Review - Cranberry Sierra Mist

Bottler: PepsiCo

Calories per Ounce: 10.5

Caffeine: No

Aaron's Comments: Cranberry flavored sodas are a staple of the Christmas season, but I happened to find a bottle of Cranberry Sierra Mist still sitting on the shelf at my local supermarket and I figured that it would be a decent idea to see if it was worth drinking even without the accompanying holiday cheer. The soda tastes pretty much like it is advertised, with a lemon lime base and an overlay of cranberry flavor. This mixture works fairly well in Cranberry Sierra Mist, as the cranberry flavor is prominent enough to give the soda a fairly satisfying tartness. Ice mutes the cranberry flavor, leaving behind something that tastes a lot like ordinary Sierra Mist, which seems to me to be a step backwards. Unfortunately, ice cream almost completely washes away any of the cranberry flavor, leaving behind a fairly ordinary tasting lemon-line soda float. By itself, this is a mildly interesting variant, but when one adds almost anything to it, the variant nature is hidden, leaving just a fairly ordinary Sierra Mist behind.

Review - Bubble Up

Bottler: Dad's Root Beer Company

Calories per Ounce: 13.3

Caffeine: No

Aaron's Comments: Bubble Up is a lemon-lime flavored soda, in the same general vein as Sprite or Seven-Up. It bears some resemblance to those more popular sodas, but it has a more pronounced lemon-lime taste, and a slightly heavier feel. Over ice, it lightens considerably and achieves a crisp freshness that is quite pleasant.When ice cream is added, it lives up to its name, foaming quite a bit more than most other sodas. Once the bubble receded, what is left is a very lemony-vanilla float that is pretty good. Bubble Up isn't substantially better than competitors like Sprite or Sierra Mist, and certainly not enough of a flavor improvement that I would recommend going out and hunting for it in lieu of such options, but if it is an available option, I would probably choose it over the others.

Review - Cranberry Sprite

Bottler: Coca-Cola Company.

Calories per Ounce: 12

Caffeine: No

Aaron's Comments: Some time around September, it seems that every soft drink manufacturer who makes some sort of lemon-lime or ginger ale type soda puts out a cranberry flavored version of their drink. The Coca-Cola Company's entry into this field is Cranberry Sprite, which doesn't really work as well as one might think. Sprite itself has a pretty dominant lemon-lime flavor, and to make the added cranberry noticeable the manufacturer had to really make it overpowering. The result is a drink that is very lemon, very lime, and very cranberry all at the same time, which is a melange of flavor that is just barely tolerable. Ice seems to mute the cranberry flavor, leaving behind something that mostly just tastes like regular Sprite, which is something of a disappointment. Adding ice cream simply overpowers the cranberry flavor, leaving behind nothing but a regular Sprite and vanilla flavored ice cream float. This isn't bad, as a Sprite and vanilla flavored ice cream float is still pretty tasty, but given that this is supposed to be Cranberry Sprite, it is pretty disappointing.

Review - Bundaberg Lemon Lime & Bitters

Bottler: Bundaberg Brewed Drinks

Calories per Ounce: 13.9

Caffeine: No

Aaron's Comments: Bundaberg Lemon Lime & Bitters advertises itself as containing 6% lemon and lime juice, which would cause one to think that it would have a more intense lemon and lime flavor. This supposition is correct, although this may be disconcerting for people who are used to the artificial lemon-lime flavor of sodas like Sprite or Sierra Mist. The punchy and tart lemon and lime flavor is accompanied by a nicely bitter aftertaste. Adding ice brings all of these flavors to the fore, and makes me think that this would be an excellent drink to use as a substitute for lemon or lime juice in a mixed drink, such an alternative form of whiskey sour. When ice cream is added, the lemon and lime flavors stay strong, but the bitterness is overcome by the sweetness of the ice cream. This combination results in a quirky, but fairly tasty ice cream float.