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.

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. 

Kazouza 1941 Lemon Mint

The second of the latest flavors of Kazouza I was able to find recently is this Lemon Mint. So the aroma of this bottle is a little like a cough drop... in a good way. There's a refreshing mint smell combined with a background of citrus. The taste is odd to me though. I immediately felt like I was tasting a mint leaf. There's a greenness in that lemon like that of a leaf that seems more vegetable than fruit. The slight sourness of lemon is there too, but it's overshadowed by that leaflike taste. The taste reminds me of summer yardwork, not relaxing with a cool drink.  

Kazouza 1941 Apple

It's been quite a while since I've discussed Kazouza, a soda from Lebanon, but I recently found a couple of bottles at a nearby Middle Eastern food market. The last time was this 2011 post. The bottles are smaller than average American sodas. This one just 8.45 ounces, down a bit from the 9 ounce bottles from 2011. 

A nice release of gas when cracking open the bottle always portends well. The aroma is sort of like a crisp Fuji apple. The drink itself has a very light, pale coloring. The carbonation is quite evident when tipping back a bottle. The apple flavoring is also light and dissipates quickly after taking a healthy swig. It's a pretty middling apple soda as far as taste is concerned, but it remains refreshing. 

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. 

Mountain Dew Thrashed Apple

Another flavor variation from Mountain Dew. Appropriately for autumn we have an apple flavor. I kind of enjoy the artwork they have been displaying on these flavors, though I think the whole "extreme" this and that period is very passé. This one smells like a crisp Granny Smith apple. It definitely gives that apple-cinnamon taste of a nice slice of apple pie, which is nice. But this sort of Mountain Dew blend also imbues a tiny hint of melon with a touch of citrus to it. As apple sodas go, it's not bad.  

Chocolate-Covered Maple Smoked Bacon Soda

Here we have an interesting concoction from Real Soda. If you've followed my blog in the past you may recall Real Soda makes a very interesting variety of labels and flavors. To be honest I've been dreading tasting this one. I know bacon lovers out there will love the very idea of it, but I'm just wondering how well the flavor of bacon transfers to a drink. Not to mention, I have felt quite sick to my stomach after tasting some chocolate sodas before. 

When I opened this bottle my nose was no where near the cap, yet I immediately sensed a small smell of chocolate. I whiff near the nose of the bottle gives the same smell you get when ripping open a pack of that powdered hot chocolate mix. The smell of the chocolate powder is intense enough that it covers pretty much any other scents, but quaffing it enough I can sense a slight maple syrup scent. Ok the flavor is a mélange of senses that kind of confuse my brain for a moment. A swig immediately gives off the taste of cocoa, followed shortly by the taste of maple syrup. It's the aftertaste that later gives a flash of burnt chocolate that then subsides into the taste of bacon. It's an interesting feat to have all these combined in one bottle like this. While it's not something I'm going to sit around and sip on everyday, the novelty and chaos it provides the taste buds is enough that I'd recommend trying it once if you see a bottle somewhere. 

Cicero Beverage Co. Caramel Apple

West-Southwest of downtown Chicago, Illinois is the neighborhood of Cicero. My grandfather was born in Berwyn directly next to Cicero and later lived there as well so I had to pick up this bottle when I found it, though I can't even recall where I found it. Unfortunately, the website for the company is no longer active and the domain name appears up for grabs so I fear they've gone belly up. 

This drink smells of candied apples alright, like a sweet hard candy version. The more I inhale it the more I pick up the faint notes of caramel. Whether that translates into the taste is yet to be seen. That first swig is a punch. It's quite sour, but I think the taste is much more like candied apples than caramel apples. There's little carbonation, but it's clearly visible. It's just not very appetizing, perhaps that is why their web domain is no longer in use.

Canada Dry Ginger Ale and Lemonade

I'm a bit amazed I'm reviewing another flavor variation of Canada Dry already without having posted about the original, plain Canada Dry Ginger Ale. I'll have to rectify that soon. But since I have this Ginger Ale and Lemonade, let's give it a review here. 

There isn't much in the way of an aroma from this can but a bit of light ginger ale. In all openness I've had this flavor many times before. Aside from the ginger ale flavor there's this sourness from the lemonade that mixes really well with ginger ale. I recall the first time I saw this at the store and thought it sounded like a bizarre mixture and was surprised by how well it worked. I actually find the sourness of the lemonade makes this particular soda almost addictive. I find I often feel thirsty even after quickly finishing a can. But it is a tasty drink and I'd recommend it for anyone that also enjoys ginger ale. 

Sprecher Maple Root Beer

We're stepping into October and Autumn with this interesting Maple Root Beer from Sprecher in one of their customary 16 ounce bottles. Sprecher is a Wisconsin bottler of several different sodas as well as some beers. You'll find a couple of tastings on this blog from Sprecher. 

At first whiff, it simply has a mild root beer scent. The ingredients list actual maple syrup. It's a rich, flavorful root beer for sure. My taste buds are seeking a sweet maple syrup, but I don't sense it. However, the after taste gives that sugary, syrupy essence you get after eating waffles with maple syrup. In fact, it almost feels sticky like syrup. While there's cane sugar and maple syrup in this bottle, there is no caffeine, but a walloping 266 calories per bottle.