Poppi Cherry Limeade

Next up from Poppi is this can of Cherry Limeade. This particular can also lists agave inulin among the ingredients which makes me wonder a bit why this is included in some flavors but not others. Once again, they've nailed the scent... but what about the taste? Strangely, this flavor is better than the others I've tried so far from Poppi. It's not great mind you, but it's at least approaching the flavor it's labeled and drinkable. The cherry flavoring isn't very strong though. I find cherry up front but it dissipates quickly leaving a limeade-like aftertaste. As mentioned, it's an improvement from the previous flavors tasted, but I'm questioning the taste buds of the celebrities endorsing this product. The best thing this can has going for it is the colors and finish. That deep red with eggshell finish paired with a bright yellow-green makes an attractive combination.

Poppi Grape

Noticeably, this can contains agave inulin in addition to several of the previously listed ingredients found in Poppi. I can say that the delicious grape soda smell emanating from this can after the scent that came from my previous taste of Poppi tells me that they can nail an attractive scent. By scent alone you might mistake this for any regular grape soda on the supermarket shelf. But once again, the flavor is not nice. It's very astringent and tastes nothing like grape soda in my opinion. 

Poppi Strawberry Lemon

Poppi began in 2018 under the name 'Mother', founded by Stephen and Allison Ellsworth. After securing venture capital investment Mother underwent a rebrand to Poppi. Aside from a stint on Shark Tank they've secured endorsements from several celebrities whilst gaining shelf space in practically every grocery store I visit. I've recently picked up a few flavors from Poppi to give a try. Poppi contains apple cider vinegar, which contains acetic acid prebiotics and supports probiotic growth and is sweetened with stevia and cane sugar. 

I like the scent from this can. It's very much like fresh sliced strawberries. Unfortunately, the taste isn't very pleasant to me. While I'm picking up the lemon, the primary taste I get is more "green", sort of like chewing on the green leafy part of a strawberry top that wasn't removed. After this passes I'm just left with a bitter lemon juice flavor in the mouth. So... not a great first experience.

Olipop Dr. Goodwin

The next Olipop up for tasting is this supposed knock-off of Dr Pepper. Everyone that tries to make a Pepper knock-off seems to stick to the "Dr" theme. In this case, they've used the name of one of the founders, Ben Goodwin. Unlike their cola offering this one at least smells a little like a Dr Pepper, if not a little more floral. And... as a gulp down a swig, it tastes floral too. It's like chewing on potpourri with a little cherry added in, but nothing like Dr Pepper. Also unlike their cola flavor this one at least grows on me a little with each sip starts to take on a taste of medicinal candy bottlecaps. This can has an extra gram of sugar over their cola and steps up to 45 calories per serving, but the taste a decent trade off over their cola. 

Olipop Vintage Cola

Olipop was founded in 2018 by Ben Goodwin and David Lester, who had sold their previous venture with an probiotic soda called Obi. Olipop is a prebiotic, so I guess they chose make a change with their new soda. The prebiotic ingredients used include cassava root fiber, chicory root inulin, Jerusalem artichoke inulin, nopal cactus, marshmallow root, calendula flower, and kudzu root. I'm always a bit skeptical about claims of "miracle health products" and maybe rightly so when I find that Gwyneth Paltrow was an early investor since I've heard of many of the bizarre claims made from her Goop brand. It seems there have been some recent lawsuits against multiple brands of these prebiotic sodas suggesting that the health benefits they promote can't be achieved with the small amount of inulin they include. However, if nothing else, I've taken note that a single serving (12oz. can) is listed at just 35 calories with a grand total of 16g of sugars and is low in sodium... all improvements over your standard, big name sodas. Jonathan Limehouse author of USA Today's recent article, provides a good summation of this...

"Dietitians agree that Poppi, Olipop, Culture Pop and other prebiotic sodas are healthier options compared to traditional soft drinks, but they are weary about how beneficial these brightly colored canned alternatives really are due to their lack of effect on gut health. Coke, Sprite and other common sodas have "tons of added sugar" and are "pretty calorically dense," which is the opposite of most prebiotic sodas on the market, Jessica Alfano, a clinical dietitian at Huntington Hospital in New York, told USA TODAY on Thursday during a phone interview."

But since I'm really more about seeing what sodas taste like, let me crack open a can of this cola flavored option from Olipop. Cracking open the can gives a light cola scent, but also a scent similar to some of the sodas I've has using tea as an ingredient and I wonder if a little of the chicory isn't in that smell as well. After taking a first swig, I'm super unimpressed. It has a taste that reminds me of making pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread... a mix of canned pumpkin, flour, and granulated sugar. I would not classify this flavor as cola. Even with the low sodium listed as I drink it there's a bit of a salty tasting finish. All in all, I'm not enjoying it and still have at least one other flavor waiting for me in the fridge. Regardless of the gut health claims, it's a healthier option than regular soda so if you can handle the taste, or maybe let it grow on you, then it seems a decent alternative.

Gut Health Sodas - What are they?

There's been a lot of marketing, and growth of store shelf space, the last few years by a variety of drinks, including sodas, labeled "prebiotic" and "probiotic" With the growth of the kombucha trend also came probiotic yogurts, and pre- and probiotic sodas and teas. It's probably time I review at least a few of these but before that I thought I'd discuss... What's the difference between prebiotic and probiotic drinks?

Both prebiotics and probiotics are aimed at improving your gut biome, which supposedly provides the benefit of enhancing your digestion and immune system. 

Probiotics contain live bacteria to aid in food digestion and provide vitamins. The human digestive system contains so-called "good" bacteria like these that replicate and grow to continue helping you but the health of this bacterial biome can be damaged. Ingesting probiotics is designed to help bolter the health of this biome by replenishing their numbers.

Prebiotics, on the other hand, contain fiber with carbohydrates that feed the "good" bacteria in your digestive system. The fatty acids that result from the bacteria breaking down these carbohydrates purportedly help with bowel movements, controlling blood sugar, and absorbing minerals and vitamins. So the general idea is that prebiotics feed your bacteria and help to keep them healthy, while probiotics replenish their ranks. 

Sprite Ginger

Sprite Ginger has been discontinued, but I feel it's death was premature. I think it was a bit a of an early foray leading up to Sprite's more recent limited edition flavors. One can contains 34g of sugars and 130 calories. 

The drink has the same level of carbonation you'd expect from regular Sprite, which is to say an ample amount. The reason I think its death was premature was that I think it's a good soda. It makes a good compromise between the sweeter lemon-lime and a ginger ale. As a fan of ginger ale I might be a bit biased in that regard. All in all I hope they'll re-release this flavor in the future. 

Fentimans Pink Ginger

It's been too long since I've partaken of Fentimans. If you haven't read my previous posts, they can be found here. I like their products and the old fashioned style they adhere to.

The aroma of this bottle is ginger heavy when opening. I thought this might be a little more like pink lemonade, but the scent is giving me ginger beer vibes. It has nice carbonation, but it has no real pink lemonade flavor and only a tiny hint of citrus. The ginger wins over everything else in this drink and if you've not had ginger beer before, the ginger is heavier than in ginger ales. I enjoy a lot of ginger ale, but don't like ginger beers. At best I have found one or two that were tolerable. This one isn't so harsh that the ginger burns the palate but I think makes a better mixer than a drinkable soda. 

Coca-Cola Spiced

I bought this bottle a few weeks ago holding onto it for a bit because I wasn't sure if I'd like it. But being on a recent tear of reviews its the perfect time to crack it open. The scent is unique. I bit cinnamon-like, but there's also this sort of liniment or medicine quality to it. Sniffing it a little longer brings out more cinnamon and pine... reminiscent of the potpourri in a christmas shop. Tasting gives me more of a mixed berry flavor than raspberry as they indicate on the label. Of course there's a complete lack of any indication of what's in it based off reading the label... Coca-Cola gets a wide berth in this realm in the interest of protecting their sacred recipe so all we get is "natural flavors" as an ingredient. It's decidedly less berry flavored than I'd expected and based on the correlations the flavors spark with the holidays its interesting they launched it mid-year rather than towards the holiday season. It also makes me curious if serving it warm would kindle something like some of the European julmust beverages or mulled wine. I may have to try that later with an extra bottle. I think it's a better overall tasting drink than many of the other limited edition flavor released Coca-Cola has had the last couple of years. 

Stubborn Orange Hibiscus

Another bottle of the Stubborn brand. I'm picking up more of a ginger scent from this bottle than orange. The carbonation is good, but I really don't pick up orange flavor. It's citrus-y but closer to lemon than orange. Hibiscus is supposedly tart and floral, which I sorta of get. There's an obvious sourness to this soda but I'm just not getting anything I would call floral. Depending on the area it hits on the tongue it feels like a muted ginger combined with citrus. 

Spring Grove Soda Pop Black Cherry

This marks the second Spring Grove soda for the blog, the first being their Lemon Sour. It seems to be pretty hard to screw up a Black Cherry soda and they're so tasty its a wonder they aren't everywhere. This bottle is chock full of carbonation. While it opened normally, the first knock back of a sip caused it to nearly overflow as the carbonation riled it up. I think the fact they use cane sugar seems to come through in the taste... very similar sense as tasting a fingerful of granulated sugar. It has an expected black cherry flavor, though there's an odd quality about it. It's almost a chalkiness. I don't know if it's caused by their water source or something particular about the flavoring. As if to totally throw my earlier words back in my face, this is quite an average black cherry soda. There are plenty of better ones to choose instead. 

Sprite Lymonade

This seldom seen flavor from Sprite is purportedly still lemon-lime, but mixed with lemonade. It states that is contains "1% real juice"... which sounds paltry, but lemon juice can be strong so I'm curious how discernable the taste difference is. 

When I first opened it I smelled like plain old Sprite. But after a moment that scent was gone and now it only smells like lemon juice. It's also noticeably cloudier than standard Sprite. Tasting it, I'd say it's not that different from regular Sprite. There is a pinch of that sour lemonade taste, but it's sort of dull. Personally, I feel it needs more lemon juice.

Dublin 1891 Grapefruit

Recently, I covered the history of Dublin Bottling Works and I've got a few other Dublin sodas to work my way through. There aren't tons of grapefruit sodas out there, but I take a liking to many grapefruit and grapefruit/citrus fruit mixes like Ski, Fresca, etc. so I'm hoping this will be in the same vein and I'll like it. 

It has a light citrus aroma and I like the carbonation. Taking a few draws on the bottle I find it has a sort of musty flavor to it. It's certainly grapefruit, which I mostly feel in the middle of a tasting. At the front its less flavorful... a moment later the grapefruit kicks in, but then there's a lingering finish like the stale air of an attic mixed with a just a touch of stale, cheap baseball card bubblegum. Despite this strange finish, I've found I'm already through half the bottle just because I enjoy the bite from the grapefruit. The combination of the two however would leave me rating this as a sort of average soda in the realm of citrus-based drinks. 

Mtn Dew Star Spangled Splash

A 4th of July themed Mtn Dew flavor release, this is labeled as a "red berry." Like the previous few Mtn Dew choices it contains a load of sugar, a full 72g per bottle or 144% of the daily recommended intake.

I'm starting to find that all these Mtn Dew varieties just sort of run together. The smell and taste of them are all just varying degrees of each other. This one is a tad more fruit punch, pretty similar to the smell of Hawaiian Punch mixed with Mtn Dew's Code Red. It has loads of carbonation but the flavor is quite generic and candy-like. Being Mtn Dew and the height of the summer, I'm sure they'll sell plenty but I think it's kind of boring, particularly side by side with other Mtn Dew limited edition varieties. 

Fitz's Voodew

Based on the play on words, it seems apt that this is Fitz's approximation of Mountain Dew (Mtn Dew). I don't find that it's terribly well carbonated, but it doesn't quite match the zip that Mtn Dew, if that's what they were aiming for. It's more lime than Mtn Dew but with an almost clinical feeling as if I'm drinking it from a stainless steel pot rather than a glass bottle. But I think if they tripled the amount of sugar and added more carbonation it would come closer to Mtn Dew. 

Dublin Tart -N- Sweet Lemonade

Another bottle from Dublin Bottling Works. This bottle has a nice sour scent to it, the kind of sour lemon that's expected, not bad. It's puckeringly lemon-like with each sip, yet sugary. It isn't heavily carbonated. This is basically a lemon-ice in a bottle. I do like this a lot, but I get the feeling this will leave me more thirsty by the end than I was before I opened it. It reminds me of a ginger-ale and lemonade drink that was addicting enough to want to keep drinking more, but just made you thirstier and thirstier. I do like it though. 

Fitz's Hip Hop Pop

Returning to Fitz's sodas, I've found this bottle of "Hip Hop Pop" to try. It's giving off a raspberry smell to me but the color is no different than s regular cola. It's a confusing mix of flavors. It comes across as primarily berry-like despite the indication of a "berry cola" flavor seen if you look closely at the label. Only in the aftertaste well after downing a nip does the cola peek out. I'm not generally a fan of the berry flavors but this one is gentle and I feel the profile mix makes it easier to sip on. But its unique and interesting flavor. 

Mtn Dew Purple Thunder

I had hoped this flavor mutation from Mtn Dew was going to be something along the lines of a grape, but in fact the label says this is "berry plum". Which is both a disappointment and intriguing because I can't recall anyone else working with plum in the soda space. Keeping in line with my last couple of posts I'll report that this bottle is listed as a single serving at 270 calories and 73g of sugar, which is 146% of the recommended daily allowance.

It's definitely a mixed berry aroma, not sure I can pick out anything plum-like. It has good carbonation. The taste is interesting. It doesn't come across as anything very natural. I've only ever eaten yellow plums so I can't be sure how close it comes to attaining a plum taste. It may be entirely imaginary but my tongue feels ever so slightly numb after tasting a few swigs. Overall it's a decent flavor but I'm not sure the sugar levels and artificial everything make it worth more than a small tasting unless you're already a regular Mtn Dew fiend. 

Mtn Dew Baja Point Break Punch

This is a 20th Anniversary of Mtn Dew's Baja Blast and part of celebration is a number of "Baja" themed flavors, including this one. 

The drink's color is very similar to several other flavors they've made in the last several years, all in the orange-red range. This one takes on a sort of pink highlighter color when backlit from my computer screen. On opening, it does have a sort of fruit punch smell, but also a little musty and I'm not sure why. It reminds me of the combination of smelling fresh fruit, but then smelling the fruit rind. Unfortunately, I'm not digging the flavor. It's reminiscent of medicine, like a cheap cough syrup. And if you thought 44g of sugar for a can was a lot, this bottle states that the serving size is the full 20oz bottle with a whopping 74g of sugar! I'd just skip it if I were you. 

Mtn Dew Baja Passionfruit Punch

As I've said, keeping up with the slew of flavor mixes the major brands have been disgorging in the stores is practically a full-time job. So I'm going to be on a roll here of several Mtn Dew varieties. 

This can features an almost psychedelic motif and an emanating aroma of the tropics. The color is that of a transparent lavender. Its very tasty but should probably come with a tiny umbrella in it. Its less of a Mtn Dew variety than an entirely new drink. There's a tang like that of Mtn Dew, but the passionfruit gives it an entirely new profile. Unfortunately, a single can carries the debt of 44g of sugar! I do give a recommendation to try it though. 

Pepsi Lime

Pepsi has a couple of recent entries into the arena of flavor varieties of cola, hand in hand with Coca-Cola's flavor shenanigans. 

You'll probably need to pay very close attention to pick up the tiniest hint of lime in the smell off of this, it mostly smells like plain Pepsi cola. I've only taken a few swigs to contemplate it, but it's not coming across very well. It's got the taste of cola mixed with household cleaner. As I continue to taste it, it grows on me in a very small way. The lime isn't heavy-handed, but I just don't feel like lime and cola are the greatest flavor combination. It would probably take me an entire day sipping away on this to finish an entire bottle. That tiny tinge of lime does have a lingering aftertaste that reminds you of lime again. I'd say as a limited edition its worth trying, but I doubt it could stand as a regular flavor. Thankfully, I was able to find this flavor available in single bottles. Unlike Coca-Cola they haven't learned that its harder to get people to drop $10 on a 12-pack for a new flavor they may not like. If you're interested in trying this hopefully you'll be able to find a single bottle too. They've released a peach flavor too but I've found no single bottles of it around yet.

Schnucks Soda Shoppe Root Beer

I grabbed a couple bottles of this root beer on a recent soda hunting expedition through Illinois. Schnucks is a grocery store chain founded in 1939, based out of St. Louis, Missouri and many stores can be found in Illinois. I really should try to review more store brand sodas since there are so many of them.

Opening the bottle releases that cellar-like root beer scent with a hint of cedar. I pick up a decent amount of carbonation, more than I would have ventured based on the lack of much release when the cap came off the bottle. It has a bit of creaminess to it, but only a tiny amount. One of the reasons this stuck out at me on the shelf was the label illustrations. For a grocery store brand its really unusual to have so much design work. Store brands typically feature such generic block coloring and little else so I was hoping for a magical discovery. The use of cane sugar rather than high-fructose corn syrup softens the drink nicely. This is a good tasting root beer, but not so unusually good as to make it all that memorable.  

Sprite Chill

The history of Sprite has been discussed before on this previous post. But clearly Coca-Cola isn't satisfied by making endless varietals of cola and will continue making untold numbers of flavor changes to their other intellectual properties as well...

Sprite Chill is labeled as a "cherry lime" flavor. The aroma off the bottle gives the light essence of cherry with a hint of powdered donut. Like normal Sprite it has carbonation by the ton, which makes it dance on your tongue more than sodas with less aeration. You know... I don't hate it. As much as I get tired of keeping up with these incessant "varieties" and "limited edition flavors" this one isn't all bad and its a light handed touch allowing you to still taste something resembling regular Sprite. That touch of cherry with the lemon-lime reminds me of a mix of syrups on a sno-cone. I'll give it a thumbs up for hot summer days.