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.

C&C Vanilla Cream

I’m finally starting to make enough room in my fridge for other sodas now that I’ve reviewed seven (including this one) C&C products.  It’s not that I need more soda to review (as I have 17 more of these bad boys), but the fact that I feel if I review the same brand for too long I may start to tire of it.  Today we’re giving our full attention to C&C Vanilla Cream.  Cream soda, while simple, can have many different variants of flavor.  Will this one be vanilla heavy/carbonation light or will it be fizzier with more of a crisp taste?  I’m not sure, but I can find out for you.  Onward!

From the scent I deduce that C&C Vanilla Cream will be heavy on the vanilly.  I’m aware that “vanilly” isn’t a word, but it sounds like so much more fun than vanilla.  Hopefully the powerful vanilly scent my nose just experienced won’t translate into an overly sweet soda.

C&C Vanilla Cream is about as good a balance of vanilla/carbonation/sweetness/and aftertaste as I would have expected.  They definitely went for the smoother variety of cream soda, but the light fizz of carbonation still greets your taste buds like whatever friendly relative (that you’ve only met twice) your family has sentenced to door duty so that they might let you in upon your arrival home.  The vanilla grabs hold of your mouth and doesn’t let go for the duration of each sip.  It’s not an overbearing hug, say from that aunt with too much perfume and giant sweater, but it’s still something you’ll remember pleasantly as you think about this soda as it does a fair job resembling the flavor of vanilla ice cream. 

Everything about this soda is slightly above average in the taste department minus one aspect.  Occasionally I get the hint of a flavor that reminds me this is made with chemicals and HFCS.  It doesn’t happen so often that I’m distracted by it, but it has happened enough that I felt it necessary to put it in the review.    With that said I’d still recommend C&C Vanilla Cream to anyone who was looking for a good cream soda.

~A

This beverage was supplied to us by C&C

The soda is even smoother in this picture due to its proximity to Twist

C&C Ginger Ale

This is review 6 or 7 of the very extensive C&C line of sodas.  Today I decided to dial it back a bit.  What exactly I’m dialing back I don’t know, but since I’m reviewing C&C Ginger Ale it seemed to work in my brain for at least 15 seconds which is why I ended up writing it down.  So yeah… C&C Ginger Ale sits in front of me in a bottle with a green color theme as so many ginger ales seem to sport.  I’m not really sure why ginger ale is associated with the color green.  Perhaps it’s to give the consumer the feeling that they’re buying something natural.  Perhaps the first truly successful ginger ale was in a green container and the others just followed suit.  Perhaps the ginger ale people just wanted to stick it to Kermit the Frog and prove to him how easy it is to be green.  With a 22% chance that one of those theories is even in the ballpark of being correct I feel it’s time I moved on to the drinking portion of this review.  Onward!

A stronger ginger scent that I expected escaped the 7/8ths of an inch opening at the top of the bottle.  Granted, the word “ginger” is nowhere to be seen in the ingredients and I must assume that they would have prominently displayed it instead of the incredibly vague “natural flavors” which has unfortunately become a staple of soda ingredients.    Shall I drink?  Yes I shall.

With my first sip I realize that C&C really tried to make a decent ginger ale here.  They certainly did not give minimal effort in its creation which is nice seeing as ginger ale is a soda many just phone in.  A pleasant burst of ginger flavor rushes across my taste buds in a flurry of excitement.  The carbonation levels are just perfect for ginger ale, giving you some substantial fizz for the upset stomach it may be curing.  C&C also avoided making their ginger ale too sweet, but kept it sweet enough that I want to go back and drink more of it.  Other than being made with chemicals the primary downside to C&C Ginger Ale is the fact that the finish is a husky shadow of what my mouth first experienced.  I say a husky shadow because it’s not a slight drop off, yet it’s also not a giant drop off from where I started.  The finish is a bit more watery than I’d like and it’s the unhappy memory I’m left with at the end of each gulp.  With all that said I still feel that C&C Ginger Ale is as good as the mainstream ginger ale’s out there (maybe even better than some) and will rate it as so.

~A

This beverage supplied to us by C&C.

Twist and Kermit have an ongoing feud on the ease of being green.

C&C Mountain Chill

Though it’s debatable I feel the most amusing “knock off” names are for sodas that you might find similar to Mountain Dew.  Dr Pepper knock off names are a close second, but I feel with entries such as Heee Haw, Hillbilly Holler, Mountain Drops, Mountain Lion, Mountain Yeller and so many more that the “Dew’s have it”.  Today we’ll be trying C&C’s entry into the Dew market with Mountain Chill.  Now don’t get this confused with Mt. Chill which is made by SuperValu foods.  C&C pulled out all the stops and cut down abbreviations by 100%.  Honestly I can’t be sure this is a Mountain Dew-esque beverage until I taste it, but it identifies itself as a “Citrus Soda” and seems to have a coloring that likens it to the dew.  Let’s see how it stacks up against “The Man”.  Onward!

My nose ended up searching for the scent of this soda as the aroma is far from powerful.  Once it was forced up into my olfactory glands it was none too pleased.  Oddly enough I’m getting a sickly sweet smell much like cantaloupe each time I inhale.  My opinion, nay the fact about cantaloupe is that it was made by the devil.  Cantaloupe is causing all of the world’s poverty, disease, and overall bad joojoo.  I hate it.  So here I sit with a beverage that smells like cantaloupe to me and I’m expected to drink it.  Since my nose lies to my taste buds 6/10 (made up ratio) times I feel safe in assuming that C&C Mountain Chill will taste more like Dew and less like Ew.  Let me find out for you.

I’m somewhat pleased to say that the taste isn’t all that dew-esque.  I’m somewhat less pleased to say that the scent I wanted to avoid tasting is sitting upon my tongue at about half strength.  While this bottle of C&C Mountain Chill says it has “a little kick!” I have to disagree.  This is a rather smooth beverage that tastes like a combination of grapefruit, grapes, and cantaloupe.  Now I’m pretty sure if I told someone from C&C that their beverage tasted like those three things combined they’d laugh me out of the building and take back what I haven’t reviewed, but I’m just saying what my mouth is saying to my brain so it can say it to my fingers so they can say it to you.  Sadly the carbonation levels are lower than ideal for a beverage of this nature so the syrupy soda just sort of sits sullenly leaving me unsatiated.  I was going to give this a higher rating, but each sip just makes me wish I didn’t have to drink any more.  With that I bid C&C Mountain Chill ado and hope that if you pick up a bottle it treats you more pleasantly that I.

Now for the sentence that renders the previous three paragraphs foolish to read.  C&C Mountain Chill is a beverage you might think similar to Mountain Dew, but upon tasting I found that its smoother taste, lack of strong carbonation, and questionable flavors left me trying to wash my own tongue with my tongue.

~A

This beverage supplied to us by C&C.

Twist is an excellent tongue washer

C&C Tropic Punch

I was limited to which C&C flavor I could drink today by the amount of Thanksgiving food stuffing my refrigerator.  Actually I was thinking about not writing a review today based on how full/busy the last week has been.  Well fortunately for “Creative Me” I’ve found some stomach space and time for a cool red bottle of C&C Tropic Punch.  I picked the tropical punch today because it’s non-carbonated and that will allow a bit of a reprieve from the pressure that has been abusing my stomach walls.  Without looking too much into this I’m going to go ahead and guess that this is C&C’s version of Hawaiian Punch.  While I’m a fan of Hawaiian Punch I’ll be even more impressed if C&C came up with something more original in flavor.  Onward!

My noses recognizes a mixture of citrus, pineapple, and cherry with the later ingredient being a slight favorite in terms of how much is there.  The scent that wafts from the top is indeed similar to Hawaiian Punch which worries me that I’m dealing with a copycat drink.  Let’s find out if I’m counting my chickens before they gather moss.

I’ll be the first to admit that I was wrong about it being a copycat and happily so.  Where Hawaiian Punch likes to brag about hitting you in the mouth with the fists of its mascot, C&C Tropic Punch is a smoother concoction that seems to focus more on the pineapple and cherry flavors.  All the familiar flavors that I listed are there, but how easily it’s ingested is what’s the most surprising to me.  There’s no assault on your throat that some punch might treat you to, in fact it’s a fairly relaxing drink.  C&C Tropic Punch is noticeably sweet, but not so much that you it would overload whatever meal you might “pair” it with.  I must say that I find it amusing to picture someone pairing C&C Tropic Punch with a roasted duck or grilled squirrel, but different strokes for different folks. 

While the ratio of fruit flavors is divvied out skillfully, some may be put off by the syrupy mouth feel you get at the finish of each gulp and ultimately (other than being primarily made with chemicals and HFCS) that’s the weakest limb on the body of C&C Tropic Punch.  This isn’t a stand out beverage, but it is a beyond decent tropical punch.  Give it a shot, you’ll probably like it.

~A

How about a nice Hawaiian Twist?

C&C Banana

From the icebox a new flavor appears.  A new flavor of soda my taste buds haven’t experienced.  Brought to you by C&C Cola it’s the yellowest fruit, Donkey Kong’s projectile, and the worst tasting Runt.  Ladies and gentleman…. Banana Soda!  Honestly I’m a little bit scared to try this as I’m not sure how liquid banana is going to go over with my flavor sensors.  Here’s the short history of me and bananas.  I love bananas.  I’m allergic to bananas.  The end.  I’m not deadly allergic mind you, they just make my mouth and throat itch to high heaven.  Thankfully(?) this doesn’t seem to have any banana in it at all, unless it’s in stealth mode under the title “natural flavors”, but I doubt it.  Let’s find out shall we?  Onward!

I expected a very strong banana scent to be waiting for me on the other side of the cap, but found a rather mild somewhat creamy aroma bashfully waving hello.  Smelling this quelled some of my fears, so there’s no time like the present to get on with it.

Well that’s weird.  C&C Banana soda tastes like box made banana pudding sans vanilla wafers and banana slices.  The carbonation level is low allowing for a mouth-feel of maximum smoothness which I must say is very pleasant.  I thought that no matter what C&C Banana tasted like that the banana flavoring would make it feel like someone lowered a heavy yellow velvet curtain in my mouth after every sip.  Surprisingly, the heavy curtain is never lowered so I was able to watch the finale which was a cute baby banana gracefully tap dance off stage.  This adorable dance was a fantastically light and fun way to end my experience with this soda.    Overall C&C Banana challenged my every preconceived notion about what I thought it might be.  I expected a loud and brash tasting banana soda that lived in the pores of my mouth for hours after drinking it.  Thankfully I was wrong about how “bad” it was going to be, which is one of my favorite things to experience when I write these reviews.  Did my head explode?  Will I buy banana soda after banana soda now?  No, but I can very honestly suggest you pick up multiples of this if you ever run across it.

~A

This beverage supplied to us by C&C.

Over the course of this review Twist kept asking me "is that a banana soda in your hand or are you just happy to see me."  It was creepy and didn't make a lot of sense, but I told him if he didn't stop I'd write this about him.  Now hopefully the joke will end and he'll GET OFF THE WASHING MACHINE LIKE I TOLD HIM A THOUSAND TIMES!

C&C Orange Pineapple

Drink #2 out of 24 in the C&C collection I have chilling in my fridge.  Today’s flavor, or flavors as it seems, is Orange Pineapple.  Now these two flavors fill my mind with tropical fun and should play well together, given their sunny history.  While I find the artwork on the bottle to be a little cluttered it does somewhat remind me of a tropical locale… maybe a dollar store in Hawai’i.  The soda itself, HFCS and all, is a bright inviting orange color which is telling me to stop writing about the outside of the bottle and start writing about the inside.  Onward!

I thought that the orange flavor would overpower and mask all that the pineapple could give, but if the scent is any kind of road map to what I’m about to experience then I’d say the flavors are represented 50/50.  Wow, that last sentence was a doozy.  Drinkin’ time!

Thankfully my nose did not lie to me.  Both the orange and pineapple flavors are represented with each taste giving a pleasant smooth yet tart mouth feel.  Of course the orange isn’t a natural orange flavor, but I wouldn’t call it “sugar water orange” either.  The carbonation is lower than expected, but still gives C&C Orange Pineapple enough fizz to make it interesting.  If I could single out each flavor (and maybe I will when I get to try C&C Orange and C&C Pineapple, but I seriously doubt they just mixed the two sodas and made this.) I would tell you that they are both slightly above average.  After each sip my tongue’s memory bank has more orange in it than pineapple and is excited to try it as a standalone beverage.  Will this beverage change your life to the point where all you’ll buy is C&C Orange Pineapple?  I don’t know, but if it does maybe you should get an endorsement deal.  As for me it sits as probably the only orange/pineapple beverage I’ve tasted and left me pleased.

~A

This beverage supplied to us by C&C

Twist is half mango

C&C Black Cherry

If you follow us on Facebook then you know that I received a rather large shipment in the mail from C&C Cola.  I’m not sure I’ve prepared myself for the 24 flavors sitting in my fridge ranging from Banana to Watermelon and everything in between.  Ok, so maybe “everything” is a bit of an overstatement, but it’s still 24 flavors no matter how to slice it.  I thought a good way to start out our journey through C&C would be to review black cherry first.  Black Cherry is a good mixture of the weird and common that most can still relate to in terms of flavor.  With all of that going for it, it seemed the perfect jump off point.  Honestly though I just happened to pull it out of the fridge first and my brain thought of better reasons than just happenstance.  Let it be known that it seems most all, if not all, C&C creations are a conglomeration of HFCS and chemicals.  As sad as this makes me it doesn’t mean they’ll taste bad since a couple of our top drinks use the HFCS… just more of an FYI for your tongue.  Onward!

An incredibly deep cherry flavor oozes its way out of the mouth of the bottle.  It’s such a deep flavor that one might mistake it for grape upon a quick whiff.  Black cherry should be on the lower levels of cherry in terms of taste so I’m optimistic to see where this is going.

The flavor is not unlike that of sno-cone/snow cone/sno-ball syrup, but not nearly as thick.  The rich flavor the smell promised is there in a somewhat limited amount and lingers in your mouth for a few moments after ingestion.  Bubbles fizz their way around your teeth at the perfect level, in no way interrupting the taste or drinking experience to make themselves noticed.  Even though C&C Black Cherry is sweetened with HFCS I don’t get a syrupy mouth-feel at the end of each sip.  Is it as clean as something sweetened with Pure Raw Real Cane Sugar?  No, but it exceeds the limitations that HFCS can sometimes put on a beverages mouth feel.  With all that said the flavor of C&C Black Cherry could be stronger with a bit more “pop” (haha, the only soda joke I know) and occasionally a hint of chemical taste shines through, but this is not the norm.  C&C Black Cherry comes off as IBC Black Cherry’s little brother.  Not quite as strong or as memorable a drinking experience as IBC and their parents always blame him when a lamp gets broken.  As far as black cherry flavored beverages go this one is alright, but there are higher end sodas out there with a better taste.

~A

This beverage supplied to us by C&C.

Twist used a stunt double for this picture

Cheerwine

It’s Friday which means it’s time for a bottle of wine… CHEERWINE that is!  I’ve had many a folk suggest and laud Cheerwine over the past several years and finally I have a bottle in my possession thanks to the Dublin Bottling Works.  When you break the name down it does seem that Cheerwine is the perfect Friday beverage.  Both “cheer” and “wine” are things that people might experience upon arriving home from their week at work.  Since I would avoid the wine filled Friday I’m thankful that Cheerwine is a cherry soda, or at least I assume it is because there’s a tiny cherry on the bottle with the words “Unique Sparkling Soft Drink” surrounding it. I’m not sure how unique a cherry soda can be, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.  Before I go on any further I must write this sentence where I happily inform you that Cheerwine is sweetened with cane sugar.  They opted to not write “Pure Cane Sugar” and went with the less popular, but Aaron preferred, “Real Cane Sugar.”  Enough of this chatter, let’s find out exactly what Cheerwine is together (but mostly me).  Onward!

A deliciously rich wild cherry scent greets my nostrils and pats them on the back as if they’ve been buddies for years.  Hopefully this experience won’t strain that relationship.

There is way more carbonation in this than I was expecting.  Each sip fills my mouth with a multitude of bubbles to the point where I have to initially search for the flavor.  After the search has ended and all parties are accounted for I’m greeted with a pleasant cherry burst that has little medicinal flavoring… which is always a risk in cherry flavored beverages.  The cherry scent isn’t overpowering nor is it as sweet as its scent might suggest.  Cheerwine is comparable to a muted Cherry Crush and before you take that as a negative give Cherry Crush a taste and you’ll realize that you can have less cherry flavor than that and still produce a good beverage. 

Since the flavor is somewhat subdued the drink becomes more refreshing than I would have predicted.  It’s not something that I would chug after a marathon or anything, but I could see enjoying a bottle of Cheerwine under the ol’ shade tree with your best gal/guy.  The two of you waxing poetic on if you should try to sell your stallion out to stud or if you should just keep working at the market where you know everyone’s name.  She’d/He’d, listen to your story and stay silent because it’s not up to them and y’all haven’t been dating long enough that they feel sure enough to help you make such a decision.  Instead to break the silence you reach for your cool bottle of Cheerwine and take a swig, only to notice out of the corner of your eye that your belle/beau is doing the same.  Just another small moment in life you’ve now bonded over… maybe you’ll marry her/him one day.

With that all said and the last paragraph doing its best to be more story than review here’s the true true on Cheerwine.  Even though it’s flavored with artificial cherry, Cheerwine delivers a pleasant flavor that would be great if it wasn’t for the overabundance of carbonation.

~A

This beverage supplied to us by The Dublin Bottling Works

Twist literally puts the cheer in every bottle.

Dublin Vintage Cola

At this point I have two remaining bottles given to me by the fine folks at Dublin Bottling Works and of those two only one includes the Dublin name in its title.  Dublin Vintage Cola is what’s on tap today, but actually in a bottle in front of me thus rendering the first half of this sentence false.  For many soda companies “cola” is where you start.  If you have a good cola people will trust your brand more than say if you have a good lemon/lime beverage, but a so-so cola.  Curiously this is the first Dublin soda I can remember seeing without its traditional green “Dublin” bottle cap.  Apparently for Vintage Cola they went with the standard and logo-less gold cap.  Hopefully Dublin will deliver a solid entry in the cola genre with its cane sugar sweetened soda.  Onward!

A noticeable cola scent, not unlike RC Cola (the superior of the three main colas in my opinion) casually leaves the mouth of the bottle upon opening.  It’s a very nonchalant aroma that doesn’t get my hopes up, nor dashes them upon smelling it.

The carbonation is just a notch too high for my liking as it somewhat masks the cola taste with each sip I take.  Apart from that one complaint the overall mouth feel and flavor of Dublin Vintage Cola is pleasant, but not outstanding.  Compared to the three main sodas that use HFCS as a sweetener I would put this over HFCS Pepsi in terms of flavor and overall enjoyablity.  If compared to the Mexican or sugar sweetened versions of those colas, I’m sad to say that this would fall to fourth as the cola flavoring in Dublin Vintage Cola doesn’t sizzle as much on your taste buds as big boys on the block.  While there’s nothing wrong with Dublin Vintage Cola there’s nothing aside from the fact that it’s sweetened with sugar that would make me pick it over RC Cola or Coke.  When I started this review that last sentence was something I didn’t want to have to write, but sadly there it is.

Dublin Vintage Cola is a fine soda, but sadly it just blends in with so many others.

~A

This beverage supplied to us by the Dublin Bottling Works

Twist wishes you a happy birthday!

Dublin Retro Creme Soda

With my computer now updated from Vista to shiny new Windows 8 I figured it was about time to write a review.  How those two things correlate I have no idea, but I’ve been fiddling with my computer for the last few hours and just wanted to work it into the review.  Today’s soda installment is Dublin Retro Crème Soda.  In case you weren’t aware, retro crème soda = red crème soda in the eyes of the Dublin Bottling Works.  Even though I have a seasoned palate I’m not quite sure what makes the red version the “retro” version, but life would be rather boring if we knew everything.  It’s time to taste this sugar sweetened treat.  Onward!

I do enjoy the look of red crème soda over its many brothers and the smell always seems a bit sweeter.  Is it?  Probably not, but in this case Dublin Retro Crème Soda delivers in the memory department and sends me back to enjoying a bottle with my dad.  I’ve told the story before somewhere on this site, so hopefully I’ll link it and we’ll all remember together.  Drinkin’ time!

With a nice punch to the tongue the Retro Crème Soda fizzes and bubbles throughout my mouth.  It’s not as smooth as your standard light brown cream soda, but the vanilla taste is unmistakably there.  While sweeter than many other beverages, Dublin Retro Crème Soda doesn’t overdo it and allows you to enjoy the entirety of the bottle without getting overloaded with sugar.  As I’ve said in other red cream soda reviews it’s hard for me to shove nostalgia out of the way so that I might accurately rate this beverage.  Since I’m paid the non-existent big bucks I guess I’ll just have to give it a go in one fatal sentence.  Dublin Retro Crème Soda is a tasty entry in the cream soda department and while it does nothing to stand at the top of Cream Soda Hill it camps somewhere about halfway.

~A

This was beverage supplied to us by Dublin Bottling Works

Twist is the only thing over the age of 30 that's not "retro"

Triple XXX Root Beer

Today’s fantastic voyage into my fridge paid off with a bottle of Triple XXX Root Beer and until this point I thought it was “Triple X” Root Beer or “XXX” Root Beer… you know, three X’s.  Upon looking at said bottle I see that it’s actually “Triple XXX” Root Beer which actually means we’re dealing with nine X’s here.  Now I’m not sure where that rates in terms of root beer, but I do know that you’re one X away from having a pretty nice Stetson hat.  The slogan of Triple XXX Root Beer is that it “Makes Thirst a Joy.”  I must say that this is one of my favorite slogans to date as its simplicity is perfect for an “old school” beverage such as itself.  Upon writing that last sentence I felt it was imperative to look up the history of Triple XXX Root Beer and was surprised to see that it’s “roots” (haha) stem from Galveston, TX which is right down the road from me.  If you’re interested at all in soda lore I recommended checking it out on the Triple XXX website.  Don’t worry; we’ll explain it to your parents when it pops up in their history.  Enough of the non-tasting portion of the review, it’s time to hopefully enjoy some cane sugar sweetened Triple XXX Root Beer.  Onward!

Oooh, I like the smell of this.  A rich rooty aroma escapes from the mouth of the bottle enticing me to drink its contents.  Normally smelling root beer doesn’t make me thirsty, but I can honestly say that the scent of Triple XXX Root Beer has me salivating a bit.

Upon first drink several thoughts fill my head about Triple XXX Root Beer.  First off the carbonation levels are higher than I expected, but not so much that the somewhat creamy mouth feel is completely lost although it’s walking a fine line.  Secondly, the root beer flavor is unoffending.  It’s not amazingly powerful nor is it weak and watery nor is it filled with numerous spices and flavors.  In fact with each sip I take I’m realizing how “normal” this root beer is.  There’s nothing really about Triple XXX that sets itself apart from other root beers, unless you count the fact that it could be the root beer baseline.  Fortunately there is a bit of caramel taste at the end of each sip which pleasantly lingers in my mouth.  This “Grand Finale of Flavor” if you will, is the highlight of Triple XXX Root Beer.  Personally I like IBC Root Beer better even if it is sweetened with HFCS, but then again I have a bias towards IBC that delves into the world of nostalgia.

Now for the sentence that makes the previous three paragraphs pointless.  Triple XXX Root Beer has no obviously faults or victories in terms of root beer taste and aside from a pleasant caramel finish just doesn’t make itself that memorable.

~A

This beverage supplied to us by The Dublin Bottling Works.

Twist was valued at over 9000 x's

Dublin Tart n Sweet Lemonade

When I blindly reached into my fridge today picking out the soda I would review imagine my surprise when a bottle of lemonade came out.  I wasn’t all that surprised mind you, as I knew the lemonade was one of five beverages I could have grabbed.  You all know that we rarely review non-carbonated beverages, but of course I’m going to give a pass to Dublin since they (1) Sent us a bunch of free beverages for the sole purpose of reviewing and (B) probably make some dang good lemonade.  Like all the Dublin drinks this one is sweetened with pure cane sugar so hopefully it utilizes it well.  Before I begin I must tell you about this tiny elf-like man on the bottle greeting me amongst the retro art, as if to welcome me into his lemonade home.  Thanks, Elf-man.  Thelfman.

The lemonade is titled Tart n Sweet and I must say the “tart” comes out in droves in the smell department.  It’s not cleaning product strong, but I found my taste buds flinching in anticipation of the sour nectar that’s about to envelop them.

Well it’s not as tart as I thought it was going to be, but I’m not disappointed as it still packs a pinch.  On the “tart-scale” from 1-10, with 1 being a nun and 10 being that ex-girlfriend you were too good for, I’d give this about a 6 which means nothing to you.  Even though it’s not shocking my ‘buds, Dublin Tart n Sweet Lemonade is still sour enough to resonate in my mouth after each sip.  Oddly, this is what I would imagine the lemonade at a lemonade stand tasting like.  Now sadly I’ve never tasted any lemonade stand lemonade, but now I can play the home version and it’s almost as good.  I’m pretty sure the kids running the lemonade stand wouldn’t use Ester Gum or Sodium Benzoate though.  Ignorant Children. 

The sweetness factor is noticed and appreciated as it doesn’t mind playing second fiddle to the tart mouth-feel.  If you’ve ever had lemonade that was too sugary you know that it doesn’t take much for that experience to start going downhill in a hurry.  Dublin Tart n Sweet has a fantastic bland of its titular adjectives.  Thankfully it’s not a very syrupy drink.  I find that it sits a few pounds heavier than light upon my tongue as I finish each gulp.  As far as lemonades go it’s about one step better than your standard fare.  Overall a pretty good showing.

Now for the sentence that renders the last four paragraphs pointless.  Dublin Tart n Sweet Lemonade tastes like you made it at home with its tart lemon flavor and a sweetness that can only be described as simple.

~A

With Twist in the picture it's Tart n Sweet n Sweet... D'awwww

MTN Dew Game Fuel 2012 Citrus Cherry

I received an unexpected package the other day, but like anyone who loves presents I threw all caution into the wind and opened it expecting only awesomeness.  Perhaps it was something I forgot about ordering on Amazon.  Perhaps it was a surprise gift from my wife.  Perhaps it was Halo 4 Mtn Dew Game Fuel Citrus Cherry.  Ok, so I didn’t actually think it was the last one until I opened the box and saw that it was.  This particular version of Mtn Dew Game Fuel should be hitting store shelves today, so keep an eye out for it if your interest is peaked after reading this review. 

I’ve never actually had any version of Game Fuel before.  Heck, back when I was a kid my version of “game fuel” was a can of Surge and some powdered donuts.  I’m not really sure why I thought those two things went together, but in my mind it was like peanut butter and jelly.  Thankfully Mtn Dew has created an official “Game Fuel” whose flavor seems to be, and I quote, “Dew with a Blast of Citrus Cherry Flavor with other natural flavors”.  They probably didn’t want to include the “with other natural flavors” line as it seems to take away from the intense nature of Dew, but it’s there so what can you do?  Answer, drink it.  Onward!

Once the plastic cap was twisted and the first burst of carbonation escaped a whiff of cherry dew ran screaming into my nostrils.  Now the scent I get when I actually try and smell the soda itself is a bit more subdued.  Sorry this is Mtn Dew we’re talking about here… nothing is subdued.  Let’s try that sentence again from the top.  Now the scent I get when I actually try and smell the soda itself is a bit more SUBDEWD TO THE MAXX!  Better.  Hopefully the flavor will be equally strong and radical as the initial burst I experienced.  Yes, radical.

While not a full on “punch to the throat” the taste is slightly stronger than the scent my nose pulled from the mouth of the bottle.  I’ve got to be honest with you though.  My initial impression of Mtn Dew Game Fuel is that it reminds me of a neutered Mtn Dew Code Red (The best Mtn Dew flavor in my opinion).  It’s like I’m visiting Code Red in prison.  I can only interact with him on the phone through the glass window between us.  Our hands touch the equivalent sides of the window as we stare longingly at each other, but unable to truly reach one another only to be left in sadness.

Don’t misunderstand, it only “reminds” me of Code Red in a few aspects.  The most obvious being the red color and cherry-esque flavor.  Where Game Fuel Citrus Cherry goes wrong is that the initial flavor isn’t the main performer on the stage.  Yes you’re greeted with a somewhat tropical cherry taste that I would rate as pleasant and nothing more, but the cough syrup after taste is the last thing you see before the curtain comes down.  So now I’m sitting here trying to think of good things to say about the first three seconds of each sip while the last three seconds of cough syrup flavor are still staining my taste buds.  I’m sorry to say, but I just can’t do it.  If you enjoy ingesting large amount of caffeine with no care for taste then this is a great soda for you to pick up.  If you don’t mind a soda with three fourths the amount of caffeine and a great taste to boot, the you should probably just pick up some Code Red.

Now for the sentence that renders the last five paragraphs pointless.  Mtn Dew Game Fuel Citrus Cherry is an appealing beverage while you’re looking it at it, but delivers only minimal cherry flavor with maximum medicinal taste.

~A

This beverage supplied to us by Mountain Dew.

Twist's version of game fuel is a handful of flies and a glass of tonic water.

Dublin Vanilla Cream Soda

Now that I’ve taken a four soda detour I feel it’s only right to get back on the road to Dublin and finish up the last six sodas they sent me.  The first landmark I see on the ol’ dusty trail is this bottle of Dublin Vanilla Cream Soda.  Cream soda is one of those beverages where it seems to be harder to differentiate the good from the great.  Hopefully since Dublin uses pure cane sugar I’ll think it’s the latter, but my mind is telling me this is like most every other cream soda out there.  Let’s find out shall we?  Onward!

The scent that wafts from the mouth of the bottle is one riddled with sweet vanilla.  Its smells so much of vanilla that it approaches the intensiveness of a product you might purchase from the Yankee Candle Company candle.  Why I name dropped Yankee Candle Company and didn’t just type “scented candle” is a mystery to me.  Perhaps I’ll get some kind of endorsement deal.  Time for a taste.

My initial opinion of the taste isn’t really a fond one.  As soon as the Dublin Vanilla Cream Soda hits my tongue I’m sadly greeted with a brief bitter flavor followed up with your standard cream soda fare.  Even though this is made with pure cane sugar the “artificial flavors” make themselves known right away and throughout the entire drinking experience.  It makes me sad to say that I’d rather drink an A&W Cream Soda than this and I can’t recommend that you purchase it.  The flavor isn’t gross mind you; it’s just inferior to several othercream sodas out there in this wonderful world.  You’d pick this up and finish the bottle with little problem, but I don’t think this soda would bring much more fun to your life. 

Thankfully it has the correct amount of carbonation in my opinion.   It’s not so fizzy that it takes away from what smoothness is there, but also not so flat that you feel like you’re drinking artificial sugar.  With all that said my Friday has turned sad as I was looking forward to my Dublin treat today.  Fortunately I have 5 different flavors in my fridge and I just know they’ll be better. 

To summarize in a sentence that renders the last four paragraphs pointless… Dublin Vanilla Cream Soda smells like a great cream soda, but tastes slightly below average.

~A

This beverage supplied to us by Dublin Bottling Works.

Twist was the 8th Beatle for 2 months.

Mountain Dew - Johnson City Dew

Yesterday a package arrived at my door filled with hay and Mountain Dew paraphernalia.  It was a promotional kit telling me that I had the ability to choose the name and label art of Mountain Dew’s new malt flavored soda.  The soda was released in Johnson City, TN (the birthplace of Mountain Dew) as Mountain Dew Johnson City Gold, but now that it was going nationwide they needed a few new regional names and can art to go along with their product.

Anytime something is packaged in "hay" you know you're in for a treat

Here’s what it had inside.

Today I learned that Mystery Can + Free Awesome Markers make me giggle out of happiness

Now the contest ends today and I didn’t feel up to the task of creating amazing label art, but I did what I could.  If you’re a talented artist, or just bored, head on over to YourMaltDew.com and submit your entry.  As for the names they’ve already held the first contest for those so the job I was tasked with was to choose the best of three for my region.  Being from Texas I’m bundled into the “South” region where my name choices were the following:  Mountain Dew Southern Pride, Blue Ridge Dew, and Mountain Dew Southern Gold.  I don’t particularly like any of those names, but I have no one to blame for myself since I didn’t submit a name of my own.  Overall the best name in my opinion comes from the “Southwest” region with Mountain Dew Miner’s Malt.  I eventually chose Blue Ridge Dew as my name of choice for my region and started to think about my label art which you can see below.  With my terrible version of Twist scrawled in Sharpie on a can label a question popped into my head.  “If this soda doesn’t have a name, what do I call it in my review?”  Well I figured the best thing to do in such a unique situation was to use the original name for it, Mountain Dew Johnson City Gold (which honestly is better than ANY of the regional names in my opinion since the name holds a history.)

The likeness is so... so... so... so-so

I must be up front with you and say that I’ve yet to drink a “malt” soda that I enjoyed at all.  Now I will say that I’m more optimistic towards Mountain Dew Johnson City Gold just because it carries the “Dew” moniker, but still quite skeptical of the equation Malt + Dew = Tasty.  Since the can I received has no label, besides the amazing one I made, I can’t tell you what the ingredients are so you’ll have to research that on your own as it’s about my bed time.  Pretty much everything else you need to know was covered above so I figure it’s time to take a swig.  Onward!

The first time I smelled it I immediately thought of a Beer/Mtn Dew combination.  Frankly this scared me a bit since I hate the taste of all alcoholic beverages so I took another whiff and this time inhaled a lime/Mtn Dew scent with a hint of skunk.  Needless to say I’m not running down “Excited Lane” at this point, more like a cautious stroll down “Worried Blvd.”  My nose has told me a few white lies in the past so I’m just going to hope that’s what it’s doing now.

Congratulations to Mountain Dew on making the best tasting “malt soda” I’ve had to date.  The “Dew” flavor is thankfully the lead in this eclectic play with malt starring as the plucky sidekick.  While my nose is reminded of the skunk it smelled a paragraph ago every time I take a drink, my taste buds quickly erase that memory and replace it with an interesting hybrid.  This tastes like they took Mountain Dew and combined it with the flavor of lemon peel and beer.  It’s a little bitter, but nothing that will keep you from coming back for another drink.  Mountain Dew Johnson City Gold does remind me of beer, but not so much that I’m turned away by it.  Like I said earlier, I never got a taste for it, but the citrus “Dew” taste beats out the flavor of beer.  That and the fact that it’s non-alcoholic helps out as well. 

Is this a soda something I’ll buy once it hits stores in my area?  No, probably not, but I am excited that a soda company is doing something daring and different.  I can definitely see a market this will succeed in even if it might be niche.  If you like mountain dew or beer (not necessarily combined, but it wouldn’t hurt if you did) then I’d give this a shot.  Heck, if you’ve never had a “malt soda” and always wanted to try one I’d say this is the best starter “malt soda” available in terms of taste.  Look for the one with the lizard on the can… and then get out of my house.  Oh, and remember if you want to try your hand at label making head on over to YourMaltDew.com

~A

This beverage supplied to us by Mountain Dew

Like looking into a mirror

Sodafruit- Boysenberry Soda

With my “sick mouth” fully gone now that I’ve been to the dentist I believe it’s time to start up the reviews again.  My smell-o-meter is functioning at a near peak level of 70% (peak for me is probably around 80%) and I’ve got one last bottle of Sodafruit to hopefully enjoy.  Today’s version of Sodafruit is Boysenberry Soda.  I chose to review this last because the last 30 years of my life have left me with little information on the taste of boysenberries.  The closest I’ve had to actual boysenberryies are dewberries, black berries, and raspberries.  Since a boysenberry is the child of a few of those I listed I feel that I can still give an accurate taste assessment, but you won’t be seeing the sentence “this tastes exactly like boysenberry” at any other point in the article.  Before I begin I’d like to list the ingredients of Sodafruit Boysenberry Soda because they are worth mentioning:  Carbonated water, cane sugar, boysenberries, lemon juice, citric acid, preservative (202).  Now that you know we’re dealing with some top notch ingredients (sans mystery preservative) I’ll continue.  Onward!

Before I opened the bottle I upended it and saw a large amount of seed/pulp floating around.  This may be a rather intense texture situation or I won’t notice the pulp at all, either way I’m excited.  The soda has a robust blackberry cobbler smell to it that’s very rich on even a scent level.  While I know this usually equals greatness I’m a little concerned about how rich Sodafruit Boysenberry is going to be.

The first thing I notice is that its mouth feel is a bit thicker than your regular soda.  Not V8 thick by any means, but its viscosity is a bit higher than Soda-X.  Sodafruit Boysenberry is also a bit harsher on the throat than Apple Crumble and Strawberry were and I think that’s to be expected due to the tart nature of the fruit used for flavoring.  The taste is rich, much like biting into a juicy dew/blackberry as the sweetness overcomes how sharp the soda’s flavor is about halfway through each gulp.  Much like when I reviewed the strawberry soda, the pulp I was worried about becoming a distraction has done nothing but blend into the background only to be seldom noticed. 

While delicious on many levels some might find this a bit too rich for their liking.  Each drink coats your mouth in boysenberry goodness, but it can feel a bit heavy at times.  If I could change something about it I’d maybe make it a bit lighter with a touch more fizz.  I know that adjusting the carbonation levels on a soda like this can be tricky, but I’m not dealing with science in my requests… I’m just waving a magic wand around without care.  Oh look at that, Stephen Moffat has gone back to writing individual episodes of Doctor Who instead of running the series and I’ve brought back Surge.  Now that I suddenly have the need to change a few things I’ll leave you with a sentence that you could have read instead of this review. 

Sodafruit Boysenberry Soda is full-bodied soda with a succulent taste that permeates every crevasse of your mouth and while it isn’t syrupy a nudge toward the lighter/fizzier side wouldn’t hurt.

~A

This soda supplied to us by Sodafruit

Twist spend 7 years on Knott's Berry Farm