Old Jamaican Ginger Beer

I'm not sure if they're insinuating that this a style of ginger beer that you would find in an older period of Jamaican history, or if an old person from Jamaica made this.  Either way I'm scared.  This seems to be the most hardcore ginger beer I've ever set my eyes on.  No real reason, I'm just worried.

Thankfully the ingredients aren't something I have to worry about:  water, sugar, natural and artificial ginger flavors, gum arabic, citric acid, carbon dioxide.  That's not much of a lineup, and less usually seems to be better.  I think I'm just going to jump into this one.

Wow, the smell really concerns me.  That's a very bold, powerful ginger smell.  And there's no mistaking it for a ginger ale smell, this is ginger beer.  The taste is surprisingly clean.  Like, ridiculously clean.  It's like if they were able to get liquid ginger and water to separate like oil and vinegar, I can imagine water surrounding liquid ginger as I drink it.  Very crisp, however, not the burn I expected.  It put up a pretty good front, but this is a reasonably mild ginger beer.  Very sweet, very crisp, extremely mild carbonation, and a good ginger flavor, with just a bit of burn.  

One odd note, it says it's a "Product of Canada."  That seems to be the opposite direction of old, or new, Jamaica.

-Mike

Reed's Cherry Ginger Brew

We welcome another Reed's Brew, this time it's a cherry and ginger combo.  We've had these before, with the Spiced Apple, which was amazing, and the Raspberry Ginger, which was...okay.  I believe I said it was more Ginger Raspberry than Raspberry Ginger.  I thought I'd be using that line again with the cherry this week but instead I have to say this:  It's not Cherry Ginger, it's not Ginger Cherry...it's just Ginger.

Thankfully a good ginger, and a red one at that.  That's about the only place I'm getting cherry out of this is the color.  It does claim to have cherry juice, 22% at that, but I guess they should have bumped it up a bit for balance.  I'd say a good balance would be...50/50?  

It does serve one big purpose though, it's the best middle-ground between ginger ale and ginger beer that we've ever had.  It has that burn, but it's very slight, it goes away reasonably speedy, and is tasty.  So if you're looking to get a hint of what a ginger beer could be without taking the daring plunge (okay, it's not that daring) then this is for you.

-Mike

Thomas Kemper Ginger Ale

A long time ago we received a suggestion to drink Thomas Kemper Root Beer.  Well, this isn't root beer, it's ginger ale.  Have no fear though, we'll get to the root beer.  The reason why we went with the ginger ale first is because after having all four of the Thomas Kemper products (which I got to experience again thanks to D.W.) this was my favorite of the four, which is why I suggested it for the Popcast.  By the way, feel free to listen to our audio review on there...

So how does this northwestern ginger ale taste?  Excellent.  In fact this was the first of the Thomas Kemper drinks I've had, and as soon as I had it I wanted the other flavors in the box to immediately turn into ginger ales as well.  If I had that power I think I'd be doing something else other than a soda review website.  Ah, who am I kidding, I'd still be doing this.

Anyway, the label promises "pure northwest honey" along with cane sugar, and there's not doubt that this is a huge factor in it's deliciousness.  It's very clean and crisp with just a bit of honey (not to be confused with a Bit-O-Honey) that settles into the background quite nicely, and this is coming from someone who really isn't a fan of honey.  The sweetness of the cane sugar is at a perfect level, allowing the honey to give the drink flavor rather than being responsible for the sweetness.

The ginger flavor is phenomenal, entering into that category of ginger tastes where you think "oh no, this is going to burn like a ginger beer," but it doesn't.  Instead it has a smooth, but bold flavor.

As we said, this is one of the best ginger ales we've ever had.

-Mike

Stirrings' Ginger Ale

Time for another Ginger Ale.  This one claims to be an "All Natural Ale with Zesty Ginger and 'Champagne-like' Bubbles."  This is one case where the description on the bottle is dead on, so let's break it down.  First of all, it is all natural, featuring triple-filtered water, cane sugar, and ginger extract.  Second, zesty ginger, which is also right on the money.  While not overly spicy like a ginger beer, this one does have a slight kick to it which surprisingly adds a bit to it's refreshment.  Finally, the "champagne-like bubbles."  They exist, albeit briefly.

I only have one complaint with this, I purchased it in a pack of four and it was six dollars.  Normally that isn't an issue for something natural and upper scale, especially since this also claims to be the "first line of Cocktail Sodas created especially to complement fine spirits."  I can't attest to that, but we wish you luck.  Either way, the four bottles are each 6.3 ounces.  Very small indeed.  There's something to be said about the small bottle, it was actually kind of fun to drink out of it, but overall for value this is just slightly over half of what I'm used to getting for the money.  So honestly the value here is the only thing hurting the score.  If you were looking for a unique bottle and beverage combination for a somewhat fancy party that you chose to have soda at, this is an interesting idea for it.

-Mike

Oogave Ginger Ale

Continuing the Oogave products found at Hubble & Hudson (at least here in The Woodlands), we now move on to their ginger ale. I've talked about Oogave enough so let's get to the product.

Once again, thanks to what I chose first, their Mandarin-Key Lime, I expected this to be a really refreshing ginger ale, but it is not. That disappointed me at the start, but I have to say I'm impressed with what they've done. This is the most natural tasting ginger ale I've ever had, but with two key things that make it tasty: first, it's sweet, not dry, and second, it does not burn. Most natural tasting ginger drinks are ginger beer, but this is an actual ginger ale. Again, it does not burn. I was super concerned when I initially smelled it, but after drinking it was not. Must be the ginger extract they list in the ingredients.

I like this, but just be warned this isn't your typical ginger ale, this is real deal ginger flavor.

-Mike

Club Cool at Epcot

About a month ago I took a vacation to beautiful sunny central Florida, which you're required to call both beautiful and sunny.  Not only did I get to visit my retired parents in Del Boca Vista Phase 2, but I also got to visit my favorite place to vacation and my former employer, Walt Disney World.  Of all the places there the one I love most and visit most frequently is Epcot.  What does this have to do with soda?  Well, as you can see by the photo above, they have a place called "Club Cool" formerly known as "Ice Station Cool."  I looked all over to try and find when this place actually opened but to no avail.  I want to guess it was around 94, but for all I know it may have been earlier. 

Other than being a huge advertisement for Disney sponsor Coca-Cola and a place to sell Coke branded merchandise, Club Cool has various soda fountains that offer visitors a chance to taste different flavors from around the world.  Some good, some...worst soda in the world.  So we'll get to the part you care about, the reviews.  Grab your disposable shot glass sized Coke cup and prepare for around the world soda excitement.

Okay, first up from Mozambique is Krest Ginger Ale.  I like this one, it's a standard ginger ale but really sweet.  Ginger ale is the rare drink which I can deal with being either dry or really sweet, and having quite the sweet tooth I'm fond of this one.  

Second, Fanta Kolita from Costa Rica (that kinda rhymes).  This one was great, really unusual in that I couldn't tell you what kolita is exactly.  I don't want to call it a fruit punch but that's the closest thing I can think of.  It's also red like fruit punch.  This one is also very sweet and a great fruit soda.  Again, I couldn't tell you what fruits, but it's tasty.  

Third, and the most infamous soda for us at The Soda Jerks, and anyone who has been to Club Cool and/or the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, is Italy's Beverly.  Beverly is the most disgusting drink I've ever tasted.  Let me give you an example of it's infamy and level of gross.  One of the big things that frequent Disney visitors get sucked into is pin trading.  This started in 2000 and was an off shoot of Olympic pin trading.  Essentially pins are sold at Disney, some common, some rare, and you trade with other pin collectors to get the ones you want.  Back when I worked for Disney in 2001, my friends and I were into this for a bit.  One of the rarest pins is the "wet paint" which was a pin version of the wet paint signs that are in the parks.  It's essentially Donald Duck screaming at one of his nephews for touching paint and getting caught "red handed."  Well, there was a guy who had one who once offered anybody a trade that he'd give them his wet paint pin if they took a large sized cup from one of the quick service restaurants, filled it up with Beverly and chugged it.  At the time, and even today, this pin goes on ebay for 200 bucks.  Nobody would drink it. So what is Beverly?  It's billed as a grapefuit soda, with no sweetness whatsoever.  It's extremely bitter and tastes like every awful medicine you had as a child.  Although I've had it before, I drank it once again for the benefit of this site.  

Number four is a welcome relief from the last one, Mezzo Mix from Germany.  It's a very sweet, kind of flat cola that is intended to be mixed with beer, at least according to the little sign over it.  I can't imagine cola and beer being mixed, but maybe some day I'll try it for the good of all 9 of our readers.  For now I can tell you it's decent on it's own.  

Half way there, number five is tied as my favorite of them all, VegitaBeta from Japan.  This one is marketed as a vitamin drink.  It tastes like a flat, and by flat I mean this has zero carbonation, orange drink.  Almost a not-as-sweet version of Hi-C Orange Drink you'd get at McDonald's.  According to it's Wikipedia page, it's beta carotene, sugar and water.  It's tasty to me, whatever is in it.  

Kinley, my other favorite, is our sixth drink and comes from Israel.  This one is easy to explain, it's lemonade soda.  It's also insanely delicious.  Once when I went on vacation during my high school years, I filled a water bottle up with Kinley and took it home, nursing it for a year until I went back.  Yes it got flat, but oh was it good.  That and VegitaBeta are the two I look forward to drinking the most whenever I get a chance to go in to Epcot.  

From Mexico comes drink number seven, Lift Apple.  It's apple soda, not as sweet as Manzanita Sol (which I'll review some day) but still pretty sweet.  Overall though it's nothing too special and isn't any better than dollar store apple soda.  

Finally, our eighth and final drink, China's Smart Watermelon.  Watermelon soda isn't a common flavor, and it has the potential to be good as I do enjoy things flavored like watermelon, although not real watermelon because I find it to be bland.  In that sense, this soda is fairly accurate because it is bland.  The watermelon flavor is decent, but it does need some more sweetness to it.  

So there you have it, reviews of all the drinks at Epcot's Club Cool.  If you're ever there, try it out, it's usually pretty busy, as any place with free drinks would be, but worth the wait.  As a side note, the Japan pavilion is the only pavilion in World Showcase that sells soda native to their country, so if you're a wanna-be Soda Jerk, then stop by there to pick up some unique flavors as well.

-Mike

Canada Dry Green Tea Ginger Ale

So a coworker mentioned that during the little hurricane we had down here, she went to the local grocery store to stock up on whatever everyone hadn't already hoarded for no reason whatsoever. Anyhoo, she stumbled upon Canada Dry Green Tea Ginger Ale, which as soon as I heard those words I knew I had to seek it out considering it contains three wonderful things: ginger ale, green tea, and Canada.

Thankfully it's really good. Crisp and refreshing are the two words that come to mind when I drink it. It's very lite tasting, and I don't mean in a sense of low in sugar or diet, I mean the flavor is lite; there is no heavy ginger ale taste, it's milder, and I'm really enjoying the change. Of course there is green tea flavour, and that too is mild but balances well with the ginger ale. I'd say in comparison with the previously reviewed Cricket, the green tea in this is on par, possibly just the tiniest bit less. The sweetness is at a perfect level with the ginger ale and green tea tastes.

Unlike the usual crop of sodas we review, this is not chock full of natural ingredients, like, ya know, sugar. We get good ol' high fructose corn syrup here, but again this is already very lite tasting, so it doesn't have the high level of sticky flavour that HFSC gives. The unique ingredients in this one are, of course, the green tea, but there is also 100% of your daily value of vitamin C per can, which honestly, seems to be in everything now. That along with the green tea provide 200mg of antioxidants.

Being that it's sold with the "mainstream" sodas, the price is on par with Coke, Pepsi, and other normal soda products. I really hope this sticks around, I like it a lot and would make this my ginger ale of choice easily. From the miracle of the internet it seems that this is also available in 20oz and 2 liter bottles.

-Mike

Carver's Ginger Ale

This is going to be a lame review, but this is ginger ale. I bought it for 99 cents for four bottles. It's "unique" property that makes it not just a regular ginger ale is that real sugar is used instead of corn syrup, which does give it a slightly better flavor than regular ginger ale. There you go. Oh, and it's made by Coca-Cola, which now has about 4,000 ginger ales world wide.

-Mike

Reed's Premium Ginger Brew

I don't know if you've had actual ginger beer, but generally they taste like your common ginger ale, and then with a hit of "help me, my mouth is on fire." As soon as I popped the top of this one and took a whiff, I was pretty worried. Thankfully, that wasn't the case.

Reed's is a fairly strange brew, however. At first the taste is a little weird but then becomes very refreshing. This is one of those drinks where you need to know what you're getting into before taking a sip. Before the main list of ingredients it states "strong ginger bite," which, like I said, this is not as strong as a ginger beer, though it does boast 17 grams of fresh ginger per bottle.

After that the variety of ingredients gets really interesting and surprisingly really works. The first ingredient (after the sparkling filtered water) is a list of the sweeteners, starting with "Canadien white water clover honey (very mild) and pineapple juice from concentrate." I really felt the honey was a bit too much, then I realized it wasn't the honey, but the lemon and lime juices it also mentions at the end.

I don't have a buffet here next to me to test, but I feel like this would go well with some kind of food, I'm just not sure what. (I later tried it with pizza, which works well)

The drink is very, very sweet, and though I'm not one to complain about too much sugar or any kind of sweetener, I am a dry ginger ale guy. Aside from that, though, I can't really deny this too bad of a score because it is so unique and is one of those drinks that, if I enjoyed going to the beach, I'd probably take with me. Or maybe not. Either way, this is a one time buy for me, but is worth experiencing once.

-Mike