Fanta Watermelon

I came across this can in the refrigerator of a foreign foods market. I couldn't read it, but the style was clearly Fanta. Despite the incredibly tiny text on the English language label, my guess as to the origins appear to be confirmed. It looks as though this flavor is from China. In previous posts I've mentioned how Fanta has many flavors that are regional in nature, not offered in other countries or sometimes even regions of the same country. 

The soda has a pinkish-red color but I smell nothing from the top of the can. A first sip makes me reel a little. The taste is very pungent, much more so than the Japanese watermelon ramune I tasted just a short while ago. This has Fanta's candy-like fruit flavoring all over it. Its made with high-fructose corn syrup as is typical for countries where Fanta can get away with it in place of real sugar. If you really dig watermelon or you want a watermelon hard candy in a can to drink this is for you.

Gross Gus's Pimple Pop

Gross Gus is a series of different flavors of disgustingly named sodas produced by Indian Wells Brewing Company. Indian Wells creates craft beers in addition to sodas and is located in Inyokern, California, situated halfway between Bakersfield and Death Valley. The Indian Wells Brewing Company URL is failing a DNS lookup, but a search reveals a new URL for the company. Unfortunately, at the time of this post their website is not functioning, displaying a "maintenance" message. According to their Facebook page, they were still posting a couple of months ago, so must still be operating. While other searches state they have over 100 flavors of soda, it might appear that they sell a number of other novelty sodas rather than actually produce that many themselves. However, these Gross Gus flavors actually have the Indian Wells name on the label. 

The smell is reminiscent of coconut. It tastes sort of creamy, but not like a cream soda. It's very sugary tasting. I tried to place what the taste was in my mind and was avoiding searching the label for a hint. In the end, my eyes wandered and I located the words "marsmallow soda" printed up the side. I hope that spelling is intentional, but it really does taste like marshmallow. For a novelty flavored soda they've really nailed this flavor and yet it's not a sickening flavor like so many of the novelty sodas are. This one is actually drinkable, even if very sweet to the taste. 

Mountain Dew Citrus Blackberry

The next Mountain Dew I have is also a tie-in with the World of Warcraft campaign mentioned in yesterday's post. Is there some sort of food flavoring fad going on right now that I've missed? I'm encountering a lot of blackberry stuff lately, both in the soda world and in other foods. I don't know if most of these companies are using real blackberries for their flavor extracts or if they are completely artificial, but a search online shows the U.S. gets most of its blackberry crops from Mexico. Will we see the end of this blackberry trend staring down the tariff trade wars in recent news?

The bottle's aroma is similar to that of a grape, not particularly "berry-like", but there's a tinge mixed in with the scent. I repeat my sentiment from yesterday's citrus cherry... they are making the most imperceptible changes to the flavor, or maybe not changing the flavor at all!, then slapping a new name on the bottle as a marketing gimmick. This bottle doesn't taste that far different from their Pitch Black. It's time for Mountain Dew to get more creative or I'll start skipping their new and limited flavor releases. 

Mountain Dew Citrus Cherry

Diving back into the world of Mountain Dew... as I've mentioned, it's nearly a full-time job keeping up with their releases. It seems they have a marketing tie-in with World of Warcraft, an online multiplayer role playing video game. The subtitle says "Game Fuel," as if sitting in a chair for hours playing a video game was the equivalent of playing a full 90-minute soccer match. Before I taste this, I'll point out that the label states that a serving size is one bottle (20fl.oz.) at 290 calories and a whopping 77g of sugars, for 153% of the RDA of sugar and 28% of the RDA for total carbohydrates. Oof! I hope you're playing from a standing computer desk.

After opening, I take a good sniff from the top and I smell something citrus along with a scent that, for some reason, reminds me of a new carpet showroom. I don't think the flavor is that far distant from their Code Red flavor, but then its been some time since I've tasted Code Red. It seems like in an effort for their "flavor scientists" to keep up with the number of flavor variants each year they simply alter existing recipes by a tiny amount and slap a new name on it. It's getting tiresome to keep up, but I wouldn't want to miss an entirely new taste experience by passing them up. Something they count on I'm sure. If you like some of their classic taste experiments, like Code Red and Live Wire, I think you'll like this one as well. 

Bazooka Bubble Gum Soda

This is another novelty soda from Rocket Fizz. However, this one has the weight of a well-known pop culture brand name on it with Bazooka. The bottle reminds me of classic pink bubblegum in both color and smell. The taste is a bit wonky though. There's a strong taste of cheap bubblegum like the sticks found in baseball cards and Bazooka wax paper but its also a little like licking a petri dish. There's a weird chemical flavor at the end of each sip. Interesting, but I don't find it enjoyable. If they really wanted to complete the nostalgic feel they should have made the label peel off with a Bazooka Joe comic strip on the back. 

Canada Dry Black Cherry Ginger Ale

This was a surprise find on a road trip. I've not seen a black cherry ginger ale before from Canada Dry or anyone else. I like ginger ales and black cherry sodas so I had to grab this one. On top of that, its made with cane sugar. While Canada Dry does bottle within the U.S., based on the fact that the URL printed on the bottle is a .ca top-level domain and there is French text in addition to English, I wonder if this flavor is only sold in Canada. It might explain why I've never seen this flavor before. 

It has excellent carbonation. Despite being a single use bottle, it's thick and hefty glass feels closer to a returnable. I find that it is cherry forward in flavor. I think it tastes more like a standard cherry than your typical black cherry. The ginger ale taste hides in the background but I can taste it coming through in the finish. While not as complex a flavor as I'd hoped for, its a good soda. 

Red Rock Frambuesa

The second Dominican Red Rock soda for me to review is this bottle of Frambuesa, which is Spanish for Raspberry. It smells of strawberry candy and appears to have ample carbonation. The taste is not quite strawberry or raspberry. I find it's quite a mix of berry flavors. Luckily, it doesn't leave a lingering aftertaste but I do think it's too candy-like for my liking. I would have to nurse this for a long time to avoid feeling sick to my stomach after a bit. 

Dublin Texas Root Beer

A new flavor to try from Dublin, this time a classic root beer. I've discussed Dublin sodas a few times now, so refer to prior posts for more about them. I happened to pick up this bottle at a Buc-ee's outside of Waco somewhere. 

The bottle has a nice old-fashioned creamy smell to it so I'm anticipating good things. After a couple of draws off the bottle I'm feeling underwhelmed. I know they use cane sugar, which typically gives a rounded sweetness in comparison to high fructose corn syrup, but this just seems rather weak. The level of carbonation is right, but I want something more of a root beer flavor "snap" and this is a bit soft. Don't get me wrong, it's a fine root beer, but when I consider the number of other root beers I've tasted I don't think this is one I'd reach for over the others if they were all stocked together in my fridge. So, my recommendation would be to skip over this and grab one of Dublin's other flavors. 

Dry Cucumber

I've reviewed multiple flavors from Dry in the past. They've always left me disappointed but being that their initial target was for use in cooking, and then as mixers, I suppose it's to be expected. I continue for the sake of curiosity when I come across another flavor from them but in all honesty, I may have a slight bias by this stage going in that I probably won't like it, so there's my disclosure. 

I've never had a cucumber soda to my recollection, but I imagine this will approximate something like carbonated cucumber water found in spas or nail salons. It takes a moment after opening and a very strong whiff, but it does smell like freshly sliced cucumber. After a draw off the bottle, I think it's quite like a cucumber that hasn't yet full ripened. I can get used to the cucumber melon flavor from Gatorade because the melon sweetens and mellows the cucumber flavor, but this bottle is strong. That's actually saying something for a drink from Dry because I've always felt flavors, I have tasted from them in the past were far too weak. This one has a punch, unfortunately I think you need to be a bigger fan of cucumbers to enjoy it. I understand there are some alcoholic cocktails that use cucumber water so this may also be of use for those. 

Dr. Wells

Ludford Fruit Products, incorporated in 1928, in Los Angeles, created Dr. Wells in 1935 as an alternative 'pepper' brand soda, like so many Dr Pepper clones. As noted in many other posts, the 1960's and 70's saw a lot of consolidation of soda brands as larger companies swallowed up smaller operations. In 1970, the Rheingold Corporation purchased Grapette. Having introduced flavors other than grape, Rheingold decided to change the name from Grapette to Flavette. This seems like a poor attempt to work in the word 'Flavor' into the branding but comes off rather hacky sounding. Flavette then purchased Dr. Wells as well as Mason's Root Beer. According to FTC papers Flavette purchased something like 81 independent bottling companies during the 1970's. PepsiCo ended up buying Rheingold, triggering the Federal Trade Commission to force PepsiCo to release some of its brands to encourage market competition since PepsiCo and Coca-Cola combined for about 58% of the soft drink market at the time. The Monarch Beverage Company purchased the Dr. Wells brand in 1987 and later sold it along with some other notable soda brands to Hedinger Brands in 2007. Today, Dr. Wells is produced by Dad's Root Beer Company, based in Jasper, Indiana.

I think the scent of this bottle is slight, but I'm picking up faint notes of cherry. There's a noticeable kick of carbonation churning up to the top with each swig, sometimes nearly overflowing from the bottle. I've also spotted that they include cane sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup. It has a smoother flavor than Dr Pepper but the "spices" or "pepperiness" is too weak, closer to drinking a cherry cola.