Original Coca Cola!

I've made this joke here before, but after 2 new gross Coke flavors last year (seen here and here), I fully support this:

(And for what it's worth, Pepsi can stop doing that as well...)

Butter Soda

This was a bad idea...

I grabbed my boys and they both tried a sip:

Brand: Rocket Fizz Butter Soda

Origin: Camarillo, CA.

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

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: So it wasn't great. When I sniffed it, it first just smelled sweet like soda, but then there was a pretty spot-on butter smell. I can see what Henry meant when he said it was a little butterscotch-like as that sort of combines the flavors of "butter" and "sweetness," but it's not as good as butterscotch. It was fun to try, but not great to drink. True hits of butter, but then with a soda-like sweetness as well. Good for the butter lover in your life, and bad for everyone else.

Score: 2.5 out of 10.

2023 Limited Edition Pepsi Peeps Soda (Pepsi x Peeps)

I saw these at Target and just HAD to try one:

Pepsi x Peeps

Close-up of the label.

 

Brand: 2023 Limited Edition Pepsi Peeps Soda (Pepsi x Peeps).

Origin: Purchase, NY.

Purchase Place: Target, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: A few weeks ago, I was grocery shopping with my wife when we first came across this. We looked at it, and one of the Pepsi delivery guys who was stocking shelves next to us said it was pretty horrible. So we left without getting a bottle.

But his reaction has been making me want to try one ever since! So when I swung by a few days ago, I noticed there were still a few left in then bin where we originally saw them. So against my better judgement, I grabbed one.

It smelled like an extra sweet Pepsi. And it tasted like an extra sweet Pepsi... at first. Then the end of each taste turned into something weird. Like hot wet landfill. Like sugar trash. Like sweet death. It's super "chemically" and really nothing like marshmallows. I was excited for this, but they just couldn't get a real marshmallow taste, or maybe the taste of Pepsi just didn't vibe with it. I don't know how this through Pepsi's team (much like Coke's limited edition "Dreamworld").

Score: 2 out of 10.

Coke or Pepsi?

This seems like an appropriate post on a soda-based blog on April Fool's Day: 

Manzanita Sol Apple Soda

I opened this last night with supper:

 

Brand: Manzanita Sol Apple Soda.

Origin: Mexico.

Purchase Place: Longfellow Market, Minneapolis, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: This was very "green apple." It looked like a carbonated cider, but it definitely had the tartness of green apple. It was OK, but nothing amazing. Just a middle-of-the-road score...

Score: 5 out of 10.

Brother Paul's Cure All Cola

I cracked into this between classes in my office today:

 

Brand: Brother Paul's Cure All Cola.

Origin: Spring Lake Park, MN.

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

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: I was ready for a "decent" cola when I first took a sip, but I was not ready for this! It had a TON of flavor, similar to a Dr. Pepper - I'm not saying Dr. Pepper has a ton of flavor, but instead that the flavor here was like a concentrated Dr. Pepper. It was a bit fruity, but otherwise was a very deep and almost smokey flavor. It was really unique and quite good! I drank this down pretty quickly.

Score: 9 out of 10.

International Fanta Challenge

Recently, Rhett and Link tried to guess where different Fanta sodas originated:


Direct link on Facebook: fb.watch/j7tc188-vb/

That's the edited 6 minute version above, but here's the full version on YouTube if you're interested (which is 22 mins long).

Spindrift Lime Sparkling Water

This is NOT going to turn into a "sparkling water" blog, but I happened to grab this last week and figured I'd review it. 

At work with photo paper, negatives, and the darkroom door in the background.

Brand: Spindrift Lime Sparkling Water.  

Origin: Newton, MA.

Purchase Place: Menards, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: None.

Review: I was walking through Menards and saw these large cans, and they looked good. So I grabbed one. But I was pretty let down with my first sip. Yes, I get that it's JUST carbonated water and lime juice with no sweetener, but the lime flavor had an odd almost fruitiness to it (and not in a good way). I was expecting (and OK with) a sharper citrus punch, and it didn't have that. I didn't expect a smoother lime water - I feel like that wasn't what I signed up for.

But truth be told, it grew on me a bit as I sipped on these 16 ounces. Part of that might have been just figuring out what the flavor was and slowly becoming OK with that. It went from maybe a score of 2 or 3 at the start to more like a 4 by the end of the can. So I still don't love it, but it's not completely horrible.

Score: 4 out of 10.

Avery's Fungal Fruit

I brought this with me to my office today:

 

Brand: Avery's Fungal Fruit.

Origin: New Britain, Connecticut.

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

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: Yes, that's rotten fruit on the label. Yippie. As always with these "novelty" flavors, I'm happy when they actually note what the flavor is SUPPOSED to be on the bottle: this "fungal fruit" was really pink passion fruit and lime. I made it a point to NOT look at that until AFTER I tried my first sip, and I got a weak "fruity lime" flavor from that initial sip. The flavor isn't very strong, and it's also not very sugary. It tastes a BIT more "adult" than I expected - I thought this would be strong and possibly really sweet, but it's not. The lime flavor is fine, but this needs a little more of a kick of something. It's just a bit lacking. Ranking it just below average.

Score: 4 out of 10.

Zia Piñon Cola

I brought this to Hyland Ski Hill this afternoon to drink as my boys skied:

Ski hills in the background!

 
Brand: Zia Piñon Cola.

Origin: Taos, New Mexico.

Purchase Place: Smith's Food and Drug, somewhere in Utah.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: First of all, it's a clear soda, which feels weird to me. That might be part of the reason that it doesn't taste very traditionally "cola-like" to me. But it's not a bad thing. The first part of each sip has the "deepness" of a cola to me, but then it ends with a refreshing kick of lime (note that the bottom of the label says "kola nut & lime"). The flavor is a bit smokey (maybe from the "roasted piñon" nuts noted on the label), but then there's a tropical feel to it with the lime. Very unique cola with a citrusy kick!

I've enjoyed all 3 Zia sodas that some friends dropped off for me last fall - I'll keep my eye out for more from Zia in the future.

Score: 7.5 out of 10.