Craft Soda Week: The Worst Sodas

This week the ol' blog is celebrating Craft Soda Week. Glug, glug, glug.

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Let us also honor the bottom three worst soda I've ever consumed. Counting down...

Spruce Beer.

3.) Beverly by Coca-Cola. Out of Italy.
Discontinued in 2009, I sampled it at the Atlanta tourist trap World of Coca-Cola. This allegedly "bitter citrus" soda tastes like carbonated quinine and ear wax.

2.) Sweat by Jones Soda. Out of Seattle, WA.
Jones Soda likes to have fun. For years they had an annual Thanksgiving pack that included feast-flavored sodas, ranging from the appetizing (Cranberry Sauce soda) to the bizarre (Mashed Potatoes soda). But one even stranger soda pack they created was themed after the Seattle Seahawks, a series of sodas that represented what the team had to go through (Dirt, Turf, Sports Cream, Sweat) to achieve Victory (the final soda). Sweat had me gagging.

1.) Spruce Beer by Empire Bottling Works. Out of Bristol, RI.
Root Beer is popular, Ginger Beer recognizable and Birch Beer more of a niche product. Some jokers decided to try out the flavor of spruce in a beverage, resulting in a creamy flavor at the start and the most god-awful Windex aftertaste imaginable.

Craft Soda Week: The Best of Discontinued Sodas

This week the ol' blog is celebrating Craft Soda Week. Glug, glug, glug.

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We all have the one that got away. In my case, I have three delicious sodas that got away.

1.) Apricot Peach by The Switch. Out of Richmond, VA.
While most of the country was marveling at Izze and Orangina for their high juice content, Richmonders had a short stretch of years when a small company was putting out a 100% juice that, thanks to a patented method, was carbonated. Not only was the product amazing, the flavors were also creative, like my favorite Apricot Peach. Dry and tangy with a bite. In the years that followed my east coast college experience, the bottles disappeared and the Switch seemed to be dead. But internet research seems to show a product going by the Switch that offers more typical fruit juice flavors and possibly a focus on school vending machines.

2.) Pink by Jones Soda. Out of Seattle, WA.
This brand first was introduced to me when my brother was in college. At the time, Jones Soda had several flavor names that were fun and told you little of what to expect from their flavor: Happy, Fufu Berry and, my favorite, Pink. It tasted, well, pink if the color were a cream soda. We're stretching back to half a lifetime ago, so my memories of how much I liked the flavor exceed my specific memories of its taste. If only I could drink again!

3.) Blueberry Cream by Soda Shaq, a subdivision of AriZona Beverage Company. Out of Woodbury, New York.
100% blueberry juice is strong stuff that'll put hair on your chest, as they say. And artificial blueberry is less common than, say, the (fictional) blue raspberry. Who'da thunk that Shaquille O'Neal would be behind the creation of an artificial blueberry soda that was cozy and smooth? As a bonus, the can was huge, like all AriZona cans are.

Craft Soda Week: The Best of Mass-produced Sodas

This week the ol' blog is celebrating Craft Soda Week. Glug, glug, glug.

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Not all mass-produced sodas are of low quality. Some even still use real sugar. Here are my favorites:

Key Lime...in terrible lighting.

1.) Key Lime by Stewart's, a subdivision of Dr. Pepper Snapple Group. Originally out of Mansfield, OH.
Stewart's may have an olde-fashioned feel to it--their Orange Cream soda is offered on the menu at Cracker Barrel--but some olde-fashioned things are bona fide classics. Stewart's Key Lime brings a bit of sour with a bit of sweet to create a winning alternative to an often overly sour carbonated lemonade.

2.) Aranciata Rossa (blood orange) by Sanpelligrino. Out of Italy.
Out of a brand that rarely missteps comes the crowning prince: Blood orange. I describe blood orange to the uninitiated as a cross between a grapefruit and an orange, but even that doesn't capture the red fruit's bittersweet and sweetbitter pulpy richness. I've had several blood orange sodas, but this one captures it best.

3.) Cheerwine by Carolina Beverage Corporation. Out of Salisbury, North Carolina.
Though it alleges to be a cherry soda, it blessedly isn't one of the medicinal-tasting cherry sodas we all have suffered through. Nor is it simply a Black Cherry a la Dr. Brown's, which is nothing to sniff at. No, Cheerwine tastes like a perfect cherry soda mixed with the difficult-to-improve-upon Dr. Pepper. A dark flavor with a sweet crispness. Though once a regional specialty, it can now be found nationwide at certain retailers.

Pumpkin Spice.

4.) Ginger Beer by Gosling's. Out of Bermuda. 
The right amount of spicy bite without overpowering the ginger flavor. I've tried numerous ginger beers, from the super-spicy Jamaican brands to the watered down versions that ought to be labeled ginger ale. Of all of them, it is Gosling's that has held the place at #1 for me.

5.) Mango by Jarritos. Out of Guadalajara, Mexico.
Some sodas are all about the sugar buzz, while others can be refreshing. This soda is one of the latter. And artificial mango flavor seems to approximate actual mango flavor a little bit better than other fruits, in my humble opinion. This one does it best.

Honorable mention: Pumpkin Spice by R.W Knudsen's, a subdivision of The J. M. Smucker Company. Out of Orrville, OH.
This seasonal alternative to carbonated apple cider adds a magic blend of pumpkin patch to your apple picking season.

Craft Soda Week: The Best of Fruit-Flavored Sodas

This week the ol' blog is celebrating Craft Soda Week. Glug, glug, glug.

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It baffles me that the most majorly distributed fruit soda is lemon-lime. While lemon-lime is refreshing, it isn't known for being sweet; with sweetener being the second ingredient after water, why not go for fruits that are, well, sweeter.

Anyway, here's my Top 5 fruit-flavored sodas:

Concord Grape.

1.) Concord Grape by WBC Craft Soda (formerly Goose Island). Originally out of Chicago, IL. Now out of Redding, CA.
Before I tried this, I'd never understood the appeal of grape sodas, which were often cloyingly sweet, like a Jolly Rancher Slurpee. This soda, which is getting harder to find than WBC's other flavors, has made a convert of many folks I've shared it with. It is getting harder to find though, which is disconcerting.

2.) Peach by Bundaberg. Out of Queensland, Australia.
Crisp with a fizzy bite. Not as well-distributed as Bundaberg's Root Beer or Ginger Beer, which is a crying shame.

3.) Kitty Piddle (orange pineapple) by Totally Gross Soda, a subdivision of Avery's. Out of New Britain, CT.
Sweet with a tang, this unfortunately-named soda is the standout in a wonderful line of sodas, each with their own intriguingly(?) awful name: Dog Drool, Bug Barf and Toxic Slime, to name a few.

4.) Strawberry by Sprecher's. Out of Glendale, WI.

Peach 4-pack.

Natural strawberry is among the greatest flavors on earth. Artificial strawberry is its own form of sugary delight. This soda captures a little bit of both.

5.) Point Premium - Orange Cream by Point Premium, a subdivision of Stevens Point Brewery. Out of Stevens Point, WI.
The right combination of creamy and orange, the first sip of this soda goes down so smooth you want to guzzle the whole thing in seconds. But it'll taste better if you pace yourself.

Craft Soda Week: The Best of Root Beer

This week the ol' blog is celebrating Craft Soda Week. Glug, glug, glug.

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Ah, root beer. The finest of sodas. Look at nearly all the craft soda companies out there and I wager that you'll find more root beers than colas. (Cola is great, but we're talking root beer here, okay?)

What is it that makes root beer the flavor everyone wants to master? And what exactly makes a perfect root beer? Is it the bite? Is it the creaminess? Is it the sweetness or the rich flavor? I love a balance, but everyone has their own preference. Here are my favorites:

1.) Root Beer by Fitz's. Out of St. Louis, MO.

2.) Root Beer by Roots Pizza. Out of Chicago, IL.

3.) Root Beer by Dublin Bottling Works. Out of Dublin, TX.

4.) Root Beer by Sioux City, a subdivision of White Rock Beverages. Out of Queens, New York City.

5.) Root Beer by Henry Weinhard's, a subdivision of MillerCoors. Originally out of Colfax, CA.

Craft Soda Week

As someone who doesn't drink alcohol, something that has long annoyed me is when I dine out somewhere and their beer menu features dozens (or hundreds) of craft beer options--representing a clientele with a discerning palate--but their only soda options are Coke or Pepsi products. Boring. With each region having its own fun sodas, why not go local?

This week, I will be celebrating craft sodas. While it would be impossible to try all of the pop available, I have made a list of favorites I've encountered in my travels and from dining out at more conscientious food spots serving craft sodas in bottles or even on tap.

Please enjoy as I explore:
The Best of Root Beer
The Best of Fruit-flavored Sodas
The Best of Mass-produced Sodas
The Best of Discontinued Sodas
The Worst Sodas