SiouxCity Root Beer

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I’m on a time crunch and only have 23 minutes to write this review.  It may be a suprise to you that it normally takes me around 30 minutes to write one… sometimes longer if I interact with people.  I’ll count the number of people I talk to while writing this to give you an idea.

One.

Drink enough of anything and you'll start to see tiny, orange, wheeled hippos.

Today’s review is Sioux City Root Beer and looks to be an ok product.  It has a cowboy on the label enjoying a frosty mug of whoknowswhat.  It’s made with cane sugar and sits in a fairly stout bottle that might remind some of years past.  A nice simple brown bottle cap sits atop the beverage and in…

Two.

..vites me to open it.

If you know what IBC Root Beer smells like you already know what Sioux City Root Beer smells like.  For those who aren’t in the know it’s a rooty aroma with some cream to it’s name.  Not overly sweet by any means, but I’m sure it’ll taste just fine.

Three.

Four.

As an aside, this is one of the heaviest bottles I’ve drank from to date.  It feels nice and sturdy.  Reliable.  Safe.  Great crash test ratings.

Five.

Again, for those of you who’ve had IBC Root Beer this tastes like a cleaner version of that.  Once again, for those of you who hav...

Six.

...en’t I’ll describe is as usual.

Sioux City Root Beer favors the “bite” category rather than the “cream”.

Seven.

So those of you who are into a smooth mouth feel might be a little disappointed in this soda.  The rooty aroma I mentioned earlier translates easily into the taste and is especially noticed in the aftertaste.  Obviously there is carbonation, but other than backing up the “bite” every now and again it’s not really a huge part of the experience.  All in all it’s a good root beer, but doesn’t do a lot to push itself ahead of the pack and get noticed… aside from the heavy bottle.  

Eight.

Nine.

So if you like root beer give it a go, if you love root beer then you’ve probably already had it and...

Ten.

… have developed your own opinions of it.

There you have it, I’m done with the review and talked to ten people.  That’s pretty good for me, but then again this is probably a fairly generic review from me.  

It’s a lot of fun being able to drink a soda and tell people about it as they pass you by.  Not that 5% of them will buy it, but at least they know that there’s more out there than what BIGSODA tells them about.

So thanks to all that stopped by, your existence has been reduced to a number between 1-10.

This was given to me by STUN3R

Ozark Mountain Bottleworks Cream

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If you like red sodas and geographic beauty then perhaps Ozark Mountain Bottleworks Cream will be right up your alley.  If you review sodas and are somewhat picky then I guess you’ll have to either review this on your own site or just take the easy road and read this review.  

Ozark Mountain Bottleworks (OBM) Cream is clearly a red cream soda.  If your eyes haven’t failed you then the tiny ingredients on the side will inform you that it’s been sweetened with cane sugar.  The label is very reminiscent of Howdy Cherries Jubilee, but something tells me that’s where the similarities end.

So... very... happy.

So... very... happy.

The aroma from this bottle is much stronger than anticipated.  A cream scent so rich that it makes me think of marshmallows rather than cream soda.  Perhaps this will be more interesting than I originally anticipated.

Well that is rather unique.  It’s a red (in color) cream soda that doesn’t taste like a red cream soda.  In fact it swings more towards a regular cream.  A strong cream taste has now made it’s home within my mouth.  Currently he’s not at home, but there are signs of life.  Clothes on the floor, a faucet dripping, and the pantry door is open.  I have indeed taken a swig recently, but again he is not at home.

The keys rustle at the door and the owner of the house barges in, tossing the keys on the counter.  Cream is home and the blustery weather behind him rushes along my tongue causing a pleasant mouth feel.  Almost as soon as he arrived at his abode he passes out on the couch and the house is silent once again.  The only sounds audible are the sleeping breaths of its owner.

If that was too “high concept” for you… as it was for me… then here’s the short version.  The cream flavor is fairly intense, but the aftertaste is right there with it stride for stride.  It’s not a very pretty flavor, but it’s powerful and enjoyable.

Give it a shot.

~A

This was purchased for me by STUN3R


HEB Old Fashioned Root Beer

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So after the last HEB soda SNAFU I’ve checked and double checked to make sure I haven’t reviewed HEB Old Fashioned Root Beer.  Guess what?  I haven’t!  This means I can continue this review with a clear conscience.  

HEB Old Fashioned Root Beer is sweetened with pure cane sugar and I’m guessing has a pop cap which I will now have to remove.  Do you think this will be a “bite” root beer or a “cream” root beer?  My guess is cream.

Judging by the smell it’s more of a “bite” root beer than a “cream”.  Don’t you just love how I’ve now created two sub-categories of root beer.  Let’s go ahead and make these the standard.

I'm not quite sure what's happening in this picture.

I'm not quite sure what's happening in this picture.

Hurray, this is a “bite”!  Hurray, this is… a fairly average root beer.  Eh, now that I say that the aftertaste is really shining through as a positive.  HEB Old Fashioned Root Beer has a good amount of flavor with minimal syrupy mouth feel.  The carbonation levels are fizzy and fun.  A barrage of larger bubbles flowing over my tongue and teeth, bursting into a smaller more intense fizz.

As I said prior, this is a “bite” root beer where the initial taste sizzles in your mouth just a little.  Let’s you know you’re alive.  As the journey progresses the soda attempts to transform into a “cream” or at least tries to be somewhat smooth.  This transition isn’t exactly flawless as the bite never fully allows for it.

All in all though, HEB Old Fashioned Root Beer is still average by my count.  I like that it’s sugar sweetened and I like that it’s in a glass bottle.  I don’t like that it’s called “Old Fashioned” yet has potassium benzoate and artificial flavors.  That said it’s still worth picking up a bottle to try for yourself.

~A

This was purchased at an HEB grocery store

Bedford's Ginger Beer

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Two things ring true today.  I have a headache and the bottle in front of me has more Olde English font on it than I’ve ever seen.  The font reads Bedford’s Ginger Beer as well as “robust flavor” and “Port Angeles Washington since 1984”.  There’s not a world where “robust flavor” ever needs to be in an olde English font.

I'm starting to think my reviews are getting poor due to lack of mascot.

Bedford’s Ginger Beer has cane sugar as it’s sweetener and “Natural Ginger Flavor” as its flavor maker.  If I can’t buy a “Flavor Maker” online the world has failed me.  I don’t care what a “flavor maker” does, but it needs to exist.

Well the good news is that it smells like a Ginger Beer.  The bad news is that it smells a little like a household cleaner, but not enough that I’m scared to try it.

Pretty decent taste with this one and a considerable burn.  The front end is pretty refreshing, a nice cool treat even.  There’s a slight ginger taste for a split second then the fire roars to life and takes the life of the refreshment.  

Strangely enough the fire is fairly non-descript in flavor and just causes an overall burn of the mouth.  One that lasts well after the soda has been consumed.  I say all this because normally this burn has a ginger sensation to it, but this time it’s absent.  

Wait… why do the ingredients say “Natural Ginger Flavor”, but don’t mention any actual ginger?  Is that why the burn lacks in substance?  How does one make a natural ginger flavor without ginger?  I really need to stop before I head down this rabbit hole because I’ll go crazy.

Man, this has been a pretty sorry review so I’ll try to make these last few sentences concise.

Bedford’s Ginger Beer is an ok beverage and a slightly above average ginger beer.  The flavor profile is alright, but nothing to write home about… as evidenced by my lack of good review.

Sigh, if the first half experience of this soda was bottled it’d be good then boring, so I’m glad they spiced it up with some burning action.  Sadly the burning action takes away any memory I had of the intro words words words.

You see what happened there, I disliked this review so much I stopped it for no reason.

~A

I bought this at a Shell Gas Station

Hippo Size Big Black Cherry

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I really thought I’d reviewed more Hippo Size beverages.  Apparently this wasn’t even close to the truth as I’ve only reviewed one by my count.  Within that one time I’ve made Hippo Size beverages a fantastic memory.  Honestly I don’t remember if I liked Hippo Size or not, but it does have a hippo on the label so that’s always a positive.  Another positive is that they use cane sugar to sweeten and dark sweet cherry extract to flavor… sounds pretty good honestly.

Perhaps I'll get a tiny hippo as my travel mascot.

The aroma that pours out is velvety sweet and rich with cherry.  Decadent is a fantastic word to describe the scent so I’ll use it.  The scent is downright decadent.

A rush of black cherry flavor on the front end is quickly followed up with a swift burst of tiny bubbles.  Then nothingness.  Let me take another sip and see if that was a fluke.  Nope, the third act was cancelled.  

That’s so very odd.  It’s like if you’re reading a good book and the last third of the pages are torn out.  My brain is having issue comprehending that my mouth is telling it the drinking experience is over.

Let me be clear that this is a wonderful black cherry soda that I would happily purchase again.  Let me also clarify that after I take a sip I still taste something, but it’s not an after taste… it’s just the flavor I got in the middle.  

I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that I’m doing a pretty poor job of describing this oddity, so I’ll stop trying.  

Hippo Size Big Black Cherry is a wonderful beverage packed with flavor and fizz. The mouthfeel is fun, the aroma is pungent in the best way possible and the bottle has a hippo on it.  I’m not sure I’ve had a better black cherry soda in the past couple years.

~A

This was purchased at a Shell Gas Station

Fitz's Cardinal Cream

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I’ve professed my nostalgic love of red cream soda on the site before so I won’t really go into that this time.  Just know that nostalgic love is what influenced me to try Fitz’s Cardinal Cream.  At first I thought that they were being witty using cardinal instead of “red” in their title.  Looking at the bottle I see that Fitz’s is bottled in St. Louis, MO so I’m pretty sure that the location is playing a large part of why this is called “cardinal”.

Fitz’s uses cane sugar… sorry, All Natural Pure Cane Sugar, in their sweetening.  They also use both artificial and natural flavors for those who just can’t choose between the two.

Should there be a travel Twist or should I get another animal... perhaps a raptor or tiny hippo?

Popping off the top I immediately recognize the red cream soda scent.  A little like a bubble gum with an ominous kick to it.  My mind races back to the nostalgic moments I wrote about before, but will not write here because you need to read them for yourselves.  Everything shouldn’t be handed to you on a platter.

The first sip burns as it slinks down the ol’ watering hole.  The bubble gum taste is strong with this one, but a slight vanilla flavor appears at the end.  With the sweetness of the two flavors this drink teeters on becoming a sugary mess and some might even call it one.  Personally it’s more acceptable to me if someone in the cream soda is a sugary mess just because they are sweet by nature.

The carbonation in this is fantastic as I mentioned before.  It starts off smooth, but that final burn is wonderfully different.  It’s the ying to the yang of this soda.  Don’t misunderstand me though, this is not a complex soda.  In fact it’s incredibly simple which is why it works.  

For every upside though there is always some downsides.  The mouthfeel is a bit syrupy at times and there is the slightest of slight chemical aftertastes.  Those two things aside this is a pretty good drink and one I might pick up again.  It’s tasty, but it’s not special which is why it’s rated as it is.

~A

This was purchased at a Shell Gas Station

Jones Orange and Cream

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Alright, so here we are with my final label free soda from Jones.  Saying it’s my “final” one makes it seems like there have been several when honestly this is number two.

Today’s unlabeled soda is orange.  Well, it’s orange in color so I can only assume it’s orange in flavor as well.  Since I decided the last soda was Jones M.F. Grape I’m led to believe that this one just be “orange”.  Perhaps it’ll be tangerine or orange/other flavor.  Either way it’s time to drink it.

No, seriously... I need a portable Twist

Dreamsicle.  This smells like a dreamsicle.  The vanilla wafted out before the orange so it left little to my imagination.  If this doesn’t taste like a dreamsicle I’ll… well honestly I’ll probably just finish the review and tell you what it does taste like.

Well now, the vanilla taste is much fainter than its aroma so I was confused for a bit.  Much like M.F. Grape this beverage has some buzz about it.  The bubbles are fun and fierce, attacking my lips throughout each sip.  The orange flavor tastes more of tangerine to me though, sweeter and less tart than an orange.  This might be because of the added vanilla though.  

I’m not normally a big dreamsicle guy (assuming I’m right about the flavor), but I’m ok with the liquid version.  It’s punchy, sweet, and doesn’t have a bad after taste.  Sadly though the longer I drink it the more artificial it begins to taste.  Clearly dreamsicle is an artificial flavor, but with each sip the orange flavoring edges closer and closer to chemical.  

Thankfully it’s not getting the cardboard flavor that so many other orange sodas get when they head down chemical alley.  Still though with each sip I like it less and less.  I’m going to stop now and research the flavor name while I still have a mostly positive impression.

So guess what.  Jones never had a dreamsicle flavor, but they do have Orange & Cream which for all intents and purposes is the same thing.  My lack of caring about dreamsicles has not been changed.  It’s a fun flavor at first, but it just doesn’t have the lasting power of others for me.

~A

My super step sister gave me this.

Jones M.F. Grape

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As I mentioned in a previous review, my step-sister went to a wedding expo and visited a Jones Soda booth.  The lady at the booth knew of the site and gave my sister three different sodas for me to review.  Unfortunately for me only one of the bottles had a label on it and the others were stark naked.  Today’s bottle is of the nude variety and I have no idea what it’s going to taste like.  A passer-by assumes that it will be a grape amalgamation… which is a fantastic name for a soda.

I really need a portable Twist

There’s no ingredient list so I guess all I can do is open it and see what I think this is.  For the record the original title of this article was “Blueish Purple Jones Soda”.  If the title has changed by the time you read this it means I think I know what the flavor is.

I think “Grape Amalgamation Man” was on to something as the aroma that jumps out at me is certainly that of a grape soda.  The primarily blue coloring kept my brain from going to the vine, so there’s my first surprise I guess.

The taste is almost identical to the scent.  A very sweet, yet somewhat tart, grape flavor easily pushes it’s way past my taste buds.  Since I now know what I believe to be the flavor I’m going to check out the Jones website to see if I’m correct...aaaand I can’t find it.  Back to the review, I guess.

The carbonation burn of this soda is wonderfully fun.  The way it tickles my lips and throat (as odd as that sounds) is somewhat rare among sodas.  Still though, with every sip I get grape.  It’s very similar to a DimeTapp grape, but I haven’t met many folks that dislike that flavor.  For those who think this means it tastes medicinal, you’d be wrong.  It’s better described as a punchy grape taste as opposed to candy grape or natural grape.

You know what I still can’t get over though?  The color.  Why is this blue… wait, let me hold it to to the light.  Ok, so it’s actually purple and everything is right with the world.  I still don’t know the actual flavor of the soda though, let me look again.

AHA!  Jones Grape is primarily purple where Jones M.F. Grape is primarily blue looking in the pictures!  I’m drinking Jones M.F. Grape and I don’t know the difference at all!  Wait, M.F. Grape has been retired?  I still think I’m drinking it though.  Final Answer!

~A  

My swell step sister gave this to me.

MTN Dew Dewshine

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Well I’m a few weeks behind the hype, but I finally have a bottle of Dewshine to review.  I’m not really sure what it is or what it’s supposed to taste like, but it’s a clear Mtn Dew product that resembles moon shine so of course I’m all in.  

Dewshine is made with real sugar!  To that I say thank goodness, because I didn’t feel like sweetening yet another beverage with my imagination.  The fact that it says “real sugar” and not “cane sugar” makes me believe they used something along the lines of beet sugar.  I don’t really care either way as it still tastes cleaner than corn syrup.

Pictured: Potential wrapped in disappointment

Emblazoned on the bottle is a label that looks as if it’s made of old paper, complete with tattered edges.  The Mtn Dew logo kind of takes away from the “olden times” feel the rest of the bottle gives off, but I suppose it needs to be on there somewhere.  

Let’s find out exactly what I’m getting into here.

After removing an amazing bottle cap, complete with iconic hill billy, a citrus aroma jumps up and punches me in the face.  It just misses smelling like a cleaning product and lands squarely into enticing my taste buds.

That’s not what I thought this was going to taste like at all.  Oddly enough the first thing I notice is the finish of the soda.  It finishes like a Sprite, having a bit of carbonation burn on the back end complete with a syrupy mouthfeel.  Since Sprite has one of my least favorite soda finishes I’m already a bit disappointed in the product.  Perhaps if I pay more attention to the first half of the sip I’ll find more to praise.

The initial taste I perceive is a sweetened lemon lime.  The sugar is heavy enough that it dulls the flavors of each of the citrus fruits.  I keep wanting to stop this review and say it tastes like a sweeter version of Sprite with less carbonation.  That doesn’t seem fair to the product though.  Actually, you know what.  If that’s what it tastes like then that’s what I’m saying.

Mtn Dew Dewshine tastes like a less carbonated, yet sweeter, version of Sprite.  It’s still a good drink, but the similarities to Sprite make me sad.  This is a special edition soda.  This is supposed to be something special yet all I can do is hang upon the fact that it reminds me of another product.  Such a shame.  Pick it up if you like Sprite.  Perhaps if I fill the bottle with my tears it’ll be better.

~A

This soda was given to my by Wrastlin’ Jawhit