Flathead Lake Blueberry Pomegranate

Flathead Lake Gourmet Soda is a line with several flavors produced by the North American Beverage Company. NAB has only been around since 1993 so there's not much more to share. They also produce a chocolate mousse drink, strawberry milk, as well as bottled cappuccino and chai teas.

This bottle smells like the old cough syrup, Dimetapp. The mixture of scents tried to conceal the pomegranate, but isn't necessarily that of blueberry. It's very lightly carbonated. The flavor is quite a strange mixture and does indeed taste like a sort of medicine to me. It tastes of several berry flavors, including blueberry and cranberry and the pomegranate finally shows up in the after-taste. I'm going to have to suggest passing on this.

Stewart's Cream Soda

Frank Stewart was just a teacher when he opened a root beer stand in Mansfield, Ohio to make money on the side. Until 1990 Stewart's Root Beer was only available at Stewart's root beer stands and Stewart's Drive-Ins. The Cable Car Beverage Co. licensed the bottling rights and starting selling it elsewhere that year. Other flavors appeared starting in 1992. In 2000, the company was sold to Cadbury Schweppes.

I'll admit upfront that I love the line up from Stewart's. This flavor gives a frothy vanilla cream scent with the perfect flavor and color to match. It's a close to an ideal cream soda flavor as I can imagine, as though they actually melted vanilla ice cream in it before putting the cap on the bottle. Maybe the reason they make so many of their flavors "something"-and-cream because they know they have got the cream taste down pat. As a graphic artist I also have to point out that I like the little icons they have on each of their bottles. It may not be blue or red... but this is the beverage I usually compare other cream soda drinks to, so if you've never had it, get some to taste. 

Jack Black's Blue Cream Soda

I've mentioned Real Soda before on this blog because they have licensed old, out-of production sodas in order to reproduce and bottle them again. Black Jack's Blue Cream Soda is one of their original label products. 

It smells like bubblegum, but it's blue color isn't particularly appetizing. It's strange that some food products are intentionally colored blue, either as a function of marketing to kids or to make it look "crazy", yet I've read through reading about color theory that if someone is trying to diet they should try dyeing their food blue and changing their fridge light bulb blue. The thought behind this being because nothing we normally eat is naturally blue so it is an off-putting color to our mind's appetite.

It isn't a particularly well flavored. The "cream" comes on too strong. There's also a lingering after-taste of blue. What's that like? Well the after-taste seems like some kind of overly sugared vanilla sheet-cake icing from a grocery store bakery. So the gist is, this isn't a drink I'll recommend or that I would find myself picking up to enjoy with a specific food or treat. At least the cap can go in my collection.

RC Cola

Many people today probably do not know what RC stands for, but here's the story, borrowed heavily from my earlier post on Nehi. In 1905, a pharmacist named Claude Hatcher founded the Union Bottling Works in Columbus, Georgia. Claude's company focused primarily on the production of his sodas Chero-Cola and Royal Crown Ginger Ale. Due to the popularity of Chero-Cola, the company changed its name to the Chero-Cola Company in 1912. 

By 1924, Chero-Cola Co. released a line of flavored sodas under the name Nehi. The two major myths about the root of this name boil down to their calling the competition only "knee-high" when compared to their drink. In 1928, the company changed it's name again to the Nehi Corporation.

Claude Hatcher died in 1933 and the new president of the company, H.R. Mott led the development of a new cola drink and using Hatcher's old brand name, called it Royal Crown Cola. Never ceasing to ride the waves of popularity, Nehi, changed its name again in 1955 to the Royal Crown Company. Today the company is owned by and under management of the Dr Pepper Snapple Group.

Even though it's now part of a large conglomerate I still hold a warm spot for RC because it's such an underdog in the cola market compared to Coca-Cola and Pepsi. RC Cola is closer to Pepsi in flavor than Coca-Cola. By that I mean I don't find it as sweet, more of a crisp bitterness to it. I also enjoy it's level of carbonation. Funny to say, but as often as I've had RC, I can't remember ever having tasted Diet RC, but you're sure to see it on this blog eventually. If drink a good deal of cola, mix things up and pick up some RC next time. Or if you're donating blood, like I'm apt to do at times, get a free taste there since they often have it next to the snacks for donors.

Topo Sabores Apple

Here's another bottle of fruit soda from Topo Sabores following their orange soda, seen here.

This is not a natural soda, so you won't find real apples being used to make it. This is perhaps the reason this soda smells more like a combination of citrous and grape flavors. Did the folks mixing this base it off of an odd strain of apple because it does not taste like apple either. I'd classify this flavor close to a pear flavor. Both pears and apples are pomaceous fruits, but apples are typically more acidic lending to a sharp taste. This soda is smooth. If you're after a pear flavored soda, which I should note I've never seen, then snap up a bottle of this from the ethnic foods section of the grocery store. Skip it if you want the taste of apple. It is however, an interesting taste.

Dang! That's Good Butterscotch Root Beer

Dang! That's Good is a brand name of soda produced by Imperial Flavors, a family-owned business out of Milwaukee that's been around for over 45 years. I was unable to find any specific year that business began or how they entered the beverage market. 

Although better known for their root beer, they also offer this butterscotch concoction. It smells sweet and sugary and reminds me of pudding. I like the level of carbonation and I'm surprised by how much a like it. I was never big on butterscotch pudding as a kid and I think those little candies are kind of gross, but I like this. The smoothness is pleasant but makes me wonder what it would taste like with a sharp flavored root beer behind it. I really don't get a root beer flavor in it, just butterscotch. I find this drink sweet and smooth. This would make a great choice as a dessert drink.