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)

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)

Abita Springs Root Beer

If you ever want me to hunt down a particular drink, say it's better than the highest rated equivalent soda.  For example, someone who I trust told me that while Virgil's Root Beer was excellent, Abita Springs Root Beer was better.  Needless to say I was shocked, and sort of excited, because while I love Virgil's and their products, I always hope for something out there to be better.

Unfortunatly, this is not better.  In fact there are many root beers out there which are much better than this one.  It's just really dull, not that sweet.  Very generic.  Read the ingredients and tell me where they went wrong:  carbonated water, cane sugar (according to the front of the label, pure Louisiana cane sugar at that), caramel color, root beer flavor, phosphoric acid.  Now, my guess is the problem is all about the "root beer flavor."  That's very generic sounding, like they went through this process at trying to make a decent root beer and decided that the most important part should be picked up at the grocery store where you can get "root beer flavor" in the baking aisle.  Again I'll stress that this isn't bad, but it's not great either.  An average root beer. 

So the search continues...

-Mike E.

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

Drank

I'm about to drink Drank. That was fun to say. This one was donated by one of our fans at work, and when he approached me with the concept of a reverse energy drink, I was a little scared. Being someone who works at night, sleep and drowsiness in general is something that you have to be careful with. Sometimes it's hard to get to sleep; sometimes you want to sleep constantly.

This drink, called Drank, is billed as an "extreme relaxation beverage." The website doesn't go into much detail, so I was worried when I saw Melatonin in it because it didn't say how much. While I do take melatonin (when I remember to), too much can be bad. This is 2mg per can, so less than I usually take in a day. That news made me feel a bit safer. Along with that are 200% of all B vitamins, valerian root and rose hips. The back of the can call it a "relaxed lifestyle beverage" that will "slow your roll." Oh, and there's a warning that it may cause drowsiness and not to drink more than two servings (one can) during a 24 hour period. So here we go.

First off it smells like melted rocket pops, you know, those red, white and blue popsicles? Wow, this is really sugary for a drink that is supposed to calm me down. It's pretty good, I really can't describe the flavor though. Kind of like Red Bull I guess, or other energy drinks in general, combined with a liquid rocket pop. I guess I'm surprised because I can't imagine an anti-energy drink would taste like this, let alone have any sugar in it, but it does. So yeah, this is tasty. But the bigger concern is what it'll do to me. This part will take time, so...time elapses...

30 minutes later: nothing.

45 minutes later: about half way done. I am drowsy, not relaxed, just tired.

90 minutes later: time for bed.

So I slept very deeply, dreamt (very nice dream too, don't know if that's attributed to the drink, but they could be on to something here. Am I still in parentheticals? Yes, it looks like I am. I think I asked myself that to say parentheticals. There I got to say it again. Now back to the review.), and woke up with a numb hand, meaning my body wanted to sleep more than roll over and have circulation reach my hand. It's tasty and it works...but I still look at it dangerously...

-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

Sprecher Root Beer Soda

Sorry for the delay kids, I went to the wrong place.

Time for some more Sprecher. Remember Sprecher Orange Dream? Nope? Then you're not a true fan of "TSJ." Real fans may proceed.

As you recall, their Orange beverage was pretty tasty, so this time we have Sprecher Root Beer Soda. Not root beer, root beer soda. Either way I haven't done a root beer in a while and figured I would.

Wow so this is very, very smooth and quite creamy. I'm downing it pretty quickly, and this is a 16oz. bottle, not one of those 12oz. deals. Very sweet, good flavour. Almost a sweeter A&W. Pretty clean too, not much of a "stickiness" to it.  The head on it is ridiculous, if you're one of those people that care about such things. 

I'd get it again. It was about a buck fifty for one of these bottles. Good bottle too, some crazy looking crow drinking it. Yeah I know we're doing cheap sodas this year but hey, I had to fancy it up a bit for the new site.

-Mike

Sof Drink Jamaican Cream Soda

This is the second Sof Drink product we’ve reviewed, the first being the Champagne Cola, which I haven’t had the pleasure of tasting. As I’ve said before, I’m not the biggest cream soda fan in the world but this looked different so I figured I’ve give it a try. Although the cat on the bottle is pretty cool I swear it had nothing to do with it.

I like this though, I think it’s the second best cream soda I’ve tasted, number one still being Virgil’s. It doesn’t have the vanilla kick and creaminess that the Virgil’s does, but it does have a crispness to it, which is very rare in a cream soda. It was almost like a cream soda combined with just a bit of seltzer. Just enough “watered down” flavor to make it a bit milder and not as “sticky” as other cream sodas. This is pretty important to me as I really dislike cream sodas that are heavy and sticky.

Call me crazy but I swear that it had a slight undertone of a citrus flavor.

This one was about $1.50 for a bottle, so not too crazy. I liked this one and would drink it again.

-Mike

Stewart's Key Lime

I'm finally getting around to reviewing this one. It's so damn good that every time I end up buying some I down it so quickly that I don't have time to review it. As I've said before I like to review whilst I'm drinking. None of this "after the fact" nonsense flies around here.

This one is a little more "mainstream" then what we usually get. By that I mean when it comes to bottled sodas (as opposed to cans or plastic bottles) this is probably the number one mainstream brand. Also the ingredients are chemicals.

But it's so delicious. The smell is a very potent lime, with almost a little cream in it. Appropriate because it's called key lime. Also an appropriate smell because that's how it tastes. It's nothing like a limeade in there's no real citrus bitterness to it, which I don't mind but it's a nice variant on something more common. So essentially a creamy, not sour but still strong lime flavoured beverage. Delicious.

-Mike

Virgil's Cream Soda

Can't get enough of these Virgil beverages, eh?

I'm not a fan of cream soda, but I don't hate it either. I guess that makes me indifferent to it. One of my main complaints of cream soda is that it always has a stickiness. Thankfully, like all Virgil's products, this is a very clean, crisp soda. Meaning no stickiness. In case you didn't pick that up.

The bottle boasts "micro brewed with real vanilla beans," and that comes through abundantly. It's a very potent vanilla flavour. This is an extremely sweet beverage to the extent that the best way I can describe it is that it literally makes me smile as I sip it.

-Mike

Fentiman's Botanically Brewed Traditional Curiosity Cola

First off, congratulations to this product for currently having the longest name on our site, defeating the previous entry by three letters.

Secondly, congratulations on your awesome looking bottle.

The biggest negative about this drink came well before the first sip. It's a very small bottle and costs $3.69. Yikes. It's so pricey I almost want it to not be good.

But it is. It's nowhere near surpassing Virgil's Real Cola, but this is tasty.

On the bottle it says, twice, "UP END BEFORE POURING." I have no idea what it means, but I figured out part of it meant it should be poured in a glass, so I obliged. This drink probably has the spiciest scent of anything I've had yet. Unlike other colas that I can describe with "RC-like" or "Coke-esque," this really does have a cola flavour of it's own. The taste is spicy as well, but still sweet. I was a little concerned that like other old fashioned drinks, it would lack the sweet, but thankfully it doesn't. The back label claims they wanted to "brew a draught from Botanicals, with body and bite that is curiously envigorating. (sic)"

The best way to put this...when I taste this drink, I picture myself as a test subject for the original cola beverage. Or maybe a neighbor in the 1800s or whatever has told me "let's go down to the bar, they have some sort of new beverage called a 'cola.'" I feel that this is what it would taste like.

-Mike

Abbondio Grapefruit & Strawberry

After two in-depth reviews of some decent soda I present to you the five step drink review:

1. Nice bottle

2. Smells good

3. Tastes like metal

4. Poured it down the sink

5. Drank something else

-Mike

Kutztown Sarsaparilla

When I walked into the grocery store this week I saw cases upon cases of Kutztown beverages. Since their root beer was only mediocre I decided to just walk on by. Thankfully on my way out I took one more look and saw their sarsaparilla. Now I've never had sarsaparilla, although I've always just assumed root beer was the same thing. Considering they sell root beer I figured there must be a difference.

It turns out the difference is sassafras. While original "root beers" used sassafras root, now it's more artificial flavouring or spice combinations. This beverage happens to use sarsaparilla oil.

So what's it taste like? If you took one sip and set it down you'd say "root beer." Taking more sips though reveals a very intersting flavour, one that is best described as someone pouring root beer, cola, and maybe a little bit of birch beer in it. Thankfully just a bit of birch beer as I'm not a big fan.

As a cola fan though, the combination with root beer is interesting to me. It's a unique flavour if you give it a chance and worth trying. Way to redeem yourself, Pennsylvania.

-Mike

Virgil's Real Cola

I don't think either of us would deny the fact that we have a strong like (maybe love) for Virgil's products. They obviously have the belief that there should be soda beverages made to a higher quality, in the same way that there is cheap wine and fine wine. Virgil's is the "fine wine" of sodas, which is why any time I find out about a new product from them I get excited. I always wondered what a cola would taste like from them, and now I know: it's the greatest soda I've ever had.

Now at one point this might have seemed ridiculous. I was torn between different flavours. There's the sweet fruitiness of Stewart's Key Lime, which I should note is so good I haven't even reviewed it yet, I always down it too quickly when I get a bottle, or, another Virgil's product, their Root Beer. But I've always been a big fan of colas, and this one tops them all.

The smell of it after it's opened tells you that you're in for something awesome. It's very sweet and potent with a vanilla and spice scent. The Cola, like their Root Beer, is very smooth, not too carbonated, just enough to give a tingle. You really can taste everything in it; the vanilla, the clove spices, the cinnamon. It even contains orange and lime, and there is a delicate hint of it in the background.

It's fantastic. The message on the back of the bottle ends with this line: "We decided to make a cola that would rival the super premium quality of our root beer." Mission accomplished.

So as much as I rave about this you'll see the score below and wonder why it's not higher. It's not perfect by any means, nothing has been so far and I don't believe anything will be, but of course in the mission to seek the greatest sodas ever you hope to find it. Also the price of drinks has always been a factor in our reviews, and at two dollars a bottle, while that's a fair price for a premium product, that is something that has to be considered. Normally I don't preach about scores versus review text but I think in this case it had to be said.

-Mike

Red Bull Cola

Alright, so I hadn't found any decent drinks to review until I was walking through the grocery store today and saw Red Bull Cola. Since I figure 50% of it's purpose is to energize you, instead of doing my normal recap of my opinion after I drank it, this will be written over the course of an evening.

It smells like cola syrup, like what you'd get at a pharmacy to calm your stomach. Now regular Red Bull tastes like bubble gum and fire, which isn't a bad thing, I actually enjoy Red Bull, so let's see what this is like...

This is decent, no bubble gum and no fire, maybe really far in the aftertaste but not instantly noticable. It's kind of got an RC thing going on.

Okay now that I've drank about a quarter can I am tasting the bubble gum flavour, again, not too bad.

I will say this about my little experiment, I desperatly want a nap right now, so I'm pretty tired. Let's see how energized this gets me.

Alright, it's been 3 hours since I started this. I'm going to say it's not really that powerful in regards to an energy boost. The taste is good, but being that it's Red Bull it's also expensive, $6 for a 4 pack.

Now a little update, over the last week I drank all 4 cans, two early in the morning after waking up and two late afternoon after coming home from work. It was more effective in the morning, however not as effective as a regular Red Bull. That and it's pretty awkward drinking soda first thing in the morning.

-Mike

Kutztown Root Beer

"When you're bad for something mighty good, reach for a foamy mug of Kutztown Root Beer. Tastes chust like old-fashioned, 'cause you know we make it that way. Drink 'til you ouch, there's more back!"

I swear this is what the back of the bottle says.

I bought this thinking that my Pennsylvania brethren would get their act together and produce a quality product. Nope.

The first ingredient on the bottle is "triple-filtered carbonated water," which makes sense because that's what you taste the most, water. It's a very dull root beer flavour going on here. In fact the best way to describe it is A&W from a fountain with too much water, not enough syrup. Sad.

Another negative is that the sweetness (supposedly provided by "pure cane sugar") is a little off tasting. Not as off as that Root Beer Float thing reviewed earlier, but still strange.

One positive I can say about this is that "triple-filtered" must me "not really that carbonated water," which is nice. A lot of root beers are just way too carbonated.

All in all though, it's not horrible. If this was cheap or on sale I could see myself buying it...but it'd have to be a heck of a sale.

I've been to Kutztown before, I'm not sure why, but I'm sure I'll never be again. If someday I do end up there, I'll be sure to hang my head in shame.

-Mike