Flying Cauldron Butterscotch Beer

The folks at Reed's have created this Harry Potter themed butterscotch and cream soda concoction that I guess is supposed to approximate the butter beer popularized by the Harry Potter stories. Both this bottle and the butter beer mentioned are non-alcoholic drinks.

This has a very rich butterscotch scent to it. The scent is much stronger than that from butterscotch root beer's I've tasted. It really reminds me of the butterscotch pudding from my youth. The carbonation is a touch on the lower side, but I find the taste intriguing. It's smooth and buttery. The finish is definitely bringing forth the vanilla cream soda aspect. I'm not sure it would be as rounded without that creaminess so I think it makes for a good combination. The richness and smooth taste make this an excellent choice for an after dinner dessert beverage. 

Popwell Cream Soda

I encountered another prebiotic "gut-healthy" soda on a recent journey. This one comes from Popwell, a brand only launched in February of this year. Popwell is made by Talking Rain Beverage Company. Talking Rain was founded by John Stevens and Pete Hiskin in Bellevue, Washington and just a few short months later was purchased by a group of investors. The company relocated its offices to Preston, WA in 1992, the same year they began producing Sparkling Ice flavored, carbonated water. The Popwell brand offers a range of flavors with each can boasting 1g of sugar, 6g of dietary fiber, and antioxidants. The entire can is listed at just 35 calories. Some options, such as this cream soda, also contain caffeine like many traditional sodas. 

Cracking the can open sounds rather flat compared to some. There was no crisp sound of gasses releasing. However, you can hear the carbonation popping from the can, which is still a good sign. I can also pick up a vanilla scent, not unlike a gift candle. The carbonation is very active on the tongue. My mouth is flooded with a strong vanilla flavor right off the bat. The taste mellows a bit after swallowing, but I find an aftertaste of vanilla then rises back to the mouth. I haven't yet tasted other flavors from Popwell but I'm already impressed because I find so many of the other pro- and prebiotic sodas on the market intolerable. But this one it pretty good. The vanilla flavor may be a bit too artificial and a tad heavy handed... but it doesn't put me off it. I could easily drink all of this and probably enjoy it as a regular soda replacement if it were available. I'll look forward to tasting some of their other flavors as I come across them. 

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. 

Jones Soda Pineapple Cream

Back to a new one from Jones Soda. I've had many pineapple sodas over the years. I usually enjoy them. But I've never come across a pineapple cream before, which makes this one interesting. The aroma is very fresh, both pineapple and melon-like. The pineapple flavor comes across well and tastes nice. The creaminess takes a moment to develop though. It slowly emerges in the finish and towards the sides of my tongue and mouth. Overall a nice tasting soda with a good level of fizz. 

Coca-Cola Orange Cream

A new flavor is out from Coca-Cola. I've previously tasted some of the cola and orange combination sodas from Germany that don't seem to be marketed elsewhere. Now they seem to be bringing this to the U.S., though it is listed as orange cream so I'm expecting some vanilla in there and something more akin to stirring your Coke with an orange dreamsicle. This latest flavor replaces the Coca-Cola Orange Vanilla flavor that was discontinued in 2022.

I didn't even have to put my nose close to the bottle to pick up a strong cream scent when I cracked the cap off. I'm not getting too much citrus from the scent, but the creaminess comes across strongly. The taste is interesting because unlike some of Coca-Cola's other flavor combos I can still taste the cola well. Then I taste a vanilla cream flavor but it's a much better level than the vanilla flavoring in Coca-Cola Vanilla. Somewhere in there I get a faint orange taste, but it gets quickly overcome by a cream flavor again. Washing it over the side of my tongue gives me a touch more of the orange flavor. I think it might be one of their more complex flavor combinations but I still find it to be a bit of a novelty and I wonder what sort of food this would pair well with, if anything. 

Mountain Dew Voo Dew Mystery Flavor 2024

Voo Dew from Mountain Dew is back with another mystery flavor for this year's Halloween. This bottle carries a scent that is striking me a bit like cream soda with a tinge of something fruity like pomegranate. The flavor of it isn't very fruit-like. I find the taste to be a lot like a cream soda, but not as strong as many major brand cream sodas. Another interesting exercise of the taste buds and a marketing gimmick, but not the kind of thing I'd reach for everyday. 

Jolly Good Old Fashion Cream Soda

Found this at a Hy-Vee in Kansas City, though as you can tell it hails from Wisconsin. It was actually canned north of Milwaukee in Random Lake. 

Regular readers probably know I don't care much for canned soda, but sometimes there's no other choice. I was expecting a true cream smell, but found the aroma more reminiscent of a red cream style soda. Funny that it has a light yellow color and says it is an "old fashioned cream soda" but smells and also tastes like red cream sodas. Think more like Big Red, less like A&W Cream Soda. Red cream sodas are not my style, but if you like them then you'll probably enjoy this. 

Gray Brewing Co. Orange Cream

Another Midwestern soda, today I have a bottle of Orange Cream from the folks at Gray Brewing Co. in Janesville, Wisconsin. Established back in 1856, Joshua Gray began by brewing beer using family recipes, but ceased brewing beer in the 1890's. They were originally known as Gray's Bottling Works, then Chas. C. Gray Beverage, later Gray's Beverage Company, before settling on Gray Brewing Co. The decision to move away from the beer business and get into soda's no doubt gave them an early advantage when prohibition came about and many beer brewers switched to sodas to stay afloat. Gray Brewing Co. is still in the hands of the same family, being run by the fifth generation of Joshua Gray's descendants, with the sixth generation already working there ready to take the hand off. Somewhere along the way they continued producing beer as well since there are several varieties from them currently available. They are supposedly the oldest family owned bottling company left in the U.S. That's quite a neat story. Sodas currently produced by the Grays include root beer, black cherry, strawberry, cream soda, and orange cream. I may have to take a detour through Janesville on my next trip north to hunt down the rest of their sodas to try.

This bottle has a great creamsicle aroma to it, quite strong. I like the taste right away. I find it has a soft orange flavor with a wonderful creaminess to it. No doubt the can sugar rounds out that flavor rather than making it sharp since I've mentioned in many previous posts that I find naturally sweetened sodas to have a softer, rounder sweetness than those with corn syrups. I think it's well balanced as the cream flavor does not hide the orange but compliments it well. The cream flavor is the forward dominant flavor but the orange gives it the robust creamsicle taste you want from an orange cream soda. This would make a lovely desert soda on a hot summer night on the porch. 

Dr Pepper Cream Soda

I do enjoy the occasional Dr Pepper, so I'm excited to have found this variety. When I open it, I find it smells like regular Dr Pepper. I don't pick up any scent like that of a straight plain soda. However, the flavor comes across as much more of a cream soda. The cream soda flavor is forward with the taste of Dr Pepper as a background finish. I would have perhaps chosen to make Dr Pepper the hero flavor with a more slight cream soda to round it out. It's still good, but could be improved. 

Dr Pepper Strawberries & Cream

Just the other week a new bottle appeared at the grocery store, this Stawberries & Cream variant of Dr Pepper. More on the history of Dr Pepper can be found on my previous post, here. I really dislike the shape of the plastic Dr Pepper bottles these days. The upper dome at the top pushes your hand up and like many other brands these days the caps are too round and smooth making them harder to open. I don't know why they do this. 

The aroma from the bottle reminds me of the strawberry gel filling in Little Debbie's Stawberry Shortcake Rolls. I healthy sized swig does in fact taste a lot like those Little Debbie snacks... with the taste of washing it down with a bit of Dr Pepper. I like the level of carbonation, its very on par with regular Dr Pepper. I find the flavor dissipates quickly after swallowing, but then a moment later a delayed kick of strong strawberry aftertaste washes over my taste buds. It's a tasty drink, a sipper to drink over time in my opinion because it is sugary and a full bottle may be sickening by the end. Sipping it over time would be my suggestion as long as it stays cold. Overall it's a pleasant soda. 

Ale 81 Orange Cream

Ale 81 has traditionally been well known for their ginger ale-like soda, so I was a little taken aback when I learned they had released additional flavors for the first time around 2018. This orange cream was initially a limited edition release, but brought back as a permanent flavor to their line up. 

The bottle has a crisp carbonation release and presents the aroma of those orange cream sherbet push-pops that I always remember when I smell a nice orange cream soda. It does have a decent orange cream flavor, though it feels a tad weak. Frankly, for a bottle that reads "no artificial flavors" the finish of a swig tastes a bit chemical. So while I consider it a decent effort, in my opinion there are better orange cream sodas if that's the flavor you're after. 

Brownie Caramel Cream Root Beer

Originally produced in 1929, Brownie featured the little elfin mascot on caps and bottles. Brownie was bottled by the Atlas Beverage Company near the corner of Conant St and Carpenter Ave in Detroit. The founder and owner, Walter Tomaszewski, passed the company to sons Butch and Leonard, but the company would close in 1996 and the old building no longer exists. Today, Brownie is carried on by Orca Beverage in Washington who, as mentioned in previous posts, have carried on producing many retro soda labels, which is appreciated by guys like me... though I still wish many of the old bottlers were still around and producing regional sodas. 

You can get a good good snort of that root beer and vanilla scent from the bottle top, pushed by ample rising carbonation bubbles. This soda gives a pleasant blend of rich flavors. A good swig gives a strong root beer flavor, which is followed by a swift vanilla cream taste. It's then finished with a caramel aftertaste. I can imagine in the soda landscape in the mid-20th century this was a pretty original treat to drink.

Pepsi Soda Shop Cream Soda Cola

Coming back around to some Pepsi flavor variations, Pepsi released some vintage-inspired "soda shop" flavors to try to invoke some of the nostalgic flavors of old soda fountains. Noticeably, the ingredients list real sugar rather than high-fructose corn syrup. However, that does not mean cane sugar. 

The bottle carries a hefty cream smell, very vanilla. Unfortunately, as taste goes, I feel the cream flavoring is too heavy handed. It masks any cola flavor and has a strong sugary taste. This might be something you can handle from a 12 ounce can, but something this sugary sweet will get sickening by the time you get halfway through a 20 ounce bottle. 

Private Selection Irish Cream Soda

One more from Kroger's Private Selection label. This bottle has a nice vanilla smell to it. I would not say that this bottle is all that different to your standard cream sodas. I find it has a slightly more creamy flavor with a hint of vanilla and possibly the tiniest bit of mint hiding way in the back of the rich flavor profile. It's certainly tasty, probably the best flavor I've had from this label since most of the others are a bit out there. All in all, it's a tasty drink and I'd recommend as a nice after dinner dessert beverage.

Shaq Soda Vanilla Cream

Oh boy, where to begin with this one. These Shaq Sodas were actually produced by AriZona Beverages. Yes, the same ones famous for AriZona Iced Teas in the "tall boy" 23.5oz. cans that are famously known for still being priced at $0.99. I don't drink iced tea so knew little about AriZona Beverages, but I have come to find out they aren't from Arizona, but actually based in Brooklyn, New York, where Don Vultaggio founded the company in 1992. This can was actually gifted to me, I haven't seen these in the wild. But there were apparently four flavors in the series, vanilla cream, blueberry cream, orange cream, and strawberry cream, all of which have been discontinued. 

It has an old-fashioned cream soda smell you'd imagine from a higher priced cream soda. I find it comes on smooth at first, but with a few more sips it leaves a bit of a strange aftertaste. I wish the cream flavor was stronger. It comes across with a very weak flavor, much too bland.

Private Selection Huckleberry Hibiscus Cream Soda

Private Selection is a Kroger store brand so this and other soda flavors under than label can be found at Kroger grocery stores. 

This soda smells like a rich cream mixed with an almost pomegranate scent. It's a very sugary cream aroma. It has adequate carbonation with large bubble size. The flavor has a mix of cream flavor at the forefront followed by a strong floral flavor. Hibiscus is a strange flavor. I find that it is alien and familiar at the same time. You pick up hints of flowers but also berries, sometimes even a bit grape. I wouldn't expect something so original from a grocery brand but this is one I would recommend just for the experience of the flavors mixing together. It's relatively rich so something I recommend sipping in the evening.

Polly's Pop Cream Soda

Polly's Pop from Independence, Missouri is back on shelves but isn't a new name. Started in 1923 by Louis and Dorthea Compton, they sold 10 flavors. Louis was reportedly a friend of Harry Truman, an Independence native. Louis Compton ran the company until he retired in 1948 and his in-laws, Vernon and Vic Givan, continued on until the company shuttered in 1967.

Local lawyer, Ken McClain and his wife Cindy, resurrected the brand in August of 2016 in Independence. Since at least one report I read stated Mr. McClain used several chefs to create the flavors, 6 of which were for sale when they began, its probably safe to say the recipes aren't original and its more of a nostalgic label. In any case, they reportedly purchased their bottling equipment from Fitz's. Fitz's bottling company, another story, was based out of St. Louis. But some time around the late 1990's to 2000 they had another location in Kansas City's Union Station, which later closed. I remember visiting Fitz's in Union Station at that time to watch the bottling through the windows. 

There isn't a lot of carbonation but the scent is very strong from this soda. They use cane sugar in the current incarnation of Polly's. The flavor is like that of a rich vanilla ice cream so I definitely give them points for this recipe, but I don't have any way to compare to the original recipe. It's smooth and will make a great dessert beverage after a meal or at the end of a warm summer day.

Gingerbread Soda

This bottle is another product of Orca Beverages. Anyone interested in finding some strange flavors of soda will be familiar with their name. This is second gingerbread flavored soda to be featured here. I sampled a different brand last year for Christmas. 

The aroma coming from this bottle is very creamy. It smells like fresh icing for a cinnamon roll, very pleasant and sweet. The taste itself has a tinge of cinnamon and ginger... which is what one should expect from a gingerbread flavor. However there is a heavy cream flavor. It's a very sugary sweet drink as well, almost syrup-like. While Buddy the Elf would probably love this, I find it almost too sweet. I can't image not being sick to my stomach unless I sipped it slowly over several hours... that kind of sweet. While an interesting novelty beverage, I'd love to see someone do this right with a good blend of ginger and cinnamon. But happy holidays and thanks for the effort.

Henry Weinhard's Orange Cream

Here's a brand with an interesting and extensive history. While I don't generally discuss alcoholic beverages there is a complicated intertwining of beer and soda brewing because so much of the equipment and processes cross-over as well as the period in US history, called prohibition, which forced much of this cross-over. 

Henry Weinhard was a German man who immigrated to the US in 1856 and opened a hotel/bar in Portland, Oregon. By 1862, he had built his own brewery to produce his own suds. He eventually also purchased additional hotel/bars and business was well enough that Henry offered to pipe beer through a public fountain in the city of Portland. The city politely declined worried about rowdy horses drinking from it, though I think they should have been more worried about the city's residents. Without a fountain to plumb beer through, Henry gave his employees free beer. There are stories of Henry declining large buy outs of his brewery and saving banks from collapse as well, but you can read those stories of hero worship somewhere else. 

Henry died in 1904 and his family took over the company. It was during prohibition, 1920-1933, that the brewery started making sodas. This was common among many beer breweries during the era because they already had the equipment, bottles and distribution needed to do so. Although it was a strong family run company, and later after a merger with a local competitor, a regional one... the brewery was sold to Pabst in 1979. Pabst, in turn, sold to Stroh's in 1996. In 1999, Stroh's handed the brewery over to Miller, and so the building was shuttered and moved the operation to their plant in Tumwater, Washington. The production of the sodas continues out of Ft. Worth, Texas.

The orange cream soda itself smells wonderful, like an orange cream ice pop. My first taste of this was good, as good as the smell made it seem. It really does taste good when it first hits your tongue. My issue with it would be the finish, that is as it passes the tongue when you swallow, it looses the creaminess and ends up with more of an artificial taste you'd expect from a lab. So it's an alright soda, but I think it's label over reaches what you want from something called gourmet.

Faygo Creme Soda

Well, after another long hiatus, I bring you another variation of Faygo, this time Creme Soda. Find out more about Faygo on my earlier post here. 

Whether it's called Cream Soda or Creme Soda, there's a fine line to walk between a nice smooth flavor and a repulsive chemical concoction. A word of note, I do try to find glass bottled sodas whenever possible but some drinks are either very hard to find bottled or just aren't packaged in glass. I plan to eventually discuss the breadth of packaging in another post someday.

I'll start by pointing out that this is a clear liquid. While food dyes and colorants may not affect taste, I personally find there's a psychological effect at play. Clear cream sodas start off with a one run deficit with me before I've even opened the bottle. It's that psychosomatic action I always felt had a part in the demise of Crystal Pepsi back in the 1990's. The creamy scent is very similar to Big Red. 

As far as the taste goes, I'd rate Faygo's Creme Soda right in the middle of the spectrum of cream sodas. It's not bad enough to be sharp to the tongue or have a chemical aftertaste. But I wouldn't say it's smooth and creamy enough to compete with the higher end. Mind you, in the past I've found that even "hand-crafted" batches of cream soda at expensive price points don't always mean a better tasting soda. At the end of the day, this is a good "everyday" option if you like cream soda and Faygo has a low price point to boot.