Fanta Berry

Another flavor from the Fanta line. As I've mentioned in the past, not all Fanta flavors appear in all regions, but I'm not quite sure of the availability of this flavor. It has an unnatural blue-ness to it though. 

It has a saccharine-blueberry smell to it similar to the smell of opening a giant bag of sugar, but with blueberries. As for the taste, it's more like a mixed berry. You'd expect a strong punch of flavor from such a strongly colored beverage, but you'd be wrong to do so in this case. Yes, it's sort of amalgam of berry flavors but there's not much of it. The strongest bit I feel is from the sides of my tongue, but it's weak and dissipates rather quickly. Rather odd considering how strongly flavored most bright colored sodas are in the States. Overall, I think its very safe to give this a pass for something better if you have the option.

Darkest Hour Black Cherry

Excel Bottling, in Breese, IL has released this limited edition Black Cherry soda for the total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8th. I've reviewed a few of their other sodas over the years. The next total solar eclipse visible in Indiana or Illinois won't be until Sept 14th, 2099... although there will be others visible in other states before then. I drove about four hours round trip to be sure to pick some of these bottles up for event. A cool extra feature of these bottles is the glow in the dark label.

The bottle gives off a wonderfully rich black cherry aroma. I might love the smell of black cherry sodas more than the taste. This has a nice level of carbonation to it. Thankfully, they did a great job with the flavor. It's rich but not cloyingly sugary. The finish is smooth too. The taste gives memories of ice creams or popsicles. If it weren't a limited edition I would find this enjoyable as a treat any time.