Trader Joe's Ginger Beer

I don't know why it's called “beer” or what is “brewed”, but it's not bad. I picked this up in the liquor store part of Trader Joe's in the north suburbs. Ginger beers are usually too much ginger for me, but I've found a couple “brewed” ones that were pretty good. This is also an unfiltered. They don't mention it, but there were flaky things in the bottom of the bottle. I took a chance on it because it has lime and lemon juice in it, my favorites. Those flavors mixed nicely, not too tart. It also has “natural” flavors, which you never really know what that could be.

It also has real ginger extract. You really feel that on the back of your throat. It doesn't stick though, like some ginger beers do. The lemon-lime comes through, like a Squirt, only better. They let me buy a single, but I would definitely go back and get the four pack.  

Chicago Root Beer

Grabbed some carry-out from Famous Dave's barbeque and a WBC "Chicago Style" Root Beer. I have no idea what makes if "Chicago Style". They're pretty proud of it though, since 1988. oooooh! Can't complain. With 45g of sugar, it was sweet, actually not overly so, surprisingly creamy. It foamed up nicely. I wouldn't say this is best Root Beer ever, but it's nice to know I can get one any time I'm at Famous Dave's.

Fest, Bourbon Creme Soda

I picked this up at the Mardi Gras grocery in the Marigny neighborhood, just east of the French Quarter. It's called "Fest, Bourbon Crème Soda". The first sip of this was a decent cream soda, but then there was an after taste. I guess it was their attempt to get the “bourbon” experience in this. They didn’t quite pull it off. The flavors are “natural”, so who knows what they used to simulate the booze. After a couple more sips I warmed up to it, but I wouldn’t get another one of these. There was a bit of that bitter, cured in oak barrel taste, but it didn’t blend with the rest of the soda. It wasn’t overly sweet, but it reminded me more of a cheap whiskey than a decent bourbon. It’s a novelty, but I don’t recommend it.

Non-Alcoholic Beer

Just relaxing with a little TV and having a beer. It's kinda like having a beer while you have a butterscotch candy in your mouth. I found this at the Fizzy Water store on Canal Park. It's kinda cheating to find craft sodas there since that's all they have. Well, they have some candy too. It's a dentist's nightmare, or boat payment. Anyway, I found this one on the low sugar shelf. Plenty of butterscotch flavor but not too sweet. The "beer" part is more like root beer. It really doesn't qualify as a non-alcoholic drink. You could call anything non-alcoholic if this passes.

Not sure I'd have this one again.

Northwoods Naturals Red Spritz

This is a "non-alcoholic beverage". Water is a "non-alcoholic beverage", but they don't usually mention that. So what makes this one different from "red pop". I looked up the website, but they only talk about their alcoholic beverages there, so I don't have nutrition information on this one. My guess is though, that it's low in sugar. You might say it's a "dry" pop, or soda, depending on where you live. Or, as the label says, "not-too-sweet". Any of those descriptions work. It was close to a wine spritzer taste, but no alcohol bite of course. The red taste was more like red grapes, not that strawberry candy taste you get from most red pops. I found this The Duluth Grill, an excellent place to go anyway, and now, one more reason. Hopefully I can find it somewhere else too because I'd really like to enjoy one of these at home.

Orange Drink

I found this Clementine orange soda in a Fred Meyer store in Anchorage. Sorry for the fuzzy picture, I wasn't spending much time on quality on my vacation. Orange has always been my favorite thirst quencher for soda and hiking the mountains definitely had me thirsty. It was also low in sugar, something I've been concentrating more on lately. As you can see, this wasn't just orange flavored water, it was thick with juice. It was like a glass of orange juice without the citric acid or the pulp and fizz instead.

Possibly the best orange soda I've ever had. I didn't get where it came from though, and I doubt I'll find it again unless I go back to Alaska.

I've been slipping on my craft sodas lately. I went to Michigan and bought a 12 pack of Vernor's, so that's been my primary soda drinking. Here's another one from Bruce Cost. Their plain ginger ale was very good so I thought I'd try their ginger ale with Jasmine tea. As expected it was just as good, with a taste of Jasmine Tea. Nothing much else to report. The unfiltered bits at the bottom looked a little weirder, and they clumped up, I couldn't get them mixed in, but it didn't matter. The taste was consistent throughout. I was expecting some bitter tea taste in that last swig, but it didn't happen.

AJ Stephens Birch Beer

I don't remember the last time I had a Birch Beer, but I think it was better than this one. The sugariness was fine, the fizz was fine, but the flavor left something to be desired. Maybe I was expecting more rootiness, this was more like barkiness. I'll have to find some other Birch beers for comparison.

Honey Cherry Vanilla

I grabbed this at the Whole Foods Co-op in Duluth to go with my slice of bacon and dried tomato pizza. That's real Wisconsin honey! Not that Wisconsin honey is any different than any other honey, but they make a point of it. And you better like honey if you get this pop. It was the dominant flavor with my first sip. I looked in the bottom of the bottle and could see something syrupy swimming around there. I assume that was more honey, so I gave it a gentle whirl to mix it up. Not too fizzy, so no problems there. The honey definitely subdued the tartness of the cherries, which is fine I guess. But there wasn't much room left for the vanilla. A little less honey and a little more creaminess would have made this a better soda. But pretty decent, if you like honey.

Joia soda

I'm not sure why anyone would put cardamon in a soda, but I guess they know what they're doing. I wouldn't say this was a bad grapefruit/chamomile/cardamon soda, but how would I know? If you were looking for a grapefruit/chamomile/cardamon soda, well, you could say you found one. I don't have anything bad to say about this grapefruit/chamomile/cardamon soda but I'm not sure what I would say if it was good. So, not bad, you know, for a grapefruit/chamomile/cardamon soda.

Taste of the BWCA

I found this one at TJ's Country Store in Mahtowa, MN, where the wurst is best. Seriously, they make a huge range of bratwursts and jerkies and they have locally made cheeses. If you don't know what the Boundary Waters are, google it. Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is the full name and pretty much describes it. The only problem here is, you shouldn't take glass with you when you go there. Camp responsibly, take only pictures and leave only footprints, but when you get back to civilization, have one of these to refresh. It is not too syrupy but sweet enough to replenish the sugars you burned while portaging your canoe 100 rods. Even if you're not a creme soda lover, you might want to try this one. The flavor is not overpowering and leaves no after taste.

Not really a soda

I bought this at the Whole Foods Co-op in Duluth. That's not part of the chain, they had the name before Whole Foods got to be a big corporation. I tried an original flavor Kombucha before and couldn't finish it. It's sort of like a mushroom shake, with some sawdust added. This was basically the same, with some orange flavor attempting to mask it. You don't see these outside of co-ops much. You really have to be dedicated, or into some sort of sacrifice to get your nutrition this way. It's actually live, some sort of organism. I don't really want to know anymore. It doesn't really qualify as a micro-soda anyway. I just posted this as a public service, not really part of my craft soda series.

Spring Grove Strawberry Soda

I don't remember where I found this one, but it's from Minnesota, so maybe Menard's. It has that candy strawberry flavor, like one of those strawberry shaped candies with the gooey inside. It has plenty of good cane sugar and red dye #40. It was just on the edge of too much syrup, but still refreshing for a hot day. Check it out at springgrovesoda.com.

Bruce Cost Ginger Ale

I usually stay away from the crafted ginger ale. It's usually too much ginger. This is not Canada Dry type mixer. But when I saw this one at Cub Foods, I had to try it. Look at the picture, you'll see the unfiltered part at the bottom. You have to give it a light shake, then be careful when you open it. I thought it would be best to put it in a glass. The sweetness was just right and the ginger did not overpower. It was like a sugar glazed bite of ginger. Not sure why, but they put it in the ethnic food aisle.

Can Coke be a "true" craft soda

Coca-cola seems to be trying to move in on the market of small batch, specialty sodas. This one is paradoxical mix of pure cane sugar and stevia. Stevia is a natural sugar substitute. The cane sugar is a throwback to a few decades ago when all soda used it. It's easy to find Mountain Dew and others putting out batches made with pure cane sugar. It's a little better. You can decide for yourself what kind of sweetener is better for you.

As for Coke Life, it tastes kinda like you would expect it to. It's sweet, but there is the diet taste there also. It's still Coke, which now tastes like Pepsi anyway. So, if you don't pick one of these up, you're not missing much.

Craft Soda is a thing

I thought it would be fun to start talking about the great micro-sodas I’m discovering lately. It appears this is a thing.

I mentioned the “Craft” root beer on facebook, but I didn’t think to get a picture of it. It was fantastic, but hard to google for it, given the name. They don’t seem to have a website either, I’ve only found other bloggers talking about it. It’s made in Illinois and has a person’s face on the label. This root beer brought back memories of A&W when they made it on site with real sugar. I would swear it was actually better but that was a long time ago, so that’s not really a blind taste test.

I also came across one that had the flavor of a mojito when I was in the Florida Keys recently. Again, no picture since I hadn’t thought of starting this soda blog yet.  There probably aren’t too many like that, so if you see it, and you like mojitos, grab it. No rum of course, but a hint of mint and a smooth creamy texture. A nice thirst quencher on a sunny day at the beach.

Today, I had a Squamscot Cherry Cola. It was a disappointment. I found it at a mall Liqour store in Cloquet, which maybe should have been a clue. It didn’t go fizt when I popped the top and it’s possible it hadn’t been bottled correctly, it was definitely a bit flat. Even if the fizz had been better, I don’t think that would have made it worth $1.95. The cherry and cola flavors were there, but they were not impressive. It was the real cola flavor, but there just wasn’t enough of it.