Derek Neuland (382 reviews)
Nantucket Nectars All Natural Half and Half
The year was 2000. Y2K had come and gone without a sound, Bill Clinton was still president, and I had just graduated from high school. After graduation, I moved into a house in Buffalo just around the corner from the coffee shop Stimulance. This coffee shop would quickly become a place I went to a lot. From getting a bagel with cream cheese in the morning, to evenings drinking Snicker-chinos (a delicious coffee drink that tasted like a burnt Snickers bar). Lets not forget their classic weekly open mic nights. Oh memories...
So why am I talking about this coffee shop that has long since closed? Well it was the first place I ever bought a bottle of Nantucket Nectars from. It was a bottle of their lemonade and I was instantly hooked. This bottle is their half and half (half lemonade, half iced tea) and it's just as good as the solo lemonade flavor. A lot of companies get the ratio all wrong, but those folks in Nantucket know what they're doing.
- Website
- http://www.nantucketnectars.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Sugar
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Derek Neuland 3 weeks, 6 days ago
Oregon City Soda Company Root Beer
My friend and business partner Alex Wrekk bought this for me today at a Pizzeria in a section of North Portland called Kenton. The photo is the only label that was there, the actual bottle was a generic brown glass bottle with no markings on it.
I was hesitant to try a drink in an unmarked bottle, but I'm glad I did because this root beer is great! It has a great anise taste (and I love anise). It reminds me a little of Virgil's, but more complex and not as heavy. The only word that comes to mind when trying to describe the aftertaste is "earthy". I hope that doesn't make me sound like a hippie.
- Website
- http://www.ocsodaco.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Not Listed
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Derek Neuland 4 weeks ago
Stumptown Cold Brew Coffee
Stumptown Coffee is what made me fall in love with coffee. I recently moved back to Portland, OR, the home of Stumptown Coffee. I would love to say it was because I missed it so much, but in reality it was to open a custom button/zine store with my friend Alex Wrekk called Portland Button Works.
We recently signed a lease on a storefront and have been slowly moving things into it this week. I felt it was fitting that the first drink I reviewed here was a drink I've been waiting to try for a long time. Stumptown came out with this lovely glass bottle of coffee just before I moved back to Buffalo for 10 months. I didn't get a chance to try it before I left, but now I finally found a nice cold bottle.
I don't know much about cold brewing coffee, besides that it tastes better than other methods of iced coffee. After opening this bottle, it smelled like I just walked into a coffee shop. It has that classic/awesome coffee aroma. I usually drink my coffee with soy/almond milk and a little sugar, but under certain circumstances I can tolerate black coffee. I wish all black coffee tasted like this, because it's incredible. It's really strong, but has so much flavor. I don't know blends of coffee well enough to wax on about the different subtleties in the beans. All I know is that this is delicious, and I would probably drink it every day if it weren’t $3.50 a bottle.
- Website
- http://www.stumptowncoffee.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- No Sugar Added
- Categories
- Coffee
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Derek Neuland on 4/19/2012
- Comments
- 2 Comments. Leave a comment.
Trader Joe's Fresh Squeezed Limeade
Dear Trader Joe,
You don't know me but I’ve been a shopper at your grocery store for a few years now. I will admit I am not loyal to your establishment, but I do shop there as much as I am able to. I especially enjoy your veggie chips and hummus. It’s easily my favorite hummus ever.
I haven't had the best of luck with your beverages in the past. Your so-called "vintage" sodas were quite bad if I may say so. I must say that I was a little skeptical of this limeade when I picked it up. I hate to judge a drink by it's bottle, but this screamed, "watered down artificial flavors" when I saw it. I was pleasantly surprised to find only 4 ingredients in the bottle: water, sugar, limejuice, and lemon juice.
I don't know whom you traded to get this, but you made a good trade. This is easily one of the best limeades I have ever tasted. It's very quenching, but also has a great tartness to it. I wish it was sourer, but that's only because I am still searching for that drink that is so sour that it hurts.
Good job Joe! You're good at trading.
Sincerely,
Derek
- Website
- http://www.traderjoes.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Granulated Sugar
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Derek Neuland on 4/16/2012
Queen of Sheba Ginger Iced Tea
The rainy season is slowly fading away here in Portland and the sun is starting to show its face. What this means for me is more porch hangouts. Hanging out on the porch with friends and a tasty drink is how I love to spend nice days. This is a great drink for that. At first I was disappointed that the ginger (yes, they use REAL ginger) wasn't burn your mouth strong. But then half way through the bottle I noticed my lips were tingling. It's one of those subtle ginger burns that you don't notice right away. If this didn't have the ginger in it, it would be a pretty boring and weak iced tea. The ginger is what makes it delicious.
- Website
- http://queenofsheba.biz/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Raw Sugar
- Categories
- Iced Tea
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Derek Neuland on 4/13/2012
365 Nutrient Enhanced Water Pink Lemon Aid
The world of vitamin waters is pretty murky. While there are some really good ones, there are also a lot of bad knock offs. Whole Foods usually knows what's what when it comes to drinks so I figured this one would be a safe bet. What surprised me though was how tart is. Most "lemonade flavored" drinks aren't tart at all. They throw a little lemon flavor in there but don't make your lips pucker at all. This is the closest lemonade flavor vitamin water I’ve ever had, and I love it. It's a delicious light, flavorful, and thirst quenching lemonade.
- Website
- http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Organic Cane Sugar
- Categories
- Sports/Dietary Supplement, Water
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Derek Neuland on 4/12/2012
Columbia Gorge Pure Pressed Apple Cider
Ever since I moved back to Portland, it has been cold. Sure we've had a few days where it hit 55-60 degrees, but for the most part it has been chilly. Since it has been feeling like fall, I've had a craving for apple cider. In Buffalo, it's hard to find cider when in the winter or spring. Luckily, I stumbled upon this bottle of Columbia Gorge. Oh Columbia Gorge, how I missed you. This is my favorite juice company in the Pacific North West and they rarely let me down.
On the other hand, I'm really picky when it comes to apple cider. I've never had cider as good as the stuff made in central and western New York. That is, until now. This cider is fantastic, and reminds of a lot of my favorite ciders back home. It has the perfect tart taste, with lots of flavor too. I thought I had to give up pure apple cider when I decided to move back to Portland, but I’m glad to find out that I was wrong.
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- No Sugar Added
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Derek Neuland on 4/5/2012
Pepsi Next Cola
Alright folks, we have a problem on our hands. America is getting fatter and they're starting to realize how many empty calories are in a bottle of Pepsi. We tried to win them over with Diet Pepsi, but people complained about the gross taste of the fake sugar. Plus a lot of people didn't like advertising that they were on a diet. So then we developed Pepsi MAX. Okay I'll give credit where credit is due, that one was all Chad's idea. It worked for a while, but then people realized we just re-bottled and slightly reformulated Diet Pepsi.
So where do we go from here? Well Sarah from production suggested we do a half and half of regular and diet Pepsi. That way you have the sugary taste of Pepsi that we all love, but with fewer calories so we don't get so fat. Sarah has got some different mixtures made up for us to try. Let's see how this first one tastes... bleh, next! Hmmm #2 smells funny, no thank you. Next! This third one has potential. Minimum acid aftertaste. Some sweetness to it. I think we got it!
What's that Sarah? We should call it Pepsi Next? I guess that makes sense. I can already see the ads now: "Your Next Cola!" Get advertising on a conference call, we need to rush this to production.
- Website
- http://www.pepsi.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- High Fructose Corn Syrup
- Categories
- Soda Pop
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Derek Neuland on 4/5/2012
- Comments
- 2 Comments. Leave a comment.
Squirt Ruby Red
Someone recently pointed out that we hadn't reviewed this. I was pretty shocked to hear this because Ruby Red Squirt is one of my "go-to" sodas and I could have sworn I had already reviewed it. It must have somehow slipped through the cracks, as some of the “mainstream” drinks tend to do as we search the earth for strange and unusual things to try.
Ruby Red Squirt is my favorite "mainstream" grapefruit soda. It has a good sour taste to it, but not so much that it's lip puckering. Also the "ruby red" is a slight berry taste, which is nice. This also has caffeine in it, which is unusual for an "un-cola". I also don't even mind that this has high fructose corn syrup. I'm sure it would be better with cane sugar, but I don't mind too much.
- Website
- http://www.squirtsoda.com
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- High Fructose Corn Syrup
- Categories
- Soda Pop
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Derek Neuland on 3/24/2012
- Buy Now
- Ruby Red Squirt
Rockstar Sugar Free Energy Drink
Full disclosure: I am sick. It's been over a year since I’ve been sick so it's not that upsetting. I have a horrible cough and my nose is like a faucet. I woke up today feeling slightly better so I thought I'd come to the coffee shop to get some work done. I didn't think drinking coffee while being sick was the best idea, so for some stupid reason I thought an energy drink would be better.
In the past I have hated every Rockstar energy drink I've tried. Maybe it's because my nose is so stuffed that I can't smell a thing and it's throwing my taste buds off, but I actually don't mind this one. It has a less sweet Red Bull/melted candy taste. I'm not sure if this is the best thing for my body right now, but it definitely woke me up enough to realize that I’m still too sick to work.
- Website
- http://www.rockstar69.com/
- Country
- United States
- Sweetener
- Sucralose
- Categories
- Diet, Energy Drink
- Rating
- Reviewed By
- Derek Neuland on 3/22/2012
