Hosmer Mountain Black Cherry

I first introduced readers to Hosmer Mountain Beverages in this previous post where I reviewed their Sarsaparilla. I've come across a bottle of their black cherry soda this time around and I'm always jazzed to taste black cherry sodas. This 12 oz bottle comes in at 180 calories and uses cane sugar. The scent is not very heavy but definitely a black cherry aroma. I like the carbonation level. I think the taste of this is biased a little more toward a traditional cherry soda rather than a black cherry. The flavor is just okay, not as deep and rich as I'd prefer and I find that the finish comes across syrupy like that of a cough syrup. This is pretty disappointing as black cherry sodas go but still good enough to drink without hesitation. 

Culture Pop Black Cherry

The second flavor from Culture Pop to be featured is this black cherry selection. As a reminder, refer to this earlier post for information on probiotic sodas like this one. This can weighs in at just 45 calories and includes most of the same ingredients as their other flavors, including the probiotic bacillus subtilis. The scent is sweet. Despite having just purchased this can a couple of days ago the drink is flat. The taste is both sweet and sour. I get a touch of sweetness at first, but it then changes to a bitterness, particularly on the sides of the tongue. It sometimes even tastes a tad salty. I'd rate this flavor below their strawberry and rhubarb option.

Mountain Dew Kickstart Black Cherry

I try to avoid so-called "energy drinks", but sometimes there's a cross over from some of these soda brands that kind of sit on the fence. Kickstart is a line of drinks from Mountain Dew to wade themselves into the energy drink market but in many places resides among the sodas rather than on the shelves with the Red Bull's and Monster drinks. Their website lists "Dew®. Juice. Caffeine." but it only contains 5% juice. While that may be more than typical sodas, 5% isn't something I'd be crowing from the rooftops about. Are there buyers who think that means it healthy? These cans are 16oz. and the nutrition label says there are two servings per can. I can't help but wonder if they realize putting it aside to consume the second serving later means the carbonation will be gone. As far as the sugar content goes, it actually has just 19g for the entire 16oz can, which is better than original Mountain Dew at 46g for only a 12oz can. I think perhaps they are leaning on the added electrolytes and differentiated marketing as their primary separations from traditional Mountain Dew soda.

Cracking open the can I find it has very little smell, but what is there seems a bit citrus-like rather than cherry. I was not expecting this to taste anything like the citrus-forward Mountain Dew, and yet the first thing I get from it is just that. The black cherry flavoring arrives later, in the finish and aftertaste. I'd say it's almost 50/50.... more like traditional Mountain Dew until finished swallowing, then my mouth is overcome with the taste of black cherry you'd expect to be the focus. I find it to be a decent drink in terms of its flavor. While it isn't a health drink or sports drink by any means, it is healthier than regular Mountain Dew, with both fewer calories and less sugar.  

Wild Bill's Black Cherry

Following up on yesterday's choice from Wild Bill's Craft Beverage Co., I have this black cherry soda from them as well. This one has a nice dark cherry scent and colorful red hue. It's well carbonated and very tasty. Though I do feel this is closer to sweet cherries in taste. It reminds me of Cheerwine, but slightly more robust in flavor. 

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. 

North Star Craft Soda Black Cherry

Blue Sun Bottling Co. produces several "brands" of soda, including the W.T. Heck and State Fair sodas reviewed previously. The North Star label provides several different fruit flavored sodas along with traditional root beer and vanilla cream. 

Great smell from this bottle. I just love black cherry sodas. This one is quite sweet. It's rich with cherry flavor but has a sugariness to it that seems 'extra' compared to a lot of other black cherry sodas. It flirts with the line that crosses into candy flavor but doesn't cross it. The carbonation level is decent as well. Overall, I think this is a nice soda but could be improved on with just a smidge more carbonation.

WBC Black Cherry

WBC began in 1988 in a pub on Goose Island, a little spit of land in the North branch of the Chicago River a stone's throw to the Northwest of the Loop in downtown Chicago. The Mars Wrigley offices are on Goose Island today. In 2021, Wisconsin-based Sprecher Brewing purchased WIT Beverages, which owned WBC and Green River.

This is a heft 16oz bottle and it provides a rich black cherry aroma when opening. I'd say this bottle provides an average level of carbonation. As far as black cherry sodas go, it's ok. I've certainly had better, but I will say it's very smooth, probably owing partially to using real sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners. However, beware that a full 16oz serving contains 60 grams of sugar. It does taste a bit "old-worldly" as though it was poured from a wood barrel, so it's got that going for it. 

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. 

Pepsi Soda Shop Black Cherry Cola

Another of Pepsi's Soda Shop releases, this particular one is a Black Cherry Cola. The Soda Shop series is meant to invoke some of the flavor combinations old soda counters used to produce. Let's see how this one tastes. 

There's a deep cherry aroma like that from a cough syrup coming from this bottle, so I'm already delighted. It does taste reminiscent of many cough syrups or cherry cough drops. Thankfully they used real sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup. It helps the flavor a lot. It would be much sharper with corn syrup than sugar. It's pleasant, not too syrupy or overly sweet, so I definitely recommend picking up a bottle. 

Stubborn Black Cherry

As it turns out that the Stubborn Soda brand is actually a subsidiary of PepsiCo. This must be either one of those excuses to test experimental flavors or one of many attempts by giant corporations to fly under the radar as a craft/niche product. Interestingly, it appears they are using stevia as a sweetener and the ingredients list purple carrot juice concentrate for coloring. 

Not sure what to make of a soda that list tarragon in its flavor profile, but technically this is black cherry with tarragon. I've no real meter to judge what tarragon tastes like though. A web search seems to describe tarragon as bittersweet and somewhat comparable to anise. It seems to have plenty of carbonation since it fizzes up well each time I tip up the bottle. The color is not as dark as you usually get from black cherry sodas. You'll definitely pick up a black cherry flavor, though not one with a lot of depth. It has a tartness to it though that I think is owed to that tarragon. All in all, I find it a bit of a miss as it's too tart for me to enjoy. I prefer a sweeter black cherry with rich berry flavor. 

Jones Soda Extreme Sour Black Cherry

I'm a bit gun shy after the last flavor from Jones I tried, but time to jump back on the horse and try another bizarre flavor offering from the folks at Jones Soda. This "extreme sour" version of black cherry looks to have been created in partnership with Warheads, a classic American mouth puckering candy.

Well the aroma is nice. It has a rich, deep cherry smell to it and the dark cherry color of it looks nice as well. It has lots of carbonation, evident when taking a swig. I'm immediately struck by the black cherry taste. It takes a moment to start to feel anything resembling "sourness." I'm not typically a fan of sour anything, though occasionally I like Sour Patch Kid candies. This is less sour than that. It's not terrible, and I wouldn't even venture to say it ruins the black cherry taste. I find it just provides a little pucker inducing sensation at the end of a gulp. It sort of hits that spot in the back of your cheeks that makes your mouth water. I think kids that enjoy sour candies would like it.