Review - Dublin Cherry Limeade

Bottler: Dublin Bottling Works

Calories per Ounce: 15

Caffeine: No

Aaron's Comments: The first thing you notice about Dublin's Cherry Limeade is that it is heavy on the lime and light on the cherry. In fact, the flavor of the soda could accurately be renamed "Dublin's sweetened limeade with a hint of cherry aftertaste". Taken with ice, the cherry flavor almost entirely disappears even more and one is left with nothing but the limeade flavor. I'm a fan of limeade, so the soda is still quite good, but when something is labeled as cherry limeade, I kind of expect there to be a more noticeable cherry flavor present. On the other hand, the soda is very light in general, and avoids the heavy syrupiness that cherry flavored sodas sometimes have. Because the soda's flavor is so understated, coupling it with ice cream results in a very light and mostly vanilla flavored soda, with just a hint of lime and cherry. As an ice cream soda, it is serviceable, but it feels a little like having vanilla ice cream that had just a dash of lime juice and cherry puree mixed into it. I don't want anyone to think this is a bad soda, as it is quite tasty. It is just a very light soda with understated flavoring.

Review - Blue Plate Special Red Velvet Cake Soda

Bottler: Orca Beverage

Calories per Ounce: 15

Caffeine: I don't think so

Aaron's Comments: When I first looked at the bottle of Blue Plate Special Red Velvet Cake Soda, I wasn't sure what to make of it. It certainly smells like a red velvet cake, and it tastes something like a red velvet cake that is a little overdone, although still quite sweet. The red velvet cake flavor is strong enough to become even more prominent when ice is added. The soda is sweet and tasty, but it still feels wrong to have this very cakey flavor in a soda. You can't drink this soda quickly or the flavor becomes overwhelming. Instead you have to consume it one mouthful at a time, more or less like eating a piece of cake.

But where Red Velvet Cake Soda truly shines is when used as an ice cream float. Adding vanilla ice cream to this soda transforms it into red velvet cake flavored ice cream, which feels a little bit like actually drinking cake and ice cream. On its own, this soda is just adequate, but with ice cream it is fantastic. I would go so far as to say that the only way one should drink this soda is in an ice cream float.

Angela's Comments: It tastes like a little bit of red velvet cake stuck in frosting. This soda is at its best when served with ice cream.

Review - Jeff's Amazing New York Egg Cream Chocolate Soda

Bottler: Egg Cream America

Calories per Ounce: 21.25

Caffeine: I don't think so

Aaron's Comments: The first thing to know about Jeff's Amazing New York Egg Cream Chocolate Soda is that it is loaded with sugar. When looking at the label, one might be fooled by the fact that it says that one serving contains 170 calories, which is about normal for a bottle of soda. But one serving of Jeff's Chocolate Soda is only eight ounces, and the bottle holds twelve, so it is actually about one and a half times more fattening than regular soda. This is reflected in the taste and feel of the soda as well: While this soda is quite good, it has the drawback of being very rich and heavy, so if you are looking for a typical soda experience, this may be more filling than you were prepared for.

On the upside, Jeff's Chocolate Soda definitely has the chocolate egg cream taste one would expect given its name, and adds to it a carbonated fizz that seems both oddly pleasant and deeply weird at the same time. Since it is in a brown bottle and it is chocolate flavored, one would expect the soda to be brown as well, and one would not be disappointed as it has a rich, chocolate appearance. Over ice, the egg cream flavor fades to the background and the chocolate flavor jumps forward, making the soda taste almost like a Yoohoo instead of a chocolate egg cream. Unlike other sodas that foam up when ice cream is added, Jeff's Chocolate Soda remains mostly unperturbed by this. The combination of ice cream and this soda results, as one would expect, in a chocolately-vanilla combination that is excellent.

Review - Bundaberg Root Beer

Bottler: Bundaberg Brewed Drinks

Calories per Ounce: 15

Caffeine: No

Aaron's Comments: With a unique pull-tab and a cute barrel shaped bottle, Bundaberg Root Beer certainly sports an unusual appearance. The quirky look of the container is matched by the quirky taste of the root beer inside, which seems almost mild at first but has an undercurrent of spiciness that kicks in after the initial wash of smoothness. Some people have a negative reaction to Bundaberg Root Beer, which I attribute to the fact that this soda is flavored with sassafras, ginger, and licorice root as well as the usual vanilla, which means that the usual overwhelming vanilla flavor is not dominant. With ice, the background spices become even more prominent, making this an even more unusual and interesting drink. Because it is made in Australia, it is sweetened with sugar rather than corn syrup, and as a result it doesn't foam up as much as corn syrup sodas do when ice cream is added. The smooth nature of Bundaberg root beer coupled with the spiciness makes it a very good complement to ice cream, resulting in a superior root beer float.

Review - Grape Crush

Bottler: Dr. Pepper Snapple Group

Calories per Ounce: 14.2

Caffeine: No

Aaron's Comments: Of all the fruit flavored sodas, grape always seems to be the most elusive when it comes to actually replicating the flavor of the fruit it is named after. Grape Crush is no exception, tasting more or less grape-like, but not really like grapes at the same time. The flavor of grape Crush certainly tastes like grape soda is supposed to taste, but that isn't exactly what an actual grape tastes like. Even so, the flavor is quite good as grape sodas go. The flavor isn't changed appreciably when ice is added, although as usual, the flavor of the soda is slightly muted. Grape sodas don't usually make for particularly good ice cream floats, and Grape Crush isn't an exception here. The combination of ice cream and artificial grape flavor simply doesn't mesh well. It isn't particularly bad this way, it just isn't particularly good.

Review - Strawberry Crush

Bottler: Dr. Pepper Snapple Group

Calories per Ounce: 14.2

Caffeine: No

Aaron's Comments: I have a deep and abiding love for strawberry sodas. If given the option and I am not seeking something caffeinated, I will tend to pick a strawberry soda. Strawberry Crush delivers a strong strawberry flavor with just enough carbonation to remind you that it is in soda form and not an actual strawberry. With ice, the up front strawberry flavor is still present, but the fresh aftertaste becomes more dominant. In an ice cream float, Strawberry Crush is excellent, provided, of course, that you like strawberries and cream together. The fresh tasting strawberry flavor of the soda mixes well with vanilla ice cream to make a very tasty concoction. I think it would probably be even better with strawberry ice cream, but that would be beyond the normal scope of these reviews. I might try it at some point in the future and post an update. But for now, I'll just say that it makes an excellent float with vanilla ice cream.

Review - Mountain Dew Kickstart Limeade

Bottler: PepsiCo

Calories per Ounce: 5

Caffeine: YES (92 mg per 16 oz)

Aaron's Comments: I'm a big fan of limeades which generally have a tasty combination of tart and sweet flavor, and the Mountain Dew pseudo-healthy Kickstart Limeade flavor is a pretty good version of limeade. Though it isn't the best I have had, it has a good lime flavor and just enough of the tart, dry flavor that a limeade should have. When put over ice, the lime flavor intensifies slightly, muting the tartness into the background. As I noted with the other Kickstart flavors, this soda is pretty clearly not intended to be used as the base for an ice cream float, but as with all of the other flavors, I tried it anyway. Of all the Kickstart flavors, this one worked the best with ice cream because the inherent tartness of the limeade provided a nice counterpoint to the sweet smoothness of the vanilla ice cream.

But all of this is more or less beside the point, which is to deliver large amounts of caffeine in a moderately tasty form while cloaking this fact by highlighting the small amount of juice and electrolytes that the drink contains.

Review - Mountain Dew Kickstart Orange Citrus

Bottler: PepsiCo

Calories per Ounce: 5

Caffeine: YES (92 mg per 16 oz)

Aaron's Comments: Of all the pretend healthy caffeine delivery devices known as Kickstart, I think that orange citrus is my favorite. This is something of a surprise to me because while I am generally okay with orange flavored sodas, I am generally not as enthusiastic about them as I am about other fruit flavored sodas. Perhaps the trace amounts of concentrated orange juice in the Kickstart enhances the flavor just enough to put it over the edge. With ice, the orange flavor almost disappears and the only thing left is the citric acid taste. Once again, although the soda was clearly not intended for use in an ice cream float, I added some vanilla ice cream to it anyway. It works reasonably well as an ice cream float, but the unusual way that Kickstart is sweetened seems to produce a soda that is a little thin for this purpose.