a mouthful).

Review: Actually, it's a lot like Twig's Black Cherry that I just had a few days ago. It was equally sugary and syrupy. This maybe had a SLIGHTLY better aftertaste, so I'll give this one a half point more. Otherwise, they were QUITE similar.

Score: 8.5 out of 10.

Twig's Black Cherry

I opened this last night:

Brand: Twig's Black Cherry.

Origin: Shawano, WI.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This was pretty good. It reminded me a bit of a syrupy cough syrup from when I was a kid (in a good way). Real deep flavor and quality black cherry taste. This wasn't AMAZING, but it was good.

Score: 8 out of 10.
 

Lift Bridge Root Beer

I'm currently drinking this as my students are working on their projects in the background:

Made in Stillwater, MN, which has a lift bridge. Note the lift bridge
depiction at the top of the can, and around the far right in the middle.

Brand: Lift Bridge Root Beer.

Origin: Stillwater, MN.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar and Honey.

Review: It was very creamy and rich, and had a pretty classic flavor. It was very smooth and had a good head. There's a LITTLE bit of a honey flavor, but not too much (and too much honey in a root beer has been something I complained about in the past). They are 2 minor things that I don't like about this root beer: first, there's a slight "wet cardboard" taste at the start of each sip (very subtle), and second, this is a 16 oz can which is just too big for me. Those are just minor issues, so this is getting a decent score!

Score: 8.5 out of 10.

Blenheim Ginger Ale

I opened this earlier today:

It's a bit hard to make out, but the white stuff that's settled on the bottom is real ginger bits.

Brand: Blenheim Ginger Ale

Origin: Hamer, South Carolina.

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

Sweetener: Sucrose.

Review: Sometimes, Ginger Ale has too much of a kick in the back of my throat. I think you know what I'm talking about. This had that kick, but it wasn't as intense, and it was a bit smoother than other Ginger Ales that I've had. I'm still not a major fan of Ginger sodas, but this wasn't bad. I'll rank this just above average.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Root Beer Cotton Candy (yes, you read that correctly)

When we stopped at Minnesota's Largest Candy Store last month, I saw a stack FULL of different / random flavors of cotton candy. I just HAD to try this one:

Brand: Chocolate Storybook Root Beer Cotton Candy

Origin: Des Moines, Iowa.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This was better than I thought it would be. It was a pretty solid root beer flavor, and it wasn't strange or artificial tasting at all. It was a good, fluffy cotton candy with a fun root beer flavor. I shared it with my family, and they all enjoyed it too (photo above taken in my sister's garage where we stood about and ate this).

Check out all the random flavors of Chocolate Storybrook cotton candy on their website. (They also have 3-packs of "themed" cotton candy like their "Rise and Shine Trio:" bacon, coffee, and pancakes with maple syrup cotton candy!)

Score: 9 out of 10.
 

Stubborn Agave Vanilla Cream Soda

I brought this with me to class last week (my first soda from last month's stop at Minnesota's Largest Candy Store), but we ended up having a very full/busy day, and I wasn't able to drink it. So I finally enjoyed it yesterday at home:

In my office at work, although I wasn't able to drink it there.

Brand: Stubborn Agave Vanilla Cream Soda

Origin: Riviera Beach, Florida.

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

Sweetener: Sugar and Stevia.

Review: Nothing really stood out here. It's a decent vanilla cream soda. It's weird that it's "agave" vanilla cream, but there's no agave in the ingredients (maybe that's part of the "natural flavors"). This was fine, but nothing fancy.

Score: 5.5 out of 10.
 

Crystal Pepsi

I was at the convenience store yesterday to get some soda for my boys who were getting over throwing up. In the cooler, I spotted this, and couldn't resist trying it:

Brand: Crystal Pepsi

Origin: Purchase, NY.

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

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: I tried to ignore the fact that it was clear because I didn't want that to affect what I thought of it. (I feel like I'll "taste" something differently based on it's color.) At first sip, it tasted like a "lighter" Pepsi. It was initially similar to Pepsi, but then there was an extra sweetness. I rarely say this, but it was a bit too sweet for me. It was like an overly sweet cola (which really doesn't sound all that bad to me, but it was just slightly too much). A bit different, not great, but not horrible.

Score: 5 out of 10.