I will be the first to admit that I am a complete snob when it comes to ginger ale/beer. When done properly it can be one of the finest beverages to ever grace your mouth. When done improperly it's just a bubbly sea of mediocrity (yet I've never tasted one that I would call bad). Due to this snobbery I tend to stay away from the “big names” of soda for this flavor. I get real annoyed, real fast when a ginger drink doesn't even have any real ginger in it. Luckily Canada Dry still uses ginger in their mix, so I decided to take it for a little test ride. Sure I've had it before, but it's been over five years, and in actuality it has probably been closer to ten. Seriously, since I had a real ginger beer I hardly ever go back to the light stuff, well except on flight. I always drink ginger ale and apple juice on planes for some reason.

With the exception of their choice of sweetener, Canada Dry makes a ginger ale the way it should be made. It's bubbly and crisp. You can taste the ginger in it, but it's not enough to have any sort of burn. This is a dry ginger ale after all. (For those of you not in the know, pale or dry in reference to a ginger drink means that it doesn't have any kick.) This is of higher quality than most big name sodas. I appreciate that they took a little bit of time with this one instead of just cranking out generic soda.

I will start this review off with a quote from Editor Dan, “Holy crap it tastes as good as it smells!” Let me tell you people this is one of the most nasal cavity pleasing I have ever took a sniff of. Well that doesn't sound appealing at all. Seriously though the fruity vanilla aroma that emits from this bottle is what I imagine the perfect island paradise to smell like. It smells wonderful, but it's not too strong like those candy perfumes that your younger sister wore in the 90s. This is a classy island smell.

It also tastes like it smells: classy. The secret here is that this is not your everyday black or green tea in this bottle. It is an “herbal extract” that is a combination of hibiscus, rosehips, vanilla beans, raspberry leaves and lemon peel. To be honest Good Drink could have stopped right there, and I would have a drink that I loved. The folks at the company had a larger vision though. Theirs was a vision of a national takeover of the teas of Canada (to be fair, not a large take over at all) and they did the unthinkable, they added mango to an already stellar drink. The result: magic in a bottle, well almost. Everything about this beverage would be absolutely perfect if they slightly changed but one thing. There is a tad too much vanilla in this tea. It smoothes it out more than a tea should be and it pushes it almost to the dangerous level of potpourri taste. Luckily it doesn't reach that line and it still tastes delectable. This tea will easy run the tea empire of Canada, but if the vanilla were a little less, I'm thinking Good Drink could take on the world. Think about it George, you could be a global power. Doesn't that sound appealing?

Whenever I think of peach nectar a very specific idea is floating around my skull. I think of a very thick, sweetly perfect juice that tastes like I have shrunk down a million peaches so that I could fit them all in my mouth at once. That is what Looza peach nectar tastes like, and it's what I think that all drinks that bear this name should as well. Unfortunately Kerns does not share my belief. First off this is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, which can be okay in sodas but is a big no-no when it comes to juice. The result is that instead of tasting like glorious fruit, it's a bit on the candied side. The consistency of this is fairly thick, but it's the wrong kind of thickness that you get from a syrup and not from blending the fruit for a shorter time. At least they used real peach puree in this. It's not horrible by any means. I would happily drink a can of this, but when you're beverage is being compared to the big guns you have to reach for the stars. Kerns apparently though that reaching for the lowest branches would be enough.

I found this drink once before and did not buy it because it was two years expired. It sought me out and demanded I drink it. Now, I found this and my heart dropped because I thought this was going to be the drink to "do it." What do I mean by "do it?" Why, throw up, of course. I put this in the fridge today in anticipation of possibly doing it, but I'm a Thirsty Dude, I have to drink everything. This is part of everything, ergo I have to drink it.

First sip was a tiny sip. If this were going to make me sick, the sip I took would have warned my body that terror was about to strike. It was prefacing my body to prepare for the onslaught that was about to come. My poor body. It probably hates me. I throw absolute garbage at it every day and it does me pretty well.

I was surprised, though. It was not poison but an almost drinkable beverage. If you can imagine a green olive inside a lemonade, that would be this. A kid martini. It tasted a lot less like a green olive than I was expecting. I'm not drinking more than 10% of this as I still fear it but I conquered it nonetheless.

In closing I will tell you what it says on the front and you can determine for yourself if what I said matches the companies statement on said drink:
"A wonderful gift bestowed by nature with a distinctive flavor"

The flavors behind this drink take you where you want to go when you retire, around the world. Tea taste? Present. Lemon taste? Wildly present. Coffee/espresso taste? Lacking. The lemon though, man...there in full effect like Reggie. I don't know what an espresso tea is since none of the ingredients are reflective of anything coffee related. The tea, though, is a sweet lemon tea. Although I assume it's black, I can't taste because of the sweet lemon going on in the forefront.

I didn't know what to expect with this drink because I thought that I was going to get a trifecta of flavors but instead, I only got a duo. Instead of getting the Thompson Twins, I got Tears For Fears. Instead of Beastie Boys, I got Lightning Bolt. I was discounted by 33.3% and I think that I would have rather gotten the full lineup.

Yes, I am here as a guest of the Underhills. Mr Underhill said to just apply any charges I accrue to their account. With that being said I will be needing the largest yacht you have available, a whole mess of towels, some scuba gear, a barrel of peanut butter filler pretzels, a case of ball bearings, a couple of bottles of your finest root beer, a bloody mary a steak sandwich, and a steak sandwich. No you may not inquire what I need all of these items for. The Underhills had told me that this club was all about digression and the privacy of their guests. I certainly hope that they were not wrong.

Yes, I understand it may take a short bit of time to get all of those items together. I will be waiting down by the dock. Say, can I get one of those root beers and a steak sandwich while I wait?

Well twenty minutes sure was a long time for you to gather everything I needed. I will most certainly have a talk with the Underhills about the promptness of this club. I will say the root beer was quite delicious though, and those seagulls certainly seemed to enjoy the steak sandwich. I'm a vegetarian you know, so I don't put death into my mouth. Those birds though, they went crazy for it, so their compliments to the chef. About that root beer though, I saw that it was called Yacht Club, is that this clubs own brand? Oh no, it's a company that caters to all yachting aficionados? Oh it's actually made by Yachting Aficionados magazine? Who'd have known? Well my compliments to that rag for finally doing something right for once. I had expected a regular, run of the mill root beer, but what your crew is serving is top notch. I see that the ingredients list it as just “root beer flavor,” but you can really taste the high concentration of wintergreen and licorice without them being distracting. There's a nice hint of vanilla in there as well. I also see that it's made with Artesian water. You got lucky with that one friend. I solely drink water from Artesia. If water from anywhere else on this planet had passed over my lips you would be in for a world of hurt.

How about this? You help me load all of this stuff onto the yacht, go grab me another case of this brew and I won't mention any of these negative aspects of this little adventure to the Underhills. You wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of a tongue lashing from that group, I can tell you that.

You know in the movies where it will show a dog getting hurt and it will say in the credits, "No animals were harmed in the filming of this movie?" I would like to know how many strawberries we just slaughtered in the making of this drink. I think that this drink is nothing more than people trying to stuff an entire one of those clear, plastic containers of strawberries into this tiny, baby can.

This drink is chocked full of strawberries and tastes only like strawberries. For that reason, I can't fathom how they kept the price low. I mean strawberry juice is one thing but poorly pureed strawberry chunks is another. Without exaggeration, there are probably two whole strawberries in this drink at least. It's great. I've got no complaints. Keep 'em coming.

I found myself at P.F. Changs a few days ago. The food was mediocre, and the service was horrible. But this review isn't about how the waitress brought out our appetizer 1 minute before our meal or how she brought us the wrong check. Nope, this is about their homemade ginger beer.

How have I gone this long and not heard that P.F. Changs makes their own ginger beer? I blame myself for not being friends with people who frequent the establishment.

Unlike most ginger beer's I've had so far, this has a very strong lemon taste to it. Based on the description, it's mixed with lemon juice and you can definitely taste it. As far as the ginger goes, it's mild at first but has a nice sharp after taste. Another interesting/unique aspect of this ginger beer is that it was served with a mint leave in the glass. I couldn't really taste much mint, but maybe if I had submerged it in the glass it would have been more abundant.

P.F. Changs: bottle this ginger beer and you will sell a lot.

(Note: All my photos of the glass didn't come out so I opted for a photo I took of the menu listing).

Welcome to Tea Shop 168 where we have 168 different flavors of tea. I know it's a bit overwhelming making your choice, but I'll let you in on a secret: 142 of the flavors are different blends of green tea that pretty much taste identical unless you went to school for teaology. I don't really believe that's a real major, but the owners assure me they are teaologists. They probably went to Evergreen in Olympia…€¦hippies.

I know 27 different varieties of tea can still be a bit much to choose from, so may I suggest you try our aloe vera green tea fusion? It's an interesting ride. Some say that it is just green tea with aloe chunks thrown in. Those people are just dumb. I know. I make the tea and I can assure you that there is also aloe vera juice in it. It is mostly green tea, but you can still definitely taste the aloe juice. It's strange having a slightly bitter aloe drink, and the chunks have a fairly different flavor from what you're probably used to, assuming that you have had aloe drinks before. Oh you haven't? Well aloe essentially tastes like a light white grape juice with a little something extra to it. It's delicious, and I can't sing it's praises enough.

So yeah, this is unusual and fun. It certainly isn't mind blowing, but when you're choosing either this or some tea infused with raw meat, it's the choice to make. Teaology…€¦What a joke. The owners just soak random foods in green tea and act like they are scientists. They don't even wear lab coats or goggles. Lamers.

ps. I just discovered that Tea Shop 168 is an actual tea shop with a physical stores all throughout Ontario. AS far as I know they do not have 142 different types of green tea. Also, I can only assume that they do have roast beef tea, as their website does not explicitly state that they do not. Don't forget your horseradish.

Black tea is the old man. White tea is the young buck. Green tea is the grandpa. Red tea is the teenager, confused on what to do with life. Bad haircuts, ill fitting clothes, questionable taste in music, and so much more. It's like a midlife crisis but done as a young kid so it's like a quarter life crisis. You date people younger than you and people are starting to talk. You started to see this strawberry and that's not a traditional thing for tea to do. It's a kid flavor and you should be on your way to become an adult tea. You should be seeing other red teas but you aren't a conformist. You do what you want. You are your own tea. You are going to date that strawberry because she's got a great shape and is fun to be around. Together, you make a decent tea. You are sweetened but aren't done the right way because you, like always, cut corners and went the corn syrup route. It's alright because people that are just like you are fine with it. It smells good thanks to your younger girlfriend but you're really letting her do all the work. You're just sitting back, like you always do. You know, as I think about it, I agree with your black tea father. Use real sugar and don't mess with no fruits. That's how to let a man shine.

I don't know where to start with this. It tastes...funny. Right off the bat, there is a strange bitterness that I can only attribute to my arch nemesis Acai while teamed up with that other guy I'm increasingly not too hot on, Reb-A. Oh, it's way down on the list but it's still there, crapping up the joint. The mixed berry doesn't even get a chance to shine through because those two hams are in the spotlight telling bad jokes that are borderline racist and making everyone in the crowd feel uncomfortable. You get a little bit of the mixed berry here and there. If I can continue my comedy show analogy, it's like the mixed berry is the MC who is better than all the acts. Perfect. That's the perfect analogy. I did it. Done. Peace. I'm out.

In my head this drink was formulated specifically to help people cope with the theoretical impending apocalypse. Even the companies name suggests it: MALAVA = MAYAN LAVA that will destroy the world. Yeah it's a stretch, deal with it.

Unlike other relaxation drinks this is not full of melatonin and valerian root, which will just put you to sleep. The anti-stress medicine in this cane is just kava extract, which is used to relax without disrupting mental clarity. This way if you survive the initial impact of the unknown event that will end everything on Thursday, you will be calm and clear headed to figure out what you have to do to survive. Those fools who drink alcohol or something like a Marley Mellow Mood will be passed out somewhere for passing marauders to do with as they please. No one wants that to happen to them.

Since this is going to the taste to represent the end of the world we are lucky that it actually tastes decent. It's not carbonated, as I expected it to be. It tastes like some unknown tropical fruit. It's a little thick, somewhere between a juice and nectar. All of these are good things in my book. There is nothing chemical tasting in here. I could have been served this as a normal juice and not realized it had other effects until I drank it and they kicked in.

Stock up. Prepare yourselves. Make sure that you have the ability to numb yourself to the doom and destruction that is all around you so that you can forge on and rebuild the world.

Children, gather around the fire and I shall tell you a tale. It is the story of fruit tea. It is a tale as old as time and this is how it goes: some people were thirsty so they decided to brew some tea. They wanted to make it a bit more exciting than their normal afternoon beverage so them juiced some passionfruit into it. The end. I know it is a short story and not exciting in the least bit. There were no lions, or robots, or robots that turned into lions and breathed fire out of their butt, but it is a story nonetheless. If you have a problem with my story, then I shall offer you a sip of my tea and that will shut you right up. It is sweet and flavorsome. If you've ever had passionfruit bubble tea than you know exactly how this tastes. Green tea used in bubble tea has a specific taste and that is exactly what is in this bottle. If you're not a fool then you got it with passionfruit, because it is the king of fruits, or at least is in a Game of Thrones type war for the crown. How on Earth did a television show written explicitly for nerds gain such a normal audience? I think it's the promise of dragons and zombies. Perhaps there will even be an undead dragon. Or an undead robotic lion that shoots fire out of its butt. I would watch that and drink a gallon of this tea as I did so.

Black cherry; the most goth of all fruits. You want to meet up with them? They sleep until noon, work at a bookstore that sells nothing but books on murder, cats, and unlicensed Robert Smith biographies, and go to clubs that are in locations you thought were closed down for a decade. They don't get along with people because they feel they are on the outside looking in. Looking in on all the squares, sellouts, poseurs, conformists, and zealots making fools of themselves on a day-to-day basis. Black cherry listens to Skinny Puppy, KMFDM, and My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult and scoffs at your record collection regardless of how much you like it. Black cherry is one with the dark arts.

Recently, black cherry has put on a little weight and needs to slim down a bit. Torrid is fine and essential to black cherry but some things are stretching a bit and it's becoming a health issue that your mom is getting concerned about. So you add a little sucralose to the mix. It's alright. Sure, it "diet's" you up a little bit and makes you feel like you are trying to be one of those blonde bimbos that swarm the schools like bees to a hive. There is a big difference between anorexia and teenage obesity. You still taste good, like you are supposed to, but there's just you can just tell that you are trying to lose a little weight and use artificial sweeteners. It's fine. You are beautiful no matter what the "cool kids" say. Now head on over to your black Volkswagon Jetta, pop in that old Bauhaus record, and think about what sweet kick moves you are going to do at the club tonight in front of yourself in the mirrors.

For those of you, like myself, who were unimpressed by the original flavor of Lucozade I urge you to try their tropical variety. While the sugar water taste of the original in just there, not offensive or great, this type I would actually go out of my way to drink. It has a nice passionfruit and pineapple combination of a taste to it. I expected it to taste like one of the more flavorful Gatorades, as to be comparable to their flagship flavor, but this is like a completely different product. It's very sweet, but sometimes that is exactly what you're looking for in a drink.

This is marketed as an energy drink, but as far as I can tell the only things in here that would give you energy are sugar and caffeine. In reality it's as much of an energy drink as a can of Coke. I guess that's way healthier than the amount of chemical junk Americans put in their bodies in the name of being a little more awake.

One great thing about this label is that it is made in China, but the text is half in English and half Spanish. A lot of the text is there in both forms, but there is some that is only in one of the languages. It's not a big thing at all, but for some reason it made me laugh.

I can't get over how great it is that this company was started by a couple of surfers. Even better is that they decided to start the company after a surging trip to Brazil when they were given a bowl of acai juice to drink…€¦A SURFING TRIP TO BRAZIL! If you ask me I'm gonna have to wager that we have a Point Break type scenario here. These dudes pulled some bank heists in order to fund surfing expeditions (to this day this is still the greatest movie premise of all time). The thing is that instead of all either ending up in jail, dead, or lost at sea on the coast of Australia these dudes changed their lifestyle and put their heist energies into making juice. Now they just use their profits from the business to fund their surfing trips. I mean these guys aren't crazy adrenaline junkies or anything.

Not only do these guys have a great bad guys gone good life story, but they also know how to make one hell of a beverage. I think we can all agree that a lot of companies' acai juice can be a little much to handle. It always tastes like you're drinking concentrate. Sambazon knows how to smooth it out and make it an enjoyable, healthy drink. You can taste the acai, but it's not in your face with every sip. I think it's the apple juice that they mix in that solves the harshness problem. Either way this drink is great. It's smooth, fruity and all of the flavors blend together seamlessly. You can tell that there is yerba mate and guarana in the drink if you think about it, but if you were given a glass with no indication of what was in it, it would just taste like a general blended smoothie. You would have no idea of the caffeine kick you were about to receive.

We in Buffalo do not have a Whole Foods. It has something with us having a rival grocery store and fifty miles and something. Not too far out in Ontario, Canada there is one. Jay, Jay's old lady, and myself went there and did some damage. We bought a lot of things that you can only get at Whole Foods but nothing that you can get only at a Canadian Whole Foods. I think they stock what they stock regardless of country. This 365 seems like it's an "in house" brand. What does it taste like? A little like minty pool water if you ask my coworker, Dan. Do I agree? Mostly. It's a lightly sweetened green tea with little bite and a little, good amount of mint, but somewhere in that mix, it certainly does have a bit of a "minty plastic" taste. I drank the whole thing, so I must have gotten over it, but it was just "alright." Would I drink it again? Eh, probably not. I'm not really moved one way or the other with this guy. I thought it would be good, and it wasn't awful, but it might have stumped my taste buds into making a decision. That could be the worst rating of all; one that is just...there. It's like that cat that just appears when you try to leave for work and you would normally give it a clichè saucer of milk but you've got a big meeting with the Johnson firm today and you can't be late. Those eyes...dead inside, just staring at you. Where did that cat come from? It makes no noise but is just...there...being there.

Get yourself a quart of fresh red raspberries, put them in a cheese cloth (one with a small rip in it) and just smash the hell out of them. Gather the juice and the few chunks that found their way through the hole into a cup. Fill the cup up the rest of the way with bubbly water and mix in a bit of sugar. What you will have created is essentially what is in this bottle. It's strange how much it tastes like raspberries. I know it's supposed to taste like them, but normally any fruit flavored pop doesn't actually taste like the fruit, and if it does you usually have to concentrate to find the flavor. This tastes exactly like you're eating raspberries, and the little mushy chunks do nothing but help it.

This is the first time I have ever said this about a soda, but I think it could do with a little bit more sugar. There is something about it that is just the tiniest bit off from making it absolutely perfect. I think a bit more sugar would balance things out and give it the little boost it needs to stand tall at the top of the soda pop pyramid.

To paraphrase the popular children's song/game: “Bubble gum, bubble gum in a bottle, how many mouthfuls will you swallow?” The answer sadly is not many. I love bubble gum. When I was a kid I thought I was going to die when my dentist told me that I wouldn't be able to chew it anymore once I got braces put on. Guess what I did it anyways. I'm also a fan of bubble gum ice cream. My point being is that it is a wonderful flavor, but it just doesn't need to exist in soda form. Something about it is just all wrong. I doubt the makers of cola champagne were shooting to make a bubble gum flavored soda, but that's just what happened with the ingredients they used. This version by Rio Grande is worse than most. It tastes like someone rubbed a piece of gum into a pile of various spices.

I understand that this drink is very popular in the Puerto Rican culture. I guess that if it were something that you grew up with it probably wouldn't seem so bad. On the other hand, this is the same culture that embraced the undrinkable swill that is Malta Goya, so I have my suspicions about their tastes.

I have been duped. I walked into my local convenience store today and saw this 2 liter of Faygo in the cooler. While there were lots of flavors to choose from that we haven't reviewed yet, this one caught my eye because it has holiday packaging so I assumed it was a limited edition flavor. Limited edition flavors are what we love to find because: a. they are usually a weird flavor a company is trying out and b. they aren't around for a long time so it's best to review them ASAP.

When I saw this I immediately thought of Pepsi Spice. Sadly they stopped making Pepsi Spice before we started Thirsty Dudes, but it was basically Pepsi with nutmeg in it. They didn't have any small bottles of this St. Nick's Cola. I really didn't want a whole 2 liter, but I needed to try it in hopes it was like Pepsi Spice.

Boy was I disappointed when I tried it. It tastes exactly like the normal Faygo Cola. After a quick search and reading the bottle, it turns out Faygo makes "St. Nick" versions of some of their sodas and money from the sales goes to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. On one hand I'm sad this didn't taste like Pepsi Spice, but on the other I'm glad it's going to a good cause.