Mist Twst

I don’t normally review mainstream sodas, but I felt it important to follow the saga that is Sierra Mist.  When Sierra Mist came out it was Pepsi’s version of a clear citrus soda not called Slice.  Sierra Mist was alright in my mind, better than Sprite, worse than 7Up, but still an acceptable choice.

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Sometime in 2010 Sierra Mist changed sweeteners to sucrose, going away from high fructose corn syrup.  They also changed their name to Sierra Mist Natural… and in my opinion it was awful.  They went from being better than Sprite to being worse than Sprite in my eyes and that’s quite a task.  Not that I find Sprite to be disgusting, but there are so many better choices out there.

Anywho, Sierra Mist has been altered again in name and recipe.  Now it’s called Mist Twst and is back to using high fructose corn syrup again.  Who knows if this’ll taste any good, but it has to be better than the last iteration, right?

Looking at the label it also says that Mist Twst has a “splash of real juice”.  Looking at the ingredient label it appears the juice used is lemon juice concentrate.  Not a bad ingredient to have in your lemon lime soda and in the third position none-the-less.  

Smell wise it’s pretty standard.  There’s a lemony scent not unfamiliar to bathroom cleaners that escapes the bottle.  My expectations are low as I have a feeling I’m about to try a generic lymon soda.

Yup, that’s pretty dang generic.  There’s an initial shock to the tongue, likely caused by the lemon juice.  What follows is a rather mild taste paired with intense carbonation.  Flavor wise it’s not so muted that it’s dry, which is nice.  It’s kind of like Lemon and Lime showed up to the dance in their best suits, but were too afraid to ask anyone to cut a rug.  All flash and no substance.

Aftertaste wise it’s more of the same, but tends to lean a little more towards the lime.  It’s an alright finish, so I’m not going to bust them up too much.

All in all I’m pleased with Mist Twst.  I feel like this is the best version of Sierra Mist so far, putting it easily above Sprite once again and closer to 7Up than it has been in the past.  So my hat is off to you giant snack conglomerate PepsiCo.  You saw what wasn’t working and through market research and science made things right again.

~A

This is probably in 90% of the stores you frequent