Norka Cherry-Strawberry

As someone who collects some vintage soda advertising, I've been aware of Norka for ages despite never coming across the soda itself to drink. I'd also always sort of overlooked some of their vintage materials when finding them because the style and font in were rather bland and it sounded quite Russian. In fact, there is a place in Russia named Norka, as well as a Russian-Ukranian fairy tale called "The Norka". However, it turns out that Norka Beverages is based in Akron, Ohio and Norka is just Akron spelled backwards... amusingly, something I'd never connected. The Norka Beverage company began in 1924 when Jacob Paquin setup shop. The original Norka soda ceased production in 1962. Michael Considine brought the label back to life in 2015, having previous experience in the beverage industry with Bawls Guarana. 

This bottle comes in at 170 calories, is caffeine free, and sweetened with cane sugar. The aroma is that of a cherry flavored hard candy. The flavor is not what I was expecting. I find that there is a muddled mix of cherry and strawberry flavors at first. This is followed by a short strawberry, but the finish is strongly on the cherry side. Interestingly there's a tart quality about it as well. I find this interesting because so many sodas go the other way and are sickeningly sugary. This has a decent sweetness but brings in a touch of sour that makes the mouth water just a little bit more. 

Sprecher Cherry Cola

This selection from Sprecher is not in their typical glass bottles but in an attractive can that stood out to me on the shelf. I'm not certain what "fire-brewed" is supposed to add to the flavor here. Is there a char that affects the soda's flavor like it's a piece of sirloin steak? Sprecher is of course a Wisconsin company, but I've noted that ingredients of this cherry cola list cherries sourced from Door County as well as raw Wisconsin Honey. I would have thought honey as an ingredient may have been used as a sweetener but they also list glucose syrup. 

A cherry scent is present, as expected, though it isn't very strong. I think it has a very unique flavor profile for a cherry cola. I do taste the cola hiding in the back because the cherry takes center stage. I'm also picking up a soft and pleasant sweetness that tastes like it could very well be from the honey. Wirth each sip I'm mentally trying to isolate this and it does remind me of honey. In my opinion, this is a pleasingly unique cherry cola and the sort of craft soda you could splurge on from time to time as a nice treat and not tire of it. 

Jolt Cherry Bomb

Several years ago I discussed the Jolt Cola brand when reviewing Jolt Red Eye. This time I've found found a bottle of Jolt Cherry Bomb. I fear this is an old bottle because they've rebranded and gotten rid of their flavor line up to revert to cola. However, I'm hopeful it may still be alright. I've yet to post about glass versus plastic bottles and cans, which I will get to at some point, but a properly sealed glass bottle can remain good for a long time. There isn't much of a cherry aroma or any much of any other scent for me to sense from this. It tastes a bit funky. I'm not sure if that's due to the age of the bottle, or their particular recipe. I don't find it particularly likeable though, so I'm going to simply assume its bad and dump it. 

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. 

Mountain Dew Citrus Cherry

Diving back into the world of Mountain Dew... as I've mentioned, it's nearly a full-time job keeping up with their releases. It seems they have a marketing tie-in with World of Warcraft, an online multiplayer role playing video game. The subtitle says "Game Fuel," as if sitting in a chair for hours playing a video game was the equivalent of playing a full 90-minute soccer match. Before I taste this, I'll point out that the label states that a serving size is one bottle (20fl.oz.) at 290 calories and a whopping 77g of sugars, for 153% of the RDA of sugar and 28% of the RDA for total carbohydrates. Oof! I hope you're playing from a standing computer desk.

After opening, I take a good sniff from the top and I smell something citrus along with a scent that, for some reason, reminds me of a new carpet showroom. I don't think the flavor is that far distant from their Code Red flavor, but then its been some time since I've tasted Code Red. It seems like in an effort for their "flavor scientists" to keep up with the number of flavor variants each year they simply alter existing recipes by a tiny amount and slap a new name on it. It's getting tiresome to keep up, but I wouldn't want to miss an entirely new taste experience by passing them up. Something they count on I'm sure. If you like some of their classic taste experiments, like Code Red and Live Wire, I think you'll like this one as well. 

Caruso's Maraschino Cherry Cola

Caruso's falls under the WBC soda line currently produced by Sprecher. This bottle has a rich cherry scent. It reminds me of cough syrup. Upon tasting it, I'd say it's much more of a cherry soda than a cherry cola because I'm not really tasting much in the way of cola. It's heavy on the cherry though. I'd safely put it slightly above average for a cherry soda. If I'm judging it as a cherry cola, then it's pretty awful based on the previously mentioned lack of cola flavor.

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.

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. 

Boom Chugga Lugga Cherry Ginger Ale

This soda comes to us from Cherry Republic, which began in 1989. The area around Glen Arbor and Traverse City in Michigan grows a great deal of cherry groves, primarily known for tart cherries, some other varieties are also found as well. Cherry Republic sells a wide assortment of cherry flavored foods, condiments, candies and gifts, sodas just being one of them. 

This bottle has the color of a ginger ale rather than a typically pink or red hued cherry soda. Upon opening this bottle the smell actually seems more like a cream soda. It has plenty of carbonation, but I think the flavor is off for some reason. If I hold it in my mouth a while and focus I can pick up some cherry. Maybe this bottle was not stored in optimal conditions or something. I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. If I make it back up into that region of Michigan again I'll look to do a new tasting if I can find it.

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. 

Jones Soda Icee Cherry

Here's another limited release flavor from Jones, who've had a long history of interesting flavors. I'm curious how well this one will capture that frozen treat taste. 

A promising amount of carbonation with a crack of the twist top. The sugary sweet cherry candy smell rises off the top of this bottle reminds me of a Bomb Pop popsicle. It's got a strange taste though. The cherry is close to being that of a black cherry soda, and it's actually not as sugary as I anticipated. Rather than being saccharine it's actually quite tart. When I think of a frozen Icee it is the opposite, very sugary and not tart. Maybe Jones missed a bit with the cherry flavor they were trying to create. It isn't terrible, but it isn't an Icee in my mind, or perhaps they were working from Icee syrup rather than the flavor of an Icee with all the ice thinning the flavor. 

Pepsi Wild Cherry

Just a short time ago I finally posted on classic Pepsi cola here. Now we come to Pepsi Wild Cherry... released in 1988, though for some reason I recall the novelty of tasting a Pepsi Cherry my mother brought back from Canada around or before that time that was not labeled "Wild". In any case, this was a catch-up effort three years after Coca-Cola had launched Cherry Coke in 1985. 

What I'm most excited about was that I was able to find this in a glass bottle. As mentioned in the original Pepsi post, it's much harder to find Pepsi in glass bottles than Coke products, though a lot of that is due to infiltration of so-called "Mexican Coke". So it was something of a small victory for me when I found this. 

Most of these well-known flavors from already popular brands don't really need a taste review since most people know what they taste like. This bottle has a light cherry scent, carried by heavy carbonation. The carbonation consists of pleasantly tiny bubbles, unlike some of the big bubbles you often get from soda fountains. It's been a long time since I tasted Pepsi Wild Cherry... and it's a more subtly cherry flavor than I remember, and I like it. 

Boylan Shirley Temple

Legend has it that the child star of the 1930's was with her parents and annoyed at not being able to drink the same adult beverages they had, so the staff whipped up this drink to please her. Of course a classic Shirley Temple is a non-alcoholic drink that includes ginger ale with a splash of grenadine and lime. But there have been many adaptations, Some folks will just mix grenadine and sprite or 7-up and call it the same thing. Some recipes include lemon juice rather than lime, some are served with maraschino cherries and others aren't.

This particular soda does have an air of cherry to it. This soda may be the closest thing to that original description I've ever had. It does indeed taste of a light ginger taste and has a smooth grenadine essence. The finish is also just a touch sour. Traditional grenadine syrup was made from pomegranate, but some used in bars may also use cherries or be artificially flavored. Overall, not a bad soda. If they hadn't used cane sugar and instead used high-fructose corn syrup it would probably be too sugary. This edges right on that line. 

Diet Coke Feisty Cherry

 

The last flavor I have from this series from Diet Coke is this can of Feisty Cherry. 

Now, I like the deep black cherry aroma from opening this can. It's much nicer than the smell from the others in this series. I had high hopes from the smell, but it's another fail for me. Weak on the cherry flavoring, and the artificial sweetener leaves a bitter flavor. Similar to the Zesty Mango, there's a spice that brings up the rear. Not a fan of this one or the others in this series. 

Sprecher Ravin' Red

Ravin' Red is a cranberry-cherry blend flavor from Sprecher. You'll find more on Sprecher at this link for the first Sprecher I reviewed. I'm not sure if they've recently expanded their flavor line up or not, but I hadn't seen this one before. 

I expected a strong aroma from this, but got almost none. What I smelled was something akin to a honey-cream scent. I find this blend interesting. I enjoy cherry and cranberry, but the blend is strange. The tastes seem to shift in that I pick up cranberry, then might get a strong cherry hint followed by something of a cherry-cream. The drink is tart, as you'd expect from either cherry or cranberry. This is a novel try at something usual but I don't think they pulled it off well. I don't think I'll be buying another 4-bottle pack. I am glad to have tried it though I think Sprecher does better on other options.

Excel Black Cherry

Starting the new year off with another flavor from the folks at Excel Bottling in Breese, Illinois. Regular readers will be familiar with them, my last post featured their Orange Pineapple soda.

Over the years I've taking a shine to the flavor of black cherry sodas. No major soda lines produce it in volume. Maybe the largest maker of a regular black cherry I can think of would be Stewart's. Black Cherry can be a bit strong so it's a nice treat once in a while. This selection from Excel is decent. It has nice aeration and a pleasing black cherry flavor. However the after taste reminds me of a black cherry Hi-C or black cherry Jell-O. Still, all in all it isn't so bad as to ignore and could simply be a slight dip in quality control. I'd still venture to say I wouldn't mind sipping this by the side of a pool in the summer with a burger and fries.

Reading Draft Black Cherry

Reading Draft began in 1921, this was just after national prohibition on alcohol began in the United States. Reading lies in the southeast corner of Pennsylvania, a little more than an hour's drive from Philadelphia. The company produces several flavors, but they say they have the "Pennsylvania Dutch taste." I'm not exactly sure what that means or how it can taste Pennsylvania Dutch no matter what the flavor of the soda is. Supposedly they utilize a slower technique to carbonation. Aside from their soda production they also sell beer and wine making supplies, but do not make any themselves.

It smells deliciously deep. It is well carbonated, but doesn't tingle at the tongue. The cherry flavor is very well balanced. It's not overpowering. This is a good dessert soda, it has nice staying power on the tongue. I think what balances it so well is there is a touch of saltiness at the finish which keeps it balanced and as I've mentioned before, cane sugar has a more rounded flavor than high fructose corn sugar. Overall this is a nice drink.

Fentimans Cherry Tree Cola

Fentimans has been featured on my blog many times as I work my way through their catalog. Read more about their history in one of my earliest posts here.

This bottle has a delicious ginger aroma when I pop the cap off. If I closed my eyes I would think I was in a Christmas shop. The flavor is less cherry than potpourri in a bottle. The flavor isn't amazing, but the scents sure are. The drink looks positively flat until it's tipped, but has just enough carbonation to make it alluring. Thankfully, they've balanced the ginger to keep it from overpowering the rest of the herbs and not to burn like a ginger beer. Again, I think the best think about it may be the smell. I'd like to get some more of this around the holidays. Definitely try a bottle of this for yourself if you can. 

R-Pep

The history of R-Pep seems a little interesting. While I was unable to determine the definitive inventor of the drink, it appears it may have been a creation of Clem Bottling Works in Malvern, Arkansas. Clem Bottling Works began back in 1907, founded by J.M. Clem. The year the R-Pep formula came into existence is unknown at this time. This was a family run business until 1972 when it was sold to Dr Pepper. Harold Clem, J.M.'s grandson, then went to work for Dr Pepper. In 2011, Excel Bottling from Breese, Illinois obtained the trademark to R-Pep and resumed bottling it with the original formula. Regular visitors to this site may recall reading about Excel in this previous post.

A bottle with adequate carbonation, it doesn't have much of a scent. The soda itself is not an analog of Dr Pepper as some web hits mention. To me this tastes less of spices you feel in Dr Pepper. Instead what I taste is cherry with traces of chocolate. It's also has a soft sweetness from the cane sugar used. It's a good drink, but I'd like it to have more carbonation.

Boom Chugga Lugga Cherry Ginger Ale

Another Boom Chugga Lugga soda hailing from Michigan. This is one in a cherry-themed lineup, the first of which can be found here.

Oddly, this doesn't smell like cherry or ginger ale. It actually smells like a cream soda. This particular flavor doesn't taste of ginger at all to me. What I'm actually tasting it more like cherries and cream. The cream taste is very strong and reminds me of the sort of melted cream icing you'd pour over pastry desserts. The cherry flavoring is nice, but overwhelmed by that sweetness. Not too bad to nurse for an hour or so, but not something you'd want to "chugga lugga."