Mountain Dew Green Label

Mountain Dew has experimented with a wide range of flavors over the years, some to an extent that it boggles me how you can call it Mountain Dew if it has nothing in common since so many people associate Mountain Dew with a specific flavor profile. Green Label has been used in two different methods by Mountain Dew. In 2007 the "green label" products were a line of limited edition aluminum bottles with artwork by many artists in the motif of the "eXtreme" sports crowd they were courting in their promotions and sponsorships in those days. In 2017 however, it isn't clear if their new Green Label drink has anything to do with that marketing or if it is an off shoot of it, since Green Apple Kiwi doesn't strike me as being in the same line up as some of their "extreme" flavors like "voltage", "code red", "live wire" and "supernova". One curiosity of Mountain Dew's market spread is that of both the action sports crowd as well as video gamers who are by and large inert.

For more on the history of Mountain Dew in general, see my earlier post here. I was expecting a satisfying "pffffsshhhhh" release of carbonation when I opened the can and got none at all, making me wonder if this was even carbonated. In tasting it, I can confirm it has carbonation. It is much more apple flavored than kiwi. It's a tart apple like that of the peel of a ripe granny smith apple. The kiwi is tasted in its aftertaste. The flavor combination is not something I'm wild about and reminds me more of some of the energy drinks on the market, which is probably fitting given Mountain Dew's target market. 

Rocky Mountain Soda Company Pike's Peak Prickly Pear

Rocky Mountain Soda Company was opened in 2009 by Chris Koons, Rory Donovan, and Drew Fulton to make unique sodas/mixers for their distillery. They also now own Oogave sodas. Rocky Mountain Soda Co. makes small batch non-GMO, gluten free, kosher, and vegan sodas. 

Prickly Pear is made with beet sugar and it had a really nice fruit aroma that is mostly pear but with a hint of citrus. The carbonation is thin. The fruit flavor of the drink is short lived. It tastes very pear-like but the flavor disappears quickly. I like eating pears and drinking squeezed pear nectar but this soda is so light I was hoping for more. I feel like it's closer to sugar water. I think this particular offering from them would be better as a drink mixer than as a straight soda.

Fanta Grape

I've reviewed several flavors of Fanta. You can read more about the history of Fanta on the first Fanta post here. 

The smell of grape Fanta always makes me think of the smell of Dimetapp cough syrup. It's lightly carbonated and very sugary. I don't drink a lot of grape sodas but they usually make me think of childhood or the filling of a grape jelly filled doughnut.

Bawls Ginger

This is the second flavor of Bawls to be featured on the blog. Follow the link here for the previous review on their root beer. Bawls is popular among gamers and programmers for its high levels of caffeine, one of the reasons I've only ever found it at computer equipment stores. 

While it has the typical aroma of a ginger ale, the taste is a bit unique. It has a touch more ginger spiciness than ginger ale, but much less than a ginger beer. What makes it interesting is a botanical punch of after taste that sort of drifts up the back of your mouth into you sinuses that makes you think you're smelling it rather than drinking it. It's not unpleasant but not exactly the flavor of ginger ale I grew up with. If you let it drift over the taste buds at the side of your tongue it presents and almost bubblegum-like flavor. It does pack plenty of carbonation which gives it a great tingle and aids in that botanical scent I mentioned before.

Polly's Pop Cream Soda

Polly's Pop from Independence, Missouri is back on shelves but isn't a new name. Started in 1923 by Louis and Dorthea Compton, they sold 10 flavors. Louis was reportedly a friend of Harry Truman, an Independence native. Louis Compton ran the company until he retired in 1948 and his in-laws, Vernon and Vic Givan, continued on until the company shuttered in 1967.

Local lawyer, Ken McClain and his wife Cindy, resurrected the brand in August of 2016 in Independence. Since at least one report I read stated Mr. McClain used several chefs to create the flavors, 6 of which were for sale when they began, its probably safe to say the recipes aren't original and its more of a nostalgic label. In any case, they reportedly purchased their bottling equipment from Fitz's. Fitz's bottling company, another story, was based out of St. Louis. But some time around the late 1990's to 2000 they had another location in Kansas City's Union Station, which later closed. I remember visiting Fitz's in Union Station at that time to watch the bottling through the windows. 

There isn't a lot of carbonation but the scent is very strong from this soda. They use cane sugar in the current incarnation of Polly's. The flavor is like that of a rich vanilla ice cream so I definitely give them points for this recipe, but I don't have any way to compare to the original recipe. It's smooth and will make a great dessert beverage after a meal or at the end of a warm summer day.