Hank's Premium Highland Berry Soda

Call us the Looney Tunes because we’re back in action… except hopefully this review will at least be as enjoyable as that movie.  If not you can just chalk it up to rust.  Don’t be shocked by the tone of my voice.  Check out my new beverage, beverage of choice.  Hank’s Premium Highland Berry Soda.  It’s not especially clear to me what “Highland” berries are, although I will say the words create a delightful picture of nature surrounded by nature in my head.  A quick look at the ingredients just show’s me that this is sweetened with HFCS and that natural/artificial flavors are present.  All I really have to go on is the deep red colouring of the soda which brings to mind thoughts of raspberry (not the fake blue kind), cherry, cranberry, and perhaps dewberry.  Smell test.

The aroma is faint, but the scent of cherries and cream can be distinguished with a strong huff of the bottle.  Since you all know that I’m a little lad who loves cherries and cream I won’t waste your time talking about it anymore.  Taste time.

Ok, so maybe it wasn’t cherries I smelled.  The slight vanilla taste is definitely present though, making this soda wonderfully smooth.  Best I can tell, Hank’s Premium Highland Berry Soda is a combination of cranberry, strawberry, raspberry, and I guess there’s some cherry in there… but then again my mind could be playing tricks on me.  The way these flavors are grouped together is quite delicate.  Normally there is a player on center stage hamming it up as the rest of the flavors sit as trees in the background.  Don’t worry about them though.  Their parents are still in the audience filming every last second of their tree-dom.  In the case of Hank’s Premium Highland Berry Soda all roles are equally important, even that of the cream.  This equal amount of stage time really makes me think about the individual flavors I could potentially be tasting.  Virtual high-fives to the folks at Hank’s for creating this balanced eco-system of flavor goodness.  The carbonation levels don’t even intrude on the flavor math that has obviously been done.  Light, fizzy, and borderline fun, the bubbles just serve as a wakeup call to the interior my mouth before the actual flavor steps into the room. 

For all that this soda does well it’s not perfect.  The use of HFCS weighs down the end result of each sip I enjoy.  The mouth feel isn’t the heaviest I’ve felt, but it does detract from an enjoyable experience.  On an individual level I’m also not going to gush on and on about the flavors of the berries used in this bottle.  Each berry flavor comes off as somewhat generic to me.  The quality of the ingredients could be improved and with that I think an amazing soda would emerge.  Even though I have some complaints I would still recommend purchasing this soda.  Are there problems with it?  Yes, but the taste is still wonderfully complex without needing an “educated” palate to see all that it has to offer.

~A

On Earth 2 Twist is from the Highlands of Scotland