Sparkling - 501 Reviews

Sipp Sparkling Cherry Fizz

Sipp Sparkling Cherry Fizz
Big Lots or as we like to call it in our family, "Big Slobs" it a treasure trove of forgotten, overlooked or just plain overstocked garbage drinks. We love it. I found this and many other drinks on my last trip there. I bought three of these which, in hindsight, might have not been a wise investment.

This is kind of a tough drink to wrap your head around. You've got a couple different things. A sweet fruit in the cherry, a sour fruit in the lime and an inherently calming, smoothing vanilla. With every sip, your taste buds are drawn and quartered. This is not a bad drink but the flavors together and hardly complimentary. It's the threesome where "the third" is just kind of in the way and messing up your groove and their friggin' elbow are just sticking into you. You thought that would be a good idea. "How about that girl at the bar?" you said. This was supposed to be fun and now it's infuriating and you're wondering if you can get them to leave and continue where you left off. There's no way. There's no way.
Rating
🧃🧃🧃🧃🧃
Categories
Sparkling
Company
SippWebsite@haveasipp
Country
United States
Sweetener
Organic Agave Light Syrup
Author
Mike Literman on 4/5/19, 7:17 AM
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Polar Black Hearts Seltzer Black

Polar Black Hearts Seltzer Black
I love Polar's limited edition drinks. I think there were a couple we missed but they are becoming our most reviewed product on the site, if they aren't there already. Let me investigate that...hold on a sec...the results are in and as of the writing of this review:
  1. Arizona - 63

  2. Polar - 48

  3. Jones - 48

  4. Honest - 44

  5. Monster - 41

So it's tied for second. Great.

It's good. It says that it's black"bury" and cham"pain" because it's the Black version. There is also a Red version but I do not know the flavor of that one yet. I have it at home and hope to review it soon.

I don't know how accurate it is. I have recently eaten blackberries as of this week and I guess I can accept that is what it tastes like. I haven't had champagne since 1996 so I cannot tell you what that tastes like. I can tell you for truth that this tastes good, though. Nice, bold and fruity. A nice pick-me-up for the top of the morning. Find it while you can as these won't be here much longer. I assume they are leftover from Valentines' Day and since that was a month and a half ago, they, as well as us, are living on borrowed time.
Rating
🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺
Categories
Sparkling
Company
PolarWebsite@polarbeverages
Country
United States
Sweetener
No Sugar Added
Author
Mike Literman on 4/4/19, 6:34 AM
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Sound Sparkling White Tea With Peach + Ginger

Sound Sparkling White Tea With Peach + Ginger
I am done with winter. I'm sick of it. It's snowing yet again and it looks like more than a foot of the nonsense is going to pile up around my house yet again. Guess what? I am just not leaving the house today. Forget the world. It's not important anyway. I will just cuddle up with my cat, my dog and this bottle of sparkling tea. Not a typical cold weather drink I know, but it's here and it's tasty so it's what I'm clinging to underneath piles and piles of blankets.
Let me say I don't get the combo of peach and ginger. I have come across it in teas a handful of times, and I enjoy it, but it is always a bit strange. I love both flavors, but they don't mingle the way I want them to. Perhaps peach just shouldn't be mixed with non-fruit flavors. Still, this is quite enjoyable, even though it throws me for a loop a little. It's very peachy with the ginger hanging around the edges. There is no burn in here, which would have been a bit wild. I think it is ultimately better without it though.

I have grown to love these sparkling teas. They are a bit more than seltzer, but don't make me feel the guilt I've been getting from soda lately. Hey, I'm about to turn 40, and I've worked hard to keep myself slim and non-slovenly. While I do love a nice soda, I've learned that they are meant to be treats and not for everyday consumption (at least for me). This way when I have them I appreciate them a lot more. In the meantime I will consume mass amounts of water, seltzer, and unsweetened tea, both sparkling and still.
Rating
🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾
Categories
Iced Tea and Sparkling
Company
SoundWebsitehttps://twitter.com/SoundTea
Country
United States
Sweetener
No Sugar Added
Author
Jason Draper on 1/29/19, 11:27 AM
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Hint Peppermint

Hint Peppermint
Oh well Meeeeeeerrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyy Christmas. What better way to share the joy that with minty fresh breath brought to you discreetly by water? Look, this is a fine drink. It reminds me of the date of Metromint, may they rest in peace. Wait, are they still a company? According to their website they are not. Bummer. That chocolate mint water was truly something special. Is this? Eh, I guess it will have to do since the forefathers of mint water are now dead and gone.

This is good. It really is. It's not "really good" but it's good enough that it passed the "doesn't taste like toothpaste" test which, you guessed it, is when you drink mint flavored drinks and they do or do not taste like toothpaste. It's a crucial but hidden, secret test that all our drinks have to go through. Think of it as bootcamp for drinks.

This is (probably) a limited time offer so if you like a nice minty drink, get it while the gettin's good. I got this at Target so you should have no problem finding it.
Rating
🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷
Categories
Sparkling and Water
Company
HintWebsite@Hint_Water
Country
United States
Sweetener
No Sugar Added
Author
Mike Literman on 12/10/18, 1:33 PM
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Polar Seltzer Hibiscus Cloudberry

Polar Seltzer Hibiscus Cloudberry
This is a flavor that delivers what it promises. What does it promise? Well, I can't say for certain, but I can say that this tastes like what I would expect berries that grow on clouds in a cartoon to taste like. I'm not saying that drinking this will turn you into a cartoon and let you walk around on clouds singing songs and talking to birds, but I'm not not saying that either.

Like clouds is the only way I can think to describe this. It's fruity without being fruity and floral without being floral. I'm pretty sure they captured magic and bottled it for mass consumption, but only for a limited time because there is only so much magic in the world and it will certainly run out.
Rating
🧃🧃🧃🧃🧃
Categories
Sparkling and Water
Company
PolarWebsite@polarbeverages
Country
United States
Sweetener
No Sugar Added
Author
Jason Draper on 10/30/18, 1:08 PM
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Polar Seltzer Vanilla Zen

Polar Seltzer Vanilla Zen
While I'm not stoked that the Northeast will soon be a frozen tundra and most of the joy in life will be stolen from me, I am very excited that the new Polar Winter line has been released. I wasn't even expecting it. I went down the water aisle in my favorite local grocer and there they were in all their glory. Right at eye level was this gem, Vanilla Zen. I've been saying for years that seltzer companies need to release more flavors that are not based on fruit (what happened to cinnamon? ) and while this is sort of fruity, it at least is mostly spice based.

From the packaging it appeared to me that Zen tastes like pomegranate drizzled with honey, or maybe some weird honey flowers. As far as I can taste though, it's just a combination of vanilla and pomegranates though., with the pom being very light. The gold kernels were a misdirect, and there is no honey to be found. I don't know how that could be pulled off without it being sweet anyway.

This isn't the second coming of the savior that I had hoped for but it's still really great and I will enjoy a lot of it while it's still on the shelves.
Rating
🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃
Categories
Sparkling and Water
Company
PolarWebsite@polarbeverages
Country
United States
Sweetener
No Sugar Added
Author
Jason Draper on 10/25/18, 1:01 PM
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Tran Quini Positively Relaxing Drink Sparkling Hibiscus

Tran Quini Positively Relaxing Drink Sparkling Hibiscus
Well this is delicious. Hibiscus is the new pomegranate and I could not have been happier. The first time I came across this wonderful flavor was in 2009 when I was in Europe and we stopped by our driver's mother's house. She made us lunch and made us lemonade with hibiscus from her garden. It blew my mind and I drank far more than my fair share. When I returned home I searched for more beverages of this flavor and slowly but surely they started to pop up as the years went by.

While I prefer hibiscus mixed with cinnamon and other spices, I have no qualms with it plain either. In here it's fairly standard plain hibiscus, but it is still more than tasty. It's sweetened but not overly sweet with 17g of sugar. That does not detract from the main flavor at all. In addition there is chamomile, lemon balm, and theanine from green tea in the mix. Even with these ingredients, it is not a sleepy relaxation drink, but more of a de-stresser. That is something I needed as I stayed in an apartment right next to the BQE in Brooklyn. The constant stream of cars filled with people traveling to and from work is rather unnerving and prone to give me anxiety. So thanks Tran Quini for getting me through that ordeal.

Rating
🧃🧃🧃🧃🧃
Categories
Relaxation and Sparkling
Company
Tran Quini
Country
United States
Sweetener
Cane Sugar
Author
Jason Draper on 10/19/18, 6:46 AM
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Limitless Lightly Caffeinated Sparkling Water Blood Orange

Limitless Lightly Caffeinated Sparkling Water Blood Orange
This seemed interesting. At first glance I thought, “This would be something good to get me through a long work day. No sugar. No calories. It's simply seltzer water with some caffeine added to it.” This had the potential to be a “healthy” morning beverage for those of us who do not drink coffee. Yes, the caffeine is derived from green coffee beans, but there is no coffee flavoring in here at all. In fact the downfall of this product is that there isn't much flavoring at all. Before you start to argue that seltzer isn't a very flavorful beverage by design, I very much know that, and I embrace the sparkling beverage for it. This can had minimal blood orange flavoring to it. It tasted more like a seltzer that had been left open for a long time and the flavor dissipated with the bubbles (this was still carbonated though). The natural caffeine also added a little bit of flavor around the edges, which I could have done without. Overall this was fairly bland and that is from someone who drinks seltzer, water, and unsweetened tea all day.
Rating
🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃
Categories
Energy Drink, Sparkling and Water
Company
LimitlessWebsite
Country
United States
Sweetener
No Sugar Added
Author
Jason Draper on 10/18/18, 6:11 AM
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Poland Spring Black Cherry

Poland Spring Black Cherry
I'm New York City. Can you tell? Have you seen Jay and I taking the city by storm? We're truly crushing this place. We've eaten all day. We've walked basically one hundred miles. We've seen things, man.

We're eating and drinking and eating and drinking. After doing that for a day and a half, we needed to calm down and drink some seltzer.

You already know what it is, mang. It's black cherry seltzer. I can't believe we haven't drank it before. It's somehow smooth and is super refreshing. You care. You should care. These drinks are important. Who cares about your diet. You look great. Keep drinking seltzer.
Rating
🥛🥛🥛🥛🥛
Categories
Sparkling and Water
Company
Poland SpringWebsite@PolandSpringWtr
Country
United States
Sweetener
No Sugar Added
Author
Mike Literman on 10/7/18, 7:38 PM
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Galco’s Pop Stop
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Polar Seltzer Jr. Pixie Lights

Polar Seltzer Jr. Pixie Lights
Polar's Seltzer Jr line is back (from what I hear, to stay) and this time they brought two new friends with them. One of them is this little fella that goes by the name Pixie Lights. From the picture on the tiny can one would assume that the New England based company is insinuating that fireflies are really just little pixies, riding around on tiny lightbulbs. Don't worry though, they wear itsy bitsy crash helmets so it's all done safely.

Due to the name I really wanted this to somehow taste like Pixie Stix candy or you know like Red Bull without any sweetener added to it. I knew I wasn't going to be getting what I hoped before I even took a sip. Could something really taste like flavored granulated sugar though that has no sugar in it? In reality what I got was a lightly floral citrus taste that I can't really pinpoint. It's not lemon, lime, orange or grapefruit. Maybe it's something exotic like starfruit. Is starfruit a citrus? It could maybe be the seltzer taste/bubbles that keeps making me think of citrus. Whatever it is it's light and refreshing , which is what I want out of seltzer.
Rating
🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺
Categories
Sparkling and Water
Company
PolarWebsite@polarbeverages
Country
United States
Sweetener
No Sugar Added
Author
Jason Draper on 9/28/18, 11:40 AM
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Belvoir Fruit Farms Cucumber & Mint Lemonade

Belvoir Fruit Farms Cucumber & Mint Lemonade
Let's get things sorted, shall we. First off, this is a company with a French name, which means “beautiful.” Secondly, it is not a French company, and they actually reside in the United Kingdom. Finally, this is a flavor that leads my mind to not drift to neither France, nor the UK, but instead to the American South. This is something I could imagine being sipped on the porch of a fancy plantation in a time when racism ran rampant. Wait, am I talking about the 1800s, or 2018? Garbage humans aside, this is one hell of a beverage. It's as refreshing as anything on an oppressively hot summer day.
Something about the cucumber and mint gives it an almost pickle smell, but trust me that is nowhere to be found in the taste (as pointed out by recording engineer Jay Zubricky). This is pure luxury in a sipable format. It is mostly cucumber and mint, in a good way that does not resemble chewing gum one bit. I had thought that just being at that point would be wonderful, and the added lemon seemed like overkill, but I was wrong, it adds something wonderful to the mix. It hides around the edges and gives it the little bump it needed to become an ultimate summer beverage.
Rating
🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷
Categories
Lemonade, Soda Pop and Sparkling
Company
Belvoir Fruit FarmsWebsite@belvoircordials
Country
United Kingdom
Sweetener
Beet Sugar
Author
Jason Draper on 9/18/18, 7:12 AM
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Polar Seltzer Pineapple Pomelo

Polar Seltzer Pineapple Pomelo
I think there should be an APB on the scientists over at Polar. How can one company come up with so many different flavors in such a short period of time? Surely there are unsafe work conditions and inhumane amount of hours. Flavors come out and, look; I've got my ear to the ground when it comes to new drinks, especially Polar. I can't keep up.

Pineapple pomelo. It was good. I say "was" because, much like the Hall and Oates song, she's gone. It wasn't the best. The pineapple was good and I might suggest that they have left it there. The pomelo didn't taste like much. It didn't add a whole lot of flavor. Side-by-side I might have been able to tell a different. It was not bad and I would get it again because of my love of pineapple, maybe just to pay more attention to where the pomelo lies in the mix.

This is good. Keep your jobs, wildly overworked flavor scientists.
Rating
🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃
Categories
Sparkling
Company
PolarWebsite@polarbeverages
Country
United States
Sweetener
No Sugar Added
Author
Mike Literman on 9/12/18, 6:55 AM
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Polar Seltzer Mango Cherry Bliss

Polar Seltzer Mango Cherry Bliss
I've been putting this off. One simply does not enjoy bad mouthing Polar. They bring so much joy to my life and excitement to my taste buds. Unfortunately here I sit with one of the limited edition summer flavors for 2018, sipping away out of obligation and respect, but little enjoyment. Something about this just tastes artificial. It doesn't even have a medicinal cherry flavoring, it just tastes like some sort of chemical flavoring. It's not just the cherry either, the mango tastes off as well. There is just no bliss to be found in this beverage. Do yourself a favor and just grab a different flavor of Polar and enjoy. Lucky for everyone this is limited.
Rating
🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃
Categories
Sparkling and Water
Company
PolarWebsite@polarbeverages
Country
United States
Sweetener
No Sugar Added
Author
Jason Draper on 7/20/18, 10:53 AM
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Polar Seltzer Blueberry Tangerine

Polar Seltzer Blueberry Tangerine
I took a little break from reviewing Polar's summer flavors, because let's be honest, as great as they are there really isn't much to say. Sure I could tell a story about a family of polar bears who each have very specifically flavored saliva and how a New England company offered them bundles of cash and fish to have exclusive access to their mouth juice in order to flavor there beverages, but we all know that story like we know about the birth of Christ. Instead I will just say that this is my favorite of the 2018 Summer limited edition. It's got berries and it's got citrus, and both turned out well, without a hint of bear spit. The flavors taste as true as can be in a seltzer and I have downed far too many liters of it over the past month.
Rating
🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃
Categories
Sparkling and Water
Company
PolarWebsite@polarbeverages
Country
United States
Sweetener
No Sugar Added
Author
Jason Draper on 7/6/18, 3:04 PM
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Thirsty Buddha Sparkling Pineapple

Thirsty Buddha Sparkling Pineapple
It's been so very hot and so very humid in the world. Working in my shop it's probably at least 10-15 degrees hotter than it is outside. There is only so much water a human can drink when it seems to instantly sweat out of one's skin. Sure, I switch it up with unsweetened tea and seltzer, but neither tends to be very hydrating. This though, this was just the treat I needed. At just 11oz it refreshed and hydrated me more than a jug of water three times that size could have and it did it with style. This is more delicious than I ever could have imagined it being. This is a sparkling pina colada done in a way that I would consider right. Everything is in a perfect balance with the fruit juice making it slightly sweet. It tastes like fruit and coconuts (which some consider a fruit) and not just a syrupy overly sweet mess. I can't express enough just how hydrating this was and being sparkling gave it a little pizazz to spice up my day. This is going to be a regular for me this summer I can tell you that already.
Rating
🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷
Categories
Coconut and Sparkling
Company
Thirsty BuddhaWebsite@ThirstyBuddha
Country
Canada
Sweetener
No Sugar Added
Author
Jason Draper on 6/29/18, 4:26 PM
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Good Idea The Sweedish Sugar Buster Sparkling Lemon Lime

Good Idea The Sweedish Sugar Buster Sparkling Lemon Lime
Lemon lime is a pretty standard flavor that I'm sure most of us can do a memory recall for at any moment. Now flip that memory. No longer does the lemon have the wheel. In this beverage it's the lime that is steering the ship and its terrified sidekick is screaming because lime is taking the corners way too fast on these mountains roads, and is that screaming it hears from the trunk? Yes, there is very obviously an extra passenger on this wild ride and it goes by the name Chromium Picolinate. It gives this “safe” flavor a little something underneath that just doesn't taste quite right. In fact it might be this little stowaway that has gotten lime all amped up and wants it to be something it is not (along with being the factor that handles sugar spikes after meals). It's a familiar taste that I can't exactly pinpoint, but it sure is distracting. It falls somewhere between a diet taste and the flavor of fruit rind. I don't' get it, and I'm not a huge fan. Someone needs to get lime into a meeting so he can kick its habit and go back to be its regular awesome self.
Rating
🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷
Categories
Sparkling
Company
Good IdeaWebsite
Country
United States
Sweetener
No Sugar Added
Author
Jason Draper on 6/19/18, 6:36 PM
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Good Idea The Sweedish Sugar Buster Sparkling Orange Mango

Good Idea The Sweedish Sugar Buster Sparkling Orange Mango
This beverage was developed to help those who have normal blood sugar levels handle the sugar spike after a meal. No disrespect meant to the company but is that really necessary? In my nearly 39 years of existence I don't believe I have ever noticed such a thing happening to me. So, I guess if it does happen, it has zero effect on my life. Perhaps other people have a real problem with this, but if they do I am in the dark about it. The only times I ever hear the words blood, sugar and level in the same sentence is either talking about someone with diabetes, or someone is making an excuse for them acting like a jerk. Perhaps I live a sheltered life in this regard and there are millions of people out there who spike after eating and they have some adverse reaction. If those people are out there this compound of amino-acids and chromium that was developed in Sweden is here to help them out.

Since it's sparkling and unsweetened this tastes like a nice seltzer with a little something extra around the edges. Mostly it just tastes like orange mango sparkling water. I'm enjoying it for the taste if not for the intended effects. Chromium Picolinate is the only ingredient listed that I have never heard of. It apparently has use in diabetes and is also used for weight loss. Here it is just meant to help control ones blood sugar. See I learn things from the beverage world that I would probably never encounter otherwise.
Rating
🧃🧃🧃🧃🧃
Categories
Sparkling and Sports/Dietary Supplement
Company
Good IdeaWebsite
Country
United States
Sweetener
No Sugar Added
Author
Jason Draper on 6/8/18, 6:54 PM
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Polar Seltzer Cucumber Melon

Polar Seltzer Cucumber Melon
For years one of the things I have wanted most out of the beverage world was a Polar cucumber seltzer. Sure some other companies made them to varying degrees of wonderfulness, but I really wanted it from Polar, so it would be readily available in large quantities and be inexpensive. This summer my dreams were finally answered, and I thought I was getting an added bonus with the melon tacked on. A nice cucumber honeydew (or cantaloupe) combination is hard to beat in my world. The thing is that Polar went with a different melon, one that never tastes right in any form other than eating the melon itself. This is an approximation of cucumber and watermelon. While the cucumber taste in here is spot on and wonderful, the watermelon has that inevitable Jolly Rancher flavor to it. I don't know why it is impossible to capture the true flavor of watermelon but it plagues humanity. This is still good, due to the lack of sugar the fake watermelon flavor is passable. Next year, let's step up the game Polar, how about going with one of the other melons I mentioned, or even just straight cucumber. I bet it would be a best seller (if not from sales to me alone). While you're at it, how about putting the vanilla in cans as well? Or maybe a vanilla-pineapple mix-up. What this isn't a pitch meeting? My bad,
Rating
🥛🥛🥛🥛🥛
Categories
Sparkling and Water
Company
PolarWebsite@polarbeverages
Country
United States
Sweetener
No Sugar Added
Author
Jason Draper on 6/4/18, 6:25 AM
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Bubbly Sparkling Water Grapefruit

Bubbly Sparkling Water Grapefruit
After trying the strawberry I had high hopes for the other Bubbly flavors. That one strength to its flavor that you don't find in every seltzer. This grapefruit one is a dime a dozen (or 99 cents a bottle). It tastes like every other grapefruit seltzer I have had in my time walking this planet. That's not a bad thing, but I was hoping for a bit more pizazz. I wanted to feel like I was eating breakfast at a cabin in the woods and for some reason I thought citrus was the proper food. I don't know why my brain associates those things. It is a weird place to live. This tastes like grapefruit, but not so much that it makes your face scrunch up that so badly want it to do.
Rating
🥛🥛🥛🥛🥛
Categories
Sparkling and Water
Company
BubblyWebsite@bublywater
Country
United States
Sweetener
No Sugar Added
Author
Jason Draper on 5/30/18, 4:28 PM
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Polar Seltzer Raspberry Rose

Polar Seltzer Raspberry Rose
Summertime in Seltzerville in 2018 is very similar to that of last year. Most of the limited edition Polar flavors are slight twists on last year's flavors, while others such as this Raspberry Rose have just been brought back in the same form for summer consumption. I have no idea how we did not review this one last year. I guess it was when Mike and I were in a slump and were just burned out with doing Thirsty Dudes. Whatever the reason we missed it, and we apologize.

I am a bit surprised that this is the only returning flavor, as it was probably my least favorite of the 2017 line (I drank far too much of the mango berry). This is essentially a unsweetened , non-alcoholic wine spritzer. It's not something I would normally drink. It's lighter in flavor than normal Polar flavors. It also has an undertone that I will attribute to the fake wine aspect. I don't really know if that is true, because wine seems like the grossest thing to me. It just smells like rot to me. This isn't really a beverage for me, but friends who tried this, who enjoy wine said that it's pretty fantastic, so don't take my word on anything.
Rating
🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾
Categories
Sparkling and Water
Company
PolarWebsite@polarbeverages
Country
United States
Sweetener
No Sugar Added
Author
Jason Draper on 5/27/18, 6:48 AM
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