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.

Rummy Grapefruit Soda

I used to think that Fresca was a joke soda that only old people consumed.  Never in my young life could I understand why someone would enjoy a grapefruit soda.  Somewhere in my maturing I began to warm up to them more and more.  Eventually I found them quite refreshing and got to where I enjoyed the taste… not so much that I’d seek it out mind you.  Today’s review is of Rummy Grapefruit soda which best I can tell has been around forever.  With a red and white logo on a green glass bottle even this current version has an antique feel to it.  The slogan printed on the bottle reads “Get Chummy with Rummy”.  Without going back over my reviews I’m going to guess that this is the first time a friendship with a soda has been suggested to me.  The “My Buddy” jingle is now looping in my head with “My Rummy” having replaced the standard lyrics.  Hopefully as I consume my new buddy I’ll not regret letting him into my life.  Onward!

Ah, the grapefruit scent is strong with this one.  As I look at the ingredients to see if I missed reading the word grapefruit (I didn’t) I see an old favorite… Ester of Wood Rosin.  Even with all the chemicals that find their way into some sodas Ester of Wood Rosin might be the least appetizing one to read.  I don’t want to see “wood” anywhere in an ingredient list even if wood isn’t an ingredient.  Time to drink.

I was moderately thirsty before opening this bottle so I’m really hoping for something that will quench my mild desire.  Rummy is much smoother than I anticipated it being.  I associate a rough citric acid and sharp mouth feel with grapefruit sodas, but rummy has none of these.  While there is a constant tingle of carbonation throughout the grapefruit flavor has lost a lot of its bite.  This is like if 7up and Mountain Dew had a baby that rolled around in a grapefruit patch. 

Another thing I was surprised about was how sweet Rummy tasted.  Now maybe that’s because they used cane sugar to sweeten it, but once again my mind had an incorrect preconceived notion about Rummy due to the fact that I expected a straight up grapefruit soda.  I guess I really shouldn’t have expected it to taste a lot like grapefruit once I saw that it wasn’t listed in the ingredients.  So if you’re looking for a good grapefruit soda you probably don’t want to try Rummy.  Now if you’re looking for a tasty sweet “citrus” soda with hints of grapefruit then Rummy should be right up your alley.

~A

This beverage supplied to us by Dublin Bottling Works

Twist has also been called "rummy"

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

Goose Island Spicy Ginger

Let’s use our imaginations for a moment.  Picture yourself on an island with a saucy redhead, either sex works, and you’re looking around at all the flora and fauna.  Suddenly you hear a noise in the distance, a cacophony of honks and flapping.  You and your redheaded friend look to the horizon and see millions of geese flying your way only to watch them land all around you.  You didn’t know the name of this island before this moment, but it wouldn’t even matter if you had because from here on out you’ll refer to it as Goose Island.  You’re stuck on Goose Island with a Spicy Ginger and that’s what we’re reviewing today… Goose Island Spicy Ginger. 

I’m not sure why I drew out telling you the name of the beverage in such a way, maybe I was just feeling saucy myself.  Immediately I’m worried by this bottle of Goose Island Spicy Ginger because it says it has “natural flavor”.  Yes it’s sweetened with cane sugar, but I can’t seem to find the ingredient “ginger” listed anywhere.  If there were actual ginger used in this concoction then I’d assume (thus making us both asses) they’d list it on the bottle and not just “natural flavors”.  At least Canada Dry says it’s “made from real ginger” even though it has “natural flavors” in the ingredients.  Ah well, it’s the taste that’s important right?  Not the fact that up to this point I have to assume you made a ginger flavored soda and nothing more.  Onward!

There we go.  The scent at hand reminds me of a ginger beer which is stronger than I expected.  Again I must go back to the label which doesn’t specify if this is a ginger beer or a ginger ale, something I feel is fairly important.  Is my throat about to be burned or am I going to quell any queasiness in my tummy?  I guess the only way to find out is to drink it.

Eh, it’s alright.  Have you ever been on Splash Mountain or at least know what the concept is?  When you pass it by at Disneyland/World you watch people go over a large waterfall into a “briar patch” below.  So you know that when you get in the log you’re going to eventually take a giant fall, pose for a camera, and go home after having fun family adventure.  You see Disney knew that you’d be expecting that great fall so they added a couple of fake falls just to mess with you.  The buildup is there as you climb higher and higher, but when you reach the top you’re subjected to a tiny dip only teasing you for what is yet to come. 

That is a perfect, yes I said perfect, analogy of what Goose Island Spicy Ginger tastes like.  As soon as it hit my tongue my split second reaction was “Spicy Ginger Soda Town, here I come!”  After that split second had split I was left with sugar water with ginger flavoring.  It’s not gross by any means, but it’s boring.  At least Canada Dry has a strong enough carbonation kick to keep it “saucy”.  “Why do you keep bringing up Canada Dry?” you might be asking your computer screen.  I keep bringing it up because to me it’s the baseline of all ginger ale.  It’s the mass produced version that many of us have tried and if you can’t beat it then who cares.  If Goose Island Spicy Ginger could keep that initial “buzz” then it wouldn’t even be a contest and I’d recommend it immediately.  Sadly that’s not the case here, but the imagery at the beginning of the article was fun right?

~A

Twist was once Prince of Goose Island until the takeover

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.

Flying Cauldron Butterscotch Beer

Those of you who are fans of the Larry Potter books will be familiar with this delectable treat.  Today’s entry is from the Flying Cauldron on Dragon Alley… Butterscotch Beer!  I’m sure you were jealous when Larry, Jon, and Calliope enjoyed this brew in the Four Broomsticks, The Hogs Shed, or the previously mentioned Flying Cauldron.  Be jealous no more, because the Flying Cauldron has broadened its sales region to include us Huggles… that’s humans to you non fans.  There’s even a brief history on the back of the bottle.  It reads:

Since 1374, the Flying Cauldron has been making this magical brew for under aged wizards or wizards who are young at heart at their brew pub in Hogsbreath England.  The recipe has changed little over the centuries.  It has the perfect combination of spells and quality natural ingredients.  Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream to create our Giggle Potion.

Then it’s signed by one Reed’s Inc.  I must say that their inclusion of the Giggle Potion is highly irresponsible as you may know with the wrong dosage you could easily laugh yourself to death which is no laughing matter… after you die… from laughter.  Well I won’t be creating any of the dangerous Giggle Potion today; I’m just going to drink this straight out of the bottle.  Upward!

Remember that candy jar your grandparents used to keep all their butterscotch in?  As far as you know it was filled with butterscotch for its entire existence.  That’s what this brew smells of… a very potent butterscotch aroma hits you in the face like a troll.  Since butterscotch is one of my favorite candies, hopefully this will be one of my favorite sodas.  Accio-Butterscotch Beer!

Liquid butterscotch.  The review is complete.  Buy all of it.  No, I mustn’t do that to my readers or my editor Rita Skeeta would hang me with a wizard rope or something.  Seriously though, this tastes like liquid butterscotch.   When it first hits your tongue, as I’ve now said twice, you get the taste sensation of butterscotch except the flavoring of the brew isn’t quite as rich as the candy.  I’m curious if that’s because it’s in liquid form.  The flavor seems watered down a bit, but I’m unsure if it’s even possible to achieve 100% butterscotch flavoring in a liquid with this viscosity.  Let’s see how much sugar is in here.  Wait… what black magic is this?  There’s stevia in this brew and I didn’t even catch an aftertaste?  I see that it’s also sweetened with 30 grams of cane sugar, but I would never have expected stevia.  At least they were smart enough to not sweeten with the sweetener that shall not be named. 

Butterscotch Beer carbonation levels are medium and it isn’t really noticeable until midway through my sip then it ramps up just a bit as the beverage completes consumption.  Thankfully it’s not a very heavy beverage so this “Reed’s Inc.” did a good job in what I believe would be a difficult task.  If I had to compare it to a Huggle beverage it would most compare to a rich cream soda that you’ve dropped several butterscotch in.  Maybe those of you who hate wizards, or wizardists as I call you, should try that approach instead of making trouble in Dragon Alley… OH WAIT, you can’t even go to Dragon Alley!  Incendio! 

So a big thanks to the folks at the Flying Cauldron for creating this soda.  Your spells were on point and though you endangered millions by leaking the Giggle Potion recipe I’ll buy from you in the future.

~A

One of Twist's middle names is Advada Kedavra

The Pop Shoppe Root Beer

We’ve reviewed countless root beers in the past 3 years and its music to my ears when I hear of another beer, in fact I cheer.  Now the Pop Shoppe will have its top popped before I stop so I can make sure this isn’t slop.  It’s sweetened with cane which goes against the grain and steers it from plain although anyone that’s sane wouldn’t complain about the cane being a bane.  The bottle is stout, but there is little doubt that the scent will shout into my snout before I pour it from its spout and drink like a trout.

Ok, I can’t do that anymore.  This Pop Shoppe Root Beer was going to be hot by the time I wrote the aroma portion of this review and we can’t have that.  Licorice is the scent of this root beer which is a slippery slope if they haven’t executed the flavor correctly.  Let’s find out shall we?

It does taste a little of licorice, but surprisingly it’s still a rather creamy root beer.  Many times when licorice is part of your ingredient population he scares away all the creamy goodness and smooth mouth feel.  The folks at The Pop Shoppe have brought us a nice blend of both in their entry.  Like many sodas you are first greeted by a small flurry of bubbles that rush along your tongue.  Then a rich root beer taste, with a hint of licorice, makes itself known to all corners of your mouth.  After consuming your current sip the flavor lingers for a long while, but it never feels as if it overstays its welcome.  What makes this root beer somewhat unique (oxymoron anyone?) is how light it feels in your mouth yet the flavor stays put as if it were a heavier beverage.  Thankfully I can’t compare this to one of the Big Three root beers.  While they make for an easy way to describe a flavor when you can’t make a comparison you know you have something north of average.  The licorice taste might run some off, but I’ve tasted much stronger.  Throughout this entire review process The Pop Shoppe Root Beer has kept a respectable head.  This aspect makes it constantly refreshing to look at, something I feel is notable in a soda.  With all that said this isn’t a upper echelon root beer, but it is something I think all root beer lovers should try.  The duality and concept of creamy licorice should be enticing enough for you to at least buy one bottle even though I think you should…(see what I’m doing here)

~A

Don't resist being kissed on the wrist by Twist, if you do you'll be pissed.

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

Lester's Fixins Bacon Soda

When I visit my grandparents around 7:00 in the morning as my 3rd wave of sleep is starting my grandfather will bang on the door and yell “Gold and brown, gold and brown, time for some gold and brown”.  What this means is that we’re having scrambled eggs (gold) and bacon (brown) for breakfast.  As a youth I disliked hearing this so very much as it meant I had to leave the comfort of my bed.  Since I’ve grown older, and who hasn’t these days, I’ve learned to love hearing these words as I feel their fairly unique to my family and they convey that I’m about to eat some tasty bacon. 

Today’s soda is both gold and brown.  Sadly it’s not bacon and egg soda, it’s just bacon soda with a yellow label.  Lester’s Fixins Bacon Soda has a pink hue to it that some might confuse with that of peach or apricot soda, but only if they had no nose I’m guessing.  You see I’ve tried a few Lester’s Fixins sodas before and they are very accurate in regards to achieving the labeled flavor, thus making me know that I’m about to have about as accurate of a bacon soda as I could probably find.  Let’s find out together, shall we?

Well my dog ran over as soon as I opened the bottle.  That’s probably attributed to the sound it made, but it’s much more fun to pretend that he was fooled by the aroma alone.  Speaking of the aroma it is bacon-esque, but not nearly as pungent as I figured it would be.  Just to be thorough I will mention that it smells more like crisp bacon than it does chewy.  For the record I prefer chewy bacon over the crisp.  Onward!

Hahaha, ok so the soda made me laugh because I knew the taste immediately and I honestly shouldn’t.  Ever given your dog Beggin’ Strips, the bacon flavored dog treat?  If your answer is yes then feel free to move on in parallel with my life.  Now have you ever wondered what a Beggin’ Strip tasted like?  Again, if your answer is yes then continue reading and paralleling my life.  Have you ever eaten a Beggin’ Strip out of curiosity?  If the answer is yes then you need help… kidding, I tried one a few months ago and was surprised at how much like bacon it tasted.  Lester’s Fixins Bacon Soda is liquid Beggin’ Strips with a bit more sugar.  The bacon flavor is there, but it’s obviously faked and the sweetness is probably the only thing that’s keeping me from gagging this back up. 

I’m two swigs into this drink now and the taste is already swaying me to stop.  The carbonation, because I know you care about the levels of carbonation in your bacon soda, is light and that’s to be expected in a bacon soda… I guess.  Honestly it’s not a terrible soda.  I could name five worse ones off the top of my head.  Malta Hatuey, Beverly, Lester’s Fixins Sweet Corn Soda, A&W Root Beer Float, and… ok maybe only four off the top of my head.  I’m halfway done with the bottle now and the bacon flavoring is bothering me less and less by the sip.  Will I finish this bottle only to go to bed burping up bacon?  No, but I could relatively easily.  I can’t honestly suggest that you “Buy a Bottle” of this because I wouldn’t myself just out of weariness.  I will say though that if you like Beggin’ Strips you’ll love Lester’s Fixins Bacon Soda.

~A

Twist's third to last middle name is "Bacon"

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.

Virgil's Dr. Better

For those of you who are new to the site let me give you a small slice of history pie.  I’m from Texas and being from said state makes me very biased to Dr Pepper.  I’m sure you’ll find many a Texan who couldn’t care a lick about Dr Pepper, but you’ll find more that do care than any other state.  With that said I’m always skeptical when I find a Dr Pepper rip-off as I immediately think it won’t be good as the original.  Doc Zola was the only product that equaled or surpassed Dr Pepper, but today a new challenger emerges… Virgil’s Dr. Better. 

As you may know Virgil’s Root Beer is the drink that gave me the idea to start this site because of how awesome it is.  Virgil’s brand sodas are among my favorites so to see one trying to topple the great Dr gives me mixed emotions.  Another note is that in talking to other soda companies I know of at least one other that planned on making a product called Dr. Better, so while I like the name I’m aware that it’s been thought of before.  Hopefully the company that didn’t get to this product name first still tries to produce a Dr Pepper flavored beverage because I’d really like to try it.  With all that said it’s time I try this “Dr. Type soda” (as the back of the bottle says) and see how it fares.  Ok, one final gripe.  It really shouldn’t be written as “Dr. Type soda” since it’s trying to somewhat replicate Dr Pepper which has no period after the “r”.  Honestly it should be a “Dr Type soda”, but I’m just being picky at this point… moving on.

The smell to me is less of a “Dr. Type soda” and more of a “Mr. Type soda”.  All that the previous sentence means is that it doesn’t smell as strongly as Dr Pepper does when you first open the can/bottle.  Mr. Pibb is the weaker flavored beverage and its scent translates that.  I’m sure that Virgil’s will back up their scent with a more amazing taste though… I mean we’re talking about Virgil’s here, not Coke.  Onward!

There’s a lot going on in this bottle of Dr. Better.  The soda hits your tongue with quite a kick, but quickly backs off as to not upset the entire drinking process.  While the initial flavor tastes more of Mr. Pibb (weaker) as you get closer to the finish it develops the familiar richness of Dr Pepper.  The thing that’s bothering me is the finish and over all mouth-feel of Dr. Better.  While they make a Dr. Better with stevia (an ingredient I’m not sure I’ll ever endorse as the sole sweetener in a beverage) regular Dr. Better uses no such leaf.  It’s sweetened with evaporated cane juice and I’m just now noticing also includes “a touch of prune juice”.  With all that said the finish of the drink, I didn’t lose my train of thought too much there, has a bit of a diet taste to it that I’m not all that thrilled with.  Upon this complaint of mine I will add another, the mouth-feel is probably the most syrupy I’ve experienced from a Virgil’s product.  These two qualities knock Dr. Better down a couple of pegs as a glass bottle of sugar sweetened Dr Pepper would trump it easily.  I’m not completely surprised as this outcome, but I will say I expected better from the fine folks at Virgil’s.  Again, they’re battling a Texans love of Dr Pepper, but those are the breaks on this site.

~A

Twist received his doctorate in keeping it real

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