Stars and Stripes Root Beer (Fan Review!)

   After failed attempts to clarify how the wacky Germans mix sodas, the Soda Jerk guys asked me to stop sending emails and in a "put up or shut up " like invitation asked me to write a review.  Now first off you need to realize I'm in Europe and American commodities have their price.  After a few years of residence you soon learn to live without things you never imagined you'd miss. Like Root Beer!

   Some of the upscale supermarkets sell US stuff in a limited section at the end of an aisle at outlandish prices. My daughter had been shopping and mentioned seeing Root Beer and I suddenly had a hankering for it so I made the 15 minute trip (to Kaufhof) only to find out that either she was hallucinating, or they were sold out.  Well after coming this far, I was not giving up.  I then went 10 minutes further to their competitor (Karstadt) in the central shopping district and found these brown 12oz cans of Stars and Stripes for... get this $2,05 per can.  Flush with my Christmas bonus I bought 4 cans. The last time I had Root Beer was probably 3 years back so I splurged.

   This is indeed a US product and the can is marked for deposit in many US states. I haven't found but one German who tried and liked Root Beer.  Germans travel to the US a lot and many have had the experience and it's always a negative one.  "Bahh"  (eng.=Yuck) Apparently they relate the taste to medicine.

   Well the Stars and Stripes can decoration is Ok nothing elaborate. Thank god it's not decked out for 4th of July.  Simply done in a rust brown, it bears a similarity to another Root Beer can I saw here called Jones.  This product carries markings for Hoover's Barrel and uses a  "Y" emblem with H,R;B. (HMmm, isn't there a brand called Hire's Root Beer?)  So let's crack it open and see what we get.  Well no immediate aroma breaks forth just cold steel.  It's well cooled and some noisy carbonation cries for joy.  I placed it down to type these words and now faintly the aroma has reached my nostrils but only faintly.  Let’s get closer.  I pour some in the glass, but the aroma only increases a bit more.  The foamy head rises noisily and dissipates almost as quickly.  As I raise the glass expecting more aroma ...still about the same.  It hits my mouth and settles into the taste centers after I swallow.  There is a very strong wintergreen taste that fades.  I immediately thought of some pink candies my grandmother always had for us.  This isn't root beer I thought, where's that sassafras taste?  I took a longer draught satisfying my thirst and looking for the sugar kick.  Ok,sugar kick there, sweet where it resides and now a gentler permeable "taste" but still primarily wintergreen. The taste leaves quickly with a little aluminum can backlash.  The pleasant sweetness abides.  This isn't a creamy beer or soda consistency, or, for my memory a root beer.  Its soft drink characteristics are similar to cola with a loud noisy head that fades to nothing quickly. It is only satisfying in that first moment.  It falls short of satisfaction or excitement. I 'm disappointed.  Sigh!

   Verdict - I'd say don't bother, but if I truly believed that, I wouldn't be writing this review.  I think of all us poor slobs living here .. What???  No Root Beer!??  Well we've got Stars and Stripes and for no other reason than for the sake of Ol' Glory .. Where have I head that metaphor before?

Enjoy,

CF

Bet you didn't know that Twist had a German cousin named Tiger.

Jarritos Tamarind (Fan Review!)

   When “A” gave this to me to try, I was not only excited, but honored to partake in a review. I thought I’d try to give a slightly different perspective on the drink, so I gave my whole family the opportunity to try it out and let me know what they thought.  So without further ado, here’s my family’s take on Tamarind Jarritos.

   I made sure to chill the bottle for a few hours before trying it. My wife says my steel stomach can tolerate anything, but nothing upsets my stomach more than a warm soda.  I open the bottle, after a much to do in locating the bottle opener, and let it breathe. I like to treat my soda like a fine wine. Not really, but I figured it couldn’t hurt. Before I let the tasting commence, I take a sniff. Not really much of a tamarind scent.

   First to try it out was my four year old daughter. I poured some into a small glass tumbler and she took a sip. She liked it. She told me it was sweet and wondered if she could have her own bottle. She was of course bummed when I told her this was the only one.

My two year old girl was up next. I poured her a glass and she took a taste. She didn’t mince words.

“That was good. Can I have some more, Daddy?”

“Sure.”

“Mmmm.”

   Next was Little O. He’s one, so his vocal communication skills aren’t all there, but his actions spoke for itself. He grabbed the bottle from my hands and almost finished it all. I was able to wrestle it back to have enough for my wife and me to try.

   I hand the bottle to my wife and she takes a taste. I read her initial reaction as confused. Then she said that she could tell it was tamarind, but it was watered down. It was good, but for her she needed a stronger flavor to come through.

   Finally I take my turn. I have to agree with my wife. Not because I have to…ok, most times I have to…oh ok, I have to, but this time I was given the unique chance to express my own opinion. So here’s my moment to say whatever and what do I go and do? Agree with my wife. Though I will say this in addition, I feel as though the tamarind flavor is distinguishable enough that it shouldn’t taste like anything else but tamarind. This drink definitely made me guess.

R.G.S.P.O.

How can you NOT want to buy this soda?

Jarritos Jamaica (Fan Review!)

Jarritos translates to "little jars". On the bottle you see lots of little clay pots. Perhaps if they sold this beverage in such containers, it would withstand more than what my tile floor could give.

I was given this bottle to review, and as soon as I stepped into my house, it fell and broke. My floor is still sticky.

Being the nice guy I am, I went and purchased another bottle so this review could get done for the loyal readers of TheSodaJerks.net.

This flavor is Jamaica, which is translated in English: Jamaica. We actually know it better as Hibiscus.

I've had Hibiscus flavored tea, but I don't know much about the fruit/flower/whatever it is. It sounds nice, though. I actually thought that it might be pot flavored because isn't that what Jamaica is known for? Thankfully I was wrong.

The color is a bright red, so I was thinking that it would taste like a fruit punch. It actually kind of reminds me more of a sweet tamarind flavor. I know that flavor is very popular in Mexico, but I'm personally not a fan. It is sweet and refreshing, but there is a sour aftertaste that can be off-putting.

I don't think I'll buy this flavor again, but I have to tell the readers to buy a bottle. I did. Maybe try another variety, however.

~R.Z.

Jarritos Pineapple (Fan Review!)

   When of the Jerks (its ironic because they are both so incredibly nice.) came to me and asked me to review Jarritos Pineapple soda, I got excited.  Pineapple soda is one of my favorites.  I think it goes Cherry cola, Cherry soda, Pineapple soda.  In that order.  That being said, I have yet to try Virgil’s Real Cola and that has received rave reviews from just about every person I know, but until then, Pineapple > just about everything else ever.  Two things immediately stand out to me: 1) It comes in a glass bottle.  Fancy.  2) It is made with 100% real sugar. That is Azucar Real-o in Spanish.  Or maybe it isn’t. and c) It has almost no scent what so ever.  That kind of scares me a little.  Pineapple flavoring is typically pretty bold, and taste is 90% smell so by my calculations this will be 83.6% tasteless.

   Well the good news is my math was wrong:  It is only about 4% tasteless. It does not quite punch the same kick as say a Sunkist or a Pinafiel.  Now that doesn’t mean that it is lacking in any way shape or form, because occasionally Sunkist can be a little too overbearing with the flavor, but Jarritos does not suffer from that problem.  I don’t really have anything negative to say about this soda, but I don’t have anything positive to say about it either.  It is completely ordinary.  The flavor isn’t quite as bold, and the carbonation not quite as harsh.  It is your typical pineapple soda as far as taste and refreshment qualities go.  The only real difference is the sugar replacing the high fructose corn syrup.  So wait, the managed to create a pineapple soda that tastes exactly like pineapple soda but without high fructose corn syrup?  Well then maybe Jarritos is a winner after all!

D.W.

Three, three, three drinks in one.... picture.

Deerfield's Orchard Black Cherry (Fan Review!)

   Normally in the past when I encounter a soda that is either unfamiliar to me or that peaks my interest I would go ahead and pick it up and give it to the Jerks to review.  But on this particular occasion I came across a soda that I could not bring myself to give away.  I am a fruit soda maniac, and Black Cherry is my mecca. 

   The bottle is very simple and straight forward:  a clear yet curvy glass bottle with a logo, some very important writing that I will get to in a minute, and a picture of some cherries.  It could definitely use some work, but it gets the point across.  Now that very important writing is that this soda contains no high fructose corn syrup. 

   My expectations for this soda are incredibly high going into it. So without further ado:

   I open the bottle and take a whiff.  It smells like just about every other black cherry soda I have had, only fresher, riper, and cleaner.  Now the cleaner part is the part that excites me the most.  Alot of black cherry sodas come across as overpowering highly carbonated versions of black cherry kool aid, and while I am a big kid at heart, I long for something more.  This drink delivers.  The first sip floods my mouth with a sweet black cherry flavor and my immediate reaction is to swallow, drink, swallow, drink and before I can even figure out why I like it so much half of the bottle is gone.  I put the bottle  down and back away slowly in an effort to collect my thoughts.  My first thought is that I definitely should have bought more than one.  The flavor is sweet but not overpowering, in fact it is the perfect level of flavor.  The carbonation is lighter than most soda but it only serves to enhance the flavor.  This soda is incredibly refreshing and from the first sip to the last drop in the bottle the flavor does not falter at all.

   That being said, there are two problems:  1) Deerfield is only available at Walgreens and Walgreens are not as common as they used to be.  Luckily for me, there is a 24 hour Walgreens not too terribly far from work, and another one less than a block from work.  2)  They are a little on the expensive side.  I believe that I paid 1.79 for a single 16 ounce bottle.  Actually, I will confirm that in an hour or so when I get back with a few more bottles for my weekend!  So what if it is 3:00 am local time?!?!  This soda is that good! Dont Judge me!

DW

Hotlips Raspberry Soda (Fan Review!)

   So as a friend of the Jerks and an avid soda drinker I was extremely excited about having the opportunity to submit a fan review.  When the jerks came to me and said "We know you like fruit sodas would you like to try Hot Lips Raspberry?"  I got even more excited.  I love all soda, but fruit flavored soda's always stand head and shoulders above the rest for me.  Now take into account that raspberry soda is not all that common and I could hardly wait to get my lips on Hot Lips!

   The bottle art is fun.  The pictures of the raspberries and the lipstick kiss seem to imply that it will be a smooth soft raspberry flavor.  For some reason, it actually reminds me of Hot Lips Hoolihan and MASH.

   The ingredients list is very small but one that stands out from them is lemon juice.  As someone who does alot of cooking, I dont typically associate lemon juice with subtle flavor so that concerns me.

   The smell is absolutely divine.  As close as you can get to fresh raspberries in a bottle, but with a gentle touch of lemon.  The smell leads me to believe that this experience will end in epic glory or epic fail.  I am really hoping for epic glory, and as I take my first sip the taste of raspberries fills my mouth and a feeling of epic fruit soda glory touches my senses. I swallow only to notice that the taste of raspberries evaporates rather quickly and is replaced with that pesky lemon flavor that the ingredients list and my nose warned me about.  It is almost a faux lemon flavor.*  In fact the after taste is almost an exact match to the packets of lemon in our break room at work that claims to be real lemon but if I ever bit into a lemon and it tasted like that, I would throw it back at whoever picked it.  Overall the taste is almost like a raspberry pie filling.  The carbonation is very soft, more like a sparkling water than a soda, and while that would normally not be a fun fact for me, it serves this drink very well.  This drink covers refreshment with tact and subtlety instead of the brutish force of high fructose corn syrup and loads of carbonation. 

* After talking with Jerk A I learned that Hot Lips had a problem with the lemon in this particular batch, and I feel that without the overwhelming lemon problem, this soda would be absolutely incredible.

Dan W, DW, DDub or whatever else you wanna call me

(Editor's Note - The folks at Hotlips sent us a more recent batch with less lemon involved in it... Dan Re-reviewed Raspberry below)

Alright so last night I got to pick up a bottle of the new batch of Hot Lips Raspberry from Aaron, and after letting it chill for about 12 hours, I decided I could wait no longer. Upon opening the cap I notice a difference in the smell from the first one. The assault of lemon is gone, as promised. Instead a nice smooth scent of ripe raspberries promise a taste that you will probably have never experienced before.

The first sip delivers on the smells promise! A perfectly smooth raspberry flavor fills my mouth and instead of the lemon-esque after taste, all you taste is more raspberries saying a soft goodbye as they travel further away from your taste buds. The flavor is a marked improvement from the first batch, however I feel like something is missing... The carbonation. It is there but it is incredibly light, so much so that I had to actually look for it. The first batch was a refreshing change of pace from the heavy over carbonation that most beverages offer, but this is almost too lightly carbonated. I say almost bcause it still manages to be incredibly refreshing and the light carbonation still distinguishes it against plain old raspberry juice.

I also noticed that it is bottled by Hot Lips Pizza Company. Now I have to wonder, if they take this much care and pride in their sodas, brewing each batch manually and adapting on the fly, I can only wonder how amazing the pizza would be!

Overall, I have to say that the folks at Hot Lips have left me incredibly impressed. Their customer service has been outstanding, I mean here I am some random guy in Texas drinking a hot lips, that I didnt even pay for because the jerks gave it to me, and they were so concerned about our satisfaction that they sent out a sample from the new batch for me to try. On top of that they offer some incredibly diverse and unique flavors like raspberry and pear (which I cannot WAIT to try!) that atleast to me are far more rewarding than most mainstream sodas.

Rating - Buy a pack because your friends deserve to try this too, and two very big thumbs up (Aaron=Aggie so this is a bit of deference) for the people over at Hot Lips!!

D.W.

Maaza Guava Juice (Fan Review!)

It's so o oo oh UH OH  shizznittlebamsnipsnapsnappy juice:)  I found this drink in a Pakistani grocery store.  It's a pretty popular drink so you can find it somewhere.  Just look for it in any Indian/Pakistani store.  It is probably, no DEFINITELY the fruitiest drink i have ever tasted.  I'm not very familiar with the guava fruit but it makes you want to move somewhere the fruit is located.  It also kept me energized.  I don't know if it is because there is so much sugar in it or maybe it has caffeine. i don't know. look it up!

T.M

Jones Soda Crushed Melon (Fan Review!)

Comparison Review of Jones Pure Cane Soda, Crushed Melon flavor

By Roy and Becky

Purchased at Big Lots for .70/bottle...Buy yours now!

First Impression:

R - Nice label picture of a cat

B - What kind of melon is *that* color?

Color:

R - light orange

B - peach

Bouquet:

R - The smell of melon is distinctive and inviting.

B - It smells like melon-flavored candy.

Taste:

R - It has a clean, sweet taste; and I can taste the cane sugar.

B - It doesn't have a specific, identifiable melon flavor. It has more of a generic melon flavor.

Finish:

R - It has a pleasant, lingering taste.

B - It leaves a light fizz in your mouth.

Rating:

R - I really like it!

B - I like it.

Not actual bottle consumed.  Sadly that is not a snowboarding cat