Cool Mountain Peach

Peach soda is usually a pleasant experience for me, but there’s just something about this bottle of Cool Mountain Peach that seems really, really generic.  The liquid inside is the appropriate color (if not a little on the pink side) and the label works with this scheme as well.  Keeping in line with the Real Soda bottling ways there is a message on the bottle that says “Chief Long Neck” which I can only assume is the “Native American name” of this particular bottle of Cool Mountain Peach.  Made with pure cane sugar, filtered water, and a host of nonsense this soda is very much a grab bag in terms of if I’ll like it or not.  Smell time.

While the scent does resemble that of a peach, when I placed it to the nose of our cat she backed away in an unsure manner.  Perhaps she could also smell the potentially over-sweetened aroma even my mere human nose discerned.  Taste time.

Like the old saying goes, “Trust the cat’s nose to know what’s best”.  Ok, so that’s not really a saying, but it still rings true in the scenario that just played out before me.  Cool Mountain Peach, a terrific name for a classic country song or an indie band, tastes of overly sweetened peach tasting chemicals.  Peach is already a dangerously sweet flavor so you must be careful when adding any additional sugars.  In this case it seems they went a few hairs in the wrong direction and created a beverage that would be better if the peach flavor held more of the stage.  Man, I use that “play” analogy a lot, but it works in so many aspects.

The carbonation level is fine, but it doesn’t really add anything extra to the beverage other than the typical fizz one might expect.  Overall Cool Mountain Peach is an average soda with way too sweet a taste for what could have been done.  I understand that sodas are typically sweet, but in this case it feels like they missed out on some potentially great flavors by making it so.

~A

Cool Mountain Peach... more like Cool Mountain BLEACH!  That statement isn't true at all, it was just fun to type.

Sprecher Red Apple

I don’t know if there has been a bottle of Sprecher’s soda that I wasn’t excited to see.  Imagine my mind exploding as I found a bottle of Seasonal Sprecher Red Apple Soda for my taste buds to enjoy.  Sprecher makes some of the most flavorful sodas around and should be given a chance by all.  This particular flavor is sweetened with Glucose Syrup.  Is it made with corn?  We’ll never know, but we also can’t rule out a variety of other starches as well.  The crow on the label seems to be tempting me with two and three quarter’s worth of apples.  Where did that final quarter go?  Perhaps it disappeared in the making of this soda as it does have actual apple juice in the ingredients.  Smell time.

Well the smell test is back.  It’s good news, Sir.  You’ve tested positive for apple.  Sprecher Red Apple has the aroma of… get this… apple.  There’s a hint of “not apple” waving off in the distance, but it might as well not be there.  It’s the dust on the camera lens that most people look past.  Taste time.

The initial taste of Sprecher Red apple is bursting with red apple flavor.  There is also the noticeable sweetness of honey greeting every aspect of my mouth.  The carbonation is fun and almost could be described as fluffy.  Large foamy bubbles roll over my back teeth inviting them all to partake in the amazing party that’s about to be had.  Then you have to ment…

Nothing.  The drink ends prematurely.  All of the fun that you and your mouth were having ends abruptly.  It’s like someone broke into your house and stole your TV.  You can still see on the wall where the TV clearly was, but it’s not there anymore.  Where is the finish to this drink?  I want more of this beverage!  That’s why there’s three quarters of an apple on the label, because it’s three quarters of a soda.  So much is going right with the flavor, sweetness, fizz combination only to have it stop.  Now the positive side to this is that I wouldn’t be complaining if it were a bad beverage; I’d be thanking my lucky stars.  Sadly(?) this is a delicious apple filled treat and it’s ripped away from you all too soon.  You could have had a perfect score Sprecher Red Apple, but instead you’re just merely excellent.

~A

Twist told me a joke the other day.  Did you hear about the blueberry?  It was too....

Capt'n Eli's Strawberry Pop

Well friends it’s time once again for the adventures of Capt’n Eli and his faithful parrot Murphy.  This time those two scallywags are delivering an overabundance of strawberries from the neighboring town that’s apparently separated by a large body of water.  The neighboring town seems to have all the prime real estate when it comes to producing blueberries, strawberries, and root beer.  I’m also not really sure why they don’t give Eli and Murphy some lids for those barrels as you’d think they’d be easier to transport and there’d be less chance for spillage.  What are they going to make with those strawberries?  Well, Capt’n Eli’s Strawberry Pop of course.  This beverage should taste extra strawberry-y as it has both natural and artificial strawberry flavors.  Sweetened with cane sugar it’s sure to be a treat like the other Capt’n Eli beverages I’ve reviewed.

A rich, fulfilling strawberry aroma eases its way out of the bottle.  The scent is heavy and only tinges on artificial occasionally.  While the smell isn’t exactly drawing any maps for me I do hope that this strawberry pop doesn’t falter where so many others do by being too sweet.

Interesting first take.  I was reminded of pink cotton candy upon my first sip, but it wasn’t so sweet that my taste buds balked at it.  The strawberry flavor is there hidden behind a candy exterior.  Honestly this is a bit of a disappointment as I was looking to have a well done strawberry soda and I was greeted with sweetened, fizzy, liquid strawberry cotton candy.  I will still stick to my assessment that it isn’t overly sweet so that’s a plus.  There’s just too much artificial surrounding it.  It keeps the strawberry off the stage and places it to the side pulling the curtain.  Sure you see him every now and again, but honestly it seems like a mistake when he shows up. 

Capt’n Eli’s Strawberry Pop is one of those odd instances where the soda would be tastier if you didn’t know what flavor it was trying to be.  Since I know what the goal they wanted to achieve is (based on the label of a boy hauling fresh strawberries across a body of water) I’m left more disappointed than I would be if someone had just walked up to me and said “Hey try this fruity soda.”  On the positive side though the carbonation is really enjoyable and has kept me going back for more just to experience the sharp, almost pop-rockish, mouth-feel.  Another positive note is that Capt’ Eli’s Strawberry Pop doesn’t really linger in my mouth.   Yes, I can taste strawberry a good while after each gulp, but it’s not the syrupy curtain I reference so often.  Overall it’s a tasty soda with poor execution of what seems to be its intended plan.

~A

Twist was first mate for a number of ships in the Queen's Navy

Boylan Shirley Temple

The fine folks at Boylan wrote me the other day and asked if they could send a four pack of their new Spring Seasonal - Shirley Temple over for review.  Having enjoyed Boylan’s before, I of course lept at the opportunity and now here I sit with Boylan Shirley Temple in front of me.  If you’re not familiar with what a Shirley Temple is besides the cutest little star this side of 1934, I’ll tell you.  A Shirley Temple is a non-alcoholic beverage made with ginger-ale, a splash of grenadine, and a couple of maraschino cherries.  That is the classic recipe at least.  Nowadays the ginger ale is usually substituted with a lemon/lime soda for a reason unknown to me.  Well bottlers at Boylan decided it’d be a great idea to bottle this flavor and once again here I sit ready to drink this cane sugar sweetened concoction.  The color of the liquid is a beautiful shade of rose.  The classic Boylan label adorns the bottle with a spring time color theme that seems very appropriate for the drink at hand.  Enough waiting, more drinking.

I wish I had a flower garden that smelled of Boylan Shirley Temple.  A brisk cherry scent floated about until kissing my nose with delight.  There’s also a hint of Twizzler which brings me back to reality and says that I should stay cautious.

So very fizzy.  The quick burst of cherry is almost immediately consumed by a flurry of tiny bubbles.  When the chaos ends I’m happy to see that the cherry flavor has survived and is sitting happily upon my tongue awaiting my review.  While the flavor does indeed linger after each sip it only overstays its welcome for a few moments.  You see, the mouth-feel of Boylan Shirley Temple is very effervescent at first and only begins to weigh down near the conclusion of my sip.  Unfortunately this involves the cherry taste building upon itself with subsequent sips which weakens the overall taste of the beverage.  I’m not struggling to drink it by any means, but the first impression I got does not match my last.  Thankfully the built up flavor never reaches a level of disgust, just unpleasantness.  It’s difficult for fruit based sodas to avoid building upon themselves and I can only think of a few where it actually improves the taste of the beverage.  I do wish the cherry flavoring tasted a bit more natural, but the flavor of maraschino cherries isn’t exactly found in nature.  All in all Boylan Shirley Temple is a delightful beverage.  While improvements could be made I don’t think I’d mind a pack being in my fridge right now.

~A

This beverage supplied to us by Boylan

Twist was on his way out the door for a meeting

MTN Dew Kickstart Fruit Punch

Alright, so yesterday I reviewed Kickstart Orange Citrus from Mountain Dew.  If you haven’t read the review please do so that you might be caught up on all that is involved with this pair of reviews.  Today’s flavor of Mountain Dew Kickstart is Fruit Punch.  Now initially I had higher hopes for the Orange Citrus, but was let down somewhat when the second half of the flavor fell flat for me.  Here’s hoping Fruit Punch ends up being a better way for my mouth to wake up in the morning.  Onward!

The scent that comes from Mountain Dew Kickstart Fruit Punch isn’t nearly as powerful as the Citrus Orange.  I really have to put my nose to the can to get a discernible fruit punch smell.  It has a light fruity aroma, but nothing that really gives me any insight as to what this might taste like.

Immediately this can of Kickstart shows me that it means business.  Where the Citrus Orange tickled my mouth with bubbles for the first half of the sip; the Fruit Punch waits for me to swallow then goes at the back of my throat with a sharp knife.  It’s definitely an experience that would wake you up.  As for the flavor I’m not all that impressed.  If you have ever been an infant or have infants of your own you’ve probably tasted Pedialyte.  Mountain Dew Kickstart Fruit Punch is Pedialyte soda and you can imagine that doesn’t fare well for me.  The taste feels incomplete as a good fruit punch flavor becomes bogged down with the other nonsense in the can.  Pretend you have a friend who’s a good person, but their significant other just turns them into a miserable mess.  When you look at them you can tell they’re trying to still be good at heart.  They force smiles and laughs all the while dying inside.  Kickstart Fruit Punch is that good friend of yours.  If only they would separate from that awful person then you might enjoy there company again. 

My mouth is coated in a medicinal syrup that just won’t let go of the inside of my cheeks.  I want to like this I really do, but it’s just not happening.  Each sip just keeps taking me on the same experience.  It’s like going through the tunnel of love with someone that likes you, but the feeling’s not mutual.  The first time is awkward.  The tenth is a nightmare as it just keeps building upon itself eventually becoming no fun for even the initially happy person in the boat.  On that note, were tunnels of love ever an actual thing or did they just appear in cartoons as a comic device?  Sorry, I just don’t want to drink anymore.  The only thing saving this beverage from our lowest score is the potential the fruit punch shows before it’s dragged back down by the other faults of the beverage.

~A

This beverage supplied to us by PepsiCo

Twist is a Pedialyte fiend.

MTN Dew Kickstart Orange Citrus

I’ve received a lot of merchandise over the years reviewing sodas.  Most of it consists of the sodas themselves freely given to me so that I might review them.  Sometimes I’m given hats, stickers, shirts, or the occasional coaster.  My mind exploded yesterday when I got a promotional package from Mountain Dew for their new Kickstart line of beverages.  Before I continue let me explain what Kickstart is. 

Kickstart is basically the Mountain Dew you’re supposed to drink in the morning and you can do so with either Orange Citrus or Fruit Punch.  To quote the promotional material I received it “combines the great taste of DEW with real fruit juice and just the right amount of kick to start your day.”  So instead of grabbing for that cup of coffee or that tiny bottle of mediocre tasting energy drink, they folks at Mountain Dew want you to grab a can of Kickstart instead.  Ok, so I’m not big on drinking sodas when I wake up, but I can’t argue that there isn’t a market for it.  People drink all kinds of wake me up juice in the morning.  Who am I to judge?  Let me back up to what this promotional box of Kickstart held for me.

Twist was also impressed with the build quality of the box

The first thing that caught my eye was the iPod Shuffle, then the Spy+ glasses, then the Beats by Dre headphones.  I tell you what was in the box so you know that I got swag attached to my soda.  I feel it’s only fair to be truthful about these kinds of things and also believe that you should know I’ve given some of it away.  Personally I don’t believe I can be swayed by material goods and I’m not saying that Mountain Dew was trying to sway me into giving a false review because I honestly believe they aren’t.  The only time I would feel odd reviewing a soda is if I worked for the company that made It and in that case probably wouldn’t review it.  With that said, I still felt it necessary to disclose everything attached to said swag box so you would know all of the variables before I drank this.  Oh, the note attached reads “We’ve included everything you need right here to get your day started right.  So crack open the can, throw on your Spys and turn up your Beats.  Get up, get out and let Kickstart by Mountain DEW KICKSTART YOUR DAY!” Review begins now.

Mountain Dew Kickstart Orange Citrus comes large in a 16 oz. can.  It’s made with 5% juice, has 100% value of the Vitamin C you need in a day, 80% B6 and a few other things as well.  There are only 20 grams of sugar in this which honestly surprises me so I’m guessing the Kickstart must come from the C, B, and Caffeine included in the beverage.  With a little research I find that this finds itself somewhere in the middle of the scale when it comes to comparing how much caffeine it has with other Mountain Dew types.  I’m not sure I need to say it’s sweetened with HFCS, but there you have that as well.  The bright orange can paired with the fact that concentrated orange juice is in the ingredients is making me wonder if this will taste anything like Orangina.  I guess there’s only one way to find out.

What smells like a delightfully light orange soda rushes out of the mouth of the can.  The more it wafts into my nostrils the more I get the scent of actual orange juice.  By aroma alone this is shaping up to be a delightful beverage.

Alright, that’s not half bad.  I was honestly expecting this to be a somewhat awkward missmash of orange and dew.  If I’d thought about it for longer than a second I would realize that the citrus of Dew would obviously pair well with another citrus flavor.  The mouth feel I initially experience is rather pleasant as it completely encompasses my mouth in tiny fizzy bubbles.  A decent orange soda flavor is also present for the first half of each sip, but that’s where the happy times end.  First act of Mountain Dew Kickstart Orange Citrus is like going to a local theatre group.  The actors are all doing pretty well and you’re enjoying the play just fine.  Sure the scenery might not be ultra-realistic, but you’re having a good time.  The second act is comparable to a junior high play.  Lines are flubbed, snickers are heard when the word “damn” is said, and the popular kid keeps looking out in the audience at his girlfriend.  You never get fully lost in the play.  What that means in review speak is that it seems like the chemicals and vitamins catch up to the flavor of the drink during the second half of each sip.  My mouth is left with a little bit of a syrupy feel after I’ve taken a gulp and the residue flavor isn’t all that wonderful.  The orange begins to taste like 3 year old Halloween candy and all of the fun I experienced in the first half goes by the wayside.  When all is said and done I’m left with an odd tasting orange soda. 

Will this help me start my day awake?  Of course it will; it has more caffeine than Mountain Dew.  I’d have to be a corpse for this not to wake me up somewhat.  Would I grab this before a coffee?  Yes, but I hate coffee.  Does it taste better than 5 Hour Energy?  Well I haven’t had all of the flavors, but yes it does taste better than 5 Hour Energy.  With all that said this site is about reviewing the taste of a beverage and ultimately this goes up against every orange soda I’ve tried and it stacks up as average.  So if you want to give breakfast Mountain Dew a chance to wake you up in the morning you probably won’t be disappointed and you should check out this website.  If you want to enjoy a delicious orange soda, look elsewhere.

A

This beverage supplied to us by PepsiCo

Featuring Twist by Dre

C&C Pineapple

With the completion of this review my count of remaining C&C brand sodas reaches two!  I’m not excited to be done with C&C because they’re awful or anything, they taste just fine thank you.  My excitement stems from getting back into a variety of soda types and flavors.  Believe my I’m gracious for the 24 sodas sent my way thanks to C&C, but our time together is ending and that’s ok too.  What am I reviewing?  While I’m happy you asked that with this paragraph soon coming to an end.  Today’s bottle of sugary bubble water is C&C Pineapple.  Unfortunately, pineapple soda all tastes rather average to me as I’ve yet to be completely blown away by one.  Who knows, maybe today will be the review that changes all that. 

A healthy, but somewhat chemically enhance odor bursts from the bottle’s mouth.  While it’s not  an exact replica of pineapple juice the aroma was close enough for me to not give up hope on this being a delicious rendition of pineapple soda.  Now it’s time to find out if my day will end in disappointment ore exuberance. 

Well I’m not disappointed nor am I exuberated.  Fun fact, I typed exuberated expecting it to be a word I just made up… imagine my surprise when I did not find the squiggly red line of misspell parked underneath it.  Speaking of surprise, the only aspect of C&C Pineapple soda that garners such a reaction is how mediciney (there’s my red squiggle friend) it tastes.  Yes, there’s no mistaking that the flavor of pineapple is every present, but it is become less enjoyable with each sip.  With my first sip I was greeted with a fairly nice pineapple soda.  For every following sip the medicine pineapple taste begins to build on itself creating a somewhat unpleasant tasting curtain of syrup in my mouth.  The carbonation level could be higher as I feel a sharper bite might help mask this doctor prescribed flavor.  It’s odd that I gave points to the amoxicillin flavored C&C Topical Fruit Punch, yet I take away from C&C Pineapple because it tastes like a medicine I have no fond memories of.  Ah well, thems the breaks.  C&C Pineapple isn’t a great soda, heck I wouldn’t even call it good, but I’ve consumed worse things.  With that said though, I just can’t recommend you buy it.

~A

This beverage supplied to us by C&C

Twist suggested a cottage cheese soda to accompany.  I politely refused.

C&C Grape

Alright C&C, you’ve entered my wheelhouse.  If there’s something I love it’s a good generic grape soda and judging by your label art this one has the potential of being super generic.  Simply called C&C Grape, the bottle stands in front of me shaking out of fear… or because my desk is easily shaken by the slightest percussion of my fingers.  With delicious generic grape to be had I will wait no more to taste the HFCS sweetened nectar that waits.

Oooh, the delicate aroma of grape drink hits my nostrils in a chemical blast.  I can only assume that this is what the “purple stuff” in the back of the fridge seen in those old Sunny D commercials smelled like.  If the taste of C&C Grape is as good as its odor then I’m in for a real treat.  There’s only one way to find out.  Well I guess I could ask someone, but where’s the fun in that?

Interesting, this has more of a natural grape taste than I was assuming it would.  Here I figured this would taste completely fake yet the first thing my tongue told my brain it tasted was grape juice.  With that grape juice taste comes just enough carbonation to remind me that I’m drinking a soda.  There is a touch of burn that tickles my throat with each sip.  I would like that burn to be stronger to remind me that I’m alive.  Besides being reminded of my mortality I would also like the burn to be more noticeable because it would give this beverage a bit more depth.  What I’m left with is a grape juice-esque tasting soda that is slightly sweeter than the juice it resembles.  Now I may be showing my disappointment that I didn’t get a super fake chemical tasting soda, but I think I’m justified in that opinion.  If I wanted grape juice I’d drink some grape juice and be done with it.  The fact that it tastes more “natural” than your typical grape soda was a pleasant surprise, although not enough for me to give it point for doing so.  Overall C&C Grape soda may be a decent alternative for those who dislike the taste of purple sugar water.  They’ve tried to stand apart from the aforementioned “purple stuff” and I feel that they were successful in doing so… it just wasn’t my thing.

~A

This beverage supplied to us by C&C

Grape soda with a Twist.  Ha. Ha. Ha.

C&C Golden Peach

With 5 more C&C beverages to go we’re nearing the end of our time with the soda manufacturer.  Today I’ve chosen a personal favorite flavor in world of sodas… peach.  Technically it’s C&C Golden Peach and I will say that adding the adjective “golden” increases m y want factor of this beverage. Look, peaches come from a can.  They were put there by a man.  In a factory downtown.  Then someone tasted those peaches and decided they should be in a soda.  Peach soda is one of those sodas that don’t need to be all natural to be good.  Since C&C is chock full of chemicals as long as this soda has a strong enough flavor and tastes like peach then they should have no issue with me enjoying it.  So let’s take a page from James and jump right on into this giant bottle of peach soda.

The familiar smell of rich, chemically enhanced, peach throws itself down my nostrils.  Like I said before, sometimes the chemicals help the cause and while I enjoy an all-natural soda as much as the next person you can’t discount peach in any form.

This has a uniquely familiar flavor to it.  It tastes like it was made with millions of peaches.  Peaches for me!  Ok, so that reference was forced... it is tasty though.  With all of the other peach sodas I’ve had one of the key traits is how sweet they taste.  C&C Golden Peach seems to understand that sweetness is important with a peach flavor beverage, but not everything.  The tart bite of a peach is what C&C used to fill the left over flavor room they had by not just loading this soda up with sugar.  In doing so I’m treated to a very natural tasting soda in terms of “does this taste like an actual peach”.  Of course it’s not going to replicate it perfectly, but C&C Golden Peach is a very strong entry in the peach soda market.  The excellent flavor is enhanced by the fact that the carbonation levels are strong enough to give your throat a slight burn and not make it seem like you’re just sitting in your house drinking peach syrup out of a can.  Speaking of syrup, the HFCS used in the making of this soda does not weigh heavily in your mouth after each sip.  I’m about a third of the way finished with the bottle and it doesn’t seem to be building on itself that much either.  Could this soda be improved?  Sure it could, it could use natural ingredients, have better bottle art, and be a bit lighter in the mouth feel department.  I’m still going to recommend you pick up multiples of it though.  Look out.

~A

If Twist had his little way he'd eat peaches everyday

C&C Tropical Fruit Punch

Today’s beverage from C&C is looking pretty appetizing to me.  C&C Tropical Fruit Punch is what sits in front of me tempting me with its potentially fruity flavor.  I don’t know what it is about today, but some part of me is craving a carbonated fruit punch beverage with some citrus kick to it and hopefully C&C Tropical Fruit Punch will deliver.  The color looks to be somewhere between bright red and deep red which is a great color for your typical fruit punch.  I never really got behind Hawaiian Punch when they did all their flavors because the colors just seemed off to me.  Blue fruit punch?  That’s like when they tried (and maybe still sell) green ketchup.  You’re not here for my opinions on ketchup though; you’re here for my opinions on soda… and I thank you for that as a ketchup blog would be interesting, but probably short lived.  I wonder if there is a ketchup blog, I’m going to find out. **time passes** It’s not a blog per say, but someone from The Nibble reviewed (or described) 42 brands of ketchup.  I don’t normally link stuff, but this person deserves some mention for trying these ketchups.  What am I doing again?  Oh, yeah!  Hopefully I’m about to drink a delicious Tropical Fruit Punch from C&C.

A sharp citrus scent slowly makes its way out of the mouth of the bottle and gently singes my nose hairs.  I’m not exactly sure how strong or watery this is going to taste.  Of course I’m hoping that this fruit punch will be on the stronger side as we all want to relive that amazing punch that we first had at the Sadie Hawkins dance that no one ever invited us to ever because of no good reason.

Well that’s odd.  C&C Tropical Fruit Punch tastes a bit like bubble gum flavored amoxicillin.  You’ve probably had amoxicillin when you were a kid.  It’s a pink milky liquid that you had to drink whenever you had an infection.  When you’re a grown up it’s in pill form, but as a child you got the sweet gum flavored liquid poured down your throat at regular intervals.  While this could be an off putting flavor for many folks I personally enjoyed the taste of amoxicillin growing up and tasting something similar to it brought back a piece of my childhood.  While bubble gum amoxicillin is the base flavor for this beverage the taste that tries to chase it away and fails is that of fruit punch.  The only time I get to actually taste something that seems like fruit punch is in the middle of each sip when my throat is punched by the fruit of said action; and while I do somewhat enjoy the medicine flavor by no means should it be the opening and closing act of this soda play.  Could I finish this bottle?  Probably, but I don’t really care to since I opened this expecting fruit punch.  That doesn’t seem like too big of an expectation does it, for fruit punch to taste like fruit punch for more than 1/3 of the time.  Ah well, at least I my mind got to be transported back to when I was a child… sick with infections.

~A

This beverage supplied to us by C&C

Twist appears as an overgrown bacteria at his local playhouse.

C&C Mango

I’m happy to say that the next entry in the C&C collection is a flavor that rarely greets us in soda form, mango.  C&C Mango has a delightful orange (with a hint of pink) color and several slices of cartoon mango on the label.  Like the rest of the C&C collection it’s sweetened with HFCS and chock full of chemicals.  Oddly enough I have no amusing antidotes about mango, so I guess I’ll just be on my way.

A very rich and velvety mango scent welcomes my nose to its home.  It reminds me of cutting open a juicy mango and inhaling the delicious aroma it produces.  So far C&C Mango seems to be exceeding the expectations I have set for it.  Hopefully this trend continues in the taste portion.

Why aren’t there more mango flavored sodas?  C&C Mango’s flavor does not disappoint as it matches the rich and flavorful scent blow for blow.  While I wouldn’t quite equate it with drinking mango juice the powerful taste of mango permeates all possible spaces within my mouth.  Unfortunately the HFCS gums up the works a bit though as the syrupy coating sits in my mouth like a hot dog on a cool floor. 

The carbonation is fairly low which allows the mouth-feel of C&C Mango to be smooth and enjoyable; although I feel that the bubbles could be a bit more plentiful without losing this pleasant effect.  This smooth feeling ends when a brief quick of tart greets the back of your throat at your sips finale.  This kick lightens up the feel of the drink just enough to tease your mind with a different texture.  Another point in the case for more carbonation would be how heavily this sits in my stomach.  I believe that if it were a bit bubblier the weight in my stomach would be lifted to the point of not being noticed.  With all that said though C&C Mango is still a pleasant surprise that I would recommend to my fellow soda drinkers.

~A

This beverage supplied to us by C&C

Twist loves mangoes.  He was legally married to one for 17 years until she left him in a fit of rage.  It's a rather sensitive subject that we don't talk about much around here.

C&C Blue Raspberry

Frequent readers of this site know that my dislike of “blue” raspberry began in the mid-nineties when candy companies decided to add the flavor to their portfolios.  Sadly for all raspberry fans this artificial “blue” variation of the fruit they loved so much tasted nothing like the real thing.  With all that said the soda lined up for today is C&C Blue Raspberry.  I tell you about my dislike for the flavor beforehand so you might know that this review could be written with a bit of unintentional bias.  Let me also clarify that I don’t hate the flavor of blue raspberry; it just disappoints me to a level that shouldn’t exist for such a trivial matter.  Onward.

Pleasantly upon opening this bottle of C&C Blue Raspberry I was greeted with a very raspberry-esque aroma that will hopefully translate into a raspberry-esque flavor.  My hopes are slightly raised, but my mind is still doubtful on how much I will enjoy this.

Well the carbonation levels have started this review off on the right foot at least.  Very strong and punchy bubbles take my mind off of what the flavor on the side of the bottle reads.  The blue raspberry flavor doesn’t sadden me as much as I originally predicted.  Perhaps this is a case of me growing up a little bit?  Probably not.  Soap is a familiar flavor to me when it comes to testing blue raspberry concoctions.  Thankfully C&C Blue Raspberry has little to no hand soap aftertaste which pleases the palate.  Now here is where blue raspberries weakness shows through.  Raspberry as a fruit is more tart than sweet and blue raspberry decided to take that rule and turn it upside down.  This is probably why the candy companies hopped on the blue raspberry train so many years ago… well that and the fact they probably wanted to spruce up their candy colors at the same time.  This sweeter than tart taste sensation for whatever reason does not worth with my taste buds.  The whole ordeal seems out of order to me and I haven’t really found a flavor that duplicates the feeling.  With all that said this isn’t a bad soda, but it’s nothing special either.  With my bias included I still feel good about giving C&C Blue Raspberry the score I’m about to.

~A

This beverage supplied to us by C&C

And everything is blue for him and himself

C&C Orange

Cutting right to the chase, today’s offering that’s up on the ice block is C&C Orange.  Ah, orange soda.  So simple.  So easily figured out.  So delicious.  There are rarely any twists and turns when dealing with orange.  Sure some might be fizzier, some might be fruitier, some might be tart…er, but the underlying flavor is always orange.  It’s a familiar taste that most anyone can gauge.  C&C Orange will hopefully be stacked within column “B” instead of column “A”.  “A” is for awful and “B” is for best, right?  That’s why you have all of column “B” and only some of column “A”.  I’d have to consult my VHS copy of Aladdin to double check, so I’ll just assume I’m correct and that I didn’t just make up an extra lyric to “Friend Like Me.”  I think that’s enough loose references for the first paragraph.  Let’s just drink, shall we?

From the smell of things I’d say C&C Orange is going to stab me in the mouth with orange flavor.  The scent is chock full of citrus which blasts my olfactory glands sending signals to my mouth that it’s about to enjoy a tasty orange treat.  I promise you this, olfactory glands.  If you so much as lie to me this time I’m going to cause you pain.  I’m going to inhale my cat rendering you useless for the next week.

OK, so I wasn’t stabbed in the mouth with orange flavor, but I wasn’t betrayed so much by my olfactory glands (the most you’ve seen this word typed in a non-medical article) that I feel it necessary to murder them.  The orange flavor that greeted me was about a 7 on the strength scale, but could be improved with a touch more carbonation.  The bubble level present is higher than what you would find in many other sodas, although I personally feel that a good orange soda needs almost a caustic feel on the back of my throat.  My reasoning for this is that if you don’t commit to the bite that an orange naturally gives you then the soda can taste like orange sugar water.  Thankfully C&C Orange’s fizz is strong enough to differentiate it from said sugar water; I just think it could be increased for the better.  The orange flavoring is fairly standard among orange sodas; there’s not really a “natural orange” taste, but it’s not so sweet that I would label it as candy in a bottle.  Overall I’m not wowed by C&C Orange, but at the very least I can say it’s comparable to Orange Crush.

~A

This beverage supplied to us by C&C

Orange you glad I didn't say banana confused me for 28 years until Twist explained it.

C&C Watermelon

Short history of my opinion of watermelon… I hate it.  On the flipside of the previous statement I tend to like watermelon flavored things.  It’ll be interesting to see which column today’s soda falls.  Oh, by the way, today’s soda is C&C Watermelon.   That was kind of like the hit TV series Flash Forward wasn’t it?  You saw the thoughts that should have come after the soda reveal BEFORE the soda reveal and yes I know that Flash Forward was not a hit TV series.  Aerosmith would do well to mention C&C Watermelon in their radio hit “Pink” as the label, soda, and label again are all varying shades of half of the color of watermelon.  The label even has cute, I guess fruit can be cute, little watermelons on it that make me want to drink this just a bit more.  Onward!

A watermelon/grapefruit smell punches me in the nose as soon as I twist the cap.  Thankfully watermelon is the clearly dominate scent as the grapefruit seems to just be there for a little filler.  Hopefully the flavor will mirror the aroma.

C&C Watermelon is much fizzier than I expected as the bubbles seem to run with razor blades down my throat.  This is a good thing even though it sounds horribly painful.  Just like the scent the watermelon flavor takes charge as his tiny buddy grapefruit holds on for dear life just hoping to not get noticed.  If you’ve ever had a watermelon Jolly Rancher then you’ll be familiar with the taste of C&C Watermelon.  While the sweetness level isn’t quite that of hard candy it’s still plenty sugary and very enjoyable.  Each sip I take begins with a quick burst of what I would consider a fairly authentic watermelon taste which thankfully (in my opinion) is covered up by the safer candy flavor previously mentioned.    I have to give credit to C&C for even trying this flavor.  So many companies could be making watermelon soda, but don’t because it’s too high risk.  C&C, with their myriad of flavors, thankfully decided to include watermelon in their arsenal.  This soda is different enough, bubbly enough, sweet enough, and tasty enough for me to recommend you give it a try.  Of course if you don’t like any kind of watermelon then you may want to sit this one out, but if you’re a fan of the fruit or the candy fruit then I definitely think it’s worth a shot. 

~A

This beverage supplied to us by C&C.

Although you wouldn't think it, Twist hates any pink and green color combo.  He's more of a blue and white kinda guy.

C&C Red Pop

As I continue down this road filled with C&C reviews (occasionally taking a detour or two) I stumble upon a flavor I don’t remember cataloging when I took all of the C&C pictures for the site.  C&C Red Pop is what I’ll be drinking today and I haven’t the foggiest idea of what “red pop” tastes like.  The picture on the bottle seems to resemble a red raspberry, but if that were the flavor then I assume it would say so on the bottle.  The only “flavor” listed in the ingredients is an “artificial flavor” which should be expected when your labeled flavor isn’t something you’d find growing on any tree.  I also see that my refrigerator is set fairly cold as there are bits of frozen red pop floating at the surface of this beverage.  In the “What?  No?  Really?” category the beverage itself is a bright red much like red Kool-Aid.  Ok C&C Red Pop, you’ve piqued my interest and now I shall drink you.  Onward.

C&C Red Pop smells like liquefied red and purple Skittles.  My excitement is climbing as the last beverage I had that resembled Skittles in any way was Sprite Tropical Remix (you know… the good Sprite.  Burn.) and I love, love, loved S.T.R.  I don’t think that C&C Red Pop will taste anything like S.T.R., but the fact that it has one thing in common with it pleases me. 

Sigh.  Sorry, the flavor isn’t bad it just didn’t live up to what my mind wanted it to be. C&C Red Pop has the flavor of a weakened Cherry Icee.  I wonder if I could get any cash under the table for mentioning three large brands in this review.  The Kool-Aid/Skittles/Icee people should just be throwing money at me at this point.  With that said I believe this could be an outstanding beverage if the flavor was just a bit more pungent.  Thankfully the cherry flavoring is somewhat enhanced by the carbonation.  It’s just the right amount of fizz so that I can feel it throughout the entire drinking process.  All aspects of my mouth cheer as they are greeted by the enjoyable bubbles that carry C&C Red Pop from “meh” to “pretty tasty”.  The sweetness factor really surprised me as it’s not nearly as sugary as I supposed it would be.  I was looking for a tasty red syrupy mess of sucrose when I first smelled it, but overall it seems to find a pretty good balance with the other aspects of the soda.  In my time writing this paragraph I think my feelings for C&C Red Pop have grown.  I was just going to tell you to buy a bottle, but at the last minute I feel it snuck to gain a bit better rating.  Try it and see if you agree.

~A

This beverage supplied to us by C&C.

Twist was once called the Duke of Pop

C&C Red Candy Apple

Welcome to 2013!  It’s a new year so that means it’s time to review new sodas.  Of course that’s the philosophy that I live by every day.  Why wait for a new year to review new sodas?  Why not review new sodas every time you get a chance to?  So you see the hidden mantra of The Soda Jerks is a simple one.  Live every day like it’s your last day to review sodas.  With that said I’ve gone back to a familiar brand of soda and an unfamiliar flavor.  The brand is C&C of which we’ve reviewed several with several to go.  The flavor is Red Candy Apple and while I’m familiar with all three of those words I’ve never had the triple combo in soda form.  The label art is pleasing to my eyes as all the shades of red, mostly pinks, prepare my mind for the taste I’m about to consume.  A picture of three candy apples also entices my brain into wanting to try this soda even more.  Onward, I say.  Onward.

The scent does remind me a bit of apples, but the “candy” essence isn’t found as easily.  I was hoping for a very sweet apple aroma.  It seems I’ll have to wait and see if the taste of C&C Red Candy Apple will reveal a sugary treat.  Enough waiting.

I didn’t get the sugary flavor the coating of a red candy apple would normally deliver, but it seems I did get a decent apple soda.  Flavored much like a red delicious apple, C&C Red Candy Apple soda is immediately refreshing and lightly carbonated.  With each sip I take a slight harshness begins to build in my throat; it’s not unwelcome as it adds to the overall mouth feel of the soda.  For being sweetened with HFCS there isn’t much of a syrupy essence at all.  Overall C&C Red Candy Apple is pleasing in most aspects.  I would hear the argument that it tastes a bit watery at times, but I think watery works (to a point) in apple sodas.  Over flavoring an apple soda may give you a powerfully delicious concoction while removing its ability to be light and fruity, two very important characteristics of apples.  C&C Red Candy Apple doesn’t really deliver on its name and for that I’ll have to deduct points.  Don’t finish this reviewing thinking it’s not good though, it’s just mislabeled. 

~A

This beverage supplied to us by C&C

Twist was candied once... ONCE!

AJ Stephans Raspberry Lime Rickey

Today is a momentous day.  Let it be known that on this nineteenth day of December in the year two thousand twelve that I started to like green peppers on my pizza.  This honestly has nothing to do with the review at hand; I just figured that it would be amusing to have such an odd occasion documented for myself down the road.  Speaking of odd, (nice segue, no?) today’s soda flavor is two of my favorites combined into what I’m thinking will be a royal mess.  AJ Stephans Raspberry (yum) Lime Rickey (what?).  It has been well documented, like my love of green peppers on pizza, that I love both non-blue raspberry and lime flavored things.  With that knowledge existing on this plane of reality I still can’t imagine a Raspberry Lime Rickey being anywhere close to normal.  I know that cherry and lime mix, as do cranberry and lime, and strawberry and lime, but my brain won’t let raspberry and lime be a normal thing.  The ingredient list says nothing about either fruit actually being used in the making of this product, but cane sugar is fortunately present.  Enough wondering, it’s time to drink.  Onward!

Raspberry is the dominate scent floating out of the bottle and I must say it’s a rather lovely aroma at that, rich, sweet, and inviting to my nostrils.  Hopefully the taste is just as inviting to my mouth.

Ultra fizzy and not half bad.  While I’m sure that AJ Stephans would never use that as a slogan for their Raspberry Lime Rickey those were my immediate impressions.  The bubbles are small, but fierce and the raspberry flavor is a bit quieter than what my nose anticipated.  While the taste of lime isn’t dominating the beverage it does add a pleasant twang throughout each sip.  I’m not sure what strengthening the flavor of lime would do to the taste of the beverage, but I think it would be an improvement.  Give me more of that sour pucker feeling in the back of my cheeks.  Make my brain really decide which flavor it wants to taste more.  Right now the raspberry is so strong in comparison to the lime you’re never really given a chance to choose.  It’s like at the animal shelter when you’re looking at dogs and they’re two to a cage.  One of those dogs usually steps out in front of his cage mate and hogs the chain link door.  Meanwhile you have no idea what the other dog has to offer, he’s just back there trying to catch your eye while dodging a waggy tail.  There is a bit of a syrupy mouth feel at the finish, but the flavor left behind isn’t off putting.  I do wish that mouth feel wasn’t there at all as it slightly weakens a fairly solid beverage.  With that said, I will commend AJ Stephans for taking what I consider to be a risk in making a bottled soda with these two flavors.  It just didn’t work out as well for me as I had wished.

~A

Faux Fact: Twist invented the Boston Cream Pie.

Apple Beer

So I found a ton of awesome sodas at Ace Hardware and while I didn’t have an order for them I knew I wanted to try Apple Beer last.  I figured that Apple Beer was going to be the best of the bunch with a rich apple flavor and it would be my reward for a job well done on all the other reviews I’m slated to do.  Sadly this is not the case thanks to seven pounds of grey.  Seven pounds of grey is what our cat is.  She’s a little thing that we’ve had for around 6 years and has always been fairly small.  We figured she was the runt of the litter, but didn’t know because when we picked her up she was already 9 months old.  Seven pounds of grey hates having her nails trimmed to the point of drawing large amounts of blood from whoever tries to.  We’ve taken her to the vet and it takes two people and an extra fee to hold down seven pounds of grey so when we got a new Petco nearby I figured I could take her there.  Let’s now fast forward to 5 minutes after I drop her off with the salon specialist.  In that amount of time the salon specialist has found me in the store and voiced her fear of seven pounds of grey.  The giant man of a salon assistant has also voiced his fear so it’s now a three person job to get seven pounds of grey’s nails trimmed.  Ten dollars, four minutes, and three people later, seven pounds of grey has shorter nails.  I needed to relax and the Apple Beer from the fridge came a calling. 

Stare into the embodiment of violence

Apple Beer is made with pure cane sugar and apparently is a “Nineteenth century Bavarian tradition made in the Rocky Mountains since 1964”.  I’m just hoping for a ton of apple flavoring with some nice spices to boot.  The label strengthens my hope with a picture of a rustic looking apple covered slightly by a paper scroll with the words “Apple Beer” on them.  Onward!

I’m a little sad this was a twist off cap, but the scent that greets my nostrils has me quickly forgetting I ever cared about how I opened the bottle.  Apple cider soda is what my nose thinks it’s about to drink and my mouth is anxious to try it.

While I wanted a more complex flavor, Apple Beer definitely relaxed my brain within the first sip.  It’s a foamy beverage with a medium to light amount of carbonation.  Apple flavoring quickly saturates all of the available pores in my mouth.  My tongue seems to think it’s found a modicum of spice, but I’m guessing my brain is imagining it to keep itself happy and relaxed.  While there is no syrupy aftertaste the apple flavor stays for quite a while after each sip.  Since it’s a pleasant flavor I have no issue with that, but some might wish for a cleaner finish.   Overall I’m pleased with Apple Beer although as I mentioned before I wish it were a harsher beverage.  In a perfect world you would have to sip Apple Beer due to the complexities and spice that were present in each ounce.  What they gave us was a good apple soda that excelled in mouth feel and robust apple flavoring.

~A

Look how rustic the two of them are together.

C&C Green Apple

Today I pulled from my fridge one of my favorite flavors of fluid… green apple.  Now I’m not sure how C&C Green Apple will fare against the others, but I have high hopes for this brand that has already surprised me a few times.  I’m pleased that it’s “green apple” soda instead of “apple” soda because I feel that green apple gets looked over a bit more while regular old apple just hogs the spotlight.  The soda itself is a vibrant green (as it should be) and the label contains three pictures of green apples sliced vertically down the center.  Time to crack open this delicious looking manzana verde soda.  Onward!

A sour/sweet candy scent greets my nose from the open bottle.  The sour aroma is what I was looking there as you can’t have a proper green apple soda without some pain in the back of your cheeks.  Bubbles are now collecting at the top enticing me to chug this entire bottle right now, but I mustn’t as it’s my duty to weakly describe C&C Green Apple soda to you as I sip it.

Well my tongue is now crying tiny tears of letdownness.  C&C Green Apple isn’t all that sour so my cheeks are cheering with joy.  It’s different enough in flavor that I can still differentiate it from regular apple flavored soda, but it could be so much more.  This soda should have popped me in the mouth, but instead it delivers a pleasant green apple taste followed by a watery chaser.  C&C Green Apple soda is the equivalent of getting a great green apple soda, putting a large amount of ice in it, and then consuming it 4 hours later.  CURSE YOU C&C FOR GETTING MY HOPES UP SO HIGH!  Every sip I take makes me so angry for what could have been.  Do something that makes my taste buds remember you.  It seems now with my ranting I’ll remember them forever, but ask me in a year to name some green apple sodas and I can almost promise you this won’t be one of them.  Jones Green Apple blew me away to the point where I used it at my wedding.  Romano’s Sour Apple was average, but the fact that it tried to burn out the back of my throat made it memorable.  C&C Green Apple is a watery mess that I will not recommend to you.  Good day, Sir!

~A

This beverage supplied to us by C&C.

I forced Twist to be in this picture... you can tell by the grimace

C&C Strawberry

I often leave the soda I’m reviewing up to my fridge.  What I mean by that is sometimes a soda is sitting awkwardly alone on a shelf and I feel it needs to be reviewed to feel love one last time before an overwhelming emptiness overtakes it.  Ok, so I’m not that crazy, but my fridge did seem to guide my hand toward the C&C Strawberry soda that now sits in front of me.  What can I say about the design of this particular bottle?  It’s fairly generic looking and in no way (other than a tiny picture of strawberries) would tell me at a glance that this was a bottle of strawberry soda.  Sure I could guess “red label, red fruit”, but cherry, cranberry, and watermelon might get angry.  Honestly I didn’t have much to write about in terms of the way this looks.  I’m pretty much just padding this review with words right before I hopefully enjoy this soda. 

The scent that leaves the top of the bottle is a level of sugary that reminds me of cotton candy.  If you’re a long time reader of the site and have a memory for things I type then you’ll remember I don’t like overly sweet strawberry sodas.  Strawberries are a complicated fruit and too often their soda counterparts are just red sugar nonsense that tastes like an over powered strawberry Jolly Rancher.  Hopefully my nose is lying to me as it’s been known to do.

While not as sweet as it could have been C&C Strawberry soda does fall into the category of sugar nonsense with a red hue.  The carbonation level is high which I fell is helpful in darting past some of the negative traits of an overly sweet soda.  Bubbles tend to take your mind elsewhere when sipping on a beverage and in this case distract you from the syrupy mouth feel for at least the first half of your journey.  Now the taste is fake strawberry all the way, but honestly I’m far from surprised as I haven’t seen anything that would make C&C Strawberry soda stand out from the norm.  My comparison to Jolly Ranchers seems right on the money so I don’t feel there’s any reason to continue. 

Again I must mention that the strawberry is a complex fruit, more so than an orange, apple, or grape in my opinion and so many soda manufactures take the easy way out when it comes to producing a quality strawberry soda.  Does this soda carry a poor taste?  No, not at all, but it’s not hard to make a soda “consumable”.  C&C Strawberry soda doesn’t deserve all the flak I’m giving it right now, but it just entered my life at a time where my patience with this particular flavor of soda has run thin.

~A

This beverage was supplied to us by C&C.

Don't worry, Twist calmed me down with his rousing rendition of Let it Be.