Sparkling (20 reviews)
ThinQ Sparkling Citricity
At first glance I thought this was a weight loss drink. Then I read the bottle and realize that it was a focus drink. Speaking of the bottle, I love this bottle. It's one of those aluminum bottles and it has a nice matte finish to it. It makes holding it quite enjoyable.
Okay enough nerdy bottle talk, let's get into the guts of this. I love focus drinks, my favorite being Brain Toniq. I am a soda/coffee/energy drink fiend so it's nice to find alternative ways to stay focused and awake during the day. I'm half way through this bottle and I can already tell this works. I feel much more alert and awake, and ready to continue building this website as soon as I'm done writing this review.
As far as taste goes, it's good but not mind blowing. It's a lightly carbonated orange/tangerine drink. It's not as thick as orange soda, but kind of reminds me of a light Italian soda. I'd be really interested in trying other flavors they have available.
- Website
- http://www.drinkthinq.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Cane Sugar
- Categories
- Sports/Dietary Supplement
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Derek Neuland on 1/2/2012
R.W. Knudsen Sparkling Crisp Apple Cider
Ronald Washington Knudsen was a soda fiend, or so the tale goes. The boy drank soda until his teeth began to rot. They literally fell right out of his head. Just turned black, full of holes and plop there they are sitting delicately on his tongue (just typing that makes me want to throw up). With all of his natural teeth rotted away the dentist/barber of the times gave him some dentures. They were made of wood though and if Ronald drank anything too sugary they would simply begin to dissolve. As a result he started carbonating some straight up fruit juice so that he could still drink bubbly beverages. He had some up and some downs with his experiments. One thing that cannot be disputed is that he struck gold with his sparkling apple cider. He took a wholesome down home Western New York style cider and simply added carbonation. It was a little strong and he feared for his wooden teeth so he added just a touch of water to even it out. The result was perfection in liquid form. Folks around his area were known to drink whole bottles at a time, even though he claimed each bottle was three servings. There were happy taste buds, happy stomachs, happy drinkers and most importantly happy teeth. It was a Christmas miracle.
- Website
- http://www.rwknudsenfamily.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- No Sugar Added
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 12/18/2011
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Juicy Juice Sparkling Apple
My grandparents had a small apple orchard in their back yard. I loved apples. When I was a kid they were my absolute favorite. As a result whenever I was visiting them and apples were ripe I would gather up as many as I could and devour apple and apple until I got sick. I was a dumb kid. I liked the game of seeing how many I could eat. The best part about their orchard was that they were all green and yellow apples. As much as I love apples I would pick one of those over any red apple any day. I tip my hat to Juicy Juice for going the uncommon route and using green apples in their sparkling juice. This could have turned out just like any other sparkling apple juice, but they mixed things up a bit and I thank them for that.
There is something strange about carbonating green apples. They almost get a sour apple candy taste to them. At first sip I was disappointed because I thought it was sour apple candy flavored. Then I remembered it was juicy juice and they don't add sugar. After a couple of more sips I was completely on board. It is slightly sour, but then again so are green apples. The aftertaste specifically really tastes like you just at an apple. So far, this is my favorite in this line.
- Website
- http://www.juicyjuice.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- No Sugar Added
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 11/20/2011
Spindrift Sparkling Blackberry
Tour ended a couple of days ago. Our last show was in Boston, MA (okay Allston). We showed up a bit early and no one was at the venue, so I decided to hoof it out to the local Whole Foods. My phone told me it was a mile away, and I thought that's no big deal. Let me tell you, that was the longest mile I've ever walked. The temperature seemed to be constantly dropping. I had to cross several thruway on and off ramps, go over some decent sized bridges and the neighborhood quickly went from nice to way shady to way nice. Strange times. I'm glad I made the trip though because the store had a bunch of drinks I had never seen before. I was the most excited about this one. It's a soda with actual fruit in it, which is a total plus in my book. On top of that said fruit is blackberry, my favorite.
Because it was made with actual juice I expected this to be pretty sweet. I was actually expecting something along the lines of an Italian soda. I was shocked, but not disappointed to find out it was rather dry. It still tasted totally like blackberries, but it wasn't overly sweet. It unfortunately also did not have chunks of blackberry in it. They must have filtered them out, which is a shame. Some small pieces would have been wonderful. Even with that being the case, this is a soda I can totally get behind. I like that more companies are making sodas with less sugar. We really need to wean this country off of so much sugar.
- Website
- http://www.spindriftsoda.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Evaporated Cane Juice
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 11/10/2011
Snow Sparkling Mint
The tagline on this bottle is: unique, subtle, refreshing, natural. I like making lists so I'm going to break down each bullet point.
1. Unique- This is not the first mint soda I have had. In 2003 I was at the Toronto zoo and came across Sprite Ice. I ended up drinking 3 bottles of it over the course of the day. It was great! Sadly it never was distributed in the US.
2. Subtle- This is the word I was looking for to describe the mint taste in this. It has a really subtle mint taste. I've had some mint drinks that taste like a blizzard in your mouth. Not this one. This is more like a cool breeze sneaking into a doorway as you close it.
3. Refreshing- It's rare that a soda is refreshing, but this one really is. There isn't much to it, but that makes it really light and delicious.
4. Natural- Carbonated water, cane sugar, peppermint (and other natural flavors), and malic acid are the only ingredients. I'd say that's pretty natural.
- Website
- http://www.snowbeverages.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Cane Sugar
- Categories
- Soda Pop
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Derek Neuland on 8/27/2011
- Comments
- 3 Comments. Leave a comment.
Juicy Juice Sparkling Orange
What've you got there? Is that a gun? Oh, it's just a can. Sorry. I'm a bit paranoid. You see, I had this wildly vivid dream where a man who looked just like you stood me up at this very shoe store. I was here, buying my Cole Haan Air Colton Saddle shoes and you came up to me, asked me if you could have my wallet, and then jabbed a gun in my back. It was frightening. What is that drink anyways? Juicy Juice? That's for kids, right? No? Adults can drink it, too? I guess you're right. It's just strange because the last time that I had it, I was like eight years old. I'm used to it in those giant cans, though. I've never seen it in those small, baby cans. One more reason I thought it was for kids.
Oh, that's not necessary. Well, if you've got extra. Did anyone tell you that it's strange that you would just carry around drinks with you? I guess it's even stranger that I, a grown man, would take drinks from a strange man that carries around drinks.
This...isn't that good. I'm sorry. Look, I appreciate it, but it's not that great. Yes, it is orange, but the "sparkling" leaves a bit to be desired. It's not that it's over or under sparkly, it's just...off. I think that I expected a sparkling orange juice, but it's more of a sparkling orange drink. You know, like those orange drinks you get at bodegas as bad parent's houses.
What do you mean, "Can I have your wallet?" Of course you can’t. Wait a minute...I know what you're doing...that is a knife. Oh man, it's happening for real now! Where is that clerk!?
- Website
- http://www.juicyjuice.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- No Sugar Added
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Mike Literman on 7/26/2011
Ocean Spray Sparkling Cranberry
I for one approve of the recent trend of sparkling juices in 8oz cans. They seem to be popping up more and more. They are just juice and carbonated water. No sugar added. No sugar needed. They are way healthier than pop, but they still give me the carbonated fix I sometimes crave. I swear it's like I'm a junkie. I get this feeling in the back of my throat and I know that I just won't be able to rest until I drink something carbonated. These little juices have been my current fix.
Ocean Spray was wise to cut the cranberry juice in this with grape juice. If it were pure cranberry it would have been pretty tart and a bit intense. This way it's a bit sweeter (naturally) with the same basic taste.
- Website
- http://www.oceanspray.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Naturally Sweetened
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 7/25/2011
Celsius Sparkling Orange
A couple of friends and I were planning on riding to Niagara Falls on our bikes today. It was close to, if not over, 90 degrees out but we figured we'd be riding next to the river the whole time, so it should be cooler. It was, but it was still pretty hot. Before we left I downed this can of Celsius. I definitely enjoy their sparkling drinks over their teas. They both taste so overly diet (they are weight loss drinks what so I don't expect otherwise) but the bubbles mask it a bit. This tasted like a really cheap diet orange soda that you would find at Aldi or some such discount grocery store. It wasn't the greatest, but for what it is and what it does I can't really expect a gem. I definitely felt an energy burst from it, and I will assume it helped burn calories. So I downed the can pretty fast, let out a humungous burp and hit the pedals.
We made it about halfway through Wheatfield when we decided to stop at a gas station and refill our water bottles. We were sitting outside sipping on some crisp cold water when suddenly my front tire let out all its air. It was loud and it was fast. The bike was laying on the ground for about ten minutes without being touched for ten minutes before it happened. I blame the sun. I really think it got to hot and burst. Stupid sun, you're just fighting dirty because I put on SPF 85 sunscreen!
- Website
- http://www.celsius.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Sucralose
- Categories
- Elixir, Energy Drink, Sparkling, Sports/Dietary Supplement
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 7/17/2011
Tropi-Cola Sparkling Cola Champagne
I must be weird. Okay, I know I'm weird for a lot of reasons. I more meant in reference to the face that I love sodas that taste like bubble gum. I handed this can to 3 other people and all of them thought it was disgusting. While it's not the best bubble gum soda I've had, it still tasted good to me. I don't think it's an acquired taste because I liked cola champagne the first time I tried it. I guess it just goes back to the fact that I'm weird. Oh well.
Thanks goes to Jessica Pizza for being my lovely hand model for this drink. I was having the hardest time finding a good place in the sunlight to take a picture of the can and she stepped up and helped me out.
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- High Fructose Corn Syrup
- Categories
- Soda Pop
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Derek Neuland on 7/14/2011
Celsius Sparkling Wild Berry
So far this has been my least favorite of the Celsius line. The sucralose in this is just overpowering. It somehow tastes like a diet ginger drink with some diet berry flavoring added to it. If you're used to the diet taste it's probably tastes fine to you. I didn't really enjoy it at all. I will still give this a three-bottle rating though as it gave me all the energy I needed to exercise. So much in fact that Mike and I rode our bikes for nearly 30 miles last night and I didn't feel exhausted at all. Hopefully it also actually burned off those extra calories like it promised to as well.
- Website
- http://www.celsius.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Sucralose
- Categories
- Diet, Energy Drink, Sparkling, Sports/Dietary Supplement
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Jason Draper on 5/20/2011
