Georgia peach, Florida oranges, Maine lobster, California...raspberry? I’m self admittedly not the most knowledgeable on California produce, but I’ve never not once associated raspberries with them. Upon typing “California Raspberry” into Google I end up with results featuring the Coke I’m about to drink and a nail polish color.
Read MoreWho’s got two thumbs and is excited about today’s beverage? This guy! I’m pointing to myself with both of my thumbs to complete the joke. This would work a whole lot better if you were watching me.
Read MoreIt’s been awhile since I’ve reviewed a cola, so when I ventured out into the wilds and found myself in a Kroger I was hopeful. On the far end of the soda aisle, where the “fancy” sodas live, I saw a grouping of Private Selection brand beverages. Private Selection is a Kroger brand, but they do a good job keeping their name off the bottle and go with a simple, elegant design. Fortunately for me one of the Private Selection sodas is a cola, specifically Bourbon Barrel Cola.
Read MoreI love RC Cola. It’s easily my favorite mainstream cola. Back in the mid 90’s RC released a variation called Royal Crown Draft Premium Cola, which I never got to try. This concoction used cane sugar to sweeten as opposed to HFCS. Eventually Royal Crown Draft vanished from American stores and eventually came to live almost WORD in New Zealand.
Read MoreOk, I’ll admit that when I see a business called “Shoppe” I find it quaint. Now if that same “Shoppe” were to be called “Ye Olde Shoppe” that’s a bit of overkill on kitchy spelling. Old Tyme Kola has that problem. Yes, I’m aware of the kola nut, but c’mon… I’m about to drink a cola, not a “kola”.
Read MoreWell, it’s happened. My soda powers have culminated and the three sodas I wished back onto this plane of reality are here. First Surge, then Sprite Re-Mix, and now Crystal Pepsi. If there are any other extinct sodas out there you’d like me to channel back into existence just shoot me an e-mail.
Read MoreSo last week I tried Pepsi’s semi-new beverage, 1893. It was good, in fact it was very good. Today I try the Ginger Cola variety of 1893 and something tells me I’ll like it just as much if not more.
Read MoreSo to stay current I felt it necessary to review Pepsi Cola’s offering of 1893. For those not in the know, 1893 is made with kola nut and sweetened with sugar. This is Pepsi’s take on craft soda and the can is full of words telling you so. It’s a “Boldly blended cola made with: Kola nut extract, Dark brown malt flavor, a touch of aromatic bitters, sparkling water, real sugar.”
Read MoreThanks to the Excel Bottling Company I’m able to try another soda that’s new to my palate. While I’ve tried Lucky Club Cola I haven’t had the opportunity to try Lucky Cherry Cola. Lucky Cherry Cola is a pure cane sugar soda that has “True Fruit & Spice” listed as an ingredient. I don’t know what that means, but it sure seems impressive.
Read MoreThose of you who read this site like a blog instead of a review site (thank you, btw) know that I don’t really dabble in the mainstream unless asked. The three of you who fit the former descriptor also know I’m not really fond of stevia as a sweetener. So why then did I purchase a bottle of Coca-Cola Life which is sweetened with stevia? Sorry, let me rephrase that to get more clicks…
YOU’LL NEVER BELIEVE WHY AARON DRANK COKE WITH STEVIA! REASON NUMBER 4 WILL SHATTER ALL OF REALITY!!!
So I bought it because when I’m on the soda aisle I’ve seen numerous folks stop and stare at it. Then they have a conversation with their significant other about it, then they walk off without trying it. I’ve tried to help people understand what it was, but I honestly couldn’t tell them if it was good or not which is what you’re looking for in that situation.
People love Coke and even though this version of Coke is sweetened with stevia it’s also sweetened with cane sugar. Previous reviews of mine have shown that a Cane Sugar/Stevia mix is usually a pretty good way to reduce calories and keep a nice flavor. My 8oz bottle has 60 calories and 16 grams of sugar… less than the yogurt I just ate, but that’s not saying much.
"Life" Why Life?
Smell wise it’s a little weaker than regular Coca-Cola, but the scent is still unmistakable. If this does indeed taste like regular Coke I’ll fully get behind this product. Other than the fact that it’s called Coca-Cola “Life”. That’s a bit pretentious to me. Your soda is called “Life”, take it down a few notches.
So it tastes like a reduced calorie cola. Granted, it tastes like a Coke brand reduced calorie cola, so they nailed that aspect of it. Initially you get the quick bite of Coca-Cola Classic, but mouthfeel is really where the two sodas are most similar.
There is limited flavor on the front end and the sweetness also kind of drops off on the back side, which makes the included stevia a bit more noticeable. The “after sip” mouthfeel is a little sticky and hugs my teeth and tongue in an unpleasant, but tolerable way. It’s not great, it’s not bad, it’s just kind something I’m drinking.
Personally I’d choose Coca-Cola Zero over this every time as I think it gets closer to the Coke taste than “Life” does. That kind of makes me feel that this may be a wasted product. Does Coca-Cola Life fill the “wants to drink healthier soda without aspartame” crowd? If anyone has the money to create something in that market it’s certainly Coca-Cola.
~A
This was purchased at my neighborhood Wal-Mart.
Video Review from Apr. 3, 2020. Written review (below) from Sep. 10, 2015.
I have a German soda in front of me called Paulaner Spezi. The flavor, according to the can, is Coffeinhaltige Orangenlimonade mit Cola. I took and failed German so my best guess is caffeinated orange soda with cola. It is sweetened with Zucker or sugar if you like and includes Orangensaft which I think is orange juice concentrate. The label also says that citrus is involved in some way. So it’s not a complete mystery to me, but this should be a hoot none the less.
It smells like orange juice and cola, so I think I’m on the right track. The scent is faint, but I bet the flavor won’t be.
Orangensaftkonzentrat is a fantastic word
The color is a light orangey brown and the taste, and according to Buttons, “starts off dull, gets bright, and then just dulls out big time at the end.”
The dull he speaking of is a somewhat bitter orange/cola mix that swishes past your tongue. This quickly transitions into a burst of citrus cola that refreshes and then disappears just as suddenly. Sadly what you end up with is the taste equivalent of an empty room with a chair in it. It’s sad, it’s a little bitter, and you don’t want to stay in there very long.
It’s a roller coaster with one good drop, fun but ultimately disappointing. The mild bitterness of the final taste dampens your excitement for another swig.
All in all an interesting beverage that I might give a try if I were in your shoes. If you aren’t bitter about bitter than perhaps you’d enjoy it a bitter more.
~A
This soda was purchased at World Market
I’ve done my fair share of Boots reviews and today’s may be the best named. The Ultimate Caramel Cola is what they’ve called it and that’s quite the title to give any soda. They’ve basically proclaimed that this is the ultimate caramel cola and I’m here to judge the accuracy of their claim.
As with all Boots Beverages this one is sweetened with cane sugar and includes a couple of chemicals to spice things up. It also has another story about the “Boots” family on the side which I will convey to you now.
So professional looking
“Boots” Kristen
“Boots” continued his father’s pursuit of the american dream in pioneering Texas. A country boy rich in colorful, childhood memories, “Boots” sold his top quality beverages with a genuine smile and a meaningful hand shake. He steered the family soda bottling business into what is now Kristen Distributing Company, never while losing sight of who he was, where he’d come from and the seemingly little things in life. Everyone loved Boots - and his host of beverages! We honor him by revisiting those days gone by.
So there you have it. Our ceremonial trip down memory lane. Now it’s time for our ceremonial review.
There’s less of a caramel scent than I thought there would be. What my nose can identify seems quite nice though. Perhaps the bottle is keeping the taste a secret so that I might be surprised when I try it.
Taste wise it works pretty well, but it’s definitely favors the caramel more than it does the cola. This causes the flavor to be sweeter and mutes any “bite” the soda would have without the added caramel.
Brownie Caramel Cream is probably my favorite soda in this genre due to its rich taste and mouthfeel. Boots stacks up reasonably well, but overall is the lesser of the two sodas. This is due to a slight chemical taste that I’ve been experiencing during the front and back end of each swig. It’s not something that I would warn anyone about, that is if I wasn’t reviewing it, but it’s a weak point for the soda. This coupled with the lack of cola taste keep “The Ultimate Caramel Cola” from being something really special.
I like the Boots company. They’re a Texas soda making company and that’s a special thing to me. Sadly a lot of their sodas are just lacking one or two things to really stand out from the crowd. This most recent entry is no different.
~A
I purchased this at an HEB grocery store
Last time I reviewed a Nature’s Pure product I lamented that it cost me around $6.50 for a four pack. Well a couple week’s later and they’re on sale for $4.50, a much more reasonable price. For those jerks that only read this site for the ONE soda review you need in a pinch, Nature’s Pure makes organic sodas. For those of you who read this each time a review is posted you already knew that… also I’d like to shake your hand.
The radiating excellence is all that keeps Twist that far away.
In the same awesome tiny (8oz) glass bottle as before, Nature’s Pure Organic Cola’s label theme is red. Has Coke done such a good job that we now associate cola with red or did Nature’s Pure just feel that red best represented their cola. The world may never know, although I’m pretty sure it’s the former.
A healthy cola aroma or colaroma lifts itself out of the mouth of the bottle. It’s a strong enough scent that I feel ok saying the taste should be “good” at the very least. Perhaps I should fact check myself now.
That’s a tasty little drink. Cola is unmistakably the taste that hits my tongue and makes me smirk a bit. I’m not sure why they don’t have “Have a Nature’s Pure Organic Cola and a Smirk” as their slogan because it would be perfect.
The carbonation levels are perfect. It’s just a tingle of sharp carbonation. If Coke has a “bite” then Nature’s Pure Organic Cola is like a kitten stretching and putting it’s claws into your thigh accidentally. Now, kitten nails embedded in flesh may now sound tasty… but it is.
Visiting the taste once again I’m pleased with how sweet it is and their use of spices. This soda actually feels like a treat, but doesn’t leave any syrupy aftertastes or gross mouthfeel its competitors might. The spices (which you can taste better near the bottom of the bottle) give this a somewhat unique strength. On top of all that it’s a fairly clean cola in terms of aftertaste, leaving only it’s original flavor behind.
Overall Nature’s Pure Organic Cola is a strong contender in the cola category and it’s organic to boot. Even if I had bought this at $6.50 a pack I’d have felt like it was worth it. Find it, try it, enjoy it.
~A
This soda was purchased at an HEB grocery store
A “Twist’s Choice” Recipient
They got me. They got me with their stupid fancy labeling and their tiny glass bottles and their high price. $6.55 got me four 8oz bottles of Nature’s Pure Organic French Vanilla Cola. If that’s not the most I’ve paid per ounce it’s really dang close. Sitting in it’s tiny ornate glass bottle with a purple label slapped on it. A friendly, yet shy, looking lady wearing a white gown with a purple sash stands off to the side. I can’t believe the packaging worked on me!
Twist is in love with the lady on the bottle's flowers
That said this is a 100% All Natural Sparkling Soda and organic as well, per the bottle. Looking at the ingredient they are correct. It even has my favorite natural ingredient “Natural Flavors”. Just say what they are. If you have nothing to hide don’t hide it. Sigh. I should probably open this tiny bottle now.
This smells faintly of vanilla cookies and cola. I’m not really sure where I’m getting essence of cookie, but if the flavor is strong enough this could be worth the money I paid.
That’s unusual and pretty dang good to boot. They seemed to have nailed the French Vanilla aspects of this cola. It doesn’t have an overly creamy in texture or taste. Cola is definitely the headliner of this soda. If you saw this play you’d go home and tell your friends “Yeah, cola was good… just like we thought he would be, but French Vanilla. French Vanilla is GOING places. I need to look him up on IMDB and see what else he’s done.”
After I looked up French Vanilla on IMDB and quickly reminded myself that French Stewart was a part of my life at some point, I took another sip.
The play I just watched, those two actors aren’t friends. They’re battling for the audience’s attention the entire time. Cola comes out first and you’re happy to see him because he’s familiar. French Vanilla immediately appears after and from that point on you don’t know where to divert your attention. The two flavors don’t really play nicely together, but the show is entertaining none the less.
As an aside, I believe the French Vanilla taste is reminding me a bit of coffee in each drink I take. It’s causing just the slightest bit of bitterness to it. Overall an odd sensation although part of me is just fine with it.
All in all I’m happy I took the chance on Nature’s Pure. It’s a unique take on vanilla cola’s the bottle really is quite pleasant. The only critique I have is that I wish the taste was a bit more powerful. I want either the cola or the vanilla to resonate more instead of constantly battling vying for my opinion.
~A
Ever have a sinus infection? I have. Maybe once a year or so… except this year. This year is special and I’ve had three thus far. It’s super neat. I didn’t want to write a review today because I’m exhausted, but I figured it’d make me feel better if I just powered through it and got to writing.
Twist is taking it back wearing the cap.
The soda I’m going to take my antibiotics with today is Maine Root Mexicane Cola. As you probably realized from the play on words this is Maine Root’s version of “Mexican Coke”, also known as Coke sweetened with cane sugar. As with all Maine Root products it’s a fair trade product, so you can rest easy as night that you’ve done the right thing. Time to open the bottle.
That’s huge. Sorry, not the aroma or anything, but the pill I’m supposed to take. It looks like a cartoon pill it’s so big. It’s a horse pill as my family and many other families out there probably call them. Well hopefully this Mexicane Cola will be the perfect pair to it.
Even with one good nostril I can tell the cola scent is quite strong. This would have me believe I’m going to enjoy this beverage. Aroma’s have lied to me in the past though. I’m sure the good folks at Maine Root wouldn’t do that to me. They make Fair Trade Certified beverages. You can’t lie and do that at the same time.
First swig was pill free and while it does have a nice cola taste it wasn’t as powerful as I expected. It’s a shame because if this flavor was increased it’d be pretty amazing. That said, it’s still a very good cola and I won’t take anything away from it by complaining about the strength of the taste again.
Along with this very honest cola flavor a second sweetness appears and sits atop it’s brethren. The cola is a good foundation to this new sugary taste and the sugary taste seems to be a good foundation to the spices within the beverage. I do wish I could pick out the spices a bit better They’re somewhat noticeable and it still tastes good so I’ll keep my complaints to a minimum and just save them for the rating.
All in all Maine Root Mexicane Cola is a very good cola. It doesn’t have the punch of Coke, but it has an enjoyable taste all its own. That said, this soda falls into the category of so close to being amazing. It’s good, but a few tweaks here and there and this could be stellar.
~A
This soda was purchased at HEB
Stuff tastes better if there’s a horseshoe on it. I don’t know why, but it just does. Perhaps it only tastes better in Texas or the Southwest region of America. The science on it is unclear yet always wields a positive answer. That said this bottle of Lucky Club Cola should be delicious according to science. Emblazoned on the bottle is of course a horseshoe. Within the bottle is a mixture of ingredients which involve pure cane sugar, some tasty caramel color, and mom’s favorite… gum arabic.
The mouth of the bottle releases a robust cola scent that urges my mouth to water, but it’s not quite powerful enough to do so. That said, it seems the aroma will partner with an above average soda at the very least.
Eh, it’s alright. Perhaps I should stare at the horseshoe a little harder. No it’s still fairly average even with gunfights and school marms crossing the unknown territory of my imagination.
I wouldn't know your soda from a Jersey Iguana
The first thing I notice is how carbonated this soda is. Lucky Club Cola is quick to fizz up in your mouth and bites with equal fervor. It’s a bite that I would associate with a stronger flavor, yet I’m greeted by the first cowboy in the western that succumbs to the villains bullet. He thought he’d be sneaky and pop up from behind that barrel guns blazing, but then the movie would only be 30 minutes long. Instead he’s shot in an instant, falling to the ground without so much as a whore to see him die.
Honestly it tastes more like a diet cola than anything. If it were indeed a diet cola I’d say it was pretty good, but no such luck for Lucky Club Cola. See what I did there? So very disappointing. My disappointment won’t show in the rating because it’s not disgusting. It’s an average tasting beverage. Sigh.
So just as quickly as it drifted into our lives Lucky Club Cola is going to drift out of it and be forgotten. Before I go, let me offer this advice to soda makers. A soda is a tool, Jerks; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A soda is as good or bad as the folks making it. Remember that.
~A
This was purchased at a Shell Gas Station
I took November off, so sue me. Please don’t sue me. So how should I start December you ask? You didn’t ask… you probably stopped visiting the site once a review didn’t appear after four weeks. “Soda Jerks?” You said, “More like Soda… Jerks!” Then you high fived the nearest human. To answer my own question, I think I’m gonna try that old Slovenia favorite, Cockta!
Cockta originates in Slovenia as stated earlier and was born in the 1950’s. They wanted to make a familiar drink using local herbs, but original when compared to foreign beverages. Since I can’t read any of the writing on this bottle I’m just ignorantly assuming this is Slovenian Coke.
Well dang it. I didn’t get any Cockta rewards points under my cap. Nor am I getting any sort of Coke aroma coming out of the bottle. In fact it smells a bit more syrupy root beer with an odd flowery scent. Color my tongue interested.
That’s unique alright, but my mind is trying to decide if it likes it or loves it. Cola flavored Dimetapp. That’s what Cockta tastes like. It has an initial cola taste but once I swish it around in my mouth and consume it an oddly familiar grape mouth feel rises to the top.
Twist has rosehips as well, but he won't let me photograph them.
Even though I used “grape” to describe the mouth feel it’s not an primary flavor of Cockta. Yes, there are hints of a grape soda in each sip, but I’d be wrong to lead you to believe the taste was grape. I’m going to have to see what’s in this… give me a moment to research.
Rosehip! That’s what’s causing my pallet to struggle. It also uses lemon and orange in the makings. According to the website they use the same 11 types of herbs that originally created the first bottles of Cockta. They also don’t use HFCS and it’s caffeine free.
All of this creates a really unique soda. It’s a fruit flavored cola with rosehips. Now that I know some of the ingredients it makes a little more sense to me. It still doesn’t completely explain why it tastes like Dimetapp Cola, but who cares.
It’s a little syrupy and hangs onto my teeth a bit longer than I’d like, though this could be due to the fact that it was delivered to me via plane and is about 6 months old. With that said I’ll keep the mouth feel critiques away from the score.
Cockta is a lot for my brain to wrap around. Why did I pick this for my return to soda reviewing? Perhaps it’s just showing me how new I still am to the soda game. Perhaps it’s revving up my tastebuds to be on their best game. Either way I’m glad I had it and I’m glad to be back.
~A
This bottle was supplied to me by my friend Jibbity D
Cartoons from the 20’s and 30’s were kind of weird in a great way. Have you ever seen a Mickey Mouse cartoon from the 20’s? He’s kind of a jerk at times, playing the teeth of a goat like a xylophone or using a cat tail as a violin string. He just got through the depression so some slack could be given, but there’s a darker undertone to cartoons of that time.
Twist is showing fear.
The mascot on this bottle of Spiffy Cola has that same happy yet somewhat deranged expression on his face. Slick hair, rosy cheeks, and a playful expression should be seen as fun, yet his eyes are cold and calculating as if you hint that something negative might befall you if you don’t enjoy his cane sugar sweetened Spiffy Cola. According to the label Spiffy is “A Swell Cola Drink” and has been around since 1934. There’s also a sentence on the side that reads:
“Striving to be world famous and quite swell, Spiffy delights the senses with the refreshing and invigorating taste of cola. Enjoy and ice cold one today.”
You know what I like about that? That Spiffy Cola doesn’t claim to be made just like it was “in the good old days”. They’ve updated their recipe, but probably tried to keep their taste as close as possible. Good for them for not having that nonsense on their bottle. That’s just swell.
I don’t like that it’s a twist cap though. Picky I know, but I don’t. A robust cola scent travels quite easily from the bottle’s mouth. Things are looking good for Spiffy Cola and I’m not just saying that to keep this disembodied head from haunting my dreams.
Good for Spiffy. That’s a wonderful cola and soda in general. A rich flavorful cola taste envelops my mouth with each swig. It seeks out all possible oral crevices and fills it with one of the best colas I’ve had to date. The carbonation fizzes right along side creating a fun mouth feel while simultaneously keeping this rich cola light and enjoyable. Not since Pig Iron Cola have I had a cola that creates a taste this powerful. There is a bit of a syrupy feel after each sip, but the flavor is too enjoyable for me to care all that much. This syrupy feel causes minimal accidental teeth grit, if you know what I’m talking about.
You know how around Thanksgiving and Christmas a lot of foods are richer versions of the original? It tastes like Spiffy Cola is what you should be drinking at that time. Who has time for Polar Bears and Coke when Spiffy Cola with its brash attitude, powerful taste, and creepy 1930’s cartoon head are around?
~A
I purchase this soda at World Market
