Old Jamaican Ginger Beer Twist

Here is another drink review from the same man that gave me an Ironbeer to try. I loved Ironbeer, but this time it's something a bit different. Time to review a Ginger Beer... TWIST!

I've heard Mike talk about Ginger Beer before, and how this will burn my mouth when I try it. I like Ginger Ale, but I know not to expect that when I take my first sip. Lets open the bottle. OK, so it smells like Pine-Sol... almost exactly. That's a bit concerning, but never the less let's take a swig. Well, it's doesn't taste what I would think Pine Sol tastes like, but Mike is correct that it burns. It's not a horrible "OH THE HUMANITY" burn, but it's definately felt in the back of the throat. Looking at the ingredients I see why it smelled like a floor cleaner, lime juice. I feel kind of stupid now, because looking at the label for any amount of time will show you that there are limes all over it. I'm talking the border of the label is comprised of limes, and nothing else. Now I'm a big fan of the lime, but I'm not sure I'm enjoying it to the fullest in this drink.

The more I drink this the more it reminds me of pine-sol and fire. I'm to the point where I don't think I'm going to finish this. It's not that the heat that I'm feeling from the ginger is so over powering I can't physically finish it. It's the fact that I don't like the back of my throat burning every time I take a drink of something that supposed to be refreshing.

On to the bottle. It's in a glass bottle, which is always a plus. The drink is viewable from the outside, and looks like a kind of limeade. As an added bonus the glass is green, I always like the green glass bottles the best. It makes no attempt to hide what it is. It's obviously a ginger beer, as it has pictures of ginger on it, with lime. As I said before the label is covered with limes. By it's own regard it says that it is a "Naturally & Artificially Flavored Carbonated Beverage"... no fanciness here. All in all if you can get past the burning of the throat, which is slight but annoying, I think you'd probably enjoy this drink. Me personally, I cannot overlook it. If you're a fan of ginger related items, then pick it up and give it a try.

~A

Manzanita Sol - Refresco de Manzana!

Original Written Review from Aug, 19 2008 below. Video Review from Jan, 9 2025

I don't like apple candy, it's never been one of my favorite things. Sour apple to me is for those that can't handle their lemon, and lime candy. So when I was at Epcot several years ago and had a chance to taste apple soda I was skeptical. I was horribly, horribly, wrong for being skeptical as I loved it. I really enjoy apple soda, and was saddened that I could only have it at Epcot. You see, apple soda is more popular south of the border, in Mexico (not so much the US, or so I thought).

On my last drink excursion to HEB I found a 12 pack of Pepsi's version of Apple Soda (the one I had tried at Epcot was the Coca Cola version). The name of said Pepsico drink is Manzanita Sol. The "O" in "Sol" is made to look like a sun radiating heat onto the juicy apple below. I was so excited to have found apple soda that I purchased a 12 pack, and went on my merry way.

Manzanita tasted a lot like I remembered Lift (the name of the coke apple soda) did, but we're going off of 8 year old memories here. If you've never had an apple soda, it's kind of like a lighter carbonated apple juice with a little bit of a kick. While I don't enjoy apple flavored things, apple soda seems to work very well with my taste buds. Apparently Jarritos makes a pretty good apple soda as well, which I suppose I should eventually try.

This is a solid drink, so much that I've since purchased three 12 packs of it so far. By no means is it perfect, as I'm starting to tire of it. It also leaves a bit of an after taste, but nothing to horrible. If you've never tried apple soda, this is a good one to start with. It's inexpensive, and available in 12 pack form. The downside is that is doesn't actually have any apple juice in it, so there goes any health value it might have had. On the upside though is that it has no caffeine, for those who's health does not allow them to have it. Try it out, if you hate it, send it my way.

~A

Iron Beer - Original 1917 Flavor!

Recently a co-worker of ours learned of our beverage review site, and brought me 3 sodas of foreign origin. The first that I will review is IRONBEER. For those who are unfamiliar with Ironbeer, it's not a beer; in fact the ingredients read as follows: Carbonated water, fructose, caramel color, citric acid, natural and artificial flavors. So it seems that the drink will taste pretty bland to me, but that's ok because the can art has already scored this beverage at least a 0.5.

Opening the can now. Wow! It's much sweeter than I thought it would be, and has a good combination of flavors. The combination seems like Dr. Pepper, Rootbeer, and a strong Red Cream Soda. It also goes down very clean, with very little aftertaste. The can boasts that what you are drinking is the 'Original 1917 Flavor!' and if this is so, I can see why it's been around so long. I'm going to conduct a cold pizza test, and see how it compliments a cold pizza (toppings: Cheddar Cheese, Pepperoni, and Green Olives). Very impressive, the Ironbeer flavor washes away 98% of the pizza flavoring from your mouth, and still leaves it very clean feeling. Overall I'm very happy with this drink. It's not the best drink in the world, but it's one I wouldn't mind owning a few 12 packs of.

Btw, I spoke of the can art earlier which is displayed below. The origins of Ironbeer are also on the can, and are as follows.

On a summers afternoon, in 1917 a mule-drawn, wooden wagon arrived at a popular cafeteria in Havana, Cuba. It delivered the first four cases of a new soft drink that would soon be called "The National Beverage". Now more than 80 years later, IRONBEER is still enjoyed for its refreshing flavor with just a hint of island spices. A lot can change over the years - but not the original flavor of IRONBEER!

~A

Spritzer Jamaican Lemonade

Today's beverage of choice is from the R.W. Knudsen Family, I know this because it says so on the can in banner form. Above said banner reads the following words, "EXCLUSIVELY Fruit Juice Sweetened". The previous sentence is actually what got me to buy SPRITZER Jamaican Lemonade. I love lemonade, just love it; so when I saw it in a 'Jamaican' variety I thought a good thing was about to be improved upon. The ingredients are as such: Sparkling Water, White Grape, Apple and Lemon Juice Concentrates, Natural Flavors. Now, even for someone that has never had LEMONade in their life, they could probably tell that Grape, and Apple are not of the Lemon variety. Here's where my skepticism started seeping in.

The picture on the front of the can consists of 3 lemons, no grapes, no apples, just three lemons. What is the R.W. Knudsen Family trying to hide from us here, I understand that the other fruits are probably what is sweetening the "Lemon"ade, but give them some picture or something.

Upon opening the can it smells a bit alcoholic to me, take that information for what it's worth as I don't drink alcohol very often at all. Even drinking it tastes like the fruit they used to make it became fermented. In fact this has no lemon taste to me at all. I'm not saying it's a bad drink by any means... it sits down, and finds it's spot easily in the 'Average' area of drinks. I just think that anything that uses three whole lemons as the picture on the front of the can should be lemon flavored. The apple, and grape, jumble up the lemon flavoring. But wait... this is in fact "Jamaican Lemonade" so maybe those crazy Jamaicans use apples, and grapes in their beverage. Lets look it up. Oh here's a recipe for Jamaican Lemonade.

1/3-1/2 cup Sucanat (Sucant is unrefined cane sugar btw)

1 cup lemon juice (approx. 4 large lemons)*

5-6 cups water

So we got 1/2 cup of cane sugar, 1 cup of lemon juice, and 6 cups of water...no mention of apples, or grapes. Other than making me really want some REAL Jamaican lemonade, this recipe has shown me how off the target the R.W Knudsen Family was in sweetening with fruit juice. Sadly the thing that hooked me to the can in the first place was it's down fall.

~A

Blue Sky's Dr. Becker

This will be the shortest entry I make to date. I picked up an all natural Blue Sky beverage titled Dr. Becker. As plain as the nose on your face, you should be able to tell that this is a Dr. Pepper rip off... and that's fine. Soft drinks try too emulate one another all the time. What's not fine is the flavor of this drink. The initial taste is like a flat Dr. Pepper... the taste that follows is horrid. I'm going to type a flavor, and you aren't going to believe me. I've had two people agree with me on this so it's not just my screwy taste buds. The after taste of Dr. Becker is... boiled baby carrots. Before you say "no it's not", YES, YES IT IS! It is definitely in the top 5 worst soft drinks I've ever had. I can't even finish a can of this stuff... it's only 12oz, but even when I share a can with someone I can't get half way through. The can itself it pleasant, but not great. This product has scared me away from Blue Sky beverages for a while.

Here's what a can looks like

~A

Vernor's: The Original Ginger Soda

Original Written Review from May 27, 2008

Ginger Ale... I'm sad to say that I went 25 years of my life without ever trying it. When I did try it I was amazed, it was what Sprite should be. Sprite, while drinkable, is not my favorite soda, but that's for another time.

I let CJ, my girlfriend, pick out what I was going to review this go round. She did pretty well selecting the Vernor's. First off, I don't think you can compare this to Ginger Ale which is where I went wrong to start off with. It it clearly labeled as a Ginger "Soda", and the original one at that. In comparison with Canada Dry, there is no comparison, they don't taste much alike... aside from the bit of ginger you might taste. *Update* This is indeed a Ginger Ale, it's just marketed as Ginger Soda. In fact Vernors Ginger Ale, along with Hines Rootbeer, is the oldest American born soda dating back to 1866! *Update*

Originally I thought that there was a Viking on the can of Vernor's (I keep wanting to spell it Wernor's due to my taking German). Oddly enough, it's a gnome. The fact that gnomes go into the making of this soda amuse me to probably buy more in the future. My next descriptive term is going to turn a lot of you away from trying this beverage. It tastes a bit like carbonated egg nog. I know that sounds gross, but that's because you're probably combining egg nog and seltzer water... it's nothing like that. It's really a pleasant flavor. It's not overly sweet, it leaves a nice after taste, and it has a gnome on the can. Really the more I've consumed this, the more it's grown on me.

While it is a Ginger Soda, by no means would I make this my first choice if I had a stomach ache. I think it might be just a little to sweet for that. Overall I recommend it to those who are fans of ginger drinks, if I remember correctly it wasn't so overly expensive that you'll have to only buy it on special occasions.

~A

Pomegranate 7up

Ok... so I was in HEB the other day looking for an interesting drink at the end of the isle. I came up with China Cola, but on my way back down the isle a maroon colored 7up bottle caught my eye. I picked it up and it was labeled 'Pomegranate 7up' with little snow flakes all over it. All I can assume from this is that it was a holiday release and my store realized they had an extra so they stocked it. Well I have a glass of it right in front of me so I can do a more accurate review. From here on out the reviews will be with drink in hand, not that the last few weren't accurate... it's just more fun this way.

Ok first sip. For starters it has the bite of a 7up, no more no less... which I think works for this drink. The maroon coloring is very nice as well, and if not carbonated it could almost pass for a wine. I'm having a hard time discerning if there is actually lemon, lime, and pomegranate in this, or if it's just pomegranate (a really long word to type) soda. Since the taste isn't jumping out at me as something radically different from regular 7up I guess I would say it's a combination of the three flavors. It does have a slightly different taste, a very slight hint of fruit (the pomegranate I'm sure) but it's certainly not overpowering.

While I like this drink just fine, it's just not different enough from 7up. Granted 7up is my favorite of the clear sodas, because of taste and the fact that they use all natural ingredients. This soda also uses natural ingredients, and I give them props for that. The best way to describe it is this... take a glass of 7up, now take a pomegranate and cut it in half. Drop half of the pomegranate into the 7up, now quickly take it out. Make sure you put in some food coloring for style. This drink, while very pretty in it's labeling and appearance is ok at best.

I'll continue to drink this 2 liter bottle with no problem, but no longer will I brag about having Pomegranate 7up because then I'll have to shoot down their hopes of a fantastic new flavor. This bothers me because it's a seasonal drink, and seasonal drinks are supposed to be a bit 'wacky'. The only wacky thing about this is that it's packaging is shades of maroon instead of shades of green. Personally I'll be awaiting the green and red M&M bags next holiday season before I'll be waiting on baited breath for this.

-A

Steaz Green Tea Root Beer

Ok, this is my last 'root beer' entry for a while. I realize that I've only done two, but it's easy to get pigeon holed into only reviewing root beers since they each have such a variety. I believe that Steaz Green Tea Root Beer proves my point here.

Root beer made with green tea seems like something up Mike's alley, but I happened to stumble upon it first... which I guess mean I get to write the review. Steaz Green Tea Root Beer (which from here forth will be called Steaz) comes in a four pack and costs around $5. When you look at the packaging, it's really nothing special. It calls itself organic, and who am I to argue. The green tea flavor doesn't shine through, which is good... and because of it's special ingredients one serving (8oz) contains 60% of your daily value of vitamin C. I do like the fact that it's a 'healthy' root beer, but I'm not writing about it because of the health values. It's all about the flavor.

Steaz has an ok flavor, not good, not horrible, and certainly not great. I compare it to a flat root beer with a hint of cream soda. It doesn't seem to be to terribly carbonated, which in my opinion hurts it. This root beer has very little 'bite' to it which hurts it in my opinion, because if it did it wouldn't be nearly as boring as it is. If you're looking for a 'healthy' root beer that doesn't taste like diet (or as I like to call diet root beer 'sewer water') then spend the extra money and go with Steaz. I'd happily drink a Steaz before any diet root beer; but I would take a good old fashioned coke/pepsi/rc before I'd reach for a Steaz. Slightly off topic but "Reachin' for a Steaz" sounds kind of dirty. Sorry.

~Aaron

Virgil's Root Beer

Video is from 8/12/2022. The original written review from 3/25/2008 is below.

Tastes so pure, it must be made in heaven.... oh how freaking true that is. I passed by Virgil's several times in my local shopping facility. Every time I passed it I would look and see the cost, close to $8 with tax. With your $8 you get 4 twelve oz bottles, and that to me is insane. It was so insane to me that I had to show my friend Mike. We took a look at the packaging and noticed that it had taken home the award for 'Outstanding Beverage' at the International Fancy Food and Confection Show in '94, '96, and '97. Outstanding Beverage, not outstanding Root Beer. Mike being the crazy dare devil that he is bought some.

We took it back to my apartment to enjoy it with some pizza, and a bad movie (Transformers, but I digress) so we threw em in the freezer to chill. Now you may wonder, "Hey, why not just throw some ice in a glass and pour it over that". You will never see me use ice when reviewing these drinks. I strongly believe that ice dilutes the true flavor of a drink, and would definitely be blasphemous in this case. While it was chilling we read the ingredients:

Virgil's Ingredients List

Virgil's Microbrewed Root Beer contains these key all-natural ingredients:

carbonated water

unbleached cane sugar

Along with these natural herbs and spices (including point of origin):

anise from Spain

licorice from France

vanilla (bourbon) from Madagascar

cinnamon from Ceylon

clove from Indonesia

wintergreen from China

sweet birch from the southern US

molasses from the US

nutmeg from Indonesia

pimento berry oil from Jamaica

balsam oil from Peru

cassia oil from China

Needless to say, that's a pretty impressive ingredient list. We were especially intrigued by the wintergreen. After the bottles had chilled I took mine out, opened it and sniffed it. The aroma was amazing. I know that sounds like something you'd hear about wine, but it really was the best Root Beer I'd ever had, and all I'd done was smell it. I took my first sip, it was the cleanest root beer I'd ever experienced. It doesn't leave a syrupy taste in your mouth, and the aftertaste is non-existent. In fact I compare the after taste to almost a mountain spring water... basically Virgil's is the most refreshing soda I've ever had, and the reason we started this site. I took a bite of pizza, pepperoni, and noticed that my palate was now permiated with pungent pepperoni. (I like alliterations, what can I say) I took a swig of Virgil's to see how it reacted with the taste, and it cleansed my palate... a root beer cleansed my palate... that is insane. Over all I highly recommend Virgil's root beer to anyone. Yes it costs $8 with tax included, and that's one reason it's kept from being a perfect beverage, but still go out and try it.

~Aaron