Jelly Belly Lemon Drop

The folks that make the famous gourmet jelly beans have a few flavors of soda as well. Something key to Jelly Belly's success is how they can seemingly encapsulate about any flavor into a jelly bean. And, yes, they do make soda flavored jelly beans, including A&W Root Beer and Dr Pepper. 

Gustav Goelitz was a German immigrant in who started a candy business in Belleville, Illinois in 1869. The Goelitz Confectionary Company was successful enough to open factories in Cincinnati and Chicago by 1904. In 1913, the company moved from Belleville, just east of St. Louis, to Chicago. Gustav's son, Herman, opened his own candy business, the Herman Goelitz Candy Company, in California. It was in the 1960's that they began producing jelly beans. In 1976, Herman Rowland, who was Herman Goelitz's grandson, worked with David Klein to create naturally flavored jelly beans. The Jelly Belly was born and named in tribute to blues musician Lead Belly. So while there is a long history of the companies behind Jelly Belly jelly beans, the first actual sale of Jelly Belly beans wasn't until 1976. Herman Goelitz Candy Company remained the company behind the Jelly Belly until 2001 when they renamed to form the Jelly Belly Candy Company. Since 2023 Jelly Belly has been owned by the Ferrara Candy Company. Ferrara brands include Lemonheads, Chuckles, Pixy Stix, Spree, Fun Dip, and Nerds. 

The soda itself smells lemony like a can of lemon Pledge furniture polish. The taste isn't anything great in my opinion. It's basically a lemon sour with a puckering tartness but not overly tart. They've opted for cane sugar which is a surprise to me since I always picture jelly beans as being made in a chemistry lab with corn syrup. 

Pepsi Wild Cherry & Cream

I've covered many varieties of Pepsi cola in the past, including their Wild Cherry. But they recently released this Wild Cherry & Cream variety. I actually waited a little bit after first spotting it in the wild because it was only available in 12-packs, but sure enough the single bottles eventually followed. Always difficult to justify buying a 12-pack of a new flavor you don't know you'll even like. This bottle released a strong vanilla aroma when opened and carries an expected level of carbonation for a Pepsi. A few sips in I'm still letting it linger on my tongue to gather what I think about it. Personally, I find that there isn't enough cherry flavor while at the same time an over abundance of vanilla cream flavor. It just seems skewed to me. I would have liked a heavier cherry taste with an iota of creaminess to just give it a slight separation from a cherry cola. Additionally, I think it's a bit to artificial in a way that leaves a tad of a chemical aftertaste. Sadly, this flavor isn't quite up to par for me. 

MacFuddy Pepper Elixir

This selection comes from Orca Beverages, who I've mentioned before. The drink has a dark reddish brown tint and smells a bit like cherry soda. Now I had expected some sort of Dr Pepper knock off, but it actually does have a sort of lingering black pepper tingle in the back of the throat. It's cold and refreshing up front, but then a sort of tingle develops in the back, right beneath my sinuses. I'm not sure what to make of that. It's interesting but doesn't make it the sort of thing I'd enjoy sipping on at the end of a hot summer day, or even a cold winter one for that matter.

Culture Pop Strawberry & Rhubarb

I haven't seen Culture Pop on the shelves around where I live, but I discovered them on a recent trip through the South. Culture Pop is another brand of probiotic sodas made in the recent trend of companies attempting to make healthier soft drinks. They claim to use organic fruit juices and organic spices to create their flavors. Their website states that they use natural fruit juices as their sweeteners rather than artificial sweeteners or real sugar. The probiotic ingredient is listed as DE111 Bacillus Subtilis.

This can of strawberry and rhubarb lists just 45 calories and includes ingredients like white grape juice, strawberry, rhubarb, and orange juices as well as sea salt, and cardamom. It smells quite nice, very strawberry scented, similar in smell to much more sugary strawberry sodas. I find it has a very mixed flavor changing rapidly while sipping. The flavor(s) disappear so rapidly I didn't even have time to place them, though I noted it was bitter when first hitting the tongue. On the next sip I held in my mouth longer to try to pick up some of the flavoring. Still bitter tasting, but without any sort of added sweeteners that should be expected. I can also pick up citric acidity followed by a quick flash of unsweetened rhubarb. Most of these prebiotic and probiotic sodas are undrinkable. While this one is bitter, because the flavor is so short lived its much kinder to the taste buds than other "gut healthy" sodas so makes for a nice option in the realm of "healthy" soft drinks. 

Coca-Cola Peach

Now I know that I posted about Coca-Cola's Georgia Peach on this previous post, but this can doesn't specifically appear to be labeled as "Georgia Peach" so it could be different. The fact that this can is from China also piqued my interest. The scent from the can is like that of ripe peach skins. I don't think it smells a bit like cola. Upon tasting it, I think it does indeed taste different than the Coca-Cola Georgia Peach mentioned earlier. In fact I taste no cola from this soda. The bottle of Georgia Peach was a blend of peach and cola flavors. This can tastes only of peach soda. As I can't read the text, perhaps it was only meant to be a plain peach soda. However, when you slap Coca-Cola on something there's a bit of expectation of cola even though it hasn't stopped Mountain Dew from creating all manner of flavors that have nothing to do with the traditional Mountain Dew flavor. But if I were to judge this merely as a peach soda, it isn't bad. I've often been surprised by peach flavored sodas as I don't particular enjoy eating peaches.

Coca-Cola Strawberry

This can is from Coca-Cola, imported from China. The sound of the can opening sounds like it has the expected level of carbonation and it releases a sweet strawberry scent, maybe even a bit like Twizzlers. So, I don't taste any cola in this beverage. I think this is meant to specifically be a strawberry soda from Coca-Cola because I'm just not picking up any hints of cola in it. The strawberry taste is like fresh fruit up front but I find the the aftertaste is more like that strawberry pie filling jelly they sell in a bag at the supermarket. 

Barq's Root Beer

I can't believe I found Barq's Root Beer in a glass bottle. What a find. I think until now I've only ever seen it in cans and plastic bottles and have had it most of my life. Brothers, Edward and Gaston Barq founded Barq's Brothers Bottling Company in New Orleans in 1890. They were mostly known for their orange soda, Orangine, but also sold soda water. When Edward moved to Mississippi in 1897 he started a new company, the Biloxi Artesian Bottling Works. Recall from prior posts that this period in history saw a boom in bottling the waters from natural artesian sources. The exact date appears to be disputed, but sometime between 1898 and 1900 he introduced his root beer soft drink, simply called Barq's at the time. The Barq's company in Biloxi was sold by Edward's descendants in 1976 and began to be marketed more widely around the U.S. Many years of legal battles ensued among various Barq's family business entities. Coca-Cola has owned the Barq's brand since 2000.

Note that this bottle also has an older style of labeling, likely hand in hand with the fact that they have a throwback glass bottle. Labeling as far back as I can recall from my childhood is silver and black. As much as I enjoyed Barq's growing up I always disliked the silver and black because it resembled the Raiders team colors. It also has the embossed diamond pattern around the neck that was used many decades earlier. I love the vanilla scent. You can always tell from a sip of Barq's root beer what they mean by the slogan, "Barq's has bite" because there is a signature crispness in the finish that I always look for from any root beer I taste. This "bite" is often what I think my friends from the U.K. and Ireland are describing when they complain that root beer tastes "minty" and reminds them of the dentist. I never felt that way but I can understand what they are trying to get across. Just as expected, this bottle has the high level of carbonation you expect from them. Barq's is a solid root beer choice and I would always be willing to recommend it to someone that wants to try root beer for the first time.

Wild Bill's Black Cherry

Following up on yesterday's choice from Wild Bill's Craft Beverage Co., I have this black cherry soda from them as well. This one has a nice dark cherry scent and colorful red hue. It's well carbonated and very tasty. Though I do feel this is closer to sweet cherries in taste. It reminds me of Cheerwine, but slightly more robust in flavor. 

Wild Bill's Root Beer

While in Texas I came across a brand I hadn't seen before, Wild Bill's Craft Beverage Co. This seemed quite fitting for Texas, though apparently the company is located in Millington, New Jersey. They craft a variety of soda flavors, many classics as well as a few more peculiar flavors. One of the more unique features of the brand is a traveling soda truck. Wisely used as a great word of mouth advertising tool, the truck appears at many events, shows, and conventions selling custom mugs that buyers can use for unlimited refills, even years later.

This 12oz. can weighs in a 170 calories per serving and 43g of sugars. The root beer is made with can sugar and is caffeine free. The can offers up a traditional creamy root beer scent akin to an A&W. I find it has adequate carbonation. What strikes me about it is how classic it tastes when so many other newer soda brands end up making root beer tasting a bit herbal. It's crisp for a soda with cane sugar instead of corn syrup. It may be the slight hint of licorice in the finish that maintains that faint bite you want from a root beer. This could easily be mistaken for an A&W root beer despite being small batch, craft-brewed. I'm pleased with this soda so will look forward to tasting some of their other flavors, at least one of which I have on hand for an upcoming post. 

Dublin Vintage Cola

Another bottle from Dublin Bottling Works in Texas. This time I've got their classic Vintage Cola to taste. I can smell a rich kola nut aroma. This truly does taste like a classic cola. The cane sugar rounds the sweetness nicely, but I'd love it if the flavor hung longer on the tongue. I find it dissipates rapidly with next to no aftertaste. With a flavor like this I want it to last longer. All that said, it's a good tasting soda and you really can't go wrong picking a cola if you're not interested in some of Dublin's more unique flavors.