Spindrift Ginger Ale

Beautiful stuff, can art wise. The ingredients on this are pretty interesting: water, apple juice, lemon juice, lime juice - fine, gotta make it sweet - ginger juice - naturally; and I like that they call it juice - and lime extract. What is the difference between lime extract and lime juice?????? Well, the juice is natural, and the extract is bits of lime suspended in alcohol or other chemical mysteries. I see. I see. Anyway, they could probably axe that, because this is a little too limey (although that's the spindrift way). The ginger flavor is PRETTY good, although it's no Fevertree. Better than a Sprite or something, better than a soda-ginger-ale, but not ginger beer level. But, only 34 calos, so I guess that's the tradeoff? It's a little sweet for me but not terrible; definitely too lemon/limey though. Still a fun drink, just nothing to write blogs about.

Overall
Cost: 5/10 [2$]
Taste: 6/10 

spindrift Orange Vanilla Soda

Unintentionally in my soda pop era (cue Britney Spears's 'Soda Pop'). But what I love about Spindrift is that they sit right in the middle of the seltzer-soda spectrum, so they aren't artificial OR sugar bombs. This is going a little high on the sugar side, but it's still just fizzy water and juice, which I support. Orange, apple, and vanilla. Is vanilla extract a juice? Well, yes. And it tastes like if you added orange juice to perrier and dropped in 1/2tsp vanilla, that's it that's all. But it comes in a cute little can! I'm in. 

Overall
Cost: 5/10 [2$ish, what the heck]
Taste: 6/10 

Strawberries and Cream Dr Pepper

You'd think that someone who likes sweets and drinks as much as I do would therefore like Sweet Drinks, but I've never been into sodas as a category, so it's no surprise this didn't wow me. It's also no surprise that I bought it anyway because I want to support my fellow Dr P and try something new that sounds a bit bad!

Actually, the flavor profile was very accurate. It was as if someone took a strawberry creamsaver (remember those?) and dropped it into a normal Dr Pepper. Why would anyone do such a thing? I do not know. But it wasn't too artificial tasting or horrible, just not something that needed doing. I would much rather have some candys or even a regular Dr Pepper. Nevertheless, it's fun to try new things! 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Pepsi

I don't like soda much, but I do like the mini can concept. It's cute and even if it's bad it's just a little bit! What I will say for Pepsi is that it's definitely better than Coke. Sorry to the haters and fools who disagree. Pepsi is sweeter, and it kind of reminds me of Chinese food (just because I used to have soda and Chinese food as a tiny babby, and I miss that), but also, heartburn, and so bad for you. At least this can is just the right size.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Starry Soda

Apparently, this is the new Sierra Mist! Well, I have nothing against Sierra Mist in particular, but this is deffo an upgrade on name/branding, I think. It seems more like a lo-cal seltzer and less like a medicinal cream. However, all these lemon lime sodas basically just taste like Sprite, which I only ever drank when sick, and I didn't love it then either. No caffeine at least, which is good for nighttime, but then again what's the point of drinking it if it doesn't taste good OR give you a boost? Not for me but I still support the rebrand.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 5/10

Mtn Dew - Fruit Quake

I'm not much for soda, but I do like Mountain Dew. Do I like Fruitcake flavored mountain dew? I dewn't. This was so elusive, though -- I looked for it for months and no stores or websites had it, so when I randomly saw it in my parents' grocery store in Feb 2023 I thought "OK let's buy a case of this!!!!". It tastes a lot like Hawaiian Punch. It is red. The flavor is a little bit like preserved fruit, like maraschino cherries etc. It's not terrible, although there is a little artificial vibe (which I dislike). The smell is a little plasticy/new-car-y. However, I am part of the 1% of humans who tried this drink, so that's something I've got going for me! (Also, 10 more cans to enjoy throughout the year!)

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Mountain Dew

Soda is always like "ehhh" for me and this is an extra special one because it has 77!!! grams of sugar. 77!!! In a single serve bottle!!! However, when you are bone tired, the caffeine and sugar boost in this can really perk you (me) up. It's a classic road trip and long work day drink. However, it also gives me a stomach ache. So it's not worth it in the end. The flavor is OK -- I like that there's orange juice in it, and it does taste citrusy. It's good for a soda, especially with a ton of ice, but it is also very sugary and not great flat. 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Canada Dry Ginger Ale

I got this 'cause I'm feeling sick (classic new semester vibe), which is maybe counterproductive due to all the sugar. But it doesn't have caffeine, so it's good for settling your system, I guess. Anyway I'm not a huge soda fan, but I think this is what I often get on planes, so I like that vibe. Unlike the hordes of maskless kids on the bus!

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Wild Cherry Pepsi

I remember being a youngster at my grandma's house and a huge huge fan of these (along with my cousin Jeffy!), they were one of my favorite sodas hands down. Then again, I never really liked soda *that* much. And today, I find myself highly unimpressed. However, this particular iteration was, to be fair, from a vending machine and very expired. It was still "OK" -- very sweet. Very bad for you. Ultimately, I didn't finish the bottle. How our heroes have fallen!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Schweppes Ginger Ale

This is certainly ginger ale. To be fair, I got a very expired bottle from a campus vending machine, so it's no wonder it wasn't as good as a fresh can, with ice, in an airplane (my usual ginger-ale drinking place). But it didn't have much to recommend it. No caffeine, lots of sugar, not much flavor. It's a drink though.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Tickle Water - Watermelon

This is purportedly for kids, but I drank it anyway! Ha! It's another fizzy flavored water in the vein of La Croix, but in a cuter smaller container. I think people have been sleeping on the watermelon flavor though, because this is nice! The initial flavor is like a pink pop ice melted into my water, which is pleasant and sweet even though there's no sugar. Unfortunately there's also a weird chemical aftertaste, which I am not sure is always present or just because my house is so hot that the container melted a bit. Either way, that's not great. But the flavor is fun, the can is fun, and 0 cals is always fun too. The writing on the label of mine also wore off a bit, which doesn't inspire confidence. So a bit of a mixed bag.



Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Poland Spring Sparkling Water - Raspberry Lime

I got a coupon for this that I totally forgot I'd signed up for months before. How exciting! A free 8-pack of calorie-innocent (to steal a phrase from La Croix) beverage! I picked raspberry lime because those are two solid flavors and it sounded more fun than just lemon-lime. I think it was a good pick! Honestly the flavor almost seems like it would be sweet, like a Fanta or something, but of course it's not sweet at all. I guess that means it's good. This stuff is also super fizzy - way more than La Croix is. At first I thought it was too much fizz, but it's super refreshing and fun to drink. More exciting than water yet presumably as healthy. Nice.


Overall
Cost: 5/10 (About 3.50 - which is OK but like, water is free)
Taste: 7/10

Seagram's Ginger Ale

My thoughts: so, this is a thing that I am drinking. I don't love soda, but I do like ginger and ginger beer a lot. It doesn't help here. I usually order ginger ale on airplanes, and I like it there, but somehow without the excitation transfer of flying, ginger ale is massively boring. There isn't even any caffeine! It's not like I'm gonna throw up just sitting around my house (usually), so what's the point of drinking this? A sugar rush? I guess so. The taste is OK, it's basically like Sprite - a sweet, somewhat fizzy drink. Is it named after a British horse or something? I didn't care enough to look it up. Sorry, fans of Seagrams.


Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 5/10

Coca-Cola

You know I'm going through some stuff when I review a can of Coke. But I'm trying to save money and I have a bunch of these cans leftover from a party in my fridge. So, Coke calories it is. To be honest, I've never been a big fan of sodas, especially colas or fruit sodas, but this was better than I remembered. The coldness, the can, the carbonation, all were pleasant things. I guess La Croix was a gateway drug. Anyway, the taste is still not great, it's so tar-y or sticky and the idea that it's just rotting my insides is hard to overcome. But it paired nicely with pizza and was fairly enjoyable and refreshing.




Overall
Cost: 8/10
Taste: 5/10

Brooklyn Organics Craft Ginger Ale - Cola

So, this is made by the Bruce Cost Ginger Ale company, and I like their nice gingery sodas. But this is sugar free, so it gets a new line name (~Brooklyn Organics~), and it has stevia and no caffeine. What? What's the point? It's also cola flavored, which is weird. So my preconceptions of this drink are not good. Unfortunately, the drink is also not good. I think it's really just because I hate stevia, though -- it gave me a massive headache and has a weird flavor to me. If you use stevia as a sweetener regularly, then you'll probably like this! The ginger is strong and the cola flavor is normal cola flavor. At least it's only 10 calories! :P




Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 3/10