Jarritos Toronja

   Again we dip from the Jarritos well of flavors, this time pulling out Toronja (which is Spanish for grapefruit).  Now early on in my soda reviewing timeline I thought I didn’t like grapefruit soda thanks to childhood memories I had of Fresca.  Thankfully the fine folks at Oogave made a delicious grapefruit soda that removed any thought in my brain that grapefruit couldn’t be good.  I don’t know if grapefruit is a newer flavor with Jarritos but the bottle art on the side seems much more modern and eye catching than their normal bottle art.  I like it!  Enough of the jibbering and the jabbering… let’s open this up.

   As you might think upon smelling this beverage you get the scent of citrus… a centrus if you will.  Grapefruit isn’t really known for its powerful aroma so I’m not too worried about the light amount of centrus.  We could huff this all day and not really find anything else out, so let’s try drinking it instead.

   These are literally the first words that popped in my head after the first drink:  Sprite. No, not Sprite.  Grapefruit.  Nice. Fizzy.    Now I normally have more complicated thoughts than that, but for some reason my brain decided to simplify the review process.  Just think, you now have an insider’s look into what this article is being built around.  I guess I could break down the words for you so that it doesn’t seem like I have no ability to elaborate.  “Sprite,” means just that.  My initial reaction was “wow this tastes a lot like Sprite when you first drink it.  “No, not Sprite,” was my brain pulling back the first thought and telling me “wait… this isn’t what you thought it was.”  “Grapefruit,” is obviously what I began to taste as this point in the consumption.  “Nice,” was how pleasant the grapefruit flavor was to my palette.  “Fizzy,” was the barrage of bubble I received on my tongue after I had completed the first sip.  Now all of that happened in about 3 seconds time, so if you feel like doing the math to figure out how long each thought lasted more power to you.  Jarritos Toronja is a very light beverage which allows it to be refreshing as well as tasty.  You could make a friend easily by giving this to someone who’s working outside, sweating, and looking generally miserable.  With that said you’d need more than one so that you could enjoy it as well.

~A

Note: This soda was given to us by Jarritos.

Twist was triple dog dared to lick this ice cold bottle.

Jarritos Fruit Punch

   Who doesn’t like fruit punch?  Raise your hand.  Ok… the three of you in the world that don’t enjoy some aspect of fruit punch may leave.  The rest of you get to watch The Muppet Movie!  Sadly no, I tricked you.  The rest of you get to now read my review of Jarritos Fruit Punch!  I expect great things from this soda as Jarritos really hasn’t let me down yet, and the fruit punch “flavor” has a very liberal taste definition amongst other drinks.  My initial gaze at the bottle immediately notices its healthy red color which pops (HA!) nicely to the eye.  Enough chatter, let’s get started.

   The initial scent reminded me of what I might smell if I was eating a fruit punch sno-cone.  It’s definitely a sweet smell but not overly sweet if my nose is indeed telling the truth.  I really thought the scent would be a bit more powerful but I really have to inhale at the lip of the bottle to really get any scent at all.  You’re never going to accidentally smell this.  Ok, on to the fun part.

   The first thing my mouth feels when I take a swig is a barrage of tiny carbonation bubbles, so much that the initial flavor is masked by them.  They quickly give way to what I can best describe as a strawberry/cherry/slight citrusy flavor.  Honestly, I can’t identify every fruit in this particular fruit punch.  It’s sweet but as I assumed by its smell not overly so.  You could drink this with a meal and not be worried about spoiling dessert.  As quickly as the flavor hits your tongue it begins to leave.  Sure there are remnants of it left within the walls of your mouth but the real memory comes from the bubbly burning sensation left on your tongue.  It’s like world history in your mouth.  Your tongue is a new country and the carbonation bubbles show up to live there.  They’re happy, they’re cool, and they have families, and carbo-dogs and such.  Meanwhile the fruit punch flavoring is getting a big jealous so it decides to show up and crush the carbonation with delicious flavors.  Being frail, the bubbles succumb to this attack and vanish for the time being.  Happy in its victory, the flavor continues on into your body looking for other things to conquer.  Little does the flavor know that it’s all downhill from here.  Meanwhile, a few bubbles have survived the onslaught and begin to rebuild on your tongue.  “What an enjoyable sensation!” you say.  Your words cause tremendous earthquakes amongst the bubble population causing mass hysteria, and eventually the bubbles are no more.  After both the bubbles and flavor have left your mouth the indigenous taste buds come out and cheer… for they are the true victors in this story. 

~A

Note: This soda was given to us by Jarritos.

Twist's favorite Muppet is Rowlf.

Jarritos Lima-Limon

As you may expect, this is probably going to taste like Sprite or Sierra Mist or something else that is lemon and lime, and it does, sorta.

It actually brings back a memory for me.  So at my grandmother's house she used to have two refrigerators.  Seriously.  She also had three giant freezers.  Having a giant freezer wasn't odd, in fact growing up I didn't know anybody who didn't have one, whereas now I don't know anybody that has one, but three was pushing it a bit.  They were always full.  Guess she was preparing for the rapture or something.  Anyway, she always kept a supply of the most generic sodas you could get in that downstairs refrigerator, and this tastes like the lemon lime one.  Or at least I think it does.  I don't remember much.

It's kind of the reverse of what I like in lemon lime sodas.  I really like sweet lemon lime sodas, but I suppose I like really sweet everything.  Well, except this time before my whole vegetarian thing where I had Captain Crunch chicken.  That was gross.  But sweet drinks I like.  This isn't sweet, but the flavor is pretty strong.  Also the carbonation is quite mild, unlike a Sprite or Sierra Mist.  

Kind of like what I said with the mandarin, if you want a lemon lime but what to mix things up a bit, give this one a shot.  It's pretty darn good, and quite different from what you're used to.

-Mike E.

(Note:  This beverage was provided to us by Jarritos.)

Jarritos Tamarind (Fan Review!)

   When “A” gave this to me to try, I was not only excited, but honored to partake in a review. I thought I’d try to give a slightly different perspective on the drink, so I gave my whole family the opportunity to try it out and let me know what they thought.  So without further ado, here’s my family’s take on Tamarind Jarritos.

   I made sure to chill the bottle for a few hours before trying it. My wife says my steel stomach can tolerate anything, but nothing upsets my stomach more than a warm soda.  I open the bottle, after a much to do in locating the bottle opener, and let it breathe. I like to treat my soda like a fine wine. Not really, but I figured it couldn’t hurt. Before I let the tasting commence, I take a sniff. Not really much of a tamarind scent.

   First to try it out was my four year old daughter. I poured some into a small glass tumbler and she took a sip. She liked it. She told me it was sweet and wondered if she could have her own bottle. She was of course bummed when I told her this was the only one.

My two year old girl was up next. I poured her a glass and she took a taste. She didn’t mince words.

“That was good. Can I have some more, Daddy?”

“Sure.”

“Mmmm.”

   Next was Little O. He’s one, so his vocal communication skills aren’t all there, but his actions spoke for itself. He grabbed the bottle from my hands and almost finished it all. I was able to wrestle it back to have enough for my wife and me to try.

   I hand the bottle to my wife and she takes a taste. I read her initial reaction as confused. Then she said that she could tell it was tamarind, but it was watered down. It was good, but for her she needed a stronger flavor to come through.

   Finally I take my turn. I have to agree with my wife. Not because I have to…ok, most times I have to…oh ok, I have to, but this time I was given the unique chance to express my own opinion. So here’s my moment to say whatever and what do I go and do? Agree with my wife. Though I will say this in addition, I feel as though the tamarind flavor is distinguishable enough that it shouldn’t taste like anything else but tamarind. This drink definitely made me guess.

R.G.S.P.O.

How can you NOT want to buy this soda?

Jarritos Jamaica (Fan Review!)

Jarritos translates to "little jars". On the bottle you see lots of little clay pots. Perhaps if they sold this beverage in such containers, it would withstand more than what my tile floor could give.

I was given this bottle to review, and as soon as I stepped into my house, it fell and broke. My floor is still sticky.

Being the nice guy I am, I went and purchased another bottle so this review could get done for the loyal readers of TheSodaJerks.net.

This flavor is Jamaica, which is translated in English: Jamaica. We actually know it better as Hibiscus.

I've had Hibiscus flavored tea, but I don't know much about the fruit/flower/whatever it is. It sounds nice, though. I actually thought that it might be pot flavored because isn't that what Jamaica is known for? Thankfully I was wrong.

The color is a bright red, so I was thinking that it would taste like a fruit punch. It actually kind of reminds me more of a sweet tamarind flavor. I know that flavor is very popular in Mexico, but I'm personally not a fan. It is sweet and refreshing, but there is a sour aftertaste that can be off-putting.

I don't think I'll buy this flavor again, but I have to tell the readers to buy a bottle. I did. Maybe try another variety, however.

~R.Z.

Jarritos Lime Soda

   Please be good.  Please, please, please be the best lime soda I’ve ever had.  Oh!  Hi there, Aaron here from TheSodaJerks.net.  Perhaps you saw me begging and pleading with this bottle of Jarritos Lime Soda to be of excellent quality and taste.  If so, I’m very sorry to have embarrassed you like that.  If not… well then you don’t read our reviews very carefully do you?  As you may know I have a dream of finding a great lime soda but that dream has not been realized yet.  Hopefully today Jarritos will show me that my dream is not of the “pipe” variety.  Let’s open this up and see where it takes us. 

   Upon smelling the opening of the bottle I notice a very slight lime scent.  This of course is somewhat promising, but how much of that promise will translate into a delicious lime taste?  There’s only one way to answer that question… drink the soda.  I guess we could have someone else drink it, and then allow them to review the soda for us but that wouldn’t be much fun would it?  Here goes.

   I’m… I’m liking this.  Fortunately this is not one of those lime sodas where it just tastes like you’re drinking off brand 7-Up.  While I wouldn’t compare it to cutting open a lime and sucking out the sour goodness, I also wouldn’t compare this to lime flavored candy either.  The flavor I’m experiencing here is in the middle of those two places, not too sour, not too candy sweet, in fact it’s very pleasant.  Jarritos Lime Soda starts off without a lot of bite but as its incredible journey through the mouth continues the carbonation seems to attack your throat with a barrage of tiny bubbles. 

   The aftertaste that is left is slight, but delightfully sweet.  This is also a very refreshing beverage with a somewhat light mouth feel, one I would enjoy on a hot day.  That must sound kind of silly.  “What kind of soda wouldn’t be good on a hot day, YOU FOOL?!”  First off… cool it.  Secondly, there are several beverages that might sit heavily in your stomach.  For example strawberry soda is one you might not want to chug after playing cartoon freeze tag with all your friends.  Well all your friends except Tyler since he’s a jerk and all.  I can’t believe he borrowed Super Dodge Ball from you and when you finally got it back it wouldn’t work.  You tried to play it but you just kept getting the title screen and some weird jumbled version of the title screen flashing back and forth while the first second of the title music repeats over and over again.  What kind of friend ruins your favorite Nintendo game?  No friend of mine.  Getting back on track though, you could chug that strawberry soda but be prepared to watch all your friends recall in horror as you seem to lose more blood than humanly possible through your mouth.  What a delightful mental picture that is! 

   Back to this, now empty, bottle of Jarritos Lime Soda.  While I will not say that my dream has been fulfilled, Jarritos Lime Soda is the best lime flavored soda I’ve had to date.  With that said my rating may hold a bit of a bias.  I have just had the best lime soda I’ve ever tasted, and lime soda might not be all that important to you.  With that said, know that this is a definite buy but that my rating is as follows.

~A

(Note:  This beverage was provided to us by Jarritos.)

Faux Fact:  Twist is lime flavored.

Jarritos Mandarin

I'll admit, I didn't have high hopes for this.  Once upon a time Minute Maid's orange soda was mandarin orange and it was pretty dull.  Thankfully I was way wrong about this one.

There is a mandarin flavor going on here, meaning it's orange but not.  It's also got a sweetness to it that mandarin orange sodas usually don't have.  The ones I've had before have been just weak and not very sugary, but this is the opposite.  Very sweet, full of flavor, and just enough of a "different" kind of orange taste that really sets it apart from other manadarins and all other orange sodas in general.

I don't have anymore to say about it.  Being a Jarritos product it is made with sugar and not HFCS.  If you're looking for an orange soda but you're kind of tired of the run of the mill ones out there, this really is something that sets itself apart but still satisfies.

-Mike E.

(Note:  This beverage was provided to us by Jarritos.)

Jarritos Pineapple (Fan Review!)

   When of the Jerks (its ironic because they are both so incredibly nice.) came to me and asked me to review Jarritos Pineapple soda, I got excited.  Pineapple soda is one of my favorites.  I think it goes Cherry cola, Cherry soda, Pineapple soda.  In that order.  That being said, I have yet to try Virgil’s Real Cola and that has received rave reviews from just about every person I know, but until then, Pineapple > just about everything else ever.  Two things immediately stand out to me: 1) It comes in a glass bottle.  Fancy.  2) It is made with 100% real sugar. That is Azucar Real-o in Spanish.  Or maybe it isn’t. and c) It has almost no scent what so ever.  That kind of scares me a little.  Pineapple flavoring is typically pretty bold, and taste is 90% smell so by my calculations this will be 83.6% tasteless.

   Well the good news is my math was wrong:  It is only about 4% tasteless. It does not quite punch the same kick as say a Sunkist or a Pinafiel.  Now that doesn’t mean that it is lacking in any way shape or form, because occasionally Sunkist can be a little too overbearing with the flavor, but Jarritos does not suffer from that problem.  I don’t really have anything negative to say about this soda, but I don’t have anything positive to say about it either.  It is completely ordinary.  The flavor isn’t quite as bold, and the carbonation not quite as harsh.  It is your typical pineapple soda as far as taste and refreshment qualities go.  The only real difference is the sugar replacing the high fructose corn syrup.  So wait, the managed to create a pineapple soda that tastes exactly like pineapple soda but without high fructose corn syrup?  Well then maybe Jarritos is a winner after all!

D.W.

Three, three, three drinks in one.... picture.

Jarritos Mango

   Continuing the Jarritos reviews, we now have Jarritos Mango to experience.  When I think of this exquisite fruit all that floods my mind are these scholarly words.  "Can you know the mighty ocean?  Can you lasso a star from the sky?  Can you say to a rainbow... 'Hey, stop being a rainbow for a second'?  No!  Such is Mango!"  While I’m not sure if the intellectual that spoke those words is absolutely right with their description of mango, it does indeed have a very unique flavor.  I’m excited; you’re excited, let’s drink.

   What a great aroma this Jarritos Mango produces.  Since I somewhat know what I’m to expect here, this exceeds what I did expect.  It’s a very rich and robust mango scent that emits from the top of the bottle.  Enough of the chit chat; let us partake in my first mango soda.

   CURSE YOU NOSE!  My nose always seems to be the hype engine when it comes to soda.  Recently the smell seems to be stronger than the taste in the sodas I’ve reviewed.  With that said, this is still a very nice soda.  You definitely get a punch of mango to the back of the throat almost instantly.  The mango flavor is easily identified, and the aftertaste is delightful as well.  This has more of a soda mouth feel than what I thought it would, strong, tart, and to the point.  To improve this though I think I would make it a little bit creamier of a soda.  I want less punch to the throat and more ‘sitting on a beach’ relaxation.   Mango soda should be smooth in my opinion, and a bit more flavorful than what Jarritos has done here.  This, of course, is my opinion.  If you’re a fan of the mango, or even if you’re not, you should still try this soda.

~A

(Note:  This beverage was provided to us by Jarritos.)

Twist, sadly, is allergic to Mangoes

Jarritos Guava

Guava.  I don't know what it is.  For all I know it looks like one of those clay pots on the front of the bottle.

But it doesn't.  Thankfully, I mean how disgusting would that be?  Anyway, this is the first of many beverages in the line up thoughtfully provided to us by Jarritos.  It's kind of pink-ish so it's hard to know what to expect.

The initial smell is...not promising.  Thankfully, though, it doesn't taste too bad.  I'm not sure what it tastes like, but it doesn't taste bad.  Like I said on the Popcast, it's like it is trying really really hard to be a fruit.  Like you know the flavor is fruit, but that's about it.  

There's also something unusual about the sweetness, or the flavor, I can't tell which.  The way I tried to describe it with so far all Jarritos is that it's like a bubble of nothing surrounds a sip of each drink.  Like they need to bump up the flavor or sweetness just a little more.

Not to say this is bad, it's not, it's just...different.  

Oh, and added bonus, since it's from Mexico it's made with real sugar.

-Mike E.

(Note:  This beverage was provided to us by Jarritos.)

Postobon Manzana

   If Pepto-Bismol was a soda it would look like this.  Dan “The Fan” W gave us this very pink can of Postobon, which is apparently an apple flavored soda.  Looking at the label shows that Postobon is a myriad of chemicals.  With that said, I do like apple flavored soda and I am one of the few people that likes Pepto-Bismol… so color me ready to drink.  While I’m not sure what color “ready” is, I’m pretty sure in this case it’s pink.

  This has no smell.  Wait, wait, I can faintly smell apples and now the odor is getting stronger.  It was like the apple smell was Nessie keeping her head underwater until she thought it was safe to come up, avoiding the stares of tourists.  Now as she emerges the apple smell gets stronger and stronger.   That would be so very awesome if the Loch Ness Monster smelled of apples.  Since I’ve now somehow tied another thing I like into this beverage I’d say it’s time to drink.

  That, my friends, is no apple soda.  This is some kind of cotton candy/apple hybrid.  Have you ever had apple cotton candy?  Of course you haven’t.  The only time you get the flavor of cotton candy and apples together is after a long day at the state fair… after one too many rides on the Zipper.  I did it again.  I incorporated my favorite carnival ride into this review.  I don’t really want to drink this anymore, it’s so sickly sweet.  It’s not so gross that I think no one will like it, I’m sure there will be people out there who disagree with me whole heartedly.  What I’m saying is that I’m done with Postobon and for some reason I have Bonnie Pink’s song Cotton Candy stuck in my head.

~A

Twist used to operate the Gravitron

Ginseng Up Kola Champagne

Who knew this was a Caribbean favorite?  The bottle says so.  This is my first experience with kola champagne.  I like cola, but I don't know about kola...champagne.  

My first concern is the brand has the word ginseng in it, so you figure that would be a key ingredient...but it's not.  It's the last one:  Korean ginseng tea, to be specific  No sodium benzoate, but there is HFCS.  Let's see how this is.

This smells horrid.  Like bad cream soda.  I'm not looking forward to this...

I'm shocked, it's actually not bad.  Fairly clean and crisp for a soda with HFCS.  It really is like a cream soda, but mild, and the tea flavor is noticeable in the background.  It's interesting, but not in a bad way.  Something unique and different.  

-Mike

Sof Drink Pineapple

I haven't had a Sof Drink soft drink in a while, and they impressed me with their cream soda, a style I normally don't favor, so let's see what they can do with pineapple.  As you can see it's extremely yellow, number 5 according to the ingredients.  The ingredients get a plus for sugar, a minus for sodium benzoate, and a curiosity about the "artificial and natural flavorings" which makes up the rest of the list.  This is one case where only a few ingredients might not pan out well.

It smells like a dull pineapple Life Saver, and that concerned me.  The flavor isn't much better.  It's not awful, but it's not impressive either.  Very clean for a pineapple, but not clean enough.  It even has a mild carbonation, but that's not enough to save it.  There's still that "sticky" taste going on, which is odd considering there is no HFCS.  If they would have been able to make this as crisp as their cream soda, a feat still unmatched, then there might be something to pull this one out of mediocrity, but alas, no.

-Mike

Inca Kola

   Inca Kola.  “The Golden Kola” aka “The Golden Carbonated Beverage” aka Inca Kola, sits in front of me in a golden can, wrapped in aluminum… wrapped in a mystery.  This can seems to be full of chemicals, which is something I’m pretty sure the Incan’s didn’t use a lot of in their original kola… if in fact they did make kola.  The drink buy date is in 2011, almost as if they doubt you’ll be around in 2012 to drink it… eerie, but not really.  The unknown must become known, let us open this golden can.

   I assumed it would smell like a cola… ahem sorry… kola, but it doesn’t.  Inca Kola smells of cream soda and bubble gum.  The “Golden Kola” has the aroma of “The Red Wonder”… Big Red.  Not being a huge fan of Big Red, it’s not looking good for Inca Kola.  Time to drink.

   Good news, everybody!  It doesn’t taste like Big Red.  The bubble gum you smell translates into the taste of the beverage, except it also includes a hint of ginger.  “Does Inca Kola have ginger in it?” you ask.  No.  No it does not.  In fact this tastes like a generic mystery beverage.  It’s a hodge-podge of chemicals made to be a sugary drink with nothing that sets it apart from the pack.  Get it?  The pack.  A six pack of soda.  Eh? Eh?  Awwww, you don’t get it!  If you see Inca Kola though…

~A

Back home, Twist is known at the Golden Iguana... I asked him why but he said it was embarrassing.

Sanagaria Ramune Strawberry

Here's another one of those awkward Japanese sodas with the awkward marble floating in the middle and the awkward cap that forces you to pour it into a glass otherwise the awkward marble gets stuck there awkwardly.

This one is flavored, as opposed to the last one we tried, and this is a very good strawberry flavor.  It's a lighter strawberry flavor, and the color of it represents that, pink rather than the usual red.  

It's also much sweeter than a normal strawberry soda, which I'm a fan of, as I like sweet.  Things can't ever be too sweet.  The odd thing is not only do they use sugar, they also use HFCS.  An odd half and half combination.  Whatever percentage it is for each, it leads to a candied strawberry flavor rather than the fruit.

The carbonation in it is light, which I also enjoy.  Overall it's very refreshing, especially since it's a strawberry soda.  My biggest complaint is that the bottle is so small, but then again that's probably why Japan is a fit country.

-Mike

Topo Chico Lime

   I’m a bit late posting this, but today’s drink is actually last Friday’s drink.  Last Friday’s drink was Topo Chico Lime Flavor.  If you happened to listen to the Popcast from last Friday, and you’re missing some good stuff if you didn’t, you already know how this review ends up.  Actually I’m going to break format today and turn this into a rant.  First off, let’s get the review portion of this out of the way…

   Topo Chico Lime Flavor has somewhat of a lime smell, but it’s really only to taunt you.  After consuming this you’ll immediately learn that it is basically seltzer water with the hintiest hints of lime.  That’s it, review over, check the end for the rating.  Sorry if that wasn’t all your dreams lead you to believe it would be, but I’m tired.

   Tired you say?  Yes, I’m tired of the lack of good lime flavored beverages.  I’m not talking Key Lime, or Cherry Limeade, or that made up “Lymon” nonsense… I’m talking LIME.  You know lime; he’s lemon’s overlooked, but equally awesome brother.  Lime is one of my favorite flavors, but soda companies seem to mute it, over sweeten it, or pair it with another flavor when they make a soda out of it.  I want to find an AWESOME lime soda.  I want to find a lime soda that hits you in the mouth with how tart it is, then rocks you back to sleep with some sweetness.  It should be refreshing on a hot day, and have a light mouth/stomach feel to it.  While I’m making demands, it should also use cane sugar for sweetener.  Actual limes should be used in the beverage itself, and you should be able to taste them.  Topo Chico uses lime essential oils in this “lime flavored” beverage.  I’m pretty sure they aren’t all that “essential” to the limes that are missing them, because they hold none of the flavor.  So this is my challenge to you soda manufacturers, jerks, and jerkettes… find me a good lime flavored soda.  By finding one you will be helping me see that our friend the lime isn’t being overlooked.  For smurfs sake they make passion flower flavored soda!  Now make me some lime soda; you’ll be improving the lives of so many if you do.  Oh yeah, one more thing…

~A

Twist the Iguana has more lime flavor than this

Shirakiku Carbonated Drink

Boy, I'm thirsty!  I'm in the mood for something tasty and sweet!  Mmm!  Let's see what's in the ol' review refrigerator...

How about something exotic from Japan?  Here's something:  Shirakiku Carbonated Drink!  Wait, carbonated drink?  Sounds kind of dull.  Well, I'm thirsty, I'll give it a try.

This sure is an unusual bottle.  Ah, a seal.  Let me take that off.  Boy I'm thirsty.  Oh, it's still sealed.  In fact it looks like…is that a marble?

Wait, there was another piece of plastic under the seal.  It seems that I have to remove something from the piece of plastic.  Ah, it's a plunger.  I have to remove the plunger from the plastic and press down on the marble.  There we go.  Now to enjoy!  

Hmm.  Actually, the lip around the hole at the top of the bottle is huge.  I don't think you can actually drink out of the bottle.  Not a problem, let me just pour this into a glass. 

Here we go, a nice clean glass to pour into.  That's weird, it's not coming out.  Oh, yeah, the marble.  It keeps blocking the liquid.  Boy, I sure am thirsty.

Well let me just try to get this at the perfect angle so that it pours in properly.  Any time now.  Finally.  A nice cool glass of carbonated drink.

Tastes like sugar water.  Actually looking at the ingredients, HFCS water.  Still, the experience was amusing and interesting, so...

-Mike

Sjampie

   I asked a friend of mine who lives in the Netherlands to suggest a drink for me to review.  His response was the Dutch beverage Sjampie.  Fortunately he’s the kind of guy that will pick me up an extra bottle, and then take the effort to get it to me.  Thanks K!  Enough chatter, time to review me some Sjampie.

   Before I go any further I feel obligated to give you the correct pronunciation of Sjampie.  It’s pronounced  Shahmp-ee.  That’s not exactly how I would say it, mostly because Sh-jamp-ee is so much more fun to say.  Moving along.  The bottle art is quite plain; it has a few yellow/green bubbles adoring the top and bottom of the beverage, but nothing all that elaborate.  The name of the beverage, Sjampie, sits on the neck of the bottle, while Corvo (which I can only assume the manufacturer) rests on the base.  In-between the two brands read the words “Limonadegazeuse Sjampie”.  This, from my best guess, is the flavor I’m about to consume.  While I associate Limon with lemon/lime, the color of the soda is brown… which leaves me a bit perplexed. 

   Silly me, I tried to twist off a foreign cap forgetting they usually need a bottle opener, time to get my flip-flops. (My mom purchased me some flip-flops with a bottle opener on the bottom… she’s the best)  Wow… upon opening it I get the smell of egg-nog cola, with maybe with a just a hint of chocolate.  I know there is no possible way for that to be the flavor, but needless to say my curiosity keeps going up the longer I hold this bottle in my possession.  Let’s Drink.

   It has the essence of a cola, the bite, the color… but it also seems to have a citrus flavor hiding within.  This is remarkably hard to attach a flavor to it.  It’s almost like a lemon cola with something else going on inside of it.  There is very light carbonation, but that seems to work with Sjampie.  In fact the smell, taste, and light carbonation of Sjampie make it seem like a drink that would normally house alcohol.  The flavor is not overpowering, in fact it’s quite mellow; almost like a flat, slightly watered down RC cola with a handful of lemons dropped inside of it.  I will say that it leaves a film on my teeth, much like drinking a warm Coke would.  Ok… the word “Limonadegazeuse” on the side of the bottle is mocking me… therefore I must look up what it means.  **Time Passes** Oddly enough as one word I couldn’t find a translation, but when I separate them into “Limon” and “Gazeuse” I get Lemonade – Soda Water.  This is a very rough Dutch translation of course, but I’m happy that I was able to at least guess the flavor. 

Twist is 1/128th Dutch

Bundaberg Australian Root Beer

Our world spanning travels to seek out the best root beer brings us this week to Australia.  Actually I'm still at home in my pajamas, but with this cool bottle of Bundaberg Root Beer in my hand, it's like I'm there.  I also have a "'Crocodile' Dundee" marathon on.  That's not true, actually I said that just so I could use the double quotes around "Crocodile."  

Speaking of "'Crocodile' Dundee" (see I did it again) do you remember the scene where Michael J. "Mick" "Crocodile" Dundee (portrayed by Paul Hogan) has a knife pulled out on him and he says "that's not a knife...this is a knife" and pulls out a giant Australian-sized knife?  Well, the flavor of this root beer is that big knife to the small knives of other root beers.

Actually I don't know if that's true either, I just wanted to use the analogy, and it gave me a chance to use the double quotes again.  Flavor, though, is the, well, interesting point of this beverage.  As you may have seen or heard us debate on Popcast Episode 4, Bundaberg has a flavor unlike anything else.  It's not bad, in fact it's good.  Just pinpointing everything that is in it and describing the final results that hit your tongue is difficult.  

It contains sarsaparilla root and flavor, vanilla bean, licorice and molasses.  The sarsaparilla root and flavor is what provides the traditional root beer taste here, which is almost a cameo rather than the featured player.  The vanilla bean, licorice and molasses sort of combine to a smooth, almost bitey sweetness that I've never tasted before in a beverage.  This is the same part that we both agree almost tastes like there is the slightest hint of lemon.  Again, there is no lemon, but there is no other way to describe it.

This is easily the most difficult beverage I've had to review.  Easy to drink, difficult to describe.  Wow that's a good line.  Don't you dare take that my line, Bundaberg!  I suppose it's too late.  I suppose I'd be honored.  Or honoured.  One more Australian thing for you:  Yahoo Serious.  That is all.

-Mike

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