Boylan's Grape Soda

I love grape soda, and I'm anxiously waiting for one to blow me away with its awesomeness. I picked Boylan's Grape Soda because it's sweetened with pure cane sugar, and I like the old school simplistically designed bottle. I'm even looking forward to it even more because apparently the Boylan's Brand has been registered since 1891... if it can withstand the test of time it must be good right? Here goes.

This is your average grape soda. I could stop right here, but since I like to put a few words with my review, I'll do my best to do so. It's a grape soda, but not one with a lot of bite to it. It's smoother than other grape soda's, but not to the point where you'd set it above the rest of them. I'm disappointed in my choice now, but I probably hyped it up to much in my head to be honest with you. I love grape soda, so of course this tastes good to me, but I'm not going to recommend it over any other grape soda's out there.

~A

IZZE - Sparkling Blackberry

Today's drink review installment is not so much a soda, as a sparkling water. I'm counting it though, as it is a carbonated, flavored, non-alcoholic, beverage. As the title says, I'm reviewing IZZE Sparkling Blackberry. Before we I start this I must say that I really enjoy their logo, I would happily wear it on clothing.

According to the label this is 70% pure fruit juice, which is a nice change from the normal 10-20% that other drinks might have in it. I'm especially thirsty right now, so hopefully this helps quench as well. I haven't liked flavored sparkling water in the past, but I must say this is a pleasant surprise. The blackberry flavoring is strong, but not so strong it over powers your tastebuds. It leaves your tongue fizzing for a few seconds after you've drank it, and the flavor of blackberry definitely stays with you. The label also states that each bottle is equal to two servings of fruit based on the USDA's 2005 Dietary Guidelines.... but to eat whole fruits as well.

I'm very happy with the honesty, and simplicity of this company. It's a carbonated fruit juice drink... and it does that job very well. The after taste stayed with me longer than I'd like, but it's not something that would keep me from buying it. In fact I look forward to trying other flavors in the brand.

~A

Materva - Yerba Mate Soda

Alright, now hopefully this next beverage is a little better than Malta Hatuey. It kind of has to be since vomiting in my own mouth is better than Malta Hatuey... it's called Materva. Actually, it's called Materva Yerba Mate Soda. I don't know what Yerba Mate Soda is, but hopefully it's good.

Thank you, whoever makes this! The most simple way I can put it is this, it's a sweet apple soda. I haven't tried many apple soda's in my lifetime, but this one is tops thus far. In fact this is one of the smoothest apple soda's I've ever had as well. Wait a second, hold that thought. After reading the packaging, there is no apple flavoring in this. The only extract that is in Materva is "Extract of Mate". This has piqued me into doing some research. One moment please.

Ah! A Yerba Mate is a species of holly native to subtropical South America. Apparently the extract of mate is quite a positive thing, with what some believe to be health benefits. Well, either way it still tastes like a sweet apple soda to me, but if it's holly, let it be holly. I would definitely drink this again, the packaging is a little bland, but I really don't mind. I now understand what the cup and twig are on the front, thanks to my good old fashioned research.

~A

Malta Hatuey

Ok, so this intro is going to be short, and sweet as I really want to try this beverage out. It comes from my Caribbean supplier of drinks. It's called "Malta Hatuey - A Non Alcoholic Cereal Beverage". That alone scares me, and the fact that my supplier hates it so much he told me to drink it from a medicine cup. Well no guts, no glory, so here we go.

Before I take a drink, I noticed the horrible smell coming from the bottle, so I read the ingredients; Fructose, Corn Syrup, Mellomalt, Caramel malt, and Hops. I see this being a one swig review.

Oh wow, that's horrible. This is by far the worst drink I've ever had in my entire life. I couldn't drink this if I had to. I got just a little in my mouth for a taste, and immediately hated it. I can still taste the aftertaste of the little bit that I had. It's like they liquefied cheerios, and added some horrible, horrible flavor to it, because liquefied cheerios weren't bad enough. The only redeeming value of this drink is the labeling, not very often you see a Native American on the label. Either way... it's horrible.

~A

Orginal Ginseng UP!

We're still in the islands, and this time I'm afraid. In front of me sits a bottle of Ginseng UP, that's not what frightens me. What frightens me is what is written on the label. "Ginseng UP. Taste for the Ginseng Connoisseur. No Artificial Ingredients Added.!" Now I don't consider myself a Ginseng Connoisseur by any means, in fact the fact that the only graphic on the bottle is a Ginseng root makes me wary. Add to the fact that it looks like dirt is floating in the bottle, and you have some more of my fear. Hey at least there is some honey in here. Time to stop being a baby, drinky drinky!

I can tell you right now I'm not finishing this. That honey I spoke of earlier, yeah it's mutated into some sort of sickly sweet monstrosity. While this does have some nutritional value (80% of the Vitamin C you need in a day) and I do indeed like some teas with Ginseng... this is way too Ginsengy for me. Now don't get me wrong, I can tell why someone might like this. My initial taste is very good, very clean, but that is quickly replaced with that sickly sweetness that turns my mouth downward. The fact that the bottle is clear, and showing off the urine like color just reinforces my opinion that my taste buds just aren't made for this drink. The labeling seems very medical, and unfriendly. Now with well over half a bottle left, I bid Ginseng UP ado. Best of luck.

~A

Pink Ting

We're going back to the Caribbean drink collection, out of it comes Pink Ting. First a little history. Here's the rundown from the official Ting website.

"Ting soda brand is more than 25years old and is made from real delicious Jamaican. The demand for Ting soda had been stable for years so the growing of Trees to meet demand was also stable. However the trees were becoming old and diseased as little re-planting took place. Since 2000 the demand for Ting soda brand has doubled in Jamaica which has doubled the demand for the Juice. Since 2000 "TING" has supplied 100% of these uniquely propagated seedlings to Citrus farmers in Jamaica. These Farmers are guaranteed the world grapefruit price in exchange for all the available grapefruit. The trees take 4 years to grow and mature in the rich Jamaican soil and fruit in the Jamaican sunshine. This is why we say "Ting Grapefruit Soda" is a little island sunshine in a bottle. Your demand creates a cycle of events to which culminates in the growing of delicious refreshing grapefruit juice. Please try our Ginger Beer and diet ting soda."

In short, in case you skipped all them crazy words above, Ting is a Jamaican beverage, with natural grapefruit flavors. Pink Ting, according to the label, is a mixture of real Jamaican grapefruit, and natural pink grapefruit. Really there isn't a lot to say about the drink though. It delivers on its promise to the nines.

Pink Ting tastes like carbonated grapefruit juice. There, that's it. If you like grapefruit juice, you'll like Pink Ting. Me? Well I'm pretty impartial to grapefruit juice, but this is tasty. It does claim to be the "Ultimate Thirst Quencher" but I don't really agree with that. Overall I'd say it's a tasty beverage, but not one I'll buy again as I'm not crazy for that good ol' grapefruit flavor. The most negative thing I can say though is about the packaging. It's Pink. Yes I know, it's called Pink Ting, so why wouldn't the packaging be pink? It's a pretty girly package though, and my masculinity was dented in the purchase of it. I exaggerate greatly, but c'mon, even the font is girly!

~A

Health Cola

When I first eyed Health Cola on the shelves at my local market place I knew I was going to end up drinking it. I thought "Wow 'Health Cola' can it sound any worse." Then I looked on the back label and saw that it had 150% of the Vitamin C I needed in a day. Wow, this has gotta be like drinking mud. I had already been jaded by other "healthy cola's" such as Diet Coke Plus... which is horrible. Never in the history of earth does sweet + healthy = tasty. Diet Rootbeer is a perfect example as well, as it is a hell-spawned beverage. Health Cola looked like it would be following those examples perfectly. With its name, somewhat boring package, and boring tag line of "Real Cola Taste". Let me just get this out of the way now. I was wrong to judge it. I'm so very sorry Health Cola, I'm so very, very, very, sorry.

Health Cola has a pretty good taste, nay, a GREAT taste. If you are a fan of RC Cola in the slightest, just improve that flavor in your mind a bit, and remove some of the carbonation, and you have health cola. The sugar used is from fruit, so it has a slow burn which keeps the 'crash' after consumption from happening. The caffeine used is from coffee beans. Now listen to me coffee haters, I am one of you. I HATE coffee, and this tastes nothing like coffee, I wouldn't drink it if it did. This is the best all around cola I think I've had to date. Just for kicks, here's the nutrition label.

Usually when I buy a four pack of soda's it costs me over $5, but Health Cola ran under that, which is always a plus in my book. It's not the easiest cola to find, but if you can, give it a try. If I had to pick a negative, it's the lack of screw off cap, but really I don't care that much. I know there is better stuff out there, but I haven't tasted it yet.

~A

(Note:  This beverage was provided to us by Health Cola)

Sof Drink Kola Champagne

Another drink in the 'what my co-workers give me' file is Kola Champagne. The bottle is pretty plain, the drink a light orange, but the cat mascot sipping the named product is fantastic. Upon opening this I realize it smells a lot like cream soda. I was told it's a sugary drink, but lets find out.

It's not nearly as sugary tasting as I thought it would be, but it is pretty sweet in flavor. The bottle claims the drink has it's 'Original Jamaican Flavour' and I can't argue that it doesn't, as I'm not sure what that was. Kola Champagne has a cream flavor about it, with a nice little buzz of carbonation. I'd even go so far as to say it has a hint of citrus in it. It does leave your mouth feeling pretty clean, doing an excellent job of removing the flavor of whatever food you may be eating. You mouth does have a bit of a sugary flavor though after every drink, this could get annoying to some.

I like this drink, quite a bit actually, but I can't seem myself seeking it out. I prefer a standard cream soda to this, but it's nice to try something different every once and again. Kind of like Dr. Pepper Berries and Cream, you enjoy it, but you always go back to Dr. Pepper.

~A

Mike Update - 09/01/10

Combining two things I've reviewed recently, this is kola champagne from Sof Drink.  Unlike the kola champagne from Ginseng Up, this one has HFCS and sodium benzoate instead of Korean ginseng tea.  Goodie. 

Drinking it I can also tell you another difference:  this is horrible.  My brain did this when taking the first sip "okay this is kinda like cream soda too...okay now it's like dirt."  I think I'm going to keep this one short.  I mean, do I really need to go on?  I just compared it to dirt.

Orangina

I really enjoy this site sometimes, people bring me new drinks to try; Orangina is one of those drinks. First off the bottle is awesome, it reminds me of a $4 lemonade I purchased a few days ago... hopefully it tastes better.

I was told by the bottle to "shake it!" with emphasis on the exclamation point. So now that it's shaken, let's give it a whirl. This is definitely not a soda, of course it doesn't claim to be either. It claims to be a "Sparkling Citrus Beverage with Natural Pulp" then to the left of that gives me some fun percentages. I love percentages. Orangina is 12% Juice (I can only assume Orange) and 2% pulp. After looking at the ingredients, I'm only surprised by one... lemon juice. This literally tastes like orange juice and carbonation. I can barely tastes the lemon, but I think I'm happier because of it.

I'm eating soup while drinking this, and what I've learned from this is that Orangina, to me, is a breakfast drink. I could see myself grabbing a bottle of this the morning of a road trip somewhere, we'll say Florida just for grins. It's like an orange juice with pep, because of it's bubblies it'll wake you up a little faster. It won't ever replace orange juice for me, as it doesn't have enough vitamin C for the label to claim. All in all, Orangina is a pretty good drink. I probably won't buy anymore, unless I take that morning road trip to Florida, but that doesn't mean it's not worth trying.

~A

Old Jamaican Ginger Beer Twist

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

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

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

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

~A

Manzanita Sol - Refresco de Manzana!

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

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

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

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

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

~A

Iron Beer - Original 1917 Flavor!

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

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

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

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

~A

Spritzer Jamaican Lemonade

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

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

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

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

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

5-6 cups water

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

~A

Blue Sky's Dr. Becker

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

Here's what a can looks like

~A

Vernor's: The Original Ginger Soda

Original Written Review from May 27, 2008

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

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

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

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

~A

Pomegranate 7up

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

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

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

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

-A

Steaz Green Tea Root Beer

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

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

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

~Aaron

Virgil's Root Beer

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

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

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

Virgil's Ingredients List

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

carbonated water

unbleached cane sugar

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

anise from Spain

licorice from France

vanilla (bourbon) from Madagascar

cinnamon from Ceylon

clove from Indonesia

wintergreen from China

sweet birch from the southern US

molasses from the US

nutmeg from Indonesia

pimento berry oil from Jamaica

balsam oil from Peru

cassia oil from China

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

~Aaron