Sodafruit - Strawberry Soda

I even licked Twist to get the flavor off of him

So the last review I did was for Sodafruit Apple Crumble and it blew me away.  Today we take another look at Sodafruit, but this time the cards aren’t in their favor and here’s why.  Apple is one of my favorite flavors of soda… strawberry is not due to the fact that strawberry soda is usually over sweetened to the point of being sickly.  I’m not saying that there aren’t good strawberry sodas out there; I’m just saying that there aren’t many that agree with my palate.  Hopefully my concerns are nullified due to Sodafruit’s simple ingredient list which is as follows:  Carbonated water, cane sugar, strawberries, lemon juice, citric acid, and preservative (202).  With an ingredient list as simple as that (minus the preservative of course)  I’d say Sodafruit Strawberry Soda has a decent chance of setting itself apart from the sticky sugary soda I associate with strawberries.  Onward!

Upon opening I get a very natural smelling strawberry scent and understandably so since there are bits of strawberry floating around in the bottle.  The scent also reminds me of one of those real fancy strawberry lemonades you might get from one of them sit down eateries, the kind you don’t get free refills on.  There’s only one way to figure out if my nose is telling my tongue the truth… well there’s probably a few, but drinking seems the best at the moment.

That’s damn good.  The natural strawberry taste shines through like gangbusters and it’s been sweetened to just the right amount.  A light fizz is ever present keeping the drink fun with every sip.  I find myself licking my lips to get every last bit of flavor I possibly missed during the initial swig.  The floating strawberry bits I mentioned earlier are noticeable, but unobtrusive.  If you’ve ever had natural strawberry lemonade with chunks of strawberry you know that despite its name strawberry doesn’t play well with straws as it keeps getting stuck within them creating “lemonade rage”.  If you were to consume Soda fruit Strawberry soda via straw you would have no such “rage”.  Since I’m on the topic of strawberry lemonade once again I must mention that the lemon juice used in the making of this soda can be seen in the shadows if you look hard enough.  If you’re a fan of Seuss then just picture the strawberry soda as Horton while the lemon juice sits atop the clover he protects with his life. 

With that last analogy being average at best and my Sodafruit Strawberry Soda bottle sadly empty it’s time to wrap up.  Sodafruit Strawberry is a wonderful experience of natural strawberry taste.  While noticeably sweet it’s not so much that you’ll regret coming back for more as the light carbonation keeps you interested.  I have no problem saying that at this point in time it’s the best strawberry soda I’ve ever had.

~A

This soda supplied to us by Sodafruit.

A “Twist’s Choice” Recipient

Sodafruit - Apple Crumble

Twist is mostly fruit juice

Now that my vacation is over it’s time to take a break.  Take a break from Dublin Bottling Works soda that is!  While I still have 6 or so more DBW flavors to go I recently received 3 bottles from Sodafruit that require my immediate attention as they’re made from an upstart brewer in New Zealand.  If you remember our reviews of the Hotlips brand of sodas I have a feeling that Sodafruit will be similar in taste and quality.  The ingredients of Sodafruit Apple Crumble are as follows:  carbonated water, cane sugar, apple juice, lemon juice, spices, and preservative (202).  While I’m not a fan of numbered preservatives, since I have no idea what they mean, I’ll stave off judgment until consumption.  I especially like that the nutrition label separates the amounts of cane sugar and fruit sugar.  The label itself is very simplistic, but it’s a simplistic soda so I honestly have no beef with this.  So there you have it.  Sodafruit is from New Zealand and seems to favor simple ingredients.  Why did I write a paragraph on a description I could have done in a sentence?  Onward!

I actually swore when I smelled this soda for the first time.  It smells like Apple Crumble.  It doesn’t smell like chemicals made to smell like Apple Crumble; it straight up smells like Apple Crumble/Pie.  If you’re an avid citizen of the Carbo-Nation then you know that Reed’s Spiced Apple Brew is my favorite beverage of all time due to its apple pie aftertaste.  Will Sodafruit Apple Crumble fall in the same delicious category?  The hype has started to build.

Apple Juice soda with a dash of cinnamon to boot!  Sodafruit Apple Crumble has a low level of carbonation that allows me to easily brush the bubbles aside and really taste the apple.  Speaking of the apple, the apple flavor in this is amazingly honest.  Sodafruit Apple Crumble is apple juice 2.0.  It may not have the nutritional values of apple juice, but it’s improved on the taste.  I do wish the “spices” were a bit more prevalent in their taste although the amount that’s used is still plenty to alter the flavor pleasurably.  I’m surprised at how refreshing an apple crumble flavored soda can be actually.  I was expecting a sweeter concoction that sat a little heavier in my mouth, but throughout the drinking process was delighted to find a lighter soda with a fairly clean finish.

 Overall Sodafruit Apple Crumble is one of the best sodas I’ve ever had the pleasure of drinking.  It doesn’t unseat Reed’s Spiced Apple Brew as my favorite, but its simple ingredients, refreshingly light mouth-feel, and glorious flavor have made me a fan for life.

~A

This soda supplied to us by Sodafruit

A “Twist’s Choice” Recipient

Dublin Retro Grape

Today’s entry into the eternal realm of soda review lore is Dublin Retro Grape.  I’m not sure if it’s retro in flavor, ingredients, or just as a sales technique.  The bottle art and the fact that it uses pure cane sugar as a sweetener could be construed as retro, but the flavor has yet to be tested.  Fortunately for this bottle, or unfortunately depending on if you believe bottles of soda to be self-aware, I’m going to unravel this mystery now.  With my trusty love of grape soda by my side it’s time we dive into Dublin Retro Grape. 

The aroma is rich and gets right to the point.  Currently my only fear for Dublin Retro Grape is that it might be too sweet for complete consumption based on how sugary it smells.  Fortunately I’m not one to shy away from too many grape sodas so let’s just move on.

While delicious, Dublin Retro Grape feels incomplete… let me explain.  The carbonation my mouth is initially hit with is a fantastic amount of fizz.  There’s just enough to create a mild burn with each swig.  This is something I feel all grape sodas should have as it adds to their character.  The grape flavoring is indeed sugary, but not so over the top that I won’t be able to enjoy this bottle all the way through.  In fact this particular grape flavoring might rank in a top 5, but definitely top 10 of grape flavors I’ve experienced in a soda.  The finish is where I start to have problems with Dublin Retro Grape. 

Let me start off by saying that at no point does this soda ever taste bad, it’s tasty throughout the duration of its consumption and will be graded accordingly.  To fully explain this I need to rewrite a classic movie scene.  Even if you haven’t seen The Shining I’m sure most of you are familiar with the scene where Jack Nicholson breaks down the bathroom door with an axe and says the ever famous line “Here’s Johnny!”  Now the entire time he is chopping at the door Shelley Duvall is screaming on the other side in the bathroom knowing full and well who is breaking through that door and what he’s going to try and do to her.  Jack Nicholson is going to try and break down the door, get inside, and murder her.  There’s very little assumption going on here.  Let’s now picture an alternate dimension where Jack chops down the door, looks inside with the same crazed eyes, and then just stands there without saying a word.  Maybe he’ll cough politely to imply that he’d like to be let in, but he’s not even remotely aggressive about it.  Oh, and then the movie ends.

That is what Dublin Retro Grape tastes like.   Here it comes through the bathroom door with its wonderful carbonation.  I’m screaming on the other side fully aware that a grape soda experience is getting closer to me.  Dublin Retro Grape chops a hole in the door with its grape flavor and gives me a crazy eye.  Still on the other side I now see the potential grape goodness that should be wrecking its way through the door any second.  Then it just stops.  It feels unnatural.  You gave me all this build up to the end, but it never follows through.  It just stands there so you can still enjoy its company through the door, never realizing its full potential.  Dublin Retro Grape never evolves to the next step of chopping down the door and murdering my taste buds with delicious and that’s really too bad because it’s a potentially great grape soda.  I’ll still rank this fairly high, but just know that it could have been even better had anything happened at the end.

~A

This soda was supplied to us by Dublin Bottling Works

Twist was originally cast as Tony in The Shining

Blueberry Breese

I opened my fridge and looked skeptically at the bottle of Blueberry Breese staring back at me.  It wasn’t because the name of the beverage is whimsically spelled or the fact that the label displays an abnormally strong breeze blowing blueberries across a park.  The reason I’m not so sure I’m going to like this is because it looks like the main flavor of Blueberry Breese is going to be candy.  As you may  know I really enjoy a good blueberry soda, but the ones I do like taste the most like real-deal blueberries and not some confectioners creation.  Blueberry Breese is from the Dublin Bottling Works which already gives it a good starting point, but the fact that is looks as if it’ll taste like blue sugar water scares me a bit.  Looking at the ingredients I see no mention of blueberries, blueberry juice, or boo berry cereal.  What I do see is that lemon and lime oils were used in the making of Blueberry Breese… this confuses me even more.  Now that I told you what concerns me let me finish on an up note.  Even though I knocked the label art earlier I really do like it.  It looks super retro and the smiling berries on the front make me smile back.  Hopefully this good feeling will continue on into the review.  Onward!

The scent does nothing to quell my concerns as a fruity bubble bath is the first aroma memory (aromemory?) to come to mind.  The plus side to this is that it doesn’t smell overly sweet either, something that will hopefully help in the taste department.

I’m pleased to say that it doesn’t taste like blueberry candy.  I’m not so pleased to say that it does have a bit of a bubble bath taste to it, but more on that later.  Upon my first sip my mouth told my brain it was drinking a diet beverage.  I’m not sure why this initially tastes like a diet blueberry soda, but it’s fortunate that it’s not a flavor that lingers.  After the “diet” wears off I’m left with a brief glimpse of what could have been.  For a fleeting moment Blueberry Breese becomes as fun to drink as it is to look at.  Its carbonation is fizzy, the flavor (while not the flavor of blueberries) is enjoyable, and it’s even kind of refreshing.  This is all erased from your tongue soon thereafter and replaced by the aforementioned bubble bath.  The final taste I get each time I take a swig is that of bubbles.  Story time.

When I was a kid I, like many children, liked to blow bubbles.  Well when I was at home I only had your standard bubble wand.  You’d dip it in the bubble liquid, purse your lips and blow through the wand creating bubbles.  Pretty standard fare.  When I went to my Granny’s house… that’s where things got crazy.  While she had the standard wand what made the best bubbles were the bubble pipes.  These bubble pipes worked my like a tobacco pipe would in the fact that you’d put the stem in your mouth and blow out amazingly shaped bubbles.  There was a blue pipe that made giant bubbles and a red pipe that made quad-bubbles and a few others that were equally amazing to 8 year old me.  The red quad-bubble pipe was my favorite as it created giant clusters of bubbles with each puff.  Much like the standard wand you’d have to swirl said pipe in the bubble mixture to fuel it.  The red pipe used a bit more mixture than any of the others, but the payoff was worth it.  Wanting to produce the most bubbles possible with each blow I often made the mistake of inhaling deeply while still “attached” to the stem of the pipe.  The result was usually my mouth receiving a coating of bubble mixture and my granny giving me a cookie to remedy the situation.  As delicious as the cookies were the bubble mixture never became something I ingested purposefully… and that’s what the aftertaste of Blueberry Breese is like.

~A

This beverage supplied to us by Dublin Bottling Works

Twist lived in a bubble for 8% of his life.

Dublin Orange Cream

It feels like a good day for a quick review.  Today’s bottle once again comes from the Dublin Bottling Works in Dublin, Texas.  The flavor housed within its glassy walls is that of Orange Cream.  While a somewhat Frankenstein creation Orange Cream usually has the best of both worlds that its coupled flavors have to offer.  From their home planet of Apfelsine the orange usually brings the tartness and punch that you would expect.  To counter this they brought the smooth taste one can only find on Rahm and mixed them together… thus bringing us the best of both worlds.  I know I said it was going to be a short review, but I think that plan is already failed.   Onward!

The scents mix nicely in this bottle of Dublin Orange Cream.  With each whiff I’m greeted with a smooth yet tart aroma.  Based on scent alone I just might love this soda.  Only one way to find out.

Not quite as good as the smell, but still a tasty drink.  Immediately the orange zaps the tip of my tongue and begins an awkward wash throughout my mouth.  What I mean by “awkward wash” is that the tangy orange started to transistion to the cream flavor about midway through my sip.  This transition wasn’t nearly as smooth as I thought it might be… much like puberty.  Around 10, some earlier some later, you think how cool it’s going to be once you’re a teenager.  You just figure you’ll wake up one day and be cool.  It’s only when the process begins and you’re stumbling over your oddly large feet that you realize becoming a teenager just might not be as simple as you once thought.  The orange flavoring is that ten year old taking on the world, wanting to show that it can grow up and be smooth and cool.  That’s when the transition period hits.  I can taste the changes from orange to cream and they aren’t all that smooth… lots of acne and growing pains to swallow. 

After the “change” has happened it still follows the same life lesson.  That cool teenager you thought you were going to be?  Yeah, now that you’ve grown into your body you’re no smoother than you were before.  The cream never really takes over in Dublin Orange Cream.  When I read “FlavorX Cream” I expect a somewhat creamy mouth feel… creamier than this at least.  The orange never lets go and doesn’t allow you to experience the full “orange cream” that you were promised.  Now I could make the comparison that this is your 10 year old self trying to fight back through all the nonsense adulthood you probably go through on a day to day basis, but this is a soda site not your psychologist.  Overall Dublin Orange Cream is still a tasty soda it just needs to work on a few things.

~A

This beverage supplied to us by Dublin Bottling Works

Twist has been through puberty at least 12 times by now.

Dublin Cherry Limeade

The next several reviews I do are going to all be sodas from the Dublin Bottling Works in Dublin, Texas.  If that name sounds familiar it’s because they were the birthplace of bottled Dr Pepper and have been around since 1891.  Now that your memory is jogged you’ll probably recall that Dr Pepper recently *took away* (for lack of wanting to type all the legal nonsense) their ability to bottle and sell their signature Dublin Dr Pepper.  Was it deserved?  Was it not?  It’s been discussed so much I’m going to avoid continuing that conversation here on the site. 

When that all went down several fans of the Dublin Bottling Works felt badly about them losing their main draw and so much more, myself included.  If you’re still feeling bad for them I’m going to go out on a limb and guess they’d like for you to stop weeping over what they lost and take the time to see that they’re still a force in the independent soda bizz.  Twelve, count them, twelve sodas are made at the Dublin Bottling Works with seven of them being Dublin originals.  Today I’ll be reviewing one of those originals… Dublin Cherry Limeade. 

Like all their sodas, Dublin Cherry Limeade is made with pure cane sugar so immediately I expect to be drinking a higher quality soda in a matter of moments.  The label art is cute and has a retro feel which seems to be the theme among all the Dublin flavors.  Red soda with a green cap also suggests to me the flavor I’m about to ingest even if it weren’t emblazoned on the bottle.  Enough chatter, let’s begin!

Upon opening the bottle my nose does not detect much of a scent trying to escape.  Only after I put my good nostril to the top do I notice a hint of lime trying to whisper into my olfactory glands.  Since huffing the bottle isn’t progressing this review I’d better just drink up.

Delightful.  For some reason my brain immediately wanted to focus on the carbonation and how it affected the feel of the beverage.  While my tongue was initially splashed with a small dose of tickling bubbles it’s the end of the sip where they really ramp up and make themselves known.  I don’t know why I pretend the bubbles are living creatures with a job to do… it just amuses me.  After my questions about the carbonation were satiated I quickly realized that Dublin Cherry Limeade is a bit more cherry than limeade.  The lime flavoring is still present throughout the entirety of my sip; I just wanted to give you a heads up if you thought it’d be a 50/50 split.  Of course it is called a CHERRY Limeade which might infer that cherry should be the dominate flavor, but once again I’m going to avoid any conversation that might end in fisticuffs.  The cherry flavor used is rather sweet, but not overly so.  I wouldn’t quite put it in a “candy” category but it can certainly see said category from the seat it occupies.  One thing that surprised me is the cherry coating my mouth gets after each sip.  I really thought Dublin Cherry Limeade would have a cleaner mouth feel and I’m kind of sad it doesn’t.  Of course if I’m complaining about the latter half of a drinks mouth feel then you know I didn’t have a whole lot to complain about.  Overall Dublin Cherry Limeade is a good drink that I would suggest to anyone.  Could the flavor be more powerful with less of a syrupy finish?  Yes, but it’s still plenty good the way it is.

~A

This soda was provided to us by Dublin Bottling Works

Every prime numbered year Twist's skin develops a Cherry Limeade-esque taste

Sprecher Gorilla Grape

I know we just reviewed a grape soda, but I love them so and the Carbo-Nation isn’t a Dewmocracy so I’m able to review whatever I wish.  Fish Paste… I’ll just put it up under Lifestyle Beverages.  Creed Cologne… I believe that’s probably fruit flavored.  The Season 7 Trailer for Doctor Who… buyer beware because once again River Song had to appear and muck it all up.  I really just wanted to rant about Doctor Who before I started this review of Sprecher Grape.  We’ve reviewed a Sprecher product recently and it got a very good rating so I’m very optimistic about them creating a soda with one of my favorite flavors.  Once again I must note that Sprecher uses glucose syrup for sweetening their soda, but they also use grape juice in this particular case which just might off-set that faux pas.   Onward!

Upon taking the cap off the bottle I notice it read “Grape Gorrila”.  Is that the name of the soda or just something fun on the cap?  The label does indeed have a gorilla on it so I’m not sure if I’m supposed to treat the actual gorilla drawing as a word.  I would also like to note that this gorilla is all up in somebodies grapes.  Three of his hands are touching or close to touching a bushel of grapes and his face exudes such happiness that I’m growing a bit jealous.  I’ve checked the official Sprecher website and it’s just listed as “Grape”, but those who sell it list the flavor as Gorilla Grape.  This is going to bother me more than you realize.  Onward… again!

The soda itself smells like grape juice which excites my palate even more.  Grape juice is up there on the juice scale for me minus the amount of phlegm, sorry to be gross, it creates.  If Sprecher “Gorilla” Grape can give me a delicious phlegm free grape juice with a kick of carbonation we might just have something special on our hands.  Drink on!

While the flavor isn’t as strong as I thought it’d be this is certainly carbonated grape juice mixed with some glucose syrup water.  In short, it’s pretty dang good.  My initial swig tastes like a higher end grape soda, but as you continue the consumption process the “grape soda” flavor morphs into more of a grape juice flavor.  Then the carbonation burn kicks in.  Like I probably say in most of my grape soda reviews, a good grape soda needs a strong burn to rank highly in my book.  I’d love to read my book one day, I bet it would be super confusing.

 I want more of this right now so you know it’s going to rate well.  Each sip I take is almost identical to the last.  Sprecher “Gorilla” Grape doesn’t really build on itself that much keeping what I initially thought was well and good about the drink well and good.  With every sip the burn returns and my happiness strengthens.  While I really enjoyed this beverage it didn’t ever give me a “wow” moment which is why you might think I rated it too low based on the review you just read.  Sprecher Ravin’ Red and Sprecher Strawberry both had moments where I couldn’t put into words how good they were.  I will say Sprecher “Gorilla” Grape was close to being up there with them, but I needed just a touch more.  Delicious nonetheless though.

~A

Twists older brother is a grape gorilla.

Goose Island Concord Grape

I really wanted to like the Goose Island Spicy Ginger soda I had a few days back, but sadly it was boring and a shell of what it could have been.  Today I give another one of their sodas a gander.  Get it?  Goose Island… gander?  What would a soda review be without a little ornithologist humor?  Today’s serving from the Island of Goose is Concord Grape flavored soda.  Once again I look at the label in hopes of seeing “grape” anything… no luck.  Honestly that doesn’t bother me as much with this grape flavored beverage as my palate seems to enjoy grape sodas with a high amount of artificiality.  I will say that their bottle art looks very classy and I would happily display it at a variety of functions.  The previous sentence is only a truth if the soda inside tastes as good as it looks.  Onward!

With the flavor listed as Concord Grape I thought this might have more of a wine scent than that of your standard grape soda.  Honestly it seems to be about an 80/20 mix with the grape soda aroma being the stronger of the two.  A good smelling grape soda sweetened with cane sugar.  You might be onto something here Goose.  Drink on!

This tastes like an upscale store brand grape soda and I like it.  With my initial sip I was greeted by a quick carbonation burn (something that should accompany any good grape soda) which was whisked away by the titular flavor.  Once the grape flavoring made its appearance it was impossible to not compare it to grape flavored Jolly Ranchers.  Just to keep up appearances the aftertaste is also that of grape Jolly Ranchers; this is certainly a theme I can get behind. 

Here’s why this “grape flavored” soda works better than their “ginger flavored” soda.  That quick carbonation burn that greets you at the beginning of your sip never fully goes away.  Sure it may sneak off behind the ol’ barn to take a gander at a dirty magazine his older cousin left under some hay, but he’s always within calling distance.  For those of you that skipped that pointless analogy, what I’m saying is that the fizz gives the drink life.  The entire time Goose Island Grape Soda sits upon your tongue it’s alive.  It takes a very long time before it begins to fall flat and bore my taste-buds and that’s where Spicy Ginger failed.  So I tip my hat ever so slightly to you Goose Island, you make a good grape soda.  It’s not amazing and life changing, but it’s tasty nonetheless. 

~A

Twist has the power to turn red grapes green.

Lester's Fixins Peanut Butter and Jelly Soda

I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Do you know why I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?  I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because I breathe oxygen and I feel the two things are both irrepressible reflexes.  Now I can honestly say that I’ve never searched out a liquid version of this delectable treat, but fortunately for everyone involved with this site I have one in front of me.  Lester’s Fixins Peanut Butter & Jelly Soda is what’s on the menu today and if it’s as accurate as their other beverages then I should be in for an interesting experience.  What’s making me want this more and more is the picture of a sloppy PB&J on the label.  It looks so very gooey… I wonder if they put butter on the bread as well.  By the way if you haven’t had a PBB&J you’re missing out big time.  Ok I don’t want to type anymore, I want to drink now.  Onward!

Well after smelling it I’m a little doubtful as it hints of cardboard.  Now maybe this cardboard aroma is actually that of bread, I mean they do have to have a bread flavor in there as well… right?  With a couple more whiffs I can’t say that I’d guess this was a PB&J soda if all I had to go by was scent.  Shall I pour us a drink then?

Not a bulls-eye in the flavor department, but at least the dart hit the target.  A surprisingly fizzy carbonation gives way to the initial bread flavoring which does taste a bit like cardboard, but not so much that I’d stop drinking it.  After the “bread” flavoring steps back into the shadows it’s time for the actual peanut butter and jelly flavor to show up.  Oddly enough the peanut butter is more prevalent than the jelly.  I figured the jelly would be the easier flavor to replicate, but it is hardly noticeable.  The lack of “jelly” seems to reduce the sweetness I expected to find as well.  I think if the “jelly” flavor was more powerful they might have a better tasting drink on their hands.  Don’t get me wrong this is still a drinkable beverage; I’m just not going to stock up on it.  At the end of my sip the “bread” stepped back up on stage and I was given an opportunity to “enjoy” all three flavors at once. 

Let me answer the obvious question of “Does it taste like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?”.  Yes it does, but this sandwich was made in 1000 years in the future by cold heartless robots and turned into a powder for easy storage.  You open your pack of PB&J powder and place it on your government issued plate.  Then you take a quarter cup of distilled water and pour it onto said powder.  The powder starts to change its consistency and looks like someone blended your soulless manufactured PB&J and dumped it on your government issued plate.  Begrudgingly you take your government issued spoon and dig in.  That’s how close to an actual PB&J this tastes.  Much like Aunt Viv from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air the character was there for all 6 seasons, but there was something “different” about seasons 4-6. 

~A

Whitewheat was developed by Twist

Sprecher Strawberry

Sprecher is one of those companies that sweeten with syrup (Glucose Syrup) and I never seem to mind.  Most if not all (I’m feeling too lazy to go through our archives) of their sodas are robust in flavor and overall experience so I tend to give them a pass.  Would they potentially be rated higher if they used cane sugar?  Yes, potentially, but it’s hard to fault a soda company that makes such delicious drink.  Today’s beverage is Sprecher Strawberry which is apparently one of their seasonal flavors.  Instead of failing to be a proper wordsmith I’m just going to use the words that Sprecher has decided to print on the neck of the bottle that explains exactly what I’ll be drinking.

“Sip into summer while enjoying this refreshing strawberrylicious seasonal soda.  Fire-Brewed in our kettles with honey, vanilla and other natural flavors for mouthfuls bursting with sweet fruitiness that remind you of warm sunshine, laughter, picnics, swimming and all things good in life!”

Ok, so they’ve now set the bar WAY too high.  This soda is going to remind me of “all things good in life”… somehow I doubt it.  I’m going to estimate that you might find one or two things during your time here on Earth that reminds you of “all things good in life” if you’re lucky.  Of course who am I to say that Sprecher Strawberry won’t remind me of the way my grandmother let me steal pickles of everyone sandwich while she played non-the-wiser.  Even if it does remind me of that it will also have to simultaneously remind me that my mom asked me what “happy, sad, medium and bad” had happened during the day… with the accommodating funny voice for each emotion of course.  Oh and let’s not forget seeing my wife walk down the aisle towards me.  Obviously I’m being overly critical about their word usage, but things like that bother me a little bit and I feel they should be pointed out.  I’m a Jerk, the name of the site implies as much.  With all that said, if you haven’t given up on this review yet, I look forward to being wowed by yet another Sprecher beverage.  Onward!

Opening this bottle was the equivalent of shoving strawberry jam up my nose.  It’s such a rich, robust, sugary scent.  If I were to smell this while wearing a blindfold I wouldn’t guess it was a soda at all.  I now see why the crow sitting in the strawberries on the label has a crazed look in his eyes.  He too can’t imagine that this soda is creating such a scent.  Enough babble, time to drink.

Wham, bam, liquid jam!  Sprechers doesn’t come off as just red sugar fizz flavored to taste like strawberries as so many other strawberry sodas do.  It seems that the vanilla, while only lightly tasted, is what might help set this apart.  The carbonation levels are medium-high, burning your mouth just a bit with each gulp.  I’ve had five sips now and with each one I keep expecting to end up with seeds in my mouth.  I’m sure it helps that strawberry juice concentrate is a listed ingredient, but still it’s impressive to me.  One of the best parts is that Sprecher Strawberry isn’t overly sweet like most strawberry sodas seem to be.  Sure it’s noticeably sweetened (21 grams per 8oz.), but I wouldn’t call it a defining characteristic.  The richness of the soda might be too much for some which does take away from some of its awesomeness.  Overall though this is one of the best strawberry sodas I’ve had with the only downsides being that it’s not sweetened with cane sugar and the fact that it could just be too much for someone to enjoy.  I would like to take the time to say that as much as I enjoyed Sprecher Strawberry it didn't remind me of sunshine, simming, or my wedding day.  With all that said though I’d still keep plenty on hand.

~A

Twist has a bachelors degree in strawberries.

Smart Peach

Today’s entry comes all the way from China courtesy of my good friend DeeAicht.  What I’ve got in front of me today is a Coke brand called Smart and fortunately two of the three words listed in English on this bottle identify the flavor as “Peach Flavor”.  I’m sure I could have figured it out with images of peaches exploding from the word “Smart”, but it’s nice to be reassured.  You may remember when Mike went to Epcot he reviewed Smart Watermelon as part of the Club Cool review experience.  If not I’m sure I linked it somewhere in the previous sentence.  A Peach flavored soda from China sure seems like a pretty good way to cap off the week, let’s find out if I’m right.

There is a peach scent, but it’s buried deeply underneath a vague citrus aroma.  I really had to search out the smell of peaches and there’s still a pretty good chance my brain just made one up so I would continue on with my life.  Now I’m kind of curious as to what this will actually taste like.

Well fortunately I’m not a cat because, as with every review, my curiosity got to me and I took a sip of the soda.  I’m happy to say that there is no citrus taste and that the peach flavoring is enjoyable.  A light carbonation brushes against my tongue, followed by a rather realistic impersonation of a peach.  After the gulp had been taken the taste intensified like it was challenging me to take another swig.  I’ve had a few peach sodas in the past and this one is the lightest of the bunch in terms of flavor and mouth feel.  It is of note that with each drink Smart Peach builds on itself becoming less and less clean, but it’s not something that would keep me from recommending it to anyone.  As with any soda that wanes in this manner I must still deduct points because who only cares what the first half of their soda tastes like if it degrades over the consuming period.  All in all Smart Peach is an alright peach soda that you probably won’t ever see unless you make your way to China.  If for some reason you find yourself in this situation feel safe in your selection if you happen to pick up a bottle from the store.

~A

Chinese is one of the several languages in which Twist has mastered.  All dialects by the way.

Jelly Belly Blueberry

I have a friend that will drink almost any blue liquid you put in front of him.  I haven’t tried Windex yet as I care too much for his health, but put some ice cubes in it and it’d probably look delicious to most anyone.  Today’s soda up on the chopping block is Jelly Belly Blueberry and if he’d been around to watch me remove it from my refrigerator I wouldn’t have held it in my hand long enough to feel the condensation.   

This looks like liquid Smurf… if of course Smurfs had blue blood, blue innards, and you removed their hats and shoes.  For those who might appreciate a nerdier analogy this is just a shade lighter than TARDIS blue.  As you might remember I didn’t really like real blueberries about two years ago and then that opinion was turned on its head after I had my first blueberry soda.  Jelly Belly sodas normally taste more of candy than the actual fruit it’s named after so it’ll be interesting, for me at least, to see how this goes.  Onward!

Ok, so Jelly Belly Blueberry has a blueberry muffin-esque smell to it; though it should be noted that those are rarely true blueberries that are used in the making of said muffins.  On the more frightening side of the scent lies a slight sickly sweet smell cowering in the shadows.  Hopefully when it battles with my taste-buds he’ll lose out and be washed away in blueberry greatness.  Drink anyone?

Jelly Belly Blueberry tastes less like candy blueberry than I thought it would.  Kudos to you Jelly Belly for finding the middle ground of reality and candy when flavoring this soda.  As hoped the sickly sweet taste is washed away in the initial kick of carbonation that rushes over the tip of your tongue.  What is left after the soda fills up your gullet is the flavor of the “blueberries” found in muffins… or a flavor similar to that.  It’s not amazing, but it is somewhat fun and flavorful, about what I expected from a Jelly Belly soda. 

Sadly I am noticing that the flavor has degraded rapidly after I consumed half of the bottle.  Each sip brings on a somewhat bitter aftertaste that takes all of the fun out of the drink.  I’m not sure I’ve had a beverage go Hyde on me this quickly in a while.  What have you done Jelly Belly?  This isn’t some BeanBoozled candy soda where you replace a decent flavor with a terrible one while chuckling to yourselves.  I unwrapped the present and saw the Crossfire box only to open it up and watch my older brothers socks fall out.  I don’t even want to finish this anymore and now my wife is complaining about how terrible and overpowering the scent has become.  Quickly taking the last few sips to satiate her olfactory glands I struggle to find any sort of semblance of the original flavor, thus ending my time with Jelly Belly Blueberry.  Not quite how I would have predicted it, but if I could predict how these sodas tasted then I’d have a lot more room in my fridge.

~A

Twist is forever Hyde.

The Pop Shoppe Lime Ricky Soda

Today is the day I give The Pop Shoppe their second chance to “wow” me with a flavor of theirs.  Their Black Cherry Soda was rather boring, but today I feel they might have a better chance.  Lime Ricky Soda is what I’ll be ingesting and if you’re a regular reader of the site, or you just search out lime soda reviews, you already know that lime is one of my favorite flavors.  Now a “Ricky” is an alcoholic beverage that uses whiskey/gin, mineral water, and half of a lime squeezed and dropped into the glass.  It’s referred to as “air conditioning in a glass”.  You can read about it on Wikipedia… I just did.  Anywho, I’m going to guess that The Pop Shoppe just named their soda flavor “Lime Ricky” to be catchy and are not trying to match the flavor of the alcoholic beverage, but I’ve been wrong before…. Approximately 20 minutes ago if my watch is working properly.  Onward!

The scent is that of a delicious lime soda.  It closer to lime candy than actual lime, but isn’t that what we’re drinking?  A quick look at the ingredients shows no lime, but the incredibly vague “natural flavors”.  Ah well, I’m too hot to really care about that right now.  I just want a drink.

While immediately refreshing, and I emphasize “immediately” and “refreshing” the flavor is lighter than I anticipated.  Perhaps it will begin to build on itself as I continue.  There you are little guy, I see you hiding behind that short burst of tickling bubbles.  C’mon out where we can chat a while.  Little closer.  Little closer.  There you are!  You’re a dainty little thing aren’t you?  While the lime flavoring doesn’t come out and punch you in the throat, the taste you get is still rather tasty.  There is no syrupy taste that lingers in your mouth; it’s a quick refreshing burst of lime that cools you down and improves your mood.  Every sip cools my chest a little bit more like an air conditionerOHMYGOODNESS I see what they mean now!  Seriously though, The Pop Shoppe Lime Ricky Soda does have a better cooling/refreshing effect than a lot of sodas do.  So hats off to The Pop Shoppe for their Lime Ricky Soda.  You could have increased the lime flavoring, but the drink wouldn’t have been as refreshing in my opinion.  Well done.  This drink will always be welcomed in my fridge.

~A

Twist was a bartender from 1870-1913

The Pop Shoppe Black Cherry Soda

I’ve never had anything from The Pop Shoppe, but I can tell you that I’m looking forward to it for various “non taste related” reasons.  The first reason is obviously the spelling of the word “Shoppe”.  The Old English spelling of the word “shoppe” always hits a fun trigger with me.  Is this company so old that it actually makes sense for them to use it?  Probably not, but why not induce a smile when someone reads your name.  Secondly, the logo is super simple as you can see and looks like something from the 50’s.  Finally, the bottle proclaims the words “Cane Sugar”.  It doesn’t say it’s made with cane sugar, it doesn’t say that it’s sweetened with cane sugar… it just says “Cane Sugar” in a fun Mattel-esque shape.  Of course we know why it says this, but it made me chuckle.  So with that all said I should probably tell you what I’m reviewing today.  Today’s soda is The Pop Shoppe Black Cherry Soda, one of my favorite flavors in the soda world.  Onward!

Apparently Ye Olde Poppe Shoppe isn’t so olde that you need a bottle opener as the twisting action worked just fine.  The scent that escapes the mouth of this bottle reminds me of Dimetapp, which throws an interesting wrench in this review.  To the drinking machine!

The carbonation level of Pop Shoppe Black Cherry Soda is fairly low which isn’t at all what I expected.  I guess when you write “pop” in a review enough times you’ll just convince yourself that the soda itself with have some “pop” to it.  Now the flavor is a different animal.  This is one of the sweeter black cherry sodas I’ve tasted recently and it really seems to stick to your teeth.  The soda itself isn’t all that syrupy, but the taste just lingers in your mouth.  As for the black cherry flavor it’s rather common, but is on the stronger side which is nice.  I really expected to be blown away by this brand of black cherry because I’ve heard positive things about it, but Pop Shoppe Black Cherry Soda seems rather average to me.  The most enduring things about it are all cosmetic.  The lack of fizz, with the brief exception of a small kick during the finish, is the start to a fairly standard journey.  Honestly if they upped said fizz this would be rated a point higher, maybe even two.  I have two more bottles of Pop Shoppe soda in my fridge currently, hopefully they represent the brand a little better.

~A

The original spelling of Twist's name was Twistee.  The extra "E" is for "Extra Olde"

Jelly Belly Strawberry Jam

I liken finding a Jelly Belly soda to finding 50 cents in your pocket.  You’re going to be happy you found it, but you’re not going to brag about it to any of your friends.  Jelly Belly soda seems to randomly pop (HA! Our most overused joke!) up at times when I’m low on soda as if to say “Hey there, Guy.  Don’t give up hope yet.  Who knows how many flavors of me there are in the world.”  Today’s flavor of him is Strawberry Jam.  Now I’m assuming most of us are familiar with strawberry soda and its various forms, but I for one have never seen a strawberry “jam” soda on the market.  My fear is that it’s just a naming ploy to make their strawberry soda stick out in your mind when looking to choose said flavored soda.  It’s made with cane sugar, so we’re already on a good road.  So let me take you down, ‘cause I’m going to review this strawberry jam soda.

Ok, so the scent smells like strawberry jam forever.  It definitely keeps my mind from thinking that this is an ordinary strawberry soda.  My wife uses strawberry jam as her spread of choice when making a PBJ sandwich, which makes me familiar with the aroma.  Color me intrigued… which in this case is somewhere between red and pink.

This is fairly tasty, that is I think it’s not too bad.  The scent leans more towards the “jam flavor” than the actual taste does.  I’m going to attempt a rather difficult visual, so try and bear with me.  Picture the scent as a man from the 20’s doffing his top hat towards a lady.  He bends at the waist, extends one arm and fully removes his stylish head piece from his head.  Now picture the taste as a private detective from the 50’s greeting a lady.  He’s still stylishly dressed, just not quite as much.  He grabs the brim of his fedora and sharply tugs it down in a sort of abbreviated doff.  Both of these gestures are similar as greetings toward the fairer sex, but one is much more exaggerated.  You expect the full doff when you begin to drink, but you’re greeted with a bit less.  If that comparison felt like a waste of space to you don’t worry about it, the characters won’t be hurt.  Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.

With all that said, Jelly Belly Strawberry Jam soda does differentiate itself a little with its jam-esque flavor, just not as much as I’d hoped.   The strawberry finish coats and sits in your mouth for quite a while after each sip.  I wouldn’t say that it’s strawberry jam forever, but it holds on longer than I’d like.  This is just as sweet as you might expect a strawberry soda to be, which is very when compared to other flavors.  Overall this is a slightly above average strawberry soda that had the opportunity to set itself apart if only it tasted more jam like.  Ah well, it’s still pretty tasty.

~A

[Cranberry Sauce…]

Living is easy with eyes closed, which is why Twist never closes them.

Fanta Orange with Sugar

Well I’m still scraping by on drinks to review due to my laziness of doing that thing where you get in the big steel box and direct it to one of those large boxes where people find the different sodas.  So today we’re once again relying on my local foodery, a place I’m treating like a dog treats a bone in the yard.  Gotta save it for later, don’t finish the bone, gotta save it for later.  Today’s scrounging has brought me in contact with Fanta Orange.  “Big whoop” you might say and if you did I’d probably chuckle at you.  This isn’t your ordinary Fanta Orange, this Fanta Orange hails from Mexico which means… wait for it… yes it’s sweetened with real sugar.  I’m pretty sure most of us are vaguely familiar with Fanta, but if not here goes the sentence summary.  Fanta is the brand Coke uses for fruit flavors.  Heck you might even remember the Fanta Girls asking if you “Wanna Fanta?  Don’t you wanna?”  If none of that rings your doorbells don’t worry, it’s just orange soda.

After using my trusty vintage “Colorado County Federal Savings and Loan Association” bottle opener I’m greeted with the familiar scent of orange soda.  It’s not over powering, it’s not amazing, it’s faint and it’s orange.  Moving on.

Immediately I’m impressed by the light mouth feel this sugar sweetened beverage gives me, but that’s the finish and around here we start from the beginning.  Upon first consumption of Fanta Orange my taste buds are greeted with sweet orange flavor.  It’s similar to your basic orange candy, but slightly less powerful in taste.  The orange essence sits flatly in your mouth for a few seconds before the bubbles set in before coating your tongue with light fizzy bubbles.  Throughout the entire experience though there’s the very subtle hint of cardboard.  It doesn’t ruin the taste by any means, but it’s most definitely present.  Now this “cardboard” taste might only be in my world as I’ve noticed that it’s present in many of the orange sodas I’ve tasted.  Frostie, while I like it a lot, is the strongest example of that.  With all that said Fanta Orange is still a pretty good orange soda, but nothing you need to seek out.  If you’re already a Fan of Fanta (I really hope that’s been an advertising campaign of theirs) then try and find yourself a bottle of the Mexican version.  If you’re just “alright” with Orange Fanta then I’d say go ahead and stick to the HFCS version because it’s not worth the extra effort to find this.

~A

Twist invented soda flavored stamps back in the 70's, but no one wanted to buy from an iguana... pity.

Boylan Black Cherry

Boylan makes a good soda, so it’s surprising to me when I look through our reviews and only count three of their current flavors.  I was at my local foodery the other day and noticed that their deli section had those exact three flavors… plus one extra.  Fortunately the extra flavor was Black Cherry, something that most soda manufacturers can’t turn into a mouthstake.  That’s a mistake you make with your mouth that will we will only use when talking about a soda you have mistakenly consumed.  Enough of my newly minted word though.  To catch up those unfamiliar with the Boylan family here goes.  Boylan’s has been around since 1891, they sweeten with cane sugar, their flavors are usually on the richer side, and they have beautifully simplistic logos.  On to the next step.

Interesting.  Boylan Black Cherry smells less sweet than I thought it would.  I figured I was in for a finer version of an IBC Black Cherry, but the scent that hits my nose is much closer to the actual smell of cherries.  Hopefully this twist in the story will still delight my taste buds.

Oh, Boylan… you do not disappoint.  The flavor is that of black cherry, but is not as sweet as you might find in most similarly flavored beverages.  A quirky thing about the carbonation is that it adds almost a hollow mouth feel which is unlike anything I’ve tried in a while.  The finish is rather clean, not leaving a syrupy feel amongst your molars… if you still have them.  Of those three characteristics I just listed I think the level of sweetness is what took me off guard the most.  I normally associate black cherry as being a “kid’s drink”.  It’s normally a candy sweet soda that uses the word “Black” to differentiate itself from a basic cherry soda even though it rarely tastes much different.  Boylan Black Cherry is apparently the adult version of this.  Its flavor title is much more accurate than other brands and that’s something I can get behind.  It’d be kind of neat to have Kid Flavors and Adult Flavors.  Kid Flavor grape soda would taste like most grape sodas do now, sugary awesomeness.  Adult Flavor grape soda would taste like grapes, which to me would be equally awesome.  Combine that last idea with mouthtake and I’d color this a pretty successful review.  Don’t worry, I’ll remember you all when I’m rich beyond our wildest dreams.

~A

Twist bought this for me.  I'm not sure why, but I think he wants to borrow the truck.

Koma Unwind Sugar Free

Ok, so this review is going to be quick and dirty.  Last week… I think… I reviewed Koma Unwind and was surprised at how delicious it was.  Today we have the sugar free version and once again I’m skeptical.  After thinking about it for a half a second it does seem to be a little self-defeating to have a “relaxation beverage” with sugar in it.  Looking at the ingredients of the sugar free Koma Unwind I see that Sucralose is present, so maybe this will at least resemble the fantastic flavor of its sweetened brethren.  Only one way to find out.

The smell is very similar, grape-tastic, so hopefully the taste won’t fall as flat as I’m expecting it to.  Here’s something fun that will lengthen this section to paragraph length.  Even though the can says “Sugar Free” throughout the design my brain continuously blurs it out.  It’s hidden right in front of my face.   There, that worked well enough.  Drinkin’ time.

Aww, drinking Koma Unwind Sugar Free is somewhat sad.  It’s like Koma Unwind died and after some time had passed my mouth is trying to remember what it tasted like.  The first flavor Koma Unwind Sugar-Free presents me with tastes like Mr. Chemical made it straight from the chemicals he grew in his garden.  Eventually you get a flavor that is reminiscent of Koma Unwind, but it just can’t shake the taste of its artificial sweetener.  Is it still a drinkable beverage?  Yes, but all the joy has been removed so I’m definitely not going to recommend it.  Let me make up a fun “math-esque” formula for all you egg-heads to follow.  Koma Unwind > Melatonin Pill > Ether > Koma Unwind  Sugar Free.  Before you go testing out that “formula” just know that I once scored a 12 on an Algebra II Final Exam.

~A

Even with someone as sweet as Twist near by it still needs sugar

MASH Pomegranate Blueberry

One final MASH beverage before the four-fecta is complete.  I’ve worked up a powerful thirst cleaning the shower and what not, so hopefully this MASH Pomegranate Blueberry will help me rejuvenate.  If you’ve read the previous three reviews on MASH, and if you have then congrats on being better than everyone else, you’d know that MASH drinks are very hit or miss.  Enough chatter, I’m too thirsty to care.

Fortunately both scents are present in the aroma of MASH Pomegranate Blueberry.  The blueberry does outshine its pom brethren just a bit, but one of them has to win the battle… right?  DRINK ON!  (I really wish I had two consistent catch phrases to lead from the 1st to 2nd paragraph and then the 2nd to 3rd paragraph… suggestions?)

Fizzy, fruity, but light enough to chug.  MASH Pom-Blu (as I will now call it) is delightful right off the bat.  The carbonation seems a little more intense than in other flavors, which is a nice change up.  Both the pom and blu are very present and aren’t nearly as muted as previous MASH flavors.  This particular version of MASH is what the other flavors should strive to be.  I’m not sure if the particular flavors involved allow for a more robust taste, but it’s great no matter how you slice it.  Even though I’m getting a double burst of fruit flavors the drink is still light enough to quench my thirst and doesn’t sit heavily in my mouth.  Each sip still thrills me with the amount of fizz it contains, almost like it’s playfully shocking my tongue.  If you were to take all the individual delights from this beverage from this drink and separate them you’d end up with an average soda, but combined they make a fantastic entry into the fruit soda genre… and low calorie to boot!

~A

Koma Unwind

We air a show where I work called Chris Lafferty’s Motorsports TV.  Now that’s not something you have to remember, except for Hannah’s corner… that’s fairly entertaining.  The important thing about that show is that it is home to a fantastic commercial for the beverage up for review today, Koma Unwind.  I don’t usually put a lot of multimedia in my reviews, but I must share this commercial with you.

Ok, now that you’ve (hopefully) watched it you should be able to see why I was drawn to Koma Unwind.  This is obviously not a big budget commercial and honestly the first time I saw it I thought it was for wine in a can.  Who knows, maybe this will taste like wine in a can.  That would be unfortunate, but at least I would be understanding about it. 

The enduring aspect of the commercial is that we’ve all been there.  You open the door and you’re greeted by your two kids, your dog, a basketball and a skateboard.  In fact this family has three skateboards which seems a bit overboard (pun intended) to me.  You just want to relax, but alas there is no time because now you have to cook dinner.  All you want to do is wind down over a hot stove, but your two daughters come calmly walking in with the dog on a leash.  What can you do except over emphasize the fact that you don’t want them anywhere near you?  You could scream, curse, throw up your hands and just walk away… or you could drink.  That’s what is implied initially, that the average stressed out mother would go straight for the bottle.... AHA!  Herein lies the twist (not the iguana).  You push the bottle out of the way to reveal a room temperature can of Koma Unwind and you pour THAT into your chalice. 

Then with dinner presumably cooking itself on the stove you wander into the living room and just relax.  Your kids, dogs, and presumably their skateboards, have vanished.  You no longer have a care in the world as you’re left with the slogan “RELAX NOW YOU CAN KOMA UNWIND”.  So as you see the commercial is a little cheesy, but I enjoy that “local TV” aspect of advertising.  “Wine in a can”, as I thought at the time, would be a fantastic review.  So I asked the nice people at Koma Unwind if they wouldn’t mind sending a few cans out for review and they happily obliged. 

Koma Unwind is indeed a relaxation beverage that includes the ingredient Melatonin.  Melatonin, as you might know, is a key ingredient in sleep aides.  This also has HFCS and Grape Juice concentrate in it.  Now many of the “relaxation beverages” have names like Purple Stuff and Sippin’ Syrup.  Here is where I must salute Koma Unwind for not trying to pander to the youth of (insert country here) by naming their beverage after an illegal substance.  No, Koma Unwind took the high road and simply named their soda the two words that would describe what it intended to do to you.  Sorry, I must correct myself.  Koma Unwind is listed as a Chillaxation Drink on its own label.  Fun fact, I made up the word “Chillax” close to 15 years ago; unless you’ve heard it prior to then you might as well believe that as well.  Ok, I’ve rambled enough… it’s time for a taste.

The aroma the snapped out of this ice cold can (I didn’t want to try it at room temp) is that of a grape soda.  No one should be surprised by this since the ingredients on the side of the can listed grape juice concentrate as an ingredient.  I am taken a back a bit on how sweet it smells.  I think it lists 31 grams of sugar, but I can’t really tell because the font is a bit fuzzy.  Drinkin’ time!

Well that’s delightful.  Koma Unwind tastes like liquid, carbonated, grape Nerds candy.  The grape flavoring is just about perfect and the carbonation packs a bit of a punch as well.  Well color me surprised.  Koma Unwind is one of the better grape sodas, if it can fit that description, I’ve had to date.  Yes I know that it’s full of chemicals, but if you know me then you know the more “fake” a grape soda is the more I’ll probably like it.  For the most part each sip stands alone, meaning the flavor doesn’t build upon itself.  The aftertaste I get from each gulp, and I am gulping this, is sweet and light.  I think the carbonation level is what surprises me most.  It’s not an intense tingling sensation, but I can feel the whispers of the bubbles in my mouth long after I’ve consumed the beverage.  I think that Koma Unwind did a great job in making a relaxation beverage on multiple fronts.  First and foremost the taste could be that of a “normal” grape soda.  It’s fruity and fun, with good fizz to boot.  Secondly, as I stated before, they didn’t give this drink a name associated with cough syrup.  Finally they have an amusing commercial that I’ve seen over 40 times thanks to work.  Now Koma Unwind isn’t the best relaxation drink we’ve ever reviewed.  That honor would have to go to Mary Jane’s Relaxing Soda… yes, yes, I know, the name thing, but they get away with it for being truly different.

~A

Twist cannot get any more relaxed