Fusion Select Mango Ramune

Since I cannot read the brand of this mango ramune from Japan, I did some googling and I believe the company is called Fusion Select. I've been unable to find a specific website or information about this brand. The scent is sort of earthy, about what I imagine a bunch of mango pulp tossed in a compost bin might smell like. The initial taste is quite clean and watery. The finish is where the fruitiness comes out and like most ramune this seems pretty close to capturing a good mango flavor. There's a sensation as well, not really a umami, but just a hint of savory that makes this flavor interesting. 

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.