"Root Beer Float" Shave Ice At Remix!

My family swung into Remix on Marshall Ave in St. Paul this afternoon just before they closed. We heard they have shave ice (and not "shaveD ice"), and people have been saying good things about it. So we had to try it! It was the first time we were back inside after they re-opened their doors since the pandemic started (they were always open from a counter to the street, but it was our first time stepping inside in nearly 3 years):

My wife looking at goodies.

Their shave ice menu posted outside. LOTS of options!

My wife spotted a root beer variety pack and may have picked it up as another last-minute Father's Day present...

Behold! The "Root Beer Float" shave ice! It's HUGE!

Showing the inside after a few minutes of eating.

Charlie got a medium grape and cherry with a side of boba. TASTY.

Henry got a Cookie Coma shave ice!

On that big "shave ice" menu, I want to try "Unicorns Are Real," "Wizard's Brew," and maybe "OG Snowball." As we were there, the boys picked up 2 small bags of assorted candy (from all the bins you see on the right in the first photo), and my wife picked up 2 blocks of cheese. We can't wait to go back for more shave ice!

Check out Remix at 2042 Marshall Ave, Saint Paul, MN 55104. Open Wed - Sun from noon - 5 pm. (For now... the owner hinted that hours could get a little extended through the summer.)

Farrah Fawcett Cream Soda

My boys and I recently spent 3 days in Lake Vermilion State Park and then another 2 days in Grand Marais, and we brought my Mom along for the trip. The town of Ely is near Lake Vermilion State Park, so we stopped into Ely's Old Fashioned Candy like we did last year. 

Free pinball! My son and my Mom.

Soda selection.

I grabbed this to try a few days later:

In the kitchen of our motel room in Grand Marais (after leaving Ely).

 
Brand: Farrah Fawcett Cream Soda.

Origin: Incline Village, NV.

Purchase Place: Ely's Old Fashioned Candy, Ely, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: Ehh, this is OK. It's got a nice sweetness to it, but then it had a "chemically" taste to it. It's not a smooth as it should be, but it's decently rich. Not a great flavor with a poor aftertaste. No thanks. RIP Farrah.

Score: 4 out of 10.

Reed's Root Beer Hard Candy

These caught my eye at Ace Hardware last month:

Individually wrapped like the packaging says. Seems old fashioned (and a touch wasteful).

The candy inside.

I don't often "review" CANDY, but being this is root beer flavored, I feel like I need to...  

Brand: Reed's Root Beer Hard Candy

Origin: Great Neck, NY.

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

Sweetener: Sugar and Glucose Syrup.

Review: Obviously, my main point of reference is a "root beer barrel," but I expected this to be better (or maybe "more refined") than a root beer barrel. And I was right. It was a bit more caramel flavored, but just a touch. The flavor was actually more subtle than a root beer barrel - it didn't have that same harshness. And it was very long lasting. So it's a slightly more refined, slightly more gentle, and slightly more caramely version of a classic root beer barrel. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it's pretty good and quite enjoyable!

Score: 7.5 out of 10.

Calypso Lemon Tea

This is my first and might be my last review of a bottled tea:

Brand: Calypso Lemon Tea.

Origin: Milwaukee, WI (even though its tagline is "Taste Of The Island").

Purchase Place: Menards, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This was good. It was fine. It was what you'd expect. I was in the mood for a lemon tea when I was walking through Menards, and this hit the spot. It was sweet and lemony and had a good tea flavor. It tasted like every-other sort of lemon tea or lemonade tea or Arnold Palmer that I've ever had. So that's why I say I won't review more things like this, as they are all just decent, refreshing, and similar. Yes, I'm sure there's a difference between different brands, but I don't have them nearly enough to compare flavors. Maybe someday... but I'm not planning on it right now.

Score: 8 out of 10.

Summer Selection at Frattallone's Ace in St. Paul

I stopped into Frattallone's Ace earlier this month (to grab some supplies for a project as well as a Frostop Soda) and looked through their soda selection:

I've had most of these, but not all.

I grabbed one of the "Reed's Root Beer" candies on the right.

I still have to crack into the root beer candies, so I'll be back later this summer with a review of those.

Diet Shasta Twist Lemon Lime

I tried my 2nd soda from Menards recently: 

Brand: Diet Shasta Twist Lemon Lime.

Origin: Hayward, CA.

Purchase Place: Menards, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Sucralose.

Review: This was a decent, tasty, crisp 7Up-like or Sprite-like lemon line soda. It was refreshing. I could have thought it was diet 7Up, only it's a bit heavier on the "lime" than most lemon lime sodas, which I quite enjoyed.

Score: 7.5 out of 10.

 

VitaLife Root Beer Prebiotic Soda

I grabbed one of these from Aldi recently:

Brand: VitaLife Root Beer Prebiotic Soda.

Origin: Batavia, IL.

Purchase Place: Aldi, Minneapolis, MN.

Sweetener: Stevia.

Review: This is a kombucha-like prebiotic soda that's flavored like root beer. Because of that, it has a LOAD of fiber: the 3rd ingredient is inulin which makes the can loaded with 9 grams of fiber. The ingredients list was pretty big, so I didn't know what to expect with the taste.

It smelled like root beer, and upon first taste, it TASTED like root beer as well. But after a second, it gets a little odd caramel / fruit / sweet taste that just kind of takes over. That ruins the experience a bit - it starts well, but ends tasting odd. If it could just stay as the initial flavor, this would be an 8 or so in my book, but the weirdness that happens at the end of each sip really takes its toll overall. Decent, but not great.

Score: 5.5 out of 10.

Premium Frostop Black Cherry Soda

I grabbed this at the hardware store as I was picking up something to help make Mother's Day presents last week:

 
Brand: Premium Frostop Black Cherry Soda.

Origin: Columbus, OH.

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

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Sweetener and Cane Sugar.

Review: This is not a black cherry "cola" but just a black cherry "soda." It was VERY sweet and almost a little syrupy. My wife doesn't like things that sweet/syrupy, so I thought she'd make a face when she tried this... but she said it was pretty good. It's a heavy soda: heavy on the sweetness and heavy on the black cherry flavor. But the flavor was good! If you don't mind them a little extra sweet, give this a try.

Score: 8 out of 10.

Rico Brown Sugar Bubble Milk Tea

I was in Hy-Vee recently and this caught my eye:

Note that it's 12.3 oz and a little taller than usual.

Brand: Rico Brown Sugar Bubble Milk Tea

Origin: Taiwan.

Purchase Place: Hy-Vee, Oakdale, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar and Brown Sugar.

Review: The first sip was VERY pleasant. This tasted JUST like a milk tea I've gotten from my local bubble tea place. I was quite happy and surprised. But as I kept drinking, I finally got to the "bubbles," and they were... odd. They were extra chewy and more jello-like than I was used to compared to "fresh" bubbles at my local tea place:

Extra "foggy" and chewy. Very odd.

I'm sure there's an issue being able to make and keep these bubbles or pearls in can for many months, and that ruined the experience a bit. The taste of the milk tea itself was super sweet and spot on, but then the bubbles knocked this down a few points.

Score: 5.5 out of 10.

Diet Shasta Cola

At Menards last week, I grabbed these 2 cases:

Diet Shasta Cola and Diet Shasta Twist!

I tried this one first at work.

Brand: Diet Shasta Cola.

Origin: Hayward, CA.

Purchase Place: Menards, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Sucralose.

Review: This had more flavor than I expected! It had the extra sweetness like Diet Pepsi compared to Diet Coke, but then there was an extra almost cinnamon-like flavor. Honestly, it got to feel (taste) OVERLY sweet by the end of the can. But surprisingly good (for generic and for diet).

Score: 6 out of 10.