Exotic Soda Pops Reviews

I got a lot of sodas from the Blue Sun Soda Shop in Spring Lake Park, MN.  So many curious beverages to try!  I somehow limited myself to about 28 bottles of pop.  Come with me, as I restrict myself to savor a bottle every 4 days (to hopefully keep the sugar from killing me).  

Ginger Man Soda

By Maine Root

Breads and beverages have gone together since that ancient day when someone's sourdough accidentally fermented into beer.  Similarly, imagine the great taste of spicy gingerbread cookies in a frosty glass!  Maine Root makes some fine root beers and ginger brews, so I had some high hopes for Ginger Man Soda.

Unfortunately, I can see why Maine Root does not include this beverage on their website.  It doesn't really taste like any gingerbread cookies I can remember.

A simple (and typical) gingerbread cookie recipe I found online includes ginger, cinnamon, cloves, molasses, and vanilla.  I can maybe get a sense of vanilla from the soda, but none of the other dominating flavors.  

It's sweet, with a cola-brown color, and the ingredients list "cane juice", but ironically I don't detect any molasses flavor.  I mentioned the vanilla.  I maybe get a sense of root beer.  Other flavors are hard to pin down.  

It's not BAD, but it's not the taste of gingerbread cookies (nor gingerbread) I was expecting.  

I still hold high hopes for Maine Root's seasonal Pumpkin Pie Soda.

Fritzkola Kirsch 

By Fritzkola (Order from here and search for "Fritz")

Not so sweet, but that's kind of a good thing.  I estimate each bottle to weigh in at 100 calories.  It absolutely tastes like cherry apple cider, which is pretty much what the ingredients say it is.  The cherry flavor makes for a somewhat heavy taste.

Carbonation is not so strong; it's easy to drink on a warm summer day.

I reviewed Apple-Beer earlier, and I was disappointed that Apple-Beer basically had no juice in it, especially given that Apple-Beer heavily touts its old world heritage.  In contrast, Fritzkola Kirsch is basically carbonated water and fruit juice with some sugar; which is what I'd expect from a German soda pop.

The funny faces on the logo are part of a larger story; Fritz-Kola is kind of like the Ben & Jerry's of soda pop in Germany.  These 2 friends came up with an idea to start a soda business together, made a heavily-caffeinated cola in 2002, and started selling it in Berlin bars out of a beat-up VW van.  It took a lot of hustle and sleeping in that van, but now Fritz-Kola is sold all over Europe.  Now they're diversifying into peculiar fruit flavors.  

Lime Soda

By North Star Craft Soda

The Mojito.  The Margarita.  The Gimlet.  The Gin & Tonic.  These great Summer drinks all have the great taste of limes in common.

North Star's Lime Soda doesn't taste like real limes.  It tastes like the mighty flavor of lime candy.  The lime candy flavor is strong in this soda.  And check out that marvelous green color!  

My wife says: "Yuck.  Too sweet.  Too fake."

This soda is very sweet and syrupy.  It's not crisp.  It's not complex.  I wish I could say more about it, but there's not much more to report.

I liked it.  Sometimes you want to drink a big glass of lime candy.  But I'm not in a hurry to get another bottle of it.  It's just as well; I can't find it on their website.

Black Cherry Soda

By Manhattan Special

When I was a kid, sometimes we would go to picnics with coolers full of small-company locally-bottled sodas, and my favorite flavor was black cherry soda.  I have no idea why big national bottlers don't make black cherry, because it's awesome.  There is a Cherry Crush, but it's only available regionally.  I miss black cherry, and I have no idea why I can't get a straight-up non-caffeinated black cherry soda at my local Target.  

Manhattan Special Black Cherry is good stuff!  Not too sweet, not too fizzy, nicely balanced.  Very flavorful.

The cherry flavor is very rich.  The color is marvelously dark.  The natural flavor and color is reassuring.  

This is honestly the best straight-up black cherry soda I've ever tasted.  Even my wife likes it!  

Contains: Carbonated water, cane sugar, vegetable juice for color, natural flavor, citric acid, sodium benzoate (preservative), and caramel color.

Exotic Soda Pops Reviews

I went to the Blue Sun Soda & Sweets Shop and bought dozens of bottles of sweetened carbonated beverages with my wife for our anniversary.  During quarantine, Blue Sun requires you to wear a mask while shopping.  It's a very interesting outfit, which bottles several of their own lines of fun beverages at their factory.  Sadly, they do not sell ice, so if you want to drink beverages right away, you should buy ice and drinkware beforehand.

Included in this review.

After visiting the Blue Sun and putting some bottles in your ice-filled cooler, I encourage you to work up a thirst and let your beverages chill by taking a walk in the lovely nearby Springbrook Nature Center.

Reviewing these fun beverages will give me something to do during quarantine.

Love is totally punk rock.

 Love Potion No. 69

By Real Soda in Real Bottles, Ltd. (order from here)

I shared this with my beautiful wife, for our anniversary.  It's sweet, but not too sweet for me nor my wife.

I used to feel so punk rock when I drank this back in the 1990s, and I was a Generation X slacker hipster.  It was made by the Skeleteens back then, and it seemed really spooky and cool.

This beverage is pale purple in color; I fear that my photos don't do this purple color justice.

The taste is hard to pin down: flowery? spicy? herbal--like herb tea? a little grapey, maybe?  It tastes like you just stepped into a pagan supply store and everything smells a little like patchoulli.

The ingredients mention this herb blend:

Siberian ginseng, Jasimine, Buchu, Dill Weed, Gingko Biloba, Clove, Echinacea, Damiana, Kola Nut, Dong Quai (Angelica), Brazilian Guarana, Gotu Kola, African Capsicum, Chamomile

That's a lot to look up; more than I am willing to look up, anyway.  My mother can confirm that many of these herbs were prescribed for her when she was dealing with menopause, so maybe this blend will jiggle your hormones and actually stimulate amorous feelings in you.

Like ginger beer, but apple-flavored.

 Apple-Beer

By SodaBeers

The website reports: "Blended apples with herbs and spices."

In the history, the website explains:

Almost a century ago Bavarian biermeisters developed our unique formula as an alternative to beer. They blended Sicilian apple with natural herbs and spices calling it “Fassbrause” – the soft drink with a head. This remarkable beverage was prepared and delivered much like beer, in wooden barrels, sitting on the back of a horse-drawn wagon.
In the early 1960s, we brought the drink to the Rocky Mountain. We honored its origins by calling it “Apple Beer” identifying it with other traditional sodas such as root beer and ginger beer.

And it is tasty.  Not too sweet, not too tart, and lightly carbonated.  A great sweet apple flavor, not like sour apple candy.  Non-alcoholic, and perfect for kids with a convenient screw-off bottlecap.

I was a little disappointed by the ingredients:

Purified carbonated water, pure cane sugar, citric acid, yucca extract (a natural antimicrobial), apple and other natural flavors, caramel.

I concede that this is GREAT for an American soft drink, but I was expecting more from a beverage touting its old-world heritage and "blended apples with herbs and spices."  It's basically just another soda pop.  I don't HATE Apple Beer, I'm just disappointed.

If you're looking for something more old-world, please consider these alternatives:

• Sparkling cider and sparkling apple juice: Not too hard to find in the USA.
• Apfelschorle: Popular everywhere in German-speaking countries in bottles, you can be like those hip European kids and make it at home by mixing apple juice with mineral water (or just club soda).  No sugar, no coloring, all natural.  
• Hard cider: Not appropriate for kids, but a naturally fermented carbonated apple beverage, and a traditional American beverage since colonial times.

"Serenity" and "Blue Sun" are Firefly references.

 Root Beer & Vanilla Bean

By Serenity Sodas

"Ooh, this is GOOD." -- my wife, who loves root beer.

Sweet and syrupy, it's lightly carbonated.  It tastes like what you'd expect: a mix of root beer and vanilla cream soda.  It's not too complicated, but also not too flavorful.  It's made with sugar, not corn syrup.  The taste somehow reminded me of marshmallows.

Ingredients: Filtered carbonated water, sugar, natural and artificial flavors, artificial color, sodium benzoate, and citric acid.

Bottled by Blue Sun Bottling Co., Spring Lake Park MN  55432

Finally remembered to include the cap.

Lucky Ginger Brew 

By Boots Beverages

This has the kind of gingery spicy ZIP you'd hope for from the Lone Star State, where the most of the wild animals have weaponized themselves.  Too spicy for the wife.  It's no ordinary drink mixer!

Sweetness is nicely balanced.  It's made with real sugar, not corn syrup.  The apperarance is cloudy, like you'd expect from ginger juice.

If you like Reed's Strongest Ginger Brew or Blenheim's Red Cap, Boots' Lucky Ginger Brew is worth checking out.