Gus (Grown Up Soda) - 8 Reviews

Hey Gus, as we have learned through the last couple of years you have some very good fruit sodas, but as soon as you venture into the world of “brown” pop that all goes out the window. You have found your niche in the soda world, and there is no need to be greedy and make every flavor. Stick with the fruits and you will have a prosperous future.

Speaking of which, I recently had a bottle of your Star Ruby Grapefruit, and I must say kudos. No, not those fake granola bar treats from the 90s, I mean job well done. As a fan of grapefruit, and pop of the flavor, I will admit that a lot of the time the “big” brands take it a bit too far. The vision of the fruit is lost. You stayed pretty true. You took some grapefruit juice, cut it minimally with orange juice to get rid of that overly bitter edge, then added some sparkling water and a bit of cane sugar. 22g out of 12oz isn't bad at all. It is nearly half of what is in a can of Coke, or more fittingly Squirt. The end result is a soda that actually tastes like pink grapefruit, but doesn't give you that sour face look.

Gus, you're a good guy, and you have a great little company going. I just wish the world would realize what I have so this could be more readily available.

To sum up this soda I give you The Decemberists' Valenica. It tells the tale of two star-crossed lovers, a man and his citrus of choice. The world couldn't accept their love, and it all ended it tears. What is not told in the song is that after the untimely death of his beloved orange, the protagonist of the tale collected her remains and used the juice they contained to create a soda that was worthy of praise.

He always found his love to have a wonderful dry humor, so he kept true to her memory, by not adding much sugar to ensure the soda would also be dry. The result fell somewhere between a sparkling water and soda pop as the world knows it. It was light yet still flavorful. With each sip our hero shed a tear for the love that he had lost, but yet regained in some form as a beverage.

I like dry sodas. They are a nice alternative when you don't want to drink a lot of sugar. The flavors generally aren't overly strong, but I can get over it for the trade off. Fruit flavors generally make the best dry sodas. Unfortunately root beer does not. Root beer is meant to be robust and full bodied, two things you just can't get with a dry soda. In essence this is some seltzer water with some root beer flavoring added to it (plus the tiniest amount of cane sugar). To be fair it does have birch oil and vanilla in it, so it is all natural. It's unfortunate that it doesn't really work for root beer, as the flavor isn't very apparent and it tastes like watered down root beer.

First of all, I performed one of the cardinal sins of Thirsty Dudes, which is drink, a drink without taking a picture of it. I thought I did but I forgot and now you're left with a stock image from Amazon. For that, I apologize even though Amazon has better images that we ever will. It's part of our charm. We're charming with our lack of professionalism. Face it, you can't help but love us.

I hated GUS's Cola. A lot. This is a whole other story. This is pretty great. It's almost like a sparkling pomegranate juice rather than a pop. It's bitter, like a pomegranate, and GUS lets it do its thing. That's the right thing to do. Not too sweet, as it says. It's super fruity, and actually, and for the first time, tastes like pomegranate.

Parents, I kind of feel like if your brat kids want pop, you can give them this and it's a safe middle ground. It's fruity enough for their sugar craving faces, but not filled with enough sugar that you don't have to empty your wallet, pocketbook, purse, fanny pack on both expensive, gourmet pop and dental expenses.

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EDIT: I found it. I knew I took a picture of it.

Seeing that I am now 32, I own my own business and I have an apartment with my ladyfriend I think it's safe to say I am an adult, or a grown up if you will. Now that I fit into that demographic I can finally drink this brand of soda without feeling like I am cheating. If anyone really felt that way, they are either obviously an actual child between the ages of 2 and 7, or they have some serious issues that they should probably see a specialist about. Feeling guilt over a soda is just plain dumb, unless you stole it from someone else, or you're cheating on your diet.

This pop is "for grown ups" because it's not as sweet as most sodas and it's also dry. I'm not exactly sure what it is that makes a soda dry, but I know I'm drinking one as soon as it hits my lips. Maybe it is just that there is less sugar in it. I tried to "Wiki" it, but all that come up was stuff about the company Dry Soda. All that aside this is a great tasting pop. Both the cranberry and the lime are fighting to be on the forefront of flavor town. That definitely gives it more of a sparkling juice flavor than a soda flavor. It is fairly dry, which is a nice change of pace from all the overly sugary sweet sodas that are out there. I love them but sometimes I need a break, so get off my back!

After the debacle with my last drink I decided I needed something with a redeeming ginger quality. Grown-Up Soda it is! I know Mike isn't a big fan of this product line, but I have enjoyed every flavor that I've tried. I enjoy that they are not as sweet as normal sodas and have a dry taste to them.

This is a ginger ale made with real ginger root extract, not all of that artificial garbage that is in a lot of ginger ales these days. The difference in taste is very apparent. It doesn't have much of a burn, but after you swallow there is a lingering tingle in the back of your throat.

This has potential to get young kids to drink a lot less sugar. Kids are dumb and are easily tricked. Every kid is especially dumb because they want to be adults. Adults know that being a kid is much more enjoyable. So here's how things should go down. Have an adult that the kid looks up to drink these in front of said child. Don't give the kid a drink yet though. Without a doubt the kid will ask what it is. The response should be "This is a soda for adults. Kids aren't allowed to have it. It's a shame because it's really good. Why don't you have one of those Pepsi's over there? I mean it's not as good, but you know it's something." The kid will then beg and plead to have some of this soda that is for grown ups only. Eventually the adult should act like they are reluctantly giving in and giving the kid some. If the kid says that don't like it the adult should say something along the lines of "See I told you. You aren't old enough to enjoy it yet." The kid will invariably go back for more. Then they will want it all the time instead of the carbonated sugar garbage they were drinking. These are the ideas you have when you are a scientist like myself.

Mike had their dry cola, and he wasn't really into it at all. Understandably I was hesitant to pick this up, but I thought what the heck and here we are now.
This is the kind of soda that would be nice to drink with a meal. It's nothing too fancy. No not like hutdogs and handburgers, but a sit down meal. I would probably drink it with some tofu, rice and vegetables. Of course that is a staple in my diet, so I drink a lot of things with that.
It's a dry soda. The flavor doesn't leave much of an aftertaste, which is nice. Mike also hates black currants. I love them. We had a bush in my backyard when I was growing up. Actually that's a lie. They were red currants. Either way, I loved the tartness of them. Mixed with the grapes, it reminds me of a high end sparkling grape juice. You know the ones that would be like $5 a bottle. Oh so expensive.

Remember when you were a kid or a stupid adult and you used to put your mouth over a fresh two-liter bottle of pop and just inhale? That was stupid, but do you remember the taste? It was like a dry cola air. Like a cola flavored, breath subtracting air. This "dry cola" tastes like that and nothing else. Nothing. I don't know who is complaining about too much cola taste but I do understand the too much sugar, which this drink takes care of.

If you are 84 and hate a rich cola taste and an adequate amount of sugar, this is for you.