Hemani Honey Drink With Basil Seeds

Appearance

This label isn't pretty bleh. But the drink itself is so cool to look at. The drink is a light amber color and the basil seeds are suspended in the liquid and covered with some mucusy substance. So the seeds look a lot like bacterial in a slide. Veeery cool

Appearance Score

6/10

Taste

This is pretty gross, honestly. The smell is sickly sweet and it tastes like stale bubblegum. The seeds provide an interesting texture but the drink is sticky and syrupy and not pleasant. Over all, I would not drink it again. Or finish the bottle

Taste Score

3/10

Cicero Beverage Co Salted Caramel Root Beer

Cicero is an interesting brand of soda from Chicago that has flavors like caramel apple and chocolate covered bacon. Unlike Larry's fixins sodas they're actually pretty good. 

Appearance

I like the soda but I'm not a big fan of the label. It feels like a chili can label.

Appearance Score
3/10

Taste

This is a lovely root beer. Its sweet and creamy. The carbonation is not to intense. The Salted Caramel flavor is delicious, if it tastes like an syrupy flavor shot. Have this in vanilla soft serve and its amazing. 

Taste

8/10 Delicious. Highly Recommend.  

Sipp Mojo Berry

I took my friend Jesus to my favorite soda store today and introduced him to the world of soda. If was quite exciting. In exchange for the introduction he got himself a salted caramel root beer and me this soda, a blackberry, mint and lime soda.

Appearance

This is a bottle that is trying to be simple and classy. Very plain simple graphic design. I understand they're trying to promote the organic nature but I think it distracts from the design. 

Appearance Score

5/10 I'm neutral about it

Taste

This is pretty good. Usually I'm pretty biased against berry sodas as I feel they taste too much like cough syrup. This one is on though. The mint and lime balance the berry well. Its not too syrupy sweet and it doesn't stick around in your mouth unwanted. Its refreshing. It also has a very interesting carbonation. The carbonation is very light and dainty. The bubbles are tiny and they fill your mouth but leave quickly

Taste Score

7/10 pretty ok

Cawston Press Rhubarb

My mother brought me back this soda from Scotland. Cawston is a soda and juice brand that specializes in neat blends. It looks like its a UK based company that doesn't sell much in the US, though you might be able to find it in Whole Foods or the like. According to their website they also sell and elderflower lemonade which I MUST ACQUIRE! That sounds amazing.

Appearance

The can is a lovely cream with strong graphic design. The labels are dominated by well laid out words and not many images. This is a label for a pintrest generation. I think its cute, but I also feel very buzzfeeded at. It seems like a really safe bet, design wise. But it does feel very down to earth and farmstand-y though, so it represents the brand well.

The can is a bit dented from travel

Appearance Score

7/10 Could stand to take a risk

Taste

Let's see how it tastes. I've had good experiences with rhubarb soda in the past, specifically Dry Rhubarb, so I'm optimistic. It smells very fresh and like strawberry rhubarb pie. It tastes lovely. There is a very strong fresh rhubarb taste. It definitely feels like a cooked rhubarb pie covered in delicious sugar and crust. Its very summer. I can also taste the apples hanging out in the background. You don't find apple sodas much, and this is a great representation of an apple soda done right. Its not very tart, which I think would actually be nice. But the sweetness is perfectly balanced. Its very sweet on the front end of the sip, but it doesn't linger unpleasantly and my mouth isn't left sticky.

Taste

8/10 Delicious. Highly Recommend. 


p.s. I combined some of this soda with PieHole Apple Pie Whiskey and it is AMAZING! If you can find this soda and that whiskey its a great experience.

Goya Ginger Beer

Ho boy, this one was a fun one to try. This was a soda that I had a bunch of friends try and it was certainly an experience. It was so strong and potent that not a single person could drink it without coughing or sneezing. It was hilarious! My Puerto Rican friend said that you weren't supposed to drink it, you're supposed to cook with it!

Appearance

Unremarkable. Doesn't give any indication of the strong flavor or purpose.

Appearance Score

4/10

Taste

After you get back the coughing and sneezing this is ok tasting. It has a lot of flowers and bite. It kinda burns the back of your throat. If you want a strong ginger flavor this is where to look, but proceed with caution

Taste

5/10 (For entertainment)

Fentamin's Shandy

Weeee! Here's another good ol' Fentamin's. They've always been hit or miss with me, and I suspect that this will be a miss

Appearance

Like always, the bottle is gorgeous. It's such a cool design and such and elegant labels. Half the joy of drinking fentamin's is being able to hold the bottle.

Appearance Score

9/10

Taste

I don't think I like this one. It's bitter, and pretty sweet. Very hoppy. I'm not a big fan of beer or hops in general, so I'm not the demographic for this one. I did have friends who really enjoy this one, so to each their own.

Taste Score

3/10

Pink Ting

Appearance

This label isn't anything special to me. It feels very 80's. The color is nice, at least. You don't see many pink labels, and it matches the pretty soda well. But overall I find it lackluster

Appearance Score

4/10

Taste

This is  pretty good grapefruit soda. It has an honest flavor, and it's not too sticky sweet. There are other grapefruit sodas, but it is not the worst I've had.

Taste Score

6/10

Moxie

I've never seen this soda before. I have no idea what flavor to expect It looks pretty cool!

Appearance

I like this label. It has a cool 1950's style feel to it. It's cheeky and eye catching

Appearance Score 

6/10

Taste

This soda is a very medicinal flavored Cola.  Admittedly, I don't like colas, but this is still unpleasant. It has a bitter bite to it that's not even a little tasty. I do not like this one bit. It's gross, nasty, would not voluntarily drink

Taste Score

2/10

Red Rock Ginger Ale

Appearance

This is a lovely classic label. It's simple and has a great graphics design layout. I like this a lot.

Appearance Score

7/10

Taste

This is a pretty solid ginger ale. It smells nice, it has a nice gingery bite. I don't have much to say other than that. There's no surprises, or plot twists in here. Its just good simple soda

Taste Score

6/10

Eli's Blueberry Pop

Appearance

This label reminds me of a picture book I read as a kid about a berry jamboree. It makes me very happy. I've never had a blueberry soda before, so I'm kinda intrigued, though I don't really like blueberry flavored things. So we'll see.

Appearance Score

6/10

Taste

It smells like blueberries, tastes like gross sticky huckleberries and dimatap. I do not enjoy this. I would not voluntarily drink this, and could not finish a bottle.

Taste Score

3/10

Flathead Lake Sour Cherry

I had a soda tasting party with a couple friends. It was quite fun and we got many sodas I've never tried before, and a lot that I have had in the past and wanted to share. The next bundle of sodas will have shorter than usual posts as I am doing them all at once and in a room full of people. 

 Appearance

I think this is a pretty cool label. The dragon/sea monster is eye catching and interesting.

It has a beautiful red color

Appearance Score

6/10

Taste

It's a very cherry soda. It's not as sour as I was expecting and I was a little disappointed. It's a little sticky at the end. Overall, pretty meh

Taste Score

4/10