Hi-C Ecto Cooler

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Hi-C Ecto Cooler

Long time readers of the site know that on occasion I’ll review a non-carbonated beverage.  Most times I do so because I falsely believed the beverage was carbonated which leads to an embarrassing time for all.  Other times it’s because I feel the beverage is culturally important enough at the time to include.

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Haribo Happy Cola

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As I’m sure you’re well aware, kids and grown-ups love it so, the happy world of Haribo. But just how happy will Haribo’s Happy Cola make you?

Those who are in the know are more likely to be aware of Haribo due to their gummy bears. They also have what seems to be around a few hundred different types of gummy candy variations. The one most appropriate to this site is, of course, Happy Cola.

The gummies are appropriately shaped like bottles, half filled with soda. This ratio of half gummy, half cola is pretty accurate. The candy tastes like the “clear” flavored gummy bears (my personal favorite) with enough of a cola flavor that you’ll recognize it as something unique.

The cola flavor is a bit sweet, which is a rare comment coming from me, but because it only takes up about half the flavor, again, sharing the other half with the “clear” flavor, it works out perfectly.

Without knowing that these were supposed to be cola flavored, I may not have guessed that properly, but that doesn’t mean they’re not good. Just don’t expect to be overwhelmed by a cola taste. If I have any other negative, is that after eating a bunch of these, your hands will smell terrible. So...maybe consider a fork?

- Mike E.

Cry Baby Sour Mini Drinks

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So my mother-in-law is fairly amazing.  She can produce food at the drop of a hat.  Oh, you showed up unannounced?  Let me just pull all these pork chops out of the oven and have four sides to go with it.  She's stopping over for a visit?  Better make room in the fridge.  Mostly it's practical food stuffs that you can eat for a meal.  The other day she brought a pack of Cry Baby Sour Mini Drinks and I knew I had to review them.  They're you're basic wax bottle filled with liquid candy, but they're sour!  Thankfully there are five flavors so it's time to write some blurbs!

Hi, Twist!

Hi, Twist!

Blastin Blue Raspberry - On the sour scale it's slightly less than an actual lemon. The flavor is definitely identifiable too which is nice.  Thankfully these wax bottles are pretty thick so I'm able to consume these without worry of mess.  All in all, it was pretty good...albeit tiny.

Chargin Cherry - Slightly less sour than the Blue Raspberry, of course "Blastin'" is above "Chargin" in the candy adjective scale.  I enjoy the cherry taste better than the Raspberry, but Blastin Blue seemed more true to it's flavor.

Overload Orange - The least sour of the three thus far.  Tastes more like tangerine soda with a bite.  Still quite tasty, but the most boring of the ones I've tasted.

Lightning Lemon - This is still less sour than an actual lemon, but does an ok job replicating the flavor...plus a burst of Pine-Sol goodness.  Due to it's similairity to lemonade it's the most refreshing thus far.

Lectric Lime - Ok, the lime is delicious!  It's more of a key lime than lime lime.  There's a sweetness that was absent in the others and I'm really enjoying it.  Definitely the best of the bunch.  

Ok, the final tally is in and here are the results:

  1. Lectric Lime

  2. Chargin Cherry

  3. Overload Orange

  4. Lightning Lemon

  5. Blastin Blue Raspberry.

I know I know, controversy abound!  Well sleep on it and see if you don't still hate me in the morning.

~A

Dr. Pepper Sweet & Kickin' BBQ Sauce

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A common theme with all the soda related products that I’m running into is it’s a combination of two things, and usually two things I enjoy. Take Dr Pepper BBQ Sauce for example. I like Dr Pepper, and BBQ sauce. Also, I enjoy a sweet BBQ sauce. Where could this go wrong?

There isn’t a single food I have paired this with that has tasted good. Dr Pepper BBQ Sauce has way, way too much Dr Pepper in it. It is sickening sweet to the point of disgusting. I don’t think I’ve eaten anything that felt so wrongly-sweet since I made the mistake of ordering Cap’n Crunch chicken fingers at a Planet Hollywood in 1995. I can only imagine dipping those in the BBQ sauce. Ick.

Speaking of ick, this sauce is really runny. Not that I need my BBQ sauces to be super thick or anything, but it just seems really watery. I’d say maybe their intention was to use as a marinade, but that is also available for sale. I will not be attempting that.

Sadly I can’t recommend getting this, or even purchasing it just to try. If I think something is overpoweringly sweet, then there’s a good chance it’s gone overboard.  

- Mike E.

A&W Root Beer Float Dessert Topper

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awsyrup.jpg

I’m not a big ice cream guy, but occasionally enjoy it. When I do, I prefer frozen treats, or ice cream with lots of “stuff” in it, like a pint of vanilla ice cream with 100 peanut butter cups in it. Something reasonable.

Despite not being a fan of syrups, and not as much of a fan of “smooth” ice cream, I still gave A&W Root Beer Float Dessert Topper a try.

As a direct syrup, it’s fairly powerful. I feel this way about most ice cream syrup, however, so take that as-is. On the rare occasion that I do eat ice cream with syrup, I usually mix it up so that the flavor is spread out evenly.

This is where I appreciate this product. Root beer ice cream seems hard to come by here in Texas. In Pennsylvania, it was all over, thanks to it being a flavor in the line-up of the Weis Market store brand ice cream. This is essentially a way to create your own root beer ice cream, with whatever your favorite brand of vanilla ice cream is.

There isn’t much more to say about this. It is as it says. This is root beer flavored syrup for ice cream. If that’s what you want, this delivers. You might not use it the same way as I did, but it certainly works in the traditional sense as well.

- Mike E.

Chewy Chips Ahoy Ice Cream Creations Root Beer Float

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There are plenty of products that I didn’t know I wanted. Neopolitan Oreos. Red Velvet Pop Tarts. Jack in the Box’s Brunch Burger. Going into them I knew they had to be delicious, but I sure didn’t fathom a world with any of these treats.

Enter Chips Ahoy’s Chewy Ice Cream Creations Root Beer Float. I’m not a big chocolate chip cookie guy, but I enjoy Chewy Chips Ahoy, and the numerous spin-offs that have come from them. Despite the rest of the Ice Cream Creations line-up sounding delicious, I obviously went to try the Root Beer Float first.

Sadly, these are super disappointing. When you open the package, you know for certain that they were going for a root beer float flavor. The scent is bold. This pumped me up even more than I was before. Sadly the taste is just way too weird.

There are “vanilla chips” and I guess root beer chips? I tried to figure out if they were chocolate or root beer but the root beer flavoring overpowers everything. It reminds me a lot of spray butter or flavorings. It’s like they found “spray root beer flavoring” and just took vanilla chip cookies, and sprayed it on there.

I’ll put it like this. Over the course of 5 days, I ate four of these cookies, rather than in the course of about a 5 minutes. Two things that taste great separately, not so great together.

- Mike E.