Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Soda

I picked up this generic bottle of soda on a trip to a soda shop in Kansas City. It's produced by Rocket Fizz, who also operate a chain of soda and candy stores in North America. 

I honestly always have pretty low expectations from these sort of novelty flavored bottles, particularly the more generically labeled ones. The soda itself has a bit of a cloudy light-brown color, while the scent of it gives me butterscotch vibes. The taste is very off-putting. I immediately get the taste of wet cardboard flushing through my mouth. Only the aftertaste, a few seconds after finishing a swig, gives the slight hint of peanut butter. I have to recommend steering clear of this soda unless you're very curious. 

Fanta ? #WhatTheFanta

A mysterious, radioactive blue option from the folks at Fanta comes to me in this bottle. A variety of Fanta flavors have graced the blog before but this is something unexpected in a mystery flavor. 

Unsealing the cap a strong whiff gives hints of both powdered sugar and something akin to the smell from a bottle of chewable vitamins. I think the flavor is like a blueberry/citrus-cream, though not very nice. Something about the Zero sugar sodas from Coca-Cola always taste off to me. After getting my own impression, I decided to search Twitter for the hashtag on the label... #WhatTheFanta and see that there are different colors available in different areas. I would think perhaps they used the same flavor but just colored them differently? One post mentioned rhubarb, and they might not be incorrect there. It's not forthcoming, but that combined with a cheap cream soda flavor could be a good description. In any case, its not a pleasant flavor in my opinion.

Jones Soda Sugar Cookie

Jones Soda strikes again with another Special Release flavor, this time in the form of Sugar Cookie. This is a bit fitting based on the taste of yesterday's selection. 

A frosty, powder blue color seems fitting for this drink. The scent coming from the bottle isn't that unlike the Coca-Cola Move reviewed yesterday, but there's also the tiniest dash of something that I can't quite place. Is it the smell of a buttercream frosting? It definitely smells like a sugar cookie with frosting on it. The taste on the other hand is almost citrus-like to me. There's something tangy taking over the front of it's flavor. The sugar cookie-like taste is hidden in the background only peeking out in a flash during the finish over the tongue. For that reason, I think this is a bit of a swing and a miss. It was a valiant effort, but the taste can't quite keep pace with the aroma. 

Coca-Cola Move

Following on the footsteps of some of their other recent flavors with mysterious sounding names, such as Dreamworld, I stumbled on this release a few weeks back. I had intended to review it then, when it was first released, but wasn't able to get around to it. There are many other Coca-Cola posts and flavors to be found on this blog as well. Move is a limited edition flavor with the tagline, "Transformation Flavored." So let's see what this flavor has to offer...

Immediately upon opening the lid I get a waft of powdered sugar, like that from biting into a sugar cookie, with a hint of vanilla. The taste does bring to mind a vanilla-like feeling, but it's delicate and slight... not at all like the heavy vanilla flavor of Coke Vanilla. I would even venture to say the finish is a little bit buttery in taste. It isn't at all like what I might have expected from Coca-Cola, but it's a pleasant flavor so would recommend trying a bottle if you can find it before its gone. 

Mountain Dew Ice

Another variation out of the lab at Mountain Dew. Labeled lemon-lime, it smells quite a lot like a typical lemon-lime soda, like you might expect from Sprite. There's a normal amount of carbonation for a two-liter bottle, but like many two-liters I find they often have less carbonation than smaller bottles and cans. With a word like 'ice' in the name I was expecting some of that frosty, almost lemon and mint, flavor many other beverages that use the term 'ice' have. Unfortunately, I'm not tasting that. It's a bit syrupy for my liking, but I expected stronger, bolder flavors from Mountain Dew and this particular bottle doesn't have it. I'd recommend skipping this one. 

Appalachian White Birch Beer

This soda comes from the Appalachian Brewing Company, a craft beer and soda brewer based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. They operate several brew pubs in the state. They currently bottle five different soda flavors, but offer three more on tap at their locations. 

This bottle carries the smell of a fresh winter snow. Birch beers have a certain woodsy scent combined with that of a soft creaminess. The carbonation is just about right here. The thing I notice about the flavor is that the typical "birchiness" is kind of muted here and I taste a different kind of sweetness. Taking a look at the ingredients they list both cane sugar and honey. I wonder if that strange sweetness is imparted by the honey. Overall, I think this is an okay soda, but not great. I'll be interested to see if I can find any of their other flavors to try in the future. 

Sprite Winter Spiced Cranberry

Today I'm taking a taste of a Sprite varietal called Winter Spiced Cranberry. Yesterday's post delved into the history of Sprite, but like many sodas in the last several years, Sprite has introduced a host of flavor mash-ups under its brand name. 

While I rarely eat cranberries themselves, I do enjoy cranberry juice and the flavor of cranberry in other things so I have some high hopes for this one. This bottle has good carbonation but the scent is a little hard to place. I do smell the tiniest inkling of cranberry with a healthy whiff, but also some lemon. It's got a subtle flavor. The sides of my tongue pick up a tart berry flavor, but it feel more like a slight berry blend than straight cranberry. The rest gives me a cool winter-like feeling without being able to tell exactly what that flavor is, but reminds me of potpourri and not in an unpleasant way. Overall though, I think you might be better served just mixing actual cranberry juice with a bottle of regular Sprite and get more of that cranberry goodness. 

Sprite

The lemon-lime soda known as Sprite was born out of the Fanta brand in the late 1950's, in what was then West Germany. The dink was launched as Fanta Klare Zitrone (Fanta Clear Lemon) in 1959. If you recall from the original post on Fanta Orange, Fanta was a subsidiary brand of Coca-Cola. In 1961, Coca-Cola rebranded the drink as Sprite in the U.S. to better compete against 7 Up. 

The name itself comes directly from Coca-Cola advertising history. While Coca-Cola is often credited with creating the common depiction of Santa Claus, based on advertising beginning in 1931... there was another character associated with Coca-Cola year-round beginning in 1942, and created by the same artist. Sprite Boy was an elfin-like character depicted wearing either a bottlecap hat, or a soda jerk's cap. No advertising ever included Sprite Boy's body, just a disembodied head and hands. His image faded from use in 1958, but three years later a new lemon-lime flavored soda would bear his name. 

In 2022, after decades of being packaged in green glass and green plastic bottles, it was announced that the soda would change to clear bottles. This was stated to be due to the fact that green polyethylene cannot be recycled, a move that unfortunately means losing green glass bottles as well to maintain a consistent look. While Sprite is caffeine free, the standard Sprite flavor contains high fructose corn syrup. 

Something I can say for Sprite, is that it always has plenty of carbonation and a strong lime scent. However, as I've mentioned in some posts in the past, Sprite is not my favorite lemon-lime soda. I find it a touch too syrupy, sickeningly so if I drink too much of it. Don't get me wrong, it's a decent enough soda, but personally I prefer 7 Up. I do find lemon-lime sodas "lighter" than a cola or root beer and when you consider the citrus aspect of it I think they often go well with light meals or as a morning soda. 

Sprite Boy pictured on Coca-Cola sign

Dr Pepper

Like several of the more popular sodas I often put them off just because most people already know what they taste like and/or have an opinion about them. But they are necessary to eventually get to, especially before I go about reviewing some of their varietal releases.

Dr Pepper is one of the oldest sodas in U.S., and like several others has a history rooted in a pharmacy (see earlier posts for Moxie, and Coca-Cola for examples). In this case, it was one Charles Alderton, originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., but who studied at the University of Texas, who developed the formula while working at Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store in Waco, Texas in the 1880's. The store owner, Wade Morrison, agreed to began selling it in 1885 and it gained local popularity. Morrison was believed to be the person who coined the name Dr Pepper for the drink, though there are other stories claiming the naming as well. Similar to other upstart sodas nearby soda fountains purchased the syrup to serve at their own soda fountains. Surprisingly, Alderton, the creator of the drink, did not wish to continue developing the beverage and marketing it, preferring to work as a chemist in the drug store. Morrison and another beverage maker, named Robert Lazenby, formed a company to make the syrup and market the drink. 

Lazenby would move operations of the business to Dallas in 1923. Lazenby and his son-in-law, J.B. O'Hara, launched the drink to a wider audience at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exhibition World's Fair in St. Louis. The same one depicted in the movie classic "Meet Me in St. Louis", and which began the wide spread popularity of ice cream on the go, via something called the ice cream cone. The brand continued to grow and entertained several slogans. The one most commonly seen on vintage advertising came as a result of research showing that sugar provided energy and that workers routinely hit "slumps" during the workday at 10:30, 2:30, and 4:30. So a slogan of "Drink a bite to eat at 10, 2, and 4" came about, later you'd find bottle caps and signage that simply showed the numbers 10, 2, 4 on it. They had many brand slogan changes, but perhaps one of the more well known in modern times is the "Be a Pepper" or "I'm a Pepper" tag. 

Dr Pepper has a very unique taste to it, one of those that's hard to describe if you've had no reference, so the recipe is every bit as top-secret at Coca-Cola's, though they don't make quite the show of it with a giant vault like Coca-Cola. Dr Pepper and Coca-Cola have had a tumultuous history. In 1951, they sued Coca-Cola over the market price. Considered a non-Cola drink, in 1969 Dr Pepper convinced Coca-Cola Bottling of New York to distribute Dr Pepper too in the New York City area. Then in 1972, Dr Pepper sued Coca-Cola for trademark infringement over a similar drink named "Peppo" forcing Coca-Cola to change the name of the drink and thus the most popular Dr Pepper knock-off was born dubbed Mr. Pibb. In the 1980's the company faced financial woes and Coca-Cola attempted to buy them, but the Federal Trade Commission nixed the deal. They then merged with the recently acquired 7 Up to form the Dr Pepper/Seven Up company. This process somehow led to Coca-Cola purchasing the non-US branding rights, and Pepsi acquired the non-US 7 Up branding rights. The concept of a "Pepper" category of sodas has played prominently in their history (see note above from 1969) because the FTC blocked a later merger in the 90's with Coca-Cola over similar grounds, to prevent a monopoly of the "pepper" soda brands. 

I've always enjoyed Dr Pepper. It has a cherry aroma to it. I've always enjoyed that it has ample carbonation, which coincidentally really allows more of the flavor to develop on your tongue. Today, you can visit the Dr Pepper Museum located in downtown Waco, in the bottling plant building built in 1906.

Starry

If you don't pay close attention to the soda aisles at your local grocery store you'd be forgiven for not noticing that Sierra Mist is a soda of the past. Launched in 1999, PepsiCo created the lemon-lime flavored Sierra Mist to compete with Coca-Cola's Sprite. Well, as of last week, PepsiCo has unceremoniously dropped the Sierra Mist brand. The replacement, branded Starry, is now here. Upon last weekend's trip to the store I was encountered with a stand full of the drink. Now, I'd not heard of the brand before and to be honest the label, design, even the name of it are down right generic. I had to inspect the bottle to find it was a PepsiCo product. Sierra Mist never sounded or looked like lemon-lime to me, it's packaging always made it look like it was more in competition with Fresca. That name and packaging design could very well have fought against its success for all we know. I fear looking at "Starry" the same fate might await, particularly since I've seen nor heard of an ounce of marketing for it. And the name! What were they thinking with a name like Starry? It sounds more like an animated character from Rainbow Bright.

In any case, the beverage is sparklingly clear, resembling the new clear packaging of Sprite. It has a lemon-lime scent no different from Sprite. I've never been very fond of lemon-lime sodas myself. My personal favorite was always 7 UP because that's what my grandmother always had and to this day I find it more crisp than the sticky sugariness of Sprite. But, eyes closed, you'd be hard pressed to taste the difference between this bottle of Starry and a bottle of Sprite. But PepsiCo's marketing department has their work cut out for them, I think they've already got an uphill battle.