Starry

If you don't pay close attention to the soda aisles at your local grocery store you'd be forgiven for not noticing that Sierra Mist is a soda of the past. Launched in 1999, PepsiCo created the lemon-lime flavored Sierra Mist to compete with Coca-Cola's Sprite. Well, as of last week, PepsiCo has unceremoniously dropped the Sierra Mist brand. The replacement, branded Starry, is now here. Upon last weekend's trip to the store I was encountered with a stand full of the drink. Now, I'd not heard of the brand before and to be honest the label, design, even the name of it are down right generic. I had to inspect the bottle to find it was a PepsiCo product. Sierra Mist never sounded or looked like lemon-lime to me, it's packaging always made it look like it was more in competition with Fresca. That name and packaging design could very well have fought against its success for all we know. I fear looking at "Starry" the same fate might await, particularly since I've seen nor heard of an ounce of marketing for it. And the name! What were they thinking with a name like Starry? It sounds more like an animated character from Rainbow Bright.

In any case, the beverage is sparklingly clear, resembling the new clear packaging of Sprite. It has a lemon-lime scent no different from Sprite. I've never been very fond of lemon-lime sodas myself. My personal favorite was always 7 UP because that's what my grandmother always had and to this day I find it more crisp than the sticky sugariness of Sprite. But, eyes closed, you'd be hard pressed to taste the difference between this bottle of Starry and a bottle of Sprite. But PepsiCo's marketing department has their work cut out for them, I think they've already got an uphill battle.