Raspberry (32 reviews)
Laziza Non Alcoholic Malt Beverage Raspberry
Along the I-90 in South Buffalo lies the abandoned Buffalo Malting Company. It’s funny because I must have driven past it nearly a thousand times in my life, but it never registered. When someone mentioned it to me I actually had to put effort into finding it. I passed by twice until I realized where it was. It had become so engrained (no pun intended) in my mind as part of the scenery that I just wasn’t registering it as an individual building. Then I saw a couple of jag off teenagers smashing things there. What fills people with the need to destroy things for no reason other than destroying it? It’s infuriating. Sure it’s abandoned but it’s apart of the cities history and it’s interesting to see what has been left behind.
I’m 99.9% sure that the grain that was processed in that building was never used to make soda, but a guy can dream can’t he? I just picture it back in the 50’s and the guys are strolling into work carrying their huge metal lunch pals with smiles on their faces because they know their hard work is going to make tasty sodas for the world to enjoy. During their shifts their minds will wander wondering what flavoring will be added to the malt. Will it be pineapple, grape or maybe a nice fancy raspberry? They each would get a case to bring home to the family on weekends and everyone would gather around the picnic table eating hot dogs and washing them down with a nice delicious malt.
The problem with this scenario is that I just cannot see kids enjoying malt soda right off of the bat. I think it’s something of an acquired taste. I certainly didn’t like it the first time I had it (I still think straight up malt drinks like Malta Goya are very high on the list of worst drinks ever). They have a weird grainy barley taste to them. It’s like a non-alcoholic beer, which is also disgusting. The more I drink them to review for Thirsty Dudes the more I appreciate the complexity of the flavor. Perhaps if you grew up drinking them since you were little it would be a flavor that you loved. This particular malt would definitely take a shorter time to grow into. It’s got a nice raspberry taste similar to a lot of raspberry iced teas, but instead of being mixed with tea it is mixed with processed grains. Strange, but who am I to judge? Oh yeah, I’m a professional drinkologist.
- Country
- Lebanon
- Sweetener
- Sugar
- Categories
- Soda Pop
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 2/7/2012
- Comments
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Lipton Brisk Raspberry
Sometimes I feel dumb reviewing things everyone in the world has had but then I think that someone out there wants to hear what I have to say about something that they know rather than something that they don't know. I will say this; iced tea should not let out an audible "psst" when you open the cap. There is nothing in iced tea that is natural that should do that so it's either their high pressure sealing technique or something else but I don't like it. I do think that this is light years better than their regular Brisk. That stuff is undrinkable. I feel that the raspberry kind of takes the edge off a bit. Raspberry is the mediator between good and evil.
This came in a giant bottle for a dollar and that's a bit much. I would have paid more for less if the quality were there. I have done it before and would do it again. Look, I know this isn't anything that people don't know and think every day like "tacos are delicious" but I'm putting it out there so someone reads it and turns things around. No one would be offended if Lipton dropped the Brisk line all together and focused on their PureLeaf or 100% Natural line because this tea is cheap garbage. I mean that in the nicest way, Lipton.
- Website
- http://lipton.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- High Fructose Corn Syrup
- Categories
- Iced Tea
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Mike Literman on 4/17/2012
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Admiral Iced Tea Raspberry
Captain, we have a problem. We’re about to set voyage and we just realized that we only have enough beverages on this ship to last us until tomorrow. I don’t know who messed up, but we’ll find out and they will be scrubbing the galley in no time.
Sailor, first things first; I am an admiral, not a lowly captain. I control entire fleets of ships, and I eat captains with my morning granola. That’s right, cannibalism is okay because I am an admiral. It will do you well not to forget that in the future. As for our little problem, don’t sweat it ensign. Being an admiral and all I have the inside line to many things that you lower sailors do not. One of them happens to be a line of teas created for my kind. That’s also right; us admirals like to think of ourselves as a different race. We are descended from mermen, but you didn’t hear that from me. I can get us as many cases of tea as we’ll need for this voyage by 0900 tomorrow.
Have you ever had Arizona and Peace Tea before ensign? Well, tea made for admirals falls somewhere between the two. It tastes more like Razzleberry Peace Tea, but it is sweetened with HFCS, so it has more of the consistency of Arizona. You might ask why they don’t use a higher grade of sweetener for the master sea race. The fact of the matter is that our kind really just likes the thickness of corn syrup. It makes us feel like a drink has more substance. Call us crazy, but that is how my kind has always felt and always will feel.
Now let’s get these people down to Cozumel. They paid decent money for this cruise and we’re going to show them the best time we possibly can!
- Website
- Http://www.admiralbev.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- High Fructose Corn Syrup
- Categories
- Iced Tea
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 8/9/2012
- Comments
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Granny Squibb's Unsweetened Raspberry
Sugar is the cause of every youth getting in trouble. They get hyper because they ate too much or they get snotty because they can't have some candy that is just out of reach of their kid hands. It rots their teeth. Candy and sugar is to kids what money and sex is to adults; the root of all evil. If kids only knew what it was like to not worry about it. Celibate to sugar. That or just give it up for a little. I know as a crappy adult, I have a pile of sweets next to my desk that I dip into every once in a while. It would be hard for me. That being said, I can't tell you the last time I had a sweetened tea at a restaurant. If restaurants sold different unsweetened teas, aside from the mind-numbingly fantastic tea served at P.F. Changs, then we would all be less chunky and more trim, lean, and happy.
This tea is a nice unsweetened tea but every once in a while the lime gives it a little bit of a bitter taste. It's lime, though. It's not lime flavoring or candy lime, just straight up lime. It disturbs the raspberry a bit but it's not stopping me from coming back. I'm slowly polishing off this bottle and there is nothing that's going to stop me. It is good and I will be sad to see it gone, lime and all.
Kids, less sugar more unsweetened tea. Trust me, the sugar drinks you are consuming as a child suck. Wait until you are a little bit older and can appreciate quality chocolates, teas, and other stuff. You won't look back.
- Website
- http://www.grannysquibb.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- No Sugar Added
- Categories
- Iced Tea
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Mike Literman on 2/13/2013
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Hata Ramune Raspberry
Jimmy was a kid growing up in the 1920's who lived in a one-bedroom basement apartment with his parents and 5 brothers and sisters. Unable to afford anything and unable to get to school, he spent his days roaming the streets looking for something to do. He once came across some kids on a stoop playing marbles. He had never seen marbles before and they intrigued him. He was timid, but he managed to ask them if he could join. They were reluctant, but said he could play with them if he brought his own marbles.
This proved to be a challenge to Jimmy, as he didn't have any money to buy marbles. Just then he stumbled upon an empty bottle of Ramune in the trash. He had seen them many times before while he went looking for cans and bottles to return. The one thing he never noticed was the marble in the neck of it. His face lit up as he rattled the marble around the bottle, but slowly faded as he realized the marble was stuck in there.
His initial thought was to smash it on the ground, but he was afraid of cutting himself, causing a scene, and possibly losing the marble. He then notice that the top of the bottle was plastic so he found a sharp rock and started prying it off. It took some work, but he finally did it and retrieved his first marble. But this was only one marble, how was he going to get enough for a whole collection?
Just then he remembered that the karaoke bar down the street always had a lot of empty Ramune bottles in their dumpster. Sure enough, he was right and he found over 30 bottles he could pry the marbles out of. As he was going through one, he noticed a raspberry bottle still had some soda left in it. He had never had soda, and was afraid of his parents catching him drinking it. He hid behind the dumpster as he took a sip of the fizzy beverage. It tickled his throat, but was much too sweet for him. The most sugar he has ever had was a small piece of cake on his birthday last year. To his family, sugar is "not-essential" so he has learned to live without it.
Within a couple hours he had a couple dozen marbles and returned to the kids on the stoop. They were impressed with his collection and promptly punched him in the face and stole them all.
Moral of the story: don't play marbles with randoms on the street.
- Country
- Japan
- Sweetener
- High Fructose Corn Syrup
- Categories
- Soda Pop
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Derek Neuland 3 weeks, 4 days ago
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Herbal Mist Tea made with Yerba Mate Raspberry
There is a certain specialness that comes along with yerba mate tea. It has its very own earthy flavor that you just don't get with normal tea. When you get a drink that tastes this way, and you know exactly what the flavor is, you feel like you're in the inner circle, and all the dullards are on the outside looking at you slack jawed. In that moment, you know tea and you understand it completely.
Unfortunately you don't get to be in that moment with this iced tea. It is made yerba mate, but it's blended with black tea and 55g of cane sugar. The glorious taste of mate is nowhere to be found. It tastes like a slightly upscale, regular raspberry iced tea. There is nothing wrong with the flavor per say, I just feel a little disappointed that I didn't get to be all snooty while drinking mate.
- Website
- http://herbalmist.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Cane Sugar
- Categories
- Iced Tea
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper 2 weeks, 3 days ago
- Comments
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Poland Spring Nature's Blends Raspberry
Did you know that Poland Spring is from an actual town in Maine, and obviously not from the country of Poland? I really hope you didn't think it was from Poland, because I'm sure it would cost more than $.30 per bottle if it were, you know with duties and taxes and all. Now don't you feel stupid?
Did you also know that Poland Spring is owned by Nestle? On top of that they own a buttload of other bottled water brands, which include Arrowhead, Calistoga, Deer Park, Ice Mountain, Ozarka and Zephyrhills. It's all crazy go nuts university in here.
Since these are all regional brands I wonder if any of the other brands are also releasing a "Nature's Blends" line? I'd be okay with that. This is a fairly simple beverage. It's water, cane sugar and white grape/raspberry juice concentrate. It has a decent fruit flavor, but I could do with even less sugar in it. I am a crotchety old man after all. There is only 5% juice in here, but they label it as spring water with real juice beverage, so it's okay. Basically it tastes like Vitamin Water without all the vitamins. It's really ridiculous that Vitamin Water has become my basis for comparison for so many drinks, but it's out there and everyone knows it. So there you have it.
- Website
- http://www.polandspring.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Pure Cane Sugar
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper 2 weeks, 2 days ago
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Sweet Leaf Iced Tea Raspberry
This tea has a good, natural taste. Problem with a lot of companies is that they think that if it's flavored, they have to make it prominent, but Sweet Leaf gets it. They have a good tea taste with a subtle amount of sweetness and raspberry. It's good and the entire can may be drank in one sitting all the while you not having to worry if you have dental insurance.
If purchased at the right place, you can find this entire line for under a dollar, which is a steal for all organic iced tea. Anyone who drinks as much as we do here probably understands that.
- Website
- http://www.sweetleaftea.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Organic Cane Sugar
- Categories
- Iced Tea
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Mike Literman on 9/16/2010
- Comments
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Xing Tea Green Tea Raspberry
I like this company. With the exception of the sweet tea, which, in my opinion, was just something they did for fun, everything I've had from Xing is very good. Plus, it's an all-natural tea and it's got great flavor options. The green tea always has a nice bitterness that isn't lost in whatever flavor I've tried. This raspberry is no exception. It has a raspberry nose to it and to the tongue, you get raspberry and then a bitter, green tea aftertaste.
I don't know why it's not more available. I found it at a local "half way between corner store and bodega" place. They didn't have a lot of flavors, but beggars can't be choosers, and for that reason, I like this tea. I would easily say that it's better than Arizona Raspberry.
- Website
- http://www.drinkxingtea.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Cane Sugar
- Categories
- Iced Tea
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Mike Literman on 11/5/2010
- Comments
- View and Leave A Comment
Romano's Italian Soda Raspberry
I really want to get one of those machines that let you carbonate anything. How great would that be? I would carbonate the dumbest stuff, just because I could. Carbonated chocolate milk? Sure it would be gross, but I'd still do it.
This tastes like it was home carbonated, and I mean that in a good way. I know it's just some sort of syrup in carbonated water, but it's great. I feel like I'm drinking it in a little cafe somewhere in Italy.
Now bring on the carbonated soup.
- Website
- http://www.romanossoda.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Pure Cane Sugar
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 11/5/2010
- Comments
- View and Leave A Comment