Americana Black Cherry

I'm not even sure what sort of joke to start this one off with.  How bout "if the bottle says vintage on it, just how old is this soda?  Is it out of date?"  Alright that was pretty awful.

Black cherry always seems to be decent.  You can't really screw up a black cherry.  Actually you probably could, but this one hits the mark for the most part.

It has a good black cherry flavor, but a little light than what you may expect from most.  Along with a good bit of sweetness (real cane sugar in this one) it also has a slight bite to it, something I never have had in a black cherry before, and I'm enjoying it.  

The carbonation feels a little overpowering at times, but if it were any other soda I probably wouldn't even make that comment.  I prefer my black cherry sodas to be smoother, and this is a case where that would improve it immensely.  After drinking this on the Popcast, I capped it up and put it in the refrigerator.  When I came back to it, it was just slightly flatter, and it made a world of difference.  That's not how it comes in the bottle though, so I stick with my original decision.

The ingredients are fairly solid, as I said no HFCS, but there is sodium benzoate.  The cherry taste comes from dark sweet cherry extract, which sounds like it could be bottled on it's own.

Aside from the ink on the label rubbing off on my hands as I drink it, and it's slight over-carbonation, this is a fairly solid black cherry with a unique bite to it.

-Mike

Nesbitt's of California Orange

I'm not sure if you can tell by the picture, but this is an orange soda.  The orange cap might give it away, or the orange label that has "orange" written on it.  I suppose the big tell is that the soda is colored orange.

The point I'm trying to get across, in case you couldn't tell, is that this is an incredibly orange soda, inside and out.

It took some time to assess this one, but this is how the flavor experience goes:  it's like the person who created this had an Orange Crush and said "back up the orange flavor a bit, back up the carbonation a little, bump up the sweetness some, and then give it a hint of orange Jell-O."

See the work we do for you?  To further enhance the flavor, make sure you swish it around in your mouth.  In fact, that's not a suggestion, that's an order.  I'm making you.

Aside from all the chemicals, this is a very good orange soda, one of the best I've had.

-Mike

Flathead Lake Monster Granny Apple

Sure, Twist doesn't usually appear in my pictures, but I had to show this chemical-filled "Flathead Lake Monster" just who was boss.

Legends live forever and are known the world over.  That's why everyone already knows about Montana's Legendary Soda, right?  You don't?  Hmm...

Well you had to have heard of the Flathead Lake Monster.  You haven't?  Not even Flathead Lake?

Neither have I.  I'm guessing that Flathead Lake is located in Montana and that there is a legend of a lake monster that, as you can see on the bottle, is so goofy looking you'd probably laugh at it instead of cowering in fear.

But we're not here to talk about monsters; we're here to talk about the lake's Granny Apple soda.  Thankfully this one isn't too bad.  It's got a nice crisp flavor that really sets itself apart from other apple sodas and does taste more like the granny variety rather than any other.  My only problem with it is the "gourmet" and "hand crafted" brandings on the front which become pointless when you look on the back and see all the chemicals. 

The sad thing is that this drink has a ton of potential.  I could have one now and then but the stickiness of the high fructose corn syrup is what puts a damper on this one.  If they replaced that with natural sugar it'd be a lot crisper and less “sticky” which would make it a real winner and possibly a rank higher if not more.

-Mike

Whiteway's Peardrax

When you look at, and smell Peardrax, you think things like "bad white wine" or "nail polish remover."  Thankfully it doesn't taste like either of those, however it isn't that great.

If anything the feeling that it could be either of those horrible things, or worse, makes it end up tasting better once you have it.  It's sweet, but with a dull pear flavor that doesn't do much to make it worthwhile.  

Even it's nice champagne style bubbles along with their use of sugar and fruit juices can't save this one from mediocrity.  Not horrible, but only worth it for the completionist.

-Mike

Organics Pomegranate Italian Soda

With a name like Organics, you can  expect some quality ingredients, or rather you hope for them.  Thankfully there  is actually a solid lineup of ingredients within this giant bottle, such as organic sugar, organic apple and organic pomegranate juice.  No preservatives!

You can have a quality foundation  but still build an ugly house, so is it tasty?  Yep, it succeeds there too with  a very unique flavor.  Again, for those unfamiliar, pomegranate is cherry-esque,  to compare it to another fruit.  This one has quite a bite too, a little sour,  sort of Jolly Rancher-esque.  I’m not comparing the flavor to Jolly Ranchers,  just the sour bite.  This is much higher class than a Jolly Rancher.  Sorry,  Jolly Rancher.  That bite fades a bit with each sip, but not too  much.

Because of this it’s not a  refreshing drink like what a cherry organic soda may taste like, but overall  it’s unique and good if you’re looking for something flavorful.  I have to say  I’m excited to try the other flavor that Dan W provided us with and may seek out  more at Walgreens (where they’re available, btw).

-Mike

Reed's Raspberry Ginger Brew

So, like, remember that Reeds drink we had a few weeks back?  You know, the one with, like, apples in it that was, like, really good?  Well...this isn't that, but I can use it as a basis for explaining it.

Similar to Reed's Spiced Apple Brew, a beverage we loved, this is a unusual blend of ginger with fruit.  Unusual in a good way, of course.  No surprise, it's filled with lots of natural ingredients, as a Reed's beverage usually is, such as ginger root, raspberry, apple, pear, lemon, etc.  

As you can see, the ginger comes before the raspberry, whereas in the Spiced Apple Brew, the apple comes before the ginger.  This means you're going to taste more ginger and there's just a hint of raspberry flavor.

This is another one of those ginger drinks where it smells and at first taste seems like it's going to be powerful like a ginger beer, however it doesn't end up that way and has a mild, but bold taste.

I felt this ends up in a Kraft Macaroni & Cheese situation where it shouldn't be called Raspberry Ginger Brew but Ginger Raspberry Brew, because it really is more of a ginger drink with a hint of raspberry.  It's decent, I just wanted more raspberry.

-Mike

(Note:  This beverage was provided to us by Reed's)

Jones Zilch Pom-egranate Soda

We tend to shy away from diet sodas because, well, they're gross.  Jones has given some hope in the diet department with their Zilch line, which, as the name implies, are zero calorie sodas.

I have hope because it's Jones, Zilch is a better name than diet, and they use sucralose rather than aspartame.  I'm cooler with sucralose, being a derivative of sugar.  Most people know it as it's brand name, Splenda.  Fun fact:  sucralose was discovered to be sweet when someone working in a lab was told to "test the powder" but heard "taste."  Good thing it wasn't poison.

Anyway, this is actually tasty, which is nice because it gives me hope for more decent diet sodas.  I've come to like pomegranate, although I never heard of it prior to about five years ago.  All I knew was if you took a shot of that "Pom" juice once a day, it was good for your health.  I don't know if I believe that.  I've had it mostly in lollipop form and it's sort of cherry-esque.  

It's not shockingly sweet like your normal soda, but it's a nice, crisp alternative with zero calories.  On top of all that it's got Vitamin C, so hey, it's better than water.

-Mike

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

Hot Lips Apple Soda

Way back when I reviewed Hot Lips Pear I said that I thought they should do an apple instead.  Well, here it is, and it's as delicious as I expected.  

The best part about Hot Lips products are how simple they are.  Carbonated water, apple juice, sugar and lemon juice.  That's all it takes to make something delicious.  

The flavor can be summed up as "carbonated apple juice," but of course the added sugar and lemon give it it's soda-like zing.  

This is a simple product so I guess that's why it's such a simple review.  I wish more folks did this.  Simple can be better.

Verdict:  Buy stock in the company!

-Mike

(Note:  This beverage was provided to us by Hot Lips)

A “Twist’s Choice” Recipient

Sprecher Fire-Brewed Cherry Co

There are two situations where I have to struggle to censor myself from shouting out (or typing out I suppose) expletives when writing a review.  One is when a drink is insanely awful, the other when it's insanely great.  Thankfully this is in the latter category.

Sprecher Cherry Cola, or rather "Fire-Brewed" (it's in tiny print) Cherry Cola is amazing.  Obtaining this was a tiny adventure in itself.  First of all I got the tip about it from DW who found it in the grocery store I go to just about every other day.  How could I have missed this?  It's Sprecher, who has a great root beer, making a cherry cola?  I had to have seen it!  Well, it wasn't with the regular sodas.  With the scoop, I went straight to the store next time I had a chance and checked it out.  None to be found.

My next attempt started poorly.  I was in the regular soda aisle and still couldn't find it when I noticed a lost-looking employee with one in his hands.  He couldn't find where it went and I couldn't find one to buy.  I told him "that's exactly what I'm looking for!"  I think he was more excited that he didn't have to keep looking for it than I was to have found it.  Eventually I will have to look for it again because I don't see how I won't be able to pick up one of these on a regular basis.  Here's a preview of what you're about to read:  this is one of the greatest sodas I've had.

This is absolutely delicious.  As soon as I took a sniff I was sold.  It wasn't just the scent of cherries, it was cherry cola.  It smelled boldly of cherry cola.

It's smooth, sweet, rich, creamy.  This is absolutely the best cherry cola I have ever tasted.  But... there has to be a negative, doesn't there?  Yep.  It's got HFCS in it.  It's so good though, I honestly do not care.  I know, shame on me.

Let's look at the positives.  First it's made with Wisconsin Door County cherry juice and Wisconsin raw honey.  Good so far.  It also mentions "the finest cola extract and a handful of selected spices cooked to perfection in our gas-fired brew kettles."  That makes up for it's one downfall for me.

This is so good I'm sitting here sniffing the empty bottle while I'm typing this out.  Crazy?  You try it.

I don't know what's harder to believe, that after over 100 reviews, this is our first cherry cola or that a soda with HFCS is going into my top 5?

-Mike

Izze Sparkling Blueberry

Aside from the apple, blueberries are my favorite fruit, so I thought why not Blueberry be my first Izze product?

First of all Izze products have a great look to them. A simple, clean logo with simple text.  Secondly this is way different from your typical fruit flavored soda, in fact they call this sparkling fruit juice, which is much more accurate since it contains 70% fruit juice.  I don't need to get too into this stuff since the other half of this site reviewed their Blackberry way back when.

So getting to the drink, it's carbonated blueberry juice.  Don't expect something like a cherry, orange, grape or other fake fruit flavored soda, this is fruit juice, no question.  Because it's fruit juice it's very heavy and thick and has a bold taste.  This isn't bad, but it's not something you should pick up expecting the style of the previous drinks I mentioned.  The first tastes hits a little hard but once you start drinking it you appreciate that it is what it says, sparkling fruit juice.

In the way I compared Virgil's Black Cherry to fine wine and Safeway Black Cherry to box wine, this is like comparing blueberry gummy snacks to blueberries.  This is the real deal.

-Mike

Reed's Spiced Apple Brew

Let's go straight to the ending, Tarantino style:  the aftertaste of this is apple pie.

Think about that.  Now let's go back to the beginning.

A couple weeks ago we had a pretty disappointing apple soda.  In fact all around apple sodas are hit or miss.  We thought that Jones' had a pretty decent apple soda, one of the better "higher tier" apple sodas, if not the best.  Aside from that we're both fans of Manzanita Sol, which is "lower tier" I guess you'd say.  

I had been hoping for a Virgil's Apple, or Apple Cider, and while that is still a pipe (or bottle) dream, we do have a product here from Reed's, who makes Virgil's products, called Spiced Apple Brew.

First of all the label has a little story of the days before soft-drinks when non-alcoholic beverages were made at home.  It then goes on to suggest that they brew and age their beverages at the same level of quality, with the same level of quality ingredients.  I completely believe it because this is delicious.

When you taste this, without knowing anything in it, your immediate reaction would be "spiced apple pie."  It's liquid apple pie.  You taste the apple, you taste the cinnamon, and it has a ginger spice to it.  Also part of the ingredients is lemon, and when you know it's there you can get a hint of it but that's all, nothing too distracting.  

Everything we've reviewed up until now has been "fun."  Even some of the best drinks we've reviewed have been "fun," while still being high quality.  Virgil's Bavarian Nutmeg Root Beer was a finely crafted beverage for a soda, but it's still a root beer.  It still has that familiarity that goes with a pizza or a cookout.  Spiced Apple Brew takes it to a new level.  This is a drink you really appreciate.  There was obviously a lot of work put into this and you can taste it.  One of the folks at Reed's compared it to a fine wine where you savor it and appreciate all the flavors, and that's a perfect way of putting it.  Again, not to say that some of the other beverages we rated highly didn't have a lot of work put into it them, because we know there was, and they were delicious.  This is just taking it in a direction no one has yet, and it really legitimizes the soda industry as something serious.

Did I mention its aftertaste is apple pie?

-Mike E.

(Note:  This beverage was provided to us by Reed's)

Sidral Mundet

Before opening up this giant bottle of Sidral Mundet that a reader gave to us, I had great confidence that this was going to be one of the greatest successes that The Soda Jerks had stumbled upon.  Alas it ended up being the greatest disappointment.

Everything asthetically about Sidral Mundet is fantastic:  great label with a delicious looking apple on it, 100% natural sugar, the fact that it's pasteurized signifying that it's made with a similar process to juice or cider, and most striking of all the phrase "the flavor comes from the apple."  They must use some pretty bland apples, or have watered it down significantly.  Like I said on the Popcast, it's like someone down on their luck drank half a bottle of apple soda and to make it last longer they poured water in it.

As my dad would say "it's not bad, but it's not good either."  You won't be reaching for an air sickness bag after you drink this by any means, probably because you're not on an airplane.  If you are, what strange airline serves Sidral Mundet?  If you're not, why do you have air sickness bags around?  Either way, what I'm getting at is it's not bad, just bland.  Horribly, dissapointingly bland. 

-Mike

Waialua Soda Works: Lilikoi

One of the most popular soda flavors in our crazy, mixed up world is lilikoi.  Actually it isn't.  Come to think of it, what is lilikoi?  Oh, the tiny print says "passion fruit."  Now that I've heard of, although it's still not common.  I will say, if someone asks me what I'm drinking when I have one of these I'd tell them "lilikoi," if I could pronounce it.

As you could guess by the abundance of vowels in the company's name and flavor, they're from Hawaii.  The hula girl on the label gives it away too.  The kana at the bottom is a ruse.  Either way this stuff is tasty.  It's a very mild flavor, sort of melon or peach-esque almost.  The color is a light pink so you expect something mild.  It's well sweetened though and generally crisp and refreshing.  I should mention, as I like to do, that it is sweetened with cane sugar, something you'd expect from a place like Hawaii.

They have some other flavors but I went with the lilikoi because it's called lilikoi, however I'd be curious to find out what a Hawaiian root beer tastes like.

-Mike

Jones' Strawberry Lime

Wait a second, Strawberry Lime?  Don't you mean cherry?  No I don't!  Blame the crazy cats over at Jones' soda.  One word for them:  RENEGADES.

This is amazing, one of the best fruit flavored sodas I've had in a long time.  In fact, this beats my previous favorite, Stewart's Key Lime.  Not only does this have the taste advantage, it has the cane sugar instead of HFCS advantage.  It's so good I want to use inappropriate language to describe it, but I'll keep this a family site.

Unlike other strawberry sodas, this one is not heavy or sticky feeling at all, it is very light and refreshing.  I attritube this to, again, the cane sugar and also the lime.  The lime just gives it that extra crispness that offsets the powerful flavor of strawberry.

I'm not a beach guy, but if I was, I would be taking a ton of these in a giant ice chest.  Who thought strawberry would go better with lime than cherry?  Amazing.

-Mike

Jarritos Jamaica

This is the second Jarrito's product I've had, but the first I'm reviewing, and yet another drink donated by a fan. I am curious because the flavor is "Jamaica" which means nothing to me. I'm also a little worried.

First off it should be mentioned that Jarrito's products do not contain twist off caps, so have a bottle opener handy or your hands will end up bloody as mine did when I had some of their stuff the first time.

Now I'm worried again because this smells horrible. I'm not sure I can even describe the smell but it's not something that soda should smell like. But I suppose taste is the best judge, so here we go.

I have never tasted anything like this. To be honest this is the first time I had a "just in case" bottle of water open and ready because I thought this was going to be disgusting. It's not, but it's not good either. It's like cherry and grass flavored, and I'm talking grass from your lawn. Haven't had to do this in a long time, but this one is getting dumped out.

Sorry but I have to say it: Jarritos, Jamaican me want to throw up. Get it? Ya makin' me want to...nevermind.

-Mike

Oogave Watermelon Cream

The only watermelon soda I've had was the one from Epcot, and that one was pretty bland. I really enjoyed the Oogave Mandarin-Key Lime, so I figured that I would try another one of their products from our local Hubble and Hudson store and went with their other fruit soda, the Watermelon Cream.

This is much better than the other watermelon I had, in the sense that this one has an actual flavor to it. At the same time, though, it's still watermelon and that's not my favorite flavor. This one isn't crisp as the Mandarin-Key Lime, it's a bit heavier, probably because of the "cream" part, but not as heavy as a typical cream soda. I'm avoiding using the comparison to Jolly Ranchers, but it does have a candy-type flavor.

-Mike E.

Hot Lips Pear Soda

This is the first in our series of reviews for Hot Lips beverages.According to the bottle (which, by the way, are all as bland looking as this one) it seems that they have Hot Lips pizza restaurants as well.Seems to be a good way to get people into your shop, make your own soda.All the drinks we’ve been given to try are fruit flavored, and that’s literal.They’re all made with real fruit juices, carbonated water, cane sugar, lemon juice and vanilla.As weird as it sounds to have lemon juice mixed in with these flavors, it actually makes sense for most of them.

Pear is our first trial (Northwest pear according to the ingredients) and man is it good.I’m a little surprised that it’s not apple though.They have similar enough flavors and you figure you could market apple a little bit better than pear, but either way this tastes delicious.It tastes exactly like taking a bottle of apple juice off the shelf and carbonating it.The lemon juice adds a little pop which gives it more of that soda-like zing and also makes it refreshing and a little less heavy.

Being a huge fan of apple/pear drinks, juices, ciders, etc., this is easily going high up on that list of those drinks and general fruit flavored beverages.

Addendum:  A little over six months later and after all our Hot Lips reviews they all held one thing in common:  too much lemon.  Well, the good folks over at Hot Lips realized something must have been up so they sent us some new batches with different lemons and, voila, the bold taste of lemon was replaced with a kick that didn't taste lemony at all.  Although in this particular flavor I was cool with the lemon, it didn't feel right in the other flavors, but those reviews will have their own time in the sun.  Either way there was an improvement in flavor, with the pear coming out much stronger.  In this situation I'm going to stick with the original verdict of buy a case.  One other side note, I did get my wish, there is a Hot Lips Apple and we'll be trying it soon!

-Mike E.

(Note: This beverage was provided to us from Hot Lips)

Topo Sabores Strawberry

This is the second Topo Sabores beverage we've tasted and we'll be doing another one coming up soon.  This one was donated by a Soda Jerks reader and I've seen it available at HEB.  Now although this is a bottled beverage, this is by no means attempting to be or is a premium soda.  They are sold fairly cheap, less than a dollar usually, so the fact that this is chock full of chemicals is to be expected.

It is a really decent strawberry soda.  I haven't had a strawberry in quite a while but I can guarantee that this is the sweetest strawberry I have ever had.  It almost has a Jolly Rancher flavor to it, but without the bite or sting that the candy does.

I can recommend this.  Seems most appropriate for outdoor consumption during mild summer activities.  Again the only negative is this is all chemicals.

What's the best part about it you ask?  The inside of the cap says "Thank You For Participating."  Awesome.

-Mike

Safeway Black Cherry

Another one given to us from a fan, and a generic soda - yes, I'm finally fulfilling the "rules" we settled on each yet.  Black cherry has always been a good flavor for me, especially with Kool-Aid, so I was hoping that maybe, just maybe, this may be a carbonated Kool-Aid.

Good news, it is.  This is one of the best generic sodas I've had and a great black cherry as well.  I'd compare it to this:  Virgil's Black Cherry is to fine wine as this is to wine in a box.  One is tasty because of it's flavor and ingredients, the other is sugary and gets the job done.  It's supposedly pretty cheap too, so...what more can you ask for?  A good exercise program to work the calories off I suppose.

-Mike

Oogave Mandarin-Key Lime

So according to the sign at our local Whole Foods-esque grocery store, Hubble & Hudson, Oogave products are exclusive to them.  Now I don't know if that means here in The Woodlands, in the state, or what, because it's bottled in Denver.  According to the bottle if you stop by they will give you a free soda.  How nice.

Before we get to the rest of the bottle, let me tell you, this is the cleanest, most crisp, most refreshing drink I've ever had.  Surprisingly it tastes more lemon lime then the (mandarin) orange (key) lime that the bottle promises.  It's just sweet enough, almost dry.  I hate to use this word but I kind of have to as it tastes closer to this than anything else:  Sprite.  Way better though.  It's like all natural Sprite.

According to the bottle, "Oogave may increase your desire to stop drinking other beverages."  For a second I took this seriously and then realized it was a joke.  "Oogave is not intended to cure or treat any illness, other than dissatisfaction with traditional sodas."  Something unusual, the ingredients are purified, carbonated water, organic agave nectar, citric acid, natural flavors, beta carotene (for color).  The unusual part is that the drink is pretty much clear, so if they added anything for color, it's hard to tell.

If you collect UPCs from all their flavors, you can send them in with five dollars and get a "free shirt."  Not exactly free, but I won't dock them points for that.

Overall this is really refreshing.  The flavor doesn't give a big impact, however it's still good in it's own special way.  I'm sure over the next couple months I will try the rest of their flavors because this is a great product.

-Mike