Here in the dungeon we make one thing and that is root beer. No cola or grape or pineapple pop, just root beer. We do it in the dungeon down underground because the humidity is just right. Unfortunately we don't get the best products to make our root beer so it tastes a bit basic but it's not bad. It's just something we have the prisoners do when they are waiting to be set free. They like it, too because it's a fun process that bides their time while they are serving it. Get it? They serve their time while serving root beer. That doesn't sound that bad to me but I'm happy that I get to see the sun every once in a while.

One time, we got the wrong shipment and they sent us cream soda by mistake. We don't get a lot of shipments so we had to make due with what we had. Ever since then, we have had root beer that tastes a little like cream soda. The dungeon masters seem to like it a lot, which is good because the more they like you, the sooner you will get out.

It's not all torture and starvation down here. Sometimes we make root beer and have a good time. Next time you drink Big Shot root beer, think of the fun a prisoner had while making it.

Memorial Day weekend just wrapped up. It was three days filled with hangouts and barbeques, as those are the perfect ways to remember things. The last party of the weekend was a pool party at some friends' house. I think only one person actually ended going into the pool but the rest of us ate more than our fair share of food, including my new favorite thing “Cowboy Caviar.” Just look it up, it's delicious.

I brought this bottle of tea to share at the party, because I didn't want to end up drinking it all myself. As it turns out I think I am the only one who drank any of it, and it was only one glass. It doesn't really taste like a half and half. It's more of a lemon tea, and cheap tea at that. It actually has lemon juice concentrate in it, but the lemon flavoring doesn't taste real at all. The lemon taste is also far too overpowering. Had it actually tasted like lemonade I would have been okay with that, but the way things are it was too much. I drank my one glass, and when I went up for a refill I noticed that someone else had brought Arizona's Arnold Palmer and I ended up drinking that the rest of the night.

If I think that people would appreciate one thing more about drinks is innovation and interaction. I love cool bottles and stuff like Ramune where it's a process to open it and it's something I really enjoy: clever packaging, ingredients, and so on and so forth. Sodastream is awesome. I got it for my birthday and I've been making stuff all weekend. This was the first go at it. You fill it with water, load it into the machine and press a button until you hear a terribly frightening series of clicks. It's basically the system quite literally blowing off steam and it tells you that it's coming and that's when to stop but man...every time it gets me.

I had just got done with some light gardening and yard work and didn't really want any pop so I decided that my maiden voyage into the DIY carbonated drink territory would be the MyFlavor line. I chose raspberry because...well...why not? It was good. It was a seltzer or soda water like you would get at a restaurant with light raspberry flavor. It was actually very refreshing and I drank the entire liter myself before the end of the night. That says a lot.

I look forward to using this in the future and I've got plenty of these MyWater flavors left to get me through the summer. A great summer treat and something fun to do. Rats off to you, SodaStream.

It's well known that many people out there are straight up coffee addicts. Perhaps it started like it was in the olden days with a mug for breakfast. Then it grew to a mug or two at the office. Now those same people drink it all day, everyday. I am amazed that people can do this can still fall asleep at night with no problems. It boggles (bottles) the mind.

So yes, people love their coffee. In the winter it's not a problem because it helps to warm them up and keep them moving. On days like today when it's a broiler out the last thing I would want to do it drink a nice hot mug of coffee. Sure you can go to a coffee shop and get a fancy iced coffee of some sort, but does iced coffee fit at a backyard bbq? I think not. Simpson Spring has the solution to this problem. They have created a coffee soda that is pretty insane. When you twist off that cap it smells like a bag of coffee grounds, which is one of the best smells ever. The taste is also surprisingly good. It tastes like someone somehow brewed coffee with carbonated water and then added a bit of sugar to it. It was refreshing, yet it still filled the need some of the people I was with had for their 4PM mug. The flavor is definitely more coffee than soda, but it's still carbonated. It basically tastes exactly like you would want it to. I'm not a huge coffee fan myself, but I really liked it and those of me that dig on the bean absolutely loved it. I'd say it's a fairly perfect drink.

The name of this flavor instantly made me think of Gatorade. It's like a word association in my head. You say “Frostberry Blast” and I think of “Frost Glacier Freeze.” The fact that there is blue in this packaging and the Gatorade is also blue helped as well. I'm glad I had that association because as far as I can remember they also taste similar. Well it tastes like Frost Glacier Freeze mixed with one of those random flavors of Mountain Dew (Voltage). It's blue raspberry flavored, but it's sweetened with sucralose, so it's not overly sweet. It actually doesn't taste overly diet either. I'm pretty into this. It's a nice change up from your normal energy drink flavors.

Xyience was ahead of the game due to their name as it is. As a man who now owns a lab coat, I assure you that anything to do with science I will look upon with favor. I mean they must have scientists working for them to come up with the idea to ship their drinks in the canisters banks use for their pneumatic tubes.

They are also the official energy drink of UFC. I hope that when they unveiled this it was at a match. Two of the fighters entered the ring in lab coats and goggles. They were each handed a can of Frostberry Blast, which they instantly chugged and then proceeded to just beat the hell out of each other while they were all hopped up. I just really want to see two people in scientist attire go toe to toe. It can be ultimate fighters or it could be the nerdiest, gangliest dudes that NASA has to offer. I'm fine with it either way.

You know how in old movies whenever someone would get trapped up in a snowstorm somewhere in the arctic or some such thing a giant Saint Bernard would come out of nowhere with a barrel full of brandy strapped to its neck? Apparently the brandy would slow down the effects of frostbite. Is there a more adorable way to be saved from a frozen death? Okay koalas dragging you to safety would be pretty cute.

Well the Saint Bernard's day in the sun is over. There's a new pup on the block and he's a coonhound named Boozer. He will never save you from an avalanche, but he just may save you from a killer hangover. While many people may be bummed out that he doesn't carry around a barrel of alcohol, he does carry around a can of hangover remedy that you will thank him for in the morning. It's a mixture of vitamins and herbs that help to rejuvenate your body and fight the dehydration that alcohol can cause. It has a mild citrus flavor that combats the taste of the vitamins. The fight is kind of in a stalemate. You can taste the citrus, but it isn't strong enough to fully cover up the tastes of the vitamins. It's not horrible, but it's not something you would drink recreationally, which you shouldn't anyways as it's a beverage with a specific purpose. As an added bonus once you take the can from our friend the dog, he's free to tear it up for the night. He can get tanked and rip it up on the dance floor.

It has taken us over a year to review this from when Boozer sent it to us. Sorry guys, we messed up.

The dragons are unhappy, my friend. You best beware. Why? Well it's because we have been shooting arrows at them when they fly above us. I don't know why they are surprised. They step on our buildings, eat our cattle, and use the townspeople as toothpicks. Not to mention they burp fire constantly so we're always putting out fires. Arrows are going light if you ask me. We should be using cannons or a Trebuchet or something but the ammunition is far too expensive to waste on dragons since it doesn't do much. Recently they have been just sitting at the edge of town and spitting on the townspeople as they leave to go outside to hunt and such. It's a real jerk move if you ask me. They're just sitting out there, literally sitting and spitting at people. It's downright disrespectful. I think I would rather fight them than have them use me as a spittoon.

Did you hear what the town wizard said, though? He said that the dragon spit actually has magical powers if you ingest it. It sounds so gross but I actually went out there, mooned a dragon, and he spit on me. I was covered head to toe. I came home and rung my clothes out into some pots so you and I could try it. Here is a glass of spit for you and a glass of spit for me. You got more in your cup because I got spit on and don't deserve to drink as much. Bottoms up, friend.

You know what? It's not bad. I really thought that it was going to be so much worse. I've been in pub fights where someone has spit on me and I've had my own spit and it's not anything that I would think of drinking in a million years. That darn wizard is usually right about this type of thing so that's why we're sitting here drinking an actual dragon's spit. You know what this tastes like? Have you had the mythical drink Mountain Dew? How about the mythical drink Red Bull? No? This guy came through town claiming he was from the future and brought us a case of both. No one really liked it but I've got to say, this is a better version of both of them mixed together. It makes both of them stomachable. The flavors of both are so intense on their own but together they kind of battle each other down to fifty percent of what they are alone. I don't know if I'd make a habit of drinking my soiled clothes every time I got to the forest to get berries, but I might get less mad. It's rumored to give us energy, too, which we could either choose to fight the dragons, a dumb idea, or run from the dragons which seems like a better idea.

What do you think? Good right? Man, how does that wizard know what he does? He probably sits in that cave-house of his and eats and drinks everything and just records the outcome of each. That sounds gross if you think that part of everything is dirt, rocks, and stuff. Crazy dude. Helpful, but a little crazy.

What are those dragons doing now? Throwing mud at the townspeople? What a bunch of jerks. Seriously. Dragons. They're the worst.

Alright. I'll admit it. I'm no child anymore. Sure, mentally, I am as dumb as your average eight year old. I still enjoy when things blow up, I'm not opposed to sleeping in awkward positions or in the trunks of cars and have no concept of "clean" and "dirty." I eat chicken fingers, hamburgers, and hot dogs and love ice cream. I ride bikes, play video games, and still enjoy cartoons. That being said, regardless of my past times and eating habits, I turned thirty this week so I should at least think about becoming a full fledged adult.

Cut to today's review and it's the Big Pouch of Capri Sun. It's the loveliness of the old pack but...bigger. I grew up with the taste of this fruit punch so this is like a review I would have done when I was appropriately aged to drink them. Look, juice is juice. You can put an age restriction on alcohol, but not juice. If I, a grown idiotic man, want to drink fruit punch out of a metallic pack like a G.D. astronaut or fourth grader, I'm going to do it. You know why? I'm an adult and can do what I want when it comes to juice.

I've got to say, it's a good thing this guy is resealable because that is a lot of juice clocking in at just shy over 11 ounces. It's not bad, though. It's sweet fruit punch. No bite and all fruit. Sweet fruit. Drinkable but I am responsible and know my artificial juice limits. If I didn't, I would have tons of pimples all over my face and we would revert my complexion back fifteen years. I can't keep going back in time to all my different "eras" so I'm going to stop drinking this pack of juice.

Okay, this is an all-natural drink, with no sugar added, yet it still kind of tastes like that fake candy green apple flavor. I don't get it, there is nothing in here that should give it that taste. It's a mixture of apple, white grape and acerola juices. Could it be that there is a variety of green apple that actually tastes this way that I'm just not aware of? I'm from an area where there are apple orchards all over and I've never tasted such a thing. The green apples that I've had are actually my favorite type of apple.

Actually…€¦.

The more I drink of this, the less candy-like it actually tastes and the more I feel like I'm eating one of my tasty green apples. Now I'm done with the can and I could certainly enjoy another instantly. It's juice and sparkling water combined in a wonderful way without the need for sugar. Thanks Izze.

Mom? Here's what I want to do for my eighth birthday. I want to go to the zoo. I love the lizard room. You know me, mommy. I love the chameleons. Then, after that let's go to McDonalds. I would like a ten pack of McNuggets with both sweet and sour and barbeque sauces. It's my birthday. I love nuggets. Then I would like to go to the candy store and I want some Warheads. I enjoy putting two or three in my mouth and seeing if I can take it. This one time, at school, Michael K. said that he ate five of them and threw up. What? That's not gross. It's awesome.

What do you mean that the candy store is closed on Sunday? Who told you to have me on a Sunday?! My birthday doesn't happen on a Sunday every year? I guess I never thought of that. What am I going to do about my Warheads? You what?! You bought me a Warheads drink?! Mom! You are the coolest. I can't wait. Can I have one now? Thanks mom. You're the best. You're OK, too, dad.

This isn't bad. It's not like the candy, but it is a little sour. It tastes like a sweeter, more syrupy green apple Freeze-e-pop. I suppose since I'm seven I should like that sort of thing. I like playing in the dirt, baseball, hot dogs, and candy. That's my life.

Mom. I can't wait for my birthday. It's going to be so great except that I don't get the candy that I want. I do get other stuff and that I look forward to. Thank you in advance. You guys are alright.

I have had a wonderful time with Oregon Chai tea. It's my morning drink. Some people drink coffee and some people drink pop. The latter are a gaggle of crazies because who drinks pop in the morning. I can only imagine your teeth. Ugh. Sorry, but seriously? Pop in the morning? I feel like people that drink pop in the morning drink pop all day long. I couldn't imagine. My girlfriend's mom might not drink it in the morning, but I've never seen her drink water, only diet Pepsi. Her son works for Coke and I've never seen her drink anything other than diet Pepsi through a straw, which messes up pop even more.

Back to the point. I didn't need a jolt, but I expected a rush of flavor. There is anise in the ingredients and I could smell it through the pack and that excited me. A nice, bold licorice tea is just what I wanted. It's just what I want at all times. It's my life. Don't you forget it! Oregon Chai left me by wayside on this ride because it did not fully deliver. It smelled so strong but tasted like a light chai. There are spices in there, but they aren't brought out as much as the other ones I reviewed. It's the original, though, so you have to start somewhere. The ones that I liked were at an 11 when it came to flavor. This has a little bit of everything but is ratcheted down to about a five. It's still chai, but now that I've fallen in love with the other ones, this might be my last "The Original."

Is there a more perfect fruit than the guava? Side thought: what sort of contraption/green house would I have to build in my apartment in order to grow a guava tree that would bear fruit? I think the biggest allure of living in a tropical location would be that you could have a guava tree in your back yard. Imagine just waking up, rolling out of bed, strolling into the yard and picking some guavas for breakfast. If there ever was a heaven you now know how I would spend eternity.

The only way this drink could be any better would be if they cut out the sugar and had it be 100% juice. That's the dream right there. Since I'm from a climate that is opposite of tropical for most of the year I will take what is offered. This is sweet and wonderful, just like the fruit. It has the slightest bit of grainy texture due to the sugar, but I can overlook it. When are guavas in season? When is that one week out of the year you can get them in the grocery store in NY? I just want fresh fruit now.

One of the many things that I love about Canada is that their cream soda is red. I don't know if it was a ruling made by Parliament (speaking of which, why is their a unicorn sticking it's tongue out on the front of their Parliament building?) or if it was just a coincidence. Either way I love it. It has a very average cream soda flavor (you know subtly vanilla) mixed with a little bit of berry. The extra flavor does nothing but enhance the cream soda. This tastes very similar to the Crush soda mousse.

I have no idea why I found this Canadian made soda at a Big Lots in Western Pennsylvania, but who am I to question the universe? I'm simply a man who enjoys the beverages from the country to the north of him.

Craig loved raspberries. He lived in the country where there were fields that he spent many a summer day foraging for raspberries. He knew how to spot good ones and which ones to leave for another day. He brought some home sometimes to make raspberry juice which was just him crushing raspberries in a mortar and pestle and then pouring the juice through a strainer. It's poor man's juice, sure, but it was also delicious. His mom came home from the market with a pomegranate one day and gave it to him. He had no idea what it was but his mom told him to open it and take the seeds out.

He opened the fruit and his eyes lit up. He had never seen so many seeds in all his life. He crushed them up, poured that juice through a strainer and drank it. It was fruity but it was bitter. He tried to mix it with his raspberry juice but he couldn't get a good mix. It was too sweet and too bitter. He tried mixing it with water but, as he expected, it just lessened the flavor. He needed something else. His grandma would make a wonderful, lightly sweetened black tea whenever he came over so he went over there and got a big gallon of it to bring home. He mixed all of the juices together and had it: a lightly sweetened tea with real raspberry juice in it. A little bitter, yet a little sweet with a strong fruit juice flavor that he would drink as much as he could.

His mom couldn't always get pomegranates, but when she could, she did because she actually really liked Craig's concoction. The whole family did and that made Craig very happy.

At that point in your life when you inevitably find yourself lost in the desert, don't fret. You may not know it but refreshment is but a plant away. If you crack an “arm off of a cactus soda will pour out. I don't know why no one who has been lost has ever realized it before. They must all be a bunch of dummies.

In all seriousness when I first saw this soda I was praying that it was sweetened with agave, which is a desert plant that I thought was a cactus, but apparently it's not. Once I learned that it was no shock that it wasn't made with agave. It was made with HFCS. No biggie. It is still orange pineapple flavored, and that has to be good right? Wrong! This is a fairly gross soda that tastes nothing like actual oranges or pineapple. I actually am having a hard time saying that it tastes like the fake candy version of either of those fruits. It tastes like generic sugar water with some vague citrus element to it. I honestly think I might rather suck on a cactus than drink this.

Honey, I'm sorry that I'm too sick to go to the fair tonight. I don't know where this headache and dizziness came from. I know how badly you wanted to ride the merry-go-round and the Ferris Wheel. We can go tomorrow but for now I've got to rest. I did get you something just in case a scenario just like this would occur. I bought you some cotton candy pop. I saw it and had to get it for you because I know you love it so much. What's not to love, though? It's so much fun to eat. It's so big and then you put it in your mouth and it almost disappears.

Here you go buddy. What do you think? It certainly smells good. It's sweet? How sweet? Too sweet? How is the flavor? May I have a sip, buddy? Thanks. Ooofff. You're right. It is sweet. Uhhh. The flavor isn't bad. It's certainly cotton candy-esque. This is great if you are in a city that...say...forbids carnivals, lawn fetes, or fairs. You have a couple ounces of summer fun right there.

Buddy, tomorrow we will go and pet all the llamas, drink all the sweet tea, play all the "I Got It", and eat some hot dogs. I promise. For now, let daddy just sit here and listen to the soothing sounds of Sade.

Like every other "flavor" of Wat-Aah this taste just like spring water. Nothing special nothing fancy. Some people say they can taste the difference in bottled water, but as long as it's ice cold it all tastes the same to me.

It's water. It tastes like water. I think they hit their mark.

Sometimes I wonder why we even review “shot” drinks. They all taste fairly bad by nature. There's always an underlying chemical-esque flavor to them. Sure they all have their specific purposes, but we do this site to talk about the way things taste, not really to discuss their functional merits.

This shot here tastes like chemical orange concentrate. Okay it's less chemically than other shots I've had, but the weird flavor is still there. That flavor is the obscene amounts of vitamins and minerals that are jammed into this 2.5oz of fluid. As far as shots go, it's not terrible, and the aftertaste doesn't last very long. I can't ever imagine sitting down and drinking a big glass of something that tasted like this though, it would be disgusting. So for a shot it's decent. In terms of a beverage it's gross. It's all about sacrificing flavor for functionality and convenience these days.

The Caruros are a family that means business, just look at that photo. The man looks like he's a pleasant enough chap, who enjoys a good time, but his wife looks as if she doesn't take guff from anyone. It is because of this combination that they were able to achieve and uphold a level of quality in their sodas.

With this root beer they were not out to invent something new, they wanted to keep things tasting classic, and to make it in the same way. Many companies nowadays use “root beer extract” or some such thing to get a generic root beer taste. When companies do that their product suffers from mediocrity. The Carusos took their time perfecting a formula and then ran with it. It's full bodied with a nice wintergreen aftertaste. When I got closer to the bottom of the bottle it had a kind of woodsy flavor that reminds me a lot of the Sprecher sodas. This blows their root beer out of the water though.

Now go and wash up. It's dinnertime and you don't want to keep Mrs. Caruso waiting.

Anyone from the North East sector of the U. S. of A knows that it's been blazing hot these past couple days. It's record breaking hot. I went to the flea market with Editor Dan and Jay and when we were outside, Dan saw a cool, brass buffalo bank that he couldn't pick up because it was roasting in the sun. What better thing to beat the heat than limeade. Sure, lemonade is right there but sometimes that's old news. I wouldn't mind if this was the summer of limeade and everyone drank it like limeade was "so last year."

This limeade might be the best I've ever had. Reason being is that it's not ultra tart or ultra sweet. It's light and actually drinkable. Could you image? I like being punished by my beverages as much as the next guy, but this is just a lovely drink. I know there isn't cinnamon in it, but I kind of get the taste that there is. It might be the natural, rind-y lime taste that's confusing me with cinnamon. That is my tongue playing tricks on me. I'll take it because it's good.

Santa Cruz, if you want to buy that idea from me about making organic (of course) cinnamon limeade, it's up for grabs. I have very reasonable rates and am easy to talk to. I also have a fantastic phone voice if I may say so myself. We'll have a great time in our negotiations.