The Pop Shoppe Orange Soda

Bwahahhaah an orange colored soda on Halloween!

This the Canadian Pop Shoppe's final entry into my flavor journey. Will the Pop Shoppe finally be able to break the bonds of being average? Will this orange soda shine far and above over its brothers and sisters?

Probably not.

A citric orange invades my taste buds. The benefit of orange is that it gives you citrus without being tart like lemons or limes. As this adventure has taught me, tartness disguises itself as fizz. Thankfully, the non tart orange is not infiltrating my sour receptors and making me think this is an over fizzy drink.

The orange in this soda is not extra powerful like I feel Fanta or Sunkist's orange soda is. I like orange soda sure, but I think those two companies put a little too much into their soda. The Pop Shoppe makes the orange soda a little less intense. I would say that the Pop Shoppe's orange soda is more balanced, but I have no idea what it is balanced with..Perhaps the other end of the balance is just soda water..I'm not sure if that is a flavor itself. I will find out 2 Fridays from now when I get to drink Boylan's Seltzer.

..yay..

Like the beverages themselves, the Pop Shoppe's labeling is sensible and average. There is no variation in bottle design between flavors. So I will not repeat myself by describing it yet again.

The Pop Shoppe brand is always right. But what I am looking for is more than right. I'm looking for sodas that make me need to drink them again. Not want, but NEED. The Pop Shoppe makes perfectly respectable beverages and is always on the spot with the flavor. But I need enthusiasm! I need pazzazz!

Pop Shoppe...I need more POP.

Jones Berry Lemonade

Our guest soda for today is Jones Berry Lemonade.

I dun goofed and typed in Sarsaparilla twice when randomizing my soda schedule. Today is the day I pay for my mistake. My horribly cruel, and unusual punishment is a fizzy berry lemonade.

OH THE HUMANITY!!

However, seeing how Jones is a little too mainstream it is not eligible for the tournament at the end of the semester.

According to the bottle cap today is a good time to finish old tasks.

It smells like 7-11 slushees.

It is a strange experience. It seems to be a liquid Warhead candy. Carbonation with lemonade is not a combination my mouth was expecting. It really does taste a lot like a Warhead. The berry is a mixture of berries. There is no distinct singular berry in this. Of course if it was it would be called strawberry lemonade or raspberry lemonade.

The carbonation is a little over done for me. There is also the fact that tartness gives me the impression of fizziness also. Seeing how this is lemonade there is quite a bit of tartness. It appears as though the more popular the soda the fizzier it is. Based on soda natural selection (also known as capitalism) this can only lead me to believe that the general North American population enjoys their beverages with extra CO2.

Jones soda is known for their labeling variation. Consumers can send in pictures to the Jones company and if they are lucky, it can be the feature of a soda label. In this case, there is a man on a dirt bike doing a stoppie. A stoppie is a wheelie but on the front. It appears to be fall, which is fitting for today,because this man has a hoodie on.

And this soda is from our Canadian bretheren!

Overall this is an alright soda. Too fizzy, too Warhead like. This just goes to show you, stick with the smaller brands.

Virgil's Black Cherry Cream Soda

Since my original soda for today, Apple Spice Cider, is no longer offered I got my free pick! There were a few new additions to choose from and this one looked the most tasty.

I'm really hoping for a combination of Propel's Black Cherry water and cream soda.

It smells like ice cream =]

Okay, that's pretty good. The cream soda supplies a nice mellow tone. It smooths out the black cherry flavor which can be strong from time to time. The creaminess doesn't last very long. The aftertaste is exclusively black cherry. The black cherry is a more...royal flavor than regular cherry. Its like a good wing man. Barney Stinson if you will. The Black Cherry is always there to support your, but doesn't get in the way.

It tastes like taking a swig of some sweet black cherry ice cream.

Carbonation, a-ok.

On to labeling. It has quite a bit of design on it. The font of the lettering is reminiscent of old western writing. Behind that is a picture of two kids, a boy and girl, sitting in over-sized chairs. Between them is who appears to be Jack Black serving two mugs and a pitcher of this soda. They aren't inside, it looks like they are in the great planes.

The combination of anything and cream soda is proving to be a winner. This soda may be a contender for the top 5.

Boylan Birch Beer

What's better than Root Beer? Birch Beer.

A glorious deep ruby red liquid is found inside this glass bottle.

It is root beer with a little extra sonsin sonsin. I can't think of adequate descriptions for the flavor but I can do my best. Imagine the root beer flavor as a sound. It has deep flavors of rootiness and some high pitched accents. Birch beer is root beer with a treble boost.

A brunette with blonde highlights.

The key words in that gigantic text book you have.

The best parts of that sporting event.

A cool wind on a warm day.

I also get a nice creamy residue that I have found to expect from a high quality root beer.

This drink will wake you up I believe. The taste is pungent, not in a bad way but in a way that makes you notice it is there. If that makes any sense..

Labeling! A circular label with "BOYLAN'S" gracing the front in a wavy manner. It reminds me of old movie posters, the direction the text moves, the white shadowing of the black letters. Creamy Red is boasted on the upper hemi-circle. This I can agree with for it is both creamy and red!

Birch beer is different from root beer in that it uses extract from the birch tree. Sap is collected from the tree and distilled into oil, which is then added to the beverage to give it its nommy flavor. Colors vary from white, brown, red and purple. --Why isn't mine purple!?-- This colorful beverage is mostly found in the northeast and Newfoundland! Take that Montana!!

Should I cite wikipedia for the above paragraph?..

This beverage is just a notch above standard root beer. Boylan's never fails in making a tasty drink. If there ends up being some sort of root beer in the top 5 at the end of the semester, you can be sure it'll be this one. Why get root beer when you can get birch beer?

Stewart's Key Lime Soda

Straight from Florida New York is Stewart's Key Lime Soda.

It smells like an awesome summer morning on the beach. Palm trees everywhere, seagulls flapping about, white sound flying towards you at the whim of the wind. Such a nice scent.

I immediately notice the tartness of the lime and then a little bit of a sugary flavor. Like I had bitten into one of those lime gummies that are coated in sour things.

My mind could be making it up but I feel like I get some meringue flavor also. It's not key lime pie soda, so I fear I may be associating prior flavors to this soda. This does tell me that this soda tastes just like the coagulated limey goodness that is the key lime pie. And there a'int nothin' wrong with key lime pie.

The labeling is done in the obvious green theme. The green diamond is nestled behind 2 limes. One lime is in whole form, the other is halved. Then one of those halves is halved yet again! Like all other Stewart's label's this one features a color disappearing act. This time around the innards of the lime go from light green to colorless.

Stewart's Key Lime soda is a delicious rendition on the tart fruit. It takes me back to the summertime. Now excuse me while I enjoy my gummie lime candy in liquid soda form.

Frostop Root Beer

Oh hey, another Root Beer.

Aw man, no cow head on this bottle.

It is pretty good, a nice rooty flavor but awesomely creamy. The aftertaste is..ehh. It's kind of..woody. The initial taste is really good though.

The cream taste is making this root beer really stand out. It is like bottled root beer float. Like they filled half the bottle up with their root beer soda and then pumped ice cream in there and let it meld into the soda.

The carbonation is done will, no complaints here.

The label sports a scene from the 20's. Above the Frostop name is a scene of a drive in restaurant or maybe a soda joint. Did they have places that exclusively served soda? Anyway, it has olden time cars and a waitress. There is a giant mug of root beer on the roof of the drive in. The color scheme of the label is red and yellow. It gives me a nice rustic type feel. The neck label does not tout a cow head...This is displeasing. There is however a mug of root beer over flowing in foam.

The root beer is leaving an interesting spice taste in the back of mouth. Every time I breathe out through my nose I can taste it. I'm not sure what spice it is but it makes me think of the November-December season.

Overall this root beer is pleasantly creamy. The root beer flavor comes in at the right amount. Unfortunately I'm not a big fan of the aftertaste it gives me.

Cheerwine

Up until about 2 seconds ago I thought this was cherrywine.

They didn't check my ID when I bought this so they are either bad cashiers or there is no fermentation in this sparkling drink.

It definitely has that cherry smell. It reminds me of the cake I had at my sister's wedding this weekend!!

It has a great cherry flavor. I tend to not like cherry that much but this drink does it nicely. It's not too strong. I get some undertones of coke, another reason I think cherry is a big flavor in coca cola. (Is this common knowledge and I'm just dumb?)There isn't much else in this drink. It's just straight up cherry.

The aftertaste of cherries is one of the things that makes me not enjoy them to their full extent. This drink has that aftertaste. However, it is not a deal breaker. It is still a quality beverage.

The carbonation is pretty much perfect. It lives up to the "Unique Sparkling Soft Drink" touted on the neck of the bottle.

Speaking of, let's talk about the labeling...There hardly is any. There is the little circular print I just mentioned and there is a smallish oval label in the center. It's red believe it or not. Written in white it says, "Drink Cheerwine Bottling Company Since 1917". Simple, but effective.

Hey look! The bottle design is something different that I can write about! It's tall and skinny, Boylan-esque but not as tall. The cool thing is the vertical wave like grooves that run around the bottle. It gives you something to grip. There is a flat band at the location of the label.

Overall,I would call this a pretty high quality soda. The flavoring tastes great even if cherry isn't my absolute favorite flavor in the world. The bottle is unique and the carbonation is spot on. Welcome to the top of the ranks Cheerwine. The only question is, is it high enough to be in the top 5 for the Glass Bottle Tournament? We shall see.

Boylan Diet Creme

Another diet soda. I think my randomizer is trying to tell me something..

It has a pretty sweet taste, and by sweet I mean in the slang sense. This cream soda doesn't have that powerful first taste I have gotten from other cream soda's. And the aftertaste is less pronounce than the others. It is a good aftertaste, but when is it not?

There does seem to be a little something lacking though, that I assume is from the diet part. The best I can say is that is just not a full flavor. It's like a nearly great soccer team. They get in the box all the time, but they just can't seem to finish. It's so nearly close to being a perfectly fine soda, but I just needs one little push of oomph! My guess, is that oomph is called sugar.

Now I am nitpicking here. It is a good soda. But it makes me all the more eager for the regular Boylan Creme soda.

I'm just going to skip the carbonation section.

The bottle! Or the label to be more specific. This one has a really awesome gold color. Like, amber waves of grain color. The bottle cap is the best. It's got the amber gold in metallic paint. Also, since this is the diet creme soda, the bottle has diet decal on the neck. The word diet is flanked on top and bottom by a nice fancy border that appears to include a wagon wheel, a double sided arrow and some a floral something or other.

I would call this soda a relaxed cream soda. It is a quiet fine soda but not a stand out cream soda.

Pop Goes The Bubble

Somebody pop the bubbly!

This may be the soda I have been most excited for. Ever since I first looked over the sodas in that corner fridge, I have been wanting to try this one. It's not that I think it's going to be fantastic, it's just..it's bubble gum soda!! I mean come on!

The only soda that might make me more excited is a cotton candy soda. I love the cotton candy flavor.

It has a bit of a medicine like smell. That is medicine that is flavored to bubble gum. Hopefully that won't deter me.

Oh man this is interesting. It is just like eating a Dubble Bubble piece of gum. My initial reaction to this drink was, "Don't swallow this it is gum!" It even leaves a sugary feeling in my mouth. It closely resembles how your mouth salivates when chewing gum. Except you don't have to salivate, the moisture just comes from the drink itself. It's a pretty surreal experience.

My tongue keeps pressing to the top of my mouth like I am about to attempt to make a bubble...I say attempt because I suck at blowing bubbles. I blame it on my short tongue.

Anyway, the carbonation is just fine. Not fizzy but has that sparkly feeling.

The bottle is short and stout, even more so than the Pop Shoppe (eh). The glass is clear so as to show off the brilliant translucent pink hue. The label is..unique. "Pop Goes the Bubble, old fashioned bubble gum soda" adorns the label. The title of this soda is outlined in a faint bubble gum bubble. To the bottom left, is..something. The closest comparison I can make to it is possibly a Styrofoam cup with one of those hot drink lids. What I presume to be coming out of this cup is a lot of bubbles. Also, a snowflake is shooting out of it.

Like I said, unique. Fitting though for the flavor of the soda. Have you ever seen bubble gum soda before?..And on a side note, have you ever seen cotton candy soda before? If so please let me know where.

This soda does a very good job at getting the bubble gum flavor. It evens leaves me with the mouth feel of chewed bubble gum. I would recommend this soda to other people, just so they can experience how good of a job they do at mimicking Dubble Bubble.

There will be a special early edition of the Glass Bottle Connoisseur tomorrow! I expect to be extremely busy again on Friday so I am going for the preemptive strike. So if you actually read these posts every MWF, expect to see one tomorrow instead of Friday!

Stewart's Diet Root Beer

The first of the diets.

Now I haven't had Stewart's regular root beer so I won't be able to make the best comparison, but I should be able to do with what root beer's I have tasted.

Smells like root beer.

It tastes like root beer also. Perhaps it has a little bit less intense of a flavor than others I have tasted. I do believe I taste a difference though. This root beer is a tad bitter. Most likely coming from the fact that it has 0 sugar in it. And 0 carbs and 0 protein and 0 fat and 0 calories! It does have sodium though..

So that essentially makes this soda a carbonated brine with root beer flavor added. To put it in the worst possible terms ever.

It really isn't bad though. Perhaps it tastes ever so slightly bitter to me because I'm looking for a difference from non diet root beer.

It has a somewhat creamy taste, which goes well with the root beer flavor. I really get the root beer flavor at the back of my mouth.

I'm a little disappointed in Stewart's when it comes to the fizz factor. Consuming this beverage I get a little bit of Fizz Upon Drinking, forever to be known now as FUD. FUD is one of my least favorite experiences when it comes to drinking carbonated water syrup, something I have expressed multiple times throughout this journey.

However, it is not a lot of FUD, but still a noticeable amount.

The label is graced with a mug the shape of a barrel. With a foamy root beer beverage slightly overfilling it. I wonder if root beers were originally made in barrels. This, dumdums and probably many other root beer flavored products are advertised with the barrel. Maybe they are playing on the beer part of root beer. I know those are fermented.

At any rate, this diet root beer is a decent drink. From what I can tell, it is not too different from standard root beer beverages. In my opinion though, if you are going to go diet, just drink water.

The Pop Shoppe Root Beer

Root Beer from the reliable Pop Shoppe, nothing wrong aboot it.

The Pop Shoppe is consistently average, or in nicer terms, reliable.

I expect nothing less from this root beer, eh.

Apparently walking from the Yumm Shop to my dorm bubbled up my soda. And it has stayed that way. I guess this soda has a pretty high surface tension, these bubbles aren't going anywhere.

This drink has a nice deep root beer flavor. There's no mistaking it. Of course root beer is a very distinct flavor so even a little bit is unmistakable. C'est delicieux.

Of course, as Pop Shoppe always is, it is spot on with the flavor. Perhaps this time it is even more pronounce than what I'm used to, but that is a good thing. I don't often drink soda (aside from this journey), but when I do I drink dos equis root beer. I like the root beer flavor and in my opinion the more the better.

The bottle and labeling is aboot the same as it always is. Accept this time, oh I'm sorry... except this time it has "ROOT BEER" under the Pop Shoppe logo eh.

Root Beer is a nice rural flavor. It makes me think of farms, like Ontario Farms. Just going to work on my tractor, getting all hot and sweaty. Then I come back and drink a nice cold bottle of Root Beer. Sit down in my couch and watch me some hockey.

The Pop Shoppe lives up to its reputation of reliability. Maybe this time it even goes past that with a nice strong flavor. When ever Pop Shoppe pops up on my list, I know I'm in for a good soda. Not an awesome soda, but a good soda, and I know it will be a good day, eh.

Oh by the way, did I mention the Pop Shoppe is a Canadian Brewery?

Stewart's Orange'n Cream Soda

The ORGINATOR

The one that started it all!

It better be good because in my effort to go to commons and purchase this drink, I was turned zombie..

But I know it is good =]

It smells of an orange and marshmallow snow ball. The scent brings you back to the hot days of summer. Except the summer heat is spliced by the cool orange and cream.

The taste. Oh the taste is perfect. The orange flavor replaces the usually strong punch of the initial cream soda. Who doesn't love orange soda? I know Kel doesn't, mmhmmmmm..

Then orange flavor is in harmony with the luscious cream. Then the cream takes over and has an undertone of orange. A perfect melody.

No component is too strong in this soda. Neither the orange nor the cream is overpowering. There is one thing that hits me in the face from this drink.

Its pure awesome delicousness.

This Stewart's soda is not visibly fizzy. No bubbles appeared when I opened the bottle, nor did they appear when I shook the bottle. Yet somehow there is still a sparkle of carbonation in my mouth.

The labeling is a green diamond with the Stewart's name on it. Underneath is an orange Popsicle with a creamy center ever so slightly dripping out. As I drink, the orange Popsicle loses its color.

I have convinced a few others to try this soda and one of them proclaimed that it tasted just like orange soda. To me it is a little hard to tell the difference. However, the orange sodas I have always came off a little strong. The orange flavor was good, but there was a lot of it. I believe what makes this drink a winner is that the cream is enough to mellow out that orange.

Yes it tastes a lot like orange soda, but that creamyness makes this soda exponentially better.

If I had to improve upon this drink I would only say give me the aftertaste I got from Stewart's Cream Soda. The aftertaste here does not linger for too long. If I could get the orange cream with a wonderful long lasting creamy aftertaste this soda would be...well I can't even think of words.

This has reminded me of why I started this journey. If this soda is so good, then there has to be other great soft drinks out there. Maybe, just maybe, some better than this one...maybe.

By the way, this may be the first soda I actually finished before I finished typing. And I finished it a long time ago.

Frostop Vanilla Caramel Creme Soda

Yet another Cream Soda!

This one touts "Great Creme Brulee Taste". You can't boast that and not live up to it or I will make a sad face.

Well it has a custard like smell. Also a fresh baked cake smell. I keep taking wiffs of it that smell is so good.

On to tasting. The Caramel is very prominent. In hindsight that scent was caramel, boy that's embarrassing. I was into baking for a long time and I can't distinguish smells like that -_-. This cream soda isn't too strong on the aftertaste. My last two cream sodas shined in the aftertaste section, but this hardly has one.

This soda is really just caramel in a bottle. You get a nutty caramel taste in the back of your mouth, just as if you had just eaten a chunk of caramel.

I'm a little hesitant to say that I would like more vanilla. Vanilla is a base tone type of flavor, and too much can lead to bad flavors. Think of vanilla extract. When baking you almost always put a teaspoon or two in. That is because it is powerful juju.

I also get a butter feel.

Carbonation is A-OK.

The labeling of this bottle is an interesting topic. First off, it is brown and tan. Surprising isn't it!? Let's address the claim of "Great Creme Brulee Taste". I am making a sad face. Creme Brulee = Custard. I believe the taste they are claiming to have is the crunchy part of the creme brulee. That crunchy part comes from sprinkling sugar over the custard and then taking a blow torch (AWESOME) and toasting that sugar. Caramel is made by heating sugar. So yes, it does taste like the crunchy part of the creme brulee. The rest of the creme brulee is an awesome vanilla custard. Next I shall address the neck label. It has a cow on it. When I was jotting down all the sodas to be put into a randomizer, I couldn't find the name of this soda so I just called it "Cow Head Brand". Now this cow is holding a flaming blow torch. Again, awesome. The back has a nice little note on it. "After creating Frostop root beer way back in 1926, we have continually sought to bring you the most delicious soda possible. Frostop Vanilla Caramel Creme Soda, with just a hint of caramel is decadently creamy. In the great Frostop tradition, nothing tops it...but the foam!"

A hint of caramel? I beg to differ. And I'm not seeing foam...

But what would make a good foam is...a float using this soda. Oh yes oh yes oh yes. Vanilla ice cream, if French style is essentially frozen vanilla custard. And then the caramel soda that this is would be an amazing base for the ice cream float. Oh man, this soda just jumped a few spots up on my list because of that epiphany.

So this soda is not a creme brulee in a bottle. But it is caramel in a bottle. And a nicely done caramel drink. Perfectly sweetened. If you see this in your market, buy yourself some ice cream too. It has to make an awesome float.