Canada Dry Blackberry Ginger Ale

Canada Dry is a lifelong favorite of mine. In the past several years they've joined the bandwagon of releasing various flavor varieties, both permanent and seasonal. I couldn't find this flavor in anything other than a 2 liter bottle so I grabbed this bottle while I could. Unfortunately, the picture doesn't quite do the color justice. The soda is a transparent, light lilac color which doesn't come through in this image. I think its a good flavor. You'll still get a mostly classic Canada Dry ginger ale flavor, but it comes with a tinge of berry flavor that gives it a nice highlight. The berry taste is strongest in the aftertaste that lingers in the mouth. I think they should have made this flavor more highly available in individual sizes though. 

Canada Dry Black Cherry Ginger Ale

This was a surprise find on a road trip. I've not seen a black cherry ginger ale before from Canada Dry or anyone else. I like ginger ales and black cherry sodas so I had to grab this one. On top of that, its made with cane sugar. While Canada Dry does bottle within the U.S., based on the fact that the URL printed on the bottle is a .ca top-level domain and there is French text in addition to English, I wonder if this flavor is only sold in Canada. It might explain why I've never seen this flavor before. 

It has excellent carbonation. Despite being a single use bottle, it's thick and hefty glass feels closer to a returnable. I find that it is cherry forward in flavor. I think it tastes more like a standard cherry than your typical black cherry. The ginger ale taste hides in the background but I can taste it coming through in the finish. While not as complex a flavor as I'd hoped for, its a good soda. 

Jones Soda Root Beer

Truthfully I've had Jones Soda's root beer before. But it's been eons. Jones Sodas are not daily drinkers for me but I will pick up the odd flavor when I see one or if I'm grabbing a bite where they're sold and want something a little different. But since I hadn't had one of their root beers in ages and haven't posted it here I thought this would be as good a time as any. Similar to the Jones Soda I reviewed a short while ago, the bottle mentions its a product of Canada, so I'm wondering whether or not they moved bottling operations? 

This bottle has a sarsaparilla-like aroma. The cane sugar provides a smooth flavor and it has a decent level of carbonation. I'd say its a decent root beer, but I find the carbonation bubbles to be small. I'm used to great big carbonation bubbles in root beers, but that alone doesn't make it a bad root beer. the flavor doesn't linger long on the tongue after a swig. Additionally, I like a bit more creaminess in a root beer.

Jones Soda Hatch Chile & Lime

Here we are with another special release from the Jones Soda Company. This one is very interesting. With all honesty I'm expecting to hate this flavor, but I couldn't pass it up. In an interesting twist the bottle says "Product of Canada," which I've not seen on a bottle from Jones before and they are known as being based in Washington State. But let's give it a go...

Wow... I opened this bottle a full two feet away from my nose and yet the instant I heard the carbonation release I could smell peppers. It absolutely smells like I was cutting green peppers in my kitchen. I don't smell any hint of lime. Oof... I don't like the taste of this bottle at all. A swig from it tastes like rotten vegetables, or a bowl of very cheap salsa left out in the sun. Look, it's not for me, but by all means if you like chile peppers and come across a bottle, feel free to give it a try. 

Rubicon Sparkling Mango

Rubicon began in 1981 and is listed has having facilities in both Canada and the UK. They specialize in juices but have a line of carbonated juice drinks as well. 

It has a fleshy mango scent with a bright orange color. The color alone makes me think this could be carbonated fruit juice rather than soda flavored with fruit, if that makes sense. The taste is decent. It has a dense mango flavor with a sugary finish. I'd say this has a fairly faithful taste to real mango. It may make a good breakfast drink choice, but isn't a "daily drinker" for myself. After a while I becomes a bit too much for me, but sipping over it for a while is nice. 

Canada Dry Cranberry Ginger Ale

Oddly I just realized I hadn't yet made a post about Canada Dry's ginger ale. Canada Dry is one of the better ginger ale makers in my opinion. I was really excited when I found this in the grocery store again this season. I discovered it last year when they must have been trying to get rid of some stock left over from the holidays and I only found a single bottle. The label wasn't clear if it was seasonal or not but sadly that turned out to be the case. When I saw mass quantities in stock just before Thanksgiving I bought up a bunch of the stuff. 

Canada Dry, like many other soda brands, began with a pharmacist who made soda water. This time the pharmacist was John McLaughlin, in Toronto, Canada in 1890. It took him some time, but in 1904 he began selling Canada Dry Pale Dry Ginger Ale. The drink became a hit in the states after he shipped to New York City in 1919, leading to a production plant there as well. The drink's popularity spread rapidly, sparked in part by prohibition laws in the U.S., which led to its use as a mixer to help cover the taste of poorly made hooch. Like many other soda makers, the company went through a series of sales and consolidations. Today it is part of the Dr Pepper Snapple Group based in Texas. 

The aroma of this particular flavor is just heavenly. The cranberry flavoring is just right, not overpowering like some mixed berry drinks. You can still taste the ginger out of it and the carbonation plays in the mouth perfectly. I cannot say enough about how much I love this seasonal soda and wish I could find it year round, though that may take something out of the anticipation of getting it. I highly recommend buying some if you have the chance. It's also ideal for holiday parties and currently only seen in 2-liter bottles.

The Pop Shoppe Pineapple

The Pop Shoppe brand began back in 1969 in London, Ontario. They eschewed the retail business and sold their sodas directly from their own stores. By 1975, they had crossed the border to the US with locations in 11 states. Two years later they were selling one million bottles of soda per day! But by 1983 competing business caused sales to drag and the company ceased production. In 2002, Brian Alger, a childhood fan of the drink, buys the brand name and attempts to relaunch the soda going to far as to try to recreate the original flavors. Two years later, in 2004, the soda is on shelves again, now in retail stores and sold as a premium brand. By 2009, the revival has seen many more flavors return and they are again sold in the original "stubby" bottles.

The cap on this bottle releases with a crisp sound of carbonation release and bright aroma of pineapple. While a little more sugary than some pineapple sodas, and regular reader of this blog knows it's hard for me to say anything bad about a pineapple drink. This bottle is delicious even if a tad too sweet. While the "stubby" bottle is no longer returned and refilled as in the original days, they at least promote recycling on the bottle. These short bottles feel like the returnable sort even if they aren't. It's a good solid soda and I'll look to get my hands on some of their other varieties in the future. 

Jones Soda Strawberry-Lime

Urban Juice and Soda Company began in 1987 as a beverage distributor out of Vancouver, Canada. By 1995 the company began producing its own line of soft drinks under the name of Jones Soda. In 2000, the company relocated to Seattle, Washington in the US and changed it's name to the Jones Soda Co. Since 2007 the entire Jones line up has been made with cane sugar rather than high-fructose corn syrup.

Jones Soda is most commonly known for two things, one of them being their labels which vary from bottle to bottle. Consumers can submit their own photos to the Jones Soda photo database which continually rotates the images on the labels. The marketing draw lead to selling customizable soda packs which can be ordered with your choice of photo. Secondly, Jones is well known for a wide selection of unique flavors such as Fufu Berry, Chocolate Fudge and even flavor named Fun. There are also many limited edition flavors made popular more for their novelty than flavor. The Thanksgiving flavor pack included sodas created to taste like turkey, green-bean casserole, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and brussels sprouts. In future years the Thanksgiving pack included flavors like smoked salmon pate, and pecan pie. Jones Soda also produced a theme pack for the hometown Seattle Seahawks NFL team which included flavors like Perspiration, Dirt, Natural Field Turf and Sweet Victory. Among other themes, there is a set based on a Magic: The Gathering card set, a Dungeons & Dragons theme pack, Halloween, Valentines and even a Chanukah themed soda pack.

This flavor smells of sweet strawberry candy. It has a pretty good level of carbonation to tingle the mouth. I like it's tartness. There isn't much of a lime flavor but it's more of a strawberry with a puckering sourness to it.