Hotlips Raspberry Soda (Fan Review!)

   So as a friend of the Jerks and an avid soda drinker I was extremely excited about having the opportunity to submit a fan review.  When the jerks came to me and said "We know you like fruit sodas would you like to try Hot Lips Raspberry?"  I got even more excited.  I love all soda, but fruit flavored soda's always stand head and shoulders above the rest for me.  Now take into account that raspberry soda is not all that common and I could hardly wait to get my lips on Hot Lips!

   The bottle art is fun.  The pictures of the raspberries and the lipstick kiss seem to imply that it will be a smooth soft raspberry flavor.  For some reason, it actually reminds me of Hot Lips Hoolihan and MASH.

   The ingredients list is very small but one that stands out from them is lemon juice.  As someone who does alot of cooking, I dont typically associate lemon juice with subtle flavor so that concerns me.

   The smell is absolutely divine.  As close as you can get to fresh raspberries in a bottle, but with a gentle touch of lemon.  The smell leads me to believe that this experience will end in epic glory or epic fail.  I am really hoping for epic glory, and as I take my first sip the taste of raspberries fills my mouth and a feeling of epic fruit soda glory touches my senses. I swallow only to notice that the taste of raspberries evaporates rather quickly and is replaced with that pesky lemon flavor that the ingredients list and my nose warned me about.  It is almost a faux lemon flavor.*  In fact the after taste is almost an exact match to the packets of lemon in our break room at work that claims to be real lemon but if I ever bit into a lemon and it tasted like that, I would throw it back at whoever picked it.  Overall the taste is almost like a raspberry pie filling.  The carbonation is very soft, more like a sparkling water than a soda, and while that would normally not be a fun fact for me, it serves this drink very well.  This drink covers refreshment with tact and subtlety instead of the brutish force of high fructose corn syrup and loads of carbonation. 

* After talking with Jerk A I learned that Hot Lips had a problem with the lemon in this particular batch, and I feel that without the overwhelming lemon problem, this soda would be absolutely incredible.

Final Rating -Buy a bottle of the batch, if it doesnt have a lemon problem, go back and buy a pallet!!

Dan W, DW, DDub or whatever else you wanna call me

(Editor's Note - The folks at Hotlips sent us a more recent batch with less lemon involved in it... Dan Re-reviewed Raspberry below)

Alright so last night I got to pick up a bottle of the new batch of Hot Lips Raspberry from Aaron, and after letting it chill for about 12 hours, I decided I could wait no longer. Upon opening the cap I notice a difference in the smell from the first one. The assault of lemon is gone, as promised. Instead a nice smooth scent of ripe raspberries promise a taste that you will probably have never experienced before.

The first sip delivers on the smells promise! A perfectly smooth raspberry flavor fills my mouth and instead of the lemon-esque after taste, all you taste is more raspberries saying a soft goodbye as they travel further away from your taste buds. The flavor is a marked improvement from the first batch, however I feel like something is missing... The carbonation. It is there but it is incredibly light, so much so that I had to actually look for it. The first batch was a refreshing change of pace from the heavy over carbonation that most beverages offer, but this is almost too lightly carbonated. I say almost bcause it still manages to be incredibly refreshing and the light carbonation still distinguishes it against plain old raspberry juice.

I also noticed that it is bottled by Hot Lips Pizza Company. Now I have to wonder, if they take this much care and pride in their sodas, brewing each batch manually and adapting on the fly, I can only wonder how amazing the pizza would be!

Overall, I have to say that the folks at Hot Lips have left me incredibly impressed. Their customer service has been outstanding, I mean here I am some random guy in Texas drinking a hot lips, that I didnt even pay for because the jerks gave it to me, and they were so concerned about our satisfaction that they sent out a sample from the new batch for me to try. On top of that they offer some incredibly diverse and unique flavors like raspberry and pear (which I cannot WAIT to try!) that atleast to me are far more rewarding than most mainstream sodas.

Rating - Buy a pack because your friends deserve to try this too, and two very big thumbs up (Aaron=Aggie so this is a bit of deference) for the people over at Hot Lips!!

D.W.

Moxie

   Well here we are at review 100.  First off thanks for your readership as we moved from our humble beginnings on livejournal, to the multi-million dollar corporation we are today.  Oh wait… we haven’t made a dime, but we’re millionaires at heart.  Today’s beverage was the most suggested beverage when we asked our readers what the 100^th review should be… Moxie.  If you listened to the Popcast you'd know that.

   Moxie is one of the oldest sodas out there, some say THE oldest.  Really it’s very close between Moxie, Vernor’s Ginger Soda, and Hire’s Root Beer.  Looking upon the label I can tell you right away that this is no longer the original formula.  Replaced with chemicals I assume, with one exception that reads “Gentian Root Extractives”.  I’m pretty sure that one ingredient is going to give off a very unique flavor.  Before I go any further I just want to mention how much I enjoy the label art of Moxie.  The label is a man in a business suit pointing at you… it’s amazing.

   Upon opening up the bottle, with a rather bland cap I might add, it smells like it’s going to be one of the most awesome, unique root beers you’ve ever had.  I would even go so far as to say that it smells like a root beer/cola mix.  Let’s drink.

   The initial taste of moxie is great!  It has that root beer cola flavor you thought you would taste after smelling it.  It’s cool, refreshing, unique… something you could really see yourself buying from here on out.  “To Hell with Coke!” you’d say “I’m a Moxie Man now!”  Then something would go wrong in your mouth.  That sweet root beer/cola taste would fade away as the Moxie started its journey down your gullet.  What was once good, would now be replaced with evil.  The taste of pennies, dirt, and un-sweetened envelope glue now dance upon your tongue.  Your first reaction is to drink some more.  “This can’t be the aftertaste,” you’d say, “More Moxie should fix this right up.”  It won’t.  Sure, as long as the liquid stays in your mouth you avoid the horrible aftertaste, but who’s going to walk around with Moxie constantly swishing around their teeth.  While I don’t agree with pouring sodas over ice, this (ironically our 100^th review) is a soda which must be.  Fortunately, pouring Moxie over ice cuts the horrible after taste in half.  It’s like watching your favorite sports team do really well against someone they weren’t supposed to beat, only in the 2^nd half to have your entire team break their legs.  This is such a historic drink, with such a unique flavor that I have to recommend you try it.  So there you have it, one of the oldest sodas available, and our 100^th review.  The next milestone is probably 250, so be patient, and keep reading.  Thanks!

Verdict: Buy a Bottle!

 ~A 

Thank goodness Twist's taste buds aren't real

Maaza Guava Juice (Fan Review!)

It's so o oo oh UH OH  shizznittlebamsnipsnapsnappy juice:)  I found this drink in a Pakistani grocery store.  It's a pretty popular drink so you can find it somewhere.  Just look for it in any Indian/Pakistani store.  It is probably, no DEFINITELY the fruitiest drink i have ever tasted.  I'm not very familiar with the guava fruit but it makes you want to move somewhere the fruit is located.  It also kept me energized.  I don't know if it is because there is so much sugar in it or maybe it has caffeine. i don't know. look it up!

Maaza Guava Juice - Buy a Pallet

T.M

www.enjoymaaza.com

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.

Verdict:  Buy a pack!

-Mike

Romano's Creamy Strawberry

   My up and down relationship with the drinks from our friends at Romano’s Italian Soda is well documented on this site.  Today’s installment is one I’ve honestly been putting off, Romano’s Italian Soda Creamy Strawberry.  I was just recently was turned onto strawberry soda.  I can’t say that I love it, but it’s a solid flavor… I’m sure the rest of the world is glad I approve of it.  My only qualm with strawberry soda is the fact that it’s usually a bit too sweet for my complete liking.  Since Romano’s punched me in the face with their Sour Apple (in a good way) I thought their strawberry soda would be so sweet I’d be turned to sugar.

   Looking at the color of Romano’s Creamy Strawberry I feel a bit better about my decision to try it.  The only way I can describe it is pink bordering on red.  I like the color of this soda a lot actually; it has a fresh look to it.  I don’t know why, but I just feel that when I drink this I’ll be transported to a garden in spring time.   It’s time to delve down a little further.

   I must say that I’m quite intoxicated by the strawberry smell coming out of the mouth of this bottle.   It’s such a rich odor, there is no doubt that you’re about to enjoy the taste of strawberries.  I was neutral about trying this soda before, now I’m actually craving my first taste.  Let’s drink.

Creamy strawberry soda, the label says it all.  This is without a doubt the best Romano’s soda I’ve tried to date.  Think of drinking your basic strawberry soda, now instead of that bite you get at the end of it… you know the one that kind of hurts your throat a bit?  Instead of that bite you get a smooth cream all the way through the drink.  The lack of bite doesn’t take away from the flavor either.  Romano’s Italian Soda has a solid strawberry essence through, and through.  It’s a sweet drink, and while I got onto them for not making Blackberry tarter, I’m ok with this one being as sweet as it is since it’s labeled as a “creamy” beverage.  The aftertaste is just as delicious as the drink itself.  It doesn’t stick in your mouth; it’s moderately light and pretty refreshing.  While I don’t think I’ve had enough strawberry sodas to consider myself a connoisseur of them, this is the best strawberry soda I’ve ever had. 

Verdict: Buy a Pallet!

~A

Twist was actually the inspiration for the song "Strawberry Fields Forever"

(Note:  This beverage was provided to us by Romano's)