Julmust Christmas Soda

For those of you who celebrate the Christmas holiday, as you know right now is the perfect time to start shopping for presents and holiday-themed beverages. No, I'm not talking about eggnog; I'm talking about Julmust Christmas Soda from the fine folks at Guttsa Kalla in Sweden.  If you doubt their Swedish-ness, check out their website at guttsakalla.com.  Their founder's name is Lars Andersson.  Need I say more?

Last time I checked Christmas is on December 25th, and this soda expires soon so I best drink it now rather than wait.  Besides, it's best to shop early.

As you can see in the picture it's a cola-colored beverage, with a slight red tint when held up to the light.  It has sugar, so no HFCS, which is good…but hops and malt flavors from barley?  Oh boy. 

Well, it sure smells bad.  Oh, good, it even tastes bad as well.  Wow, this tastes like an alcoholic beverage, but without the alcohol.  This is non-alcoholic beer.  If we liked beer, we'd do a beer site, but we don't.  We like soda.  This isn't soda, it's disgusting.  I know a lot of people didn't like that spiced Pepsi from a few years ago, but I did, and I was kind of hoping this would be like that.  I think even those who didn't like the spiced Pepsi would crave that over this waste of carbonation.  Yuck.

-Mike

Shirakiku Carbonated Drink

Boy, I'm thirsty!  I'm in the mood for something tasty and sweet!  Mmm!  Let's see what's in the ol' review refrigerator...

How about something exotic from Japan?  Here's something:  Shirakiku Carbonated Drink!  Wait, carbonated drink?  Sounds kind of dull.  Well, I'm thirsty, I'll give it a try.

This sure is an unusual bottle.  Ah, a seal.  Let me take that off.  Boy I'm thirsty.  Oh, it's still sealed.  In fact it looks like…is that a marble?

Wait, there was another piece of plastic under the seal.  It seems that I have to remove something from the piece of plastic.  Ah, it's a plunger.  I have to remove the plunger from the plastic and press down on the marble.  There we go.  Now to enjoy!  

Hmm.  Actually, the lip around the hole at the top of the bottle is huge.  I don't think you can actually drink out of the bottle.  Not a problem, let me just pour this into a glass. 

Here we go, a nice clean glass to pour into.  That's weird, it's not coming out.  Oh, yeah, the marble.  It keeps blocking the liquid.  Boy, I sure am thirsty.

Well let me just try to get this at the perfect angle so that it pours in properly.  Any time now.  Finally.  A nice cool glass of carbonated drink.

Tastes like sugar water.  Actually looking at the ingredients, HFCS water.  Still, the experience was amusing and interesting, so...

-Mike

Jones' Tofurkey and Gravy

Note:  This drink was one of our featured beverages on The Popcast, Episode 1.

From the title you know this one is a joke.  The company who has a history coming up with interesting flavors that have something or other to do with the holiday season has brought out another one, this time for us vegetarians and vegans.  The first off putting thing is that it looks like dirty water.  The second off putting thing is the fact that it contains 300mg of sodium.  In fact, the second ingredient is salt.  When we tested it, the initial smell was slightly citrus, which didn't make any sense at all.  The taste made even less sense, it wasn't awful, but it sure wasn't good. We noticed hints of cardboard.  

Now the bottle suggests eating it with mashed potatoes, so we obliged, in fact we warmed it up just like gravy.  Sadly it did not taste like gravy so it would not make a decent and cheap replacement, however it was better over the potatoes, probably because they took away from some of the flavor of the soda.

One thing is for certain, this drink is still not as bad as our personal worst sodas, those being Malta Hatuey and Beverly.  On top of that, it does have a lot of heart and creativity behind it, and again, we know that it's a joke.  

-Mike

(Note:  This beverage was provided to us by Jones)

Jones' Jumble Mixed Flavor Soda

First of all, this is the best bottle I've ever seen.  I almost wish I had a bottle frame for this, if bottle frames existed.  There are also two other designs which are great as well.  Secondly, this scares me to death.  Jones is known for having some weird flavors, such as gravy, so who knows what could be mixed in here.  Supposedly it's four flavors.  Let's find out...

The best way to describe the scent is a lollipop from hell.  Chocolate and grape are the smells I'm getting out of this.  I could be wrong.

After the first sip, it's not too bad.  Very bizarre.  There is a lot going on, approximately four things going on according to the folks at Jones.  Mostly though it is fruity, potent (in a good way), and quite refreshing.

Normally I don't include a picture of what the actual drink looks like outside of the bottle, but I sort of can't resist this time.

It's difficult to tell from this picture, but at most angles it looks grey, like dirty water.  It also has a greenish tint to it.

This is a soda you have to try if you're into trying sodas.  If you're not, why are you here?  It's refreshing and definitely a "taste explosion."  A conversation peice of sodas, so to speak. 

In the end, I swear this tastes like a melted down Tootsie Pop, which I don't like, but for some reason it works as a liquid.  Along with the decent flavor, the creativity inside and outside of the bottle add a lot to this one.

Oh, and by the way, I know all four flavors now, but I'm not telling you...

-Mike E.

(Note: This beverage was provided to us from Jones)