I cracked into this at work: Brand: Premium Fitz's Pumpkin Pop. Origin: St. Louis, MO. Purchase Place: "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store," Jordan, MN. Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar. Review: I was leary about this from the start. If I hadn't read "pumpkin" on the label, I would NOT have known it was supposed to be pumpkin! It was very heavy on the cinnamon - like baking cinnamon and not "red hot" cinnamon. I think they were going for like a "pumpkin spice" but made it very "spice"-heavy. In this case, it tasted all of cinnamon spice. Now, all that being said, it was GOOD! It still tasted ..read more

I opened this at work today as another soda from my Grandpa Joe's grand opening stash:  Yes, my desk is messy... it's the end of the semester... Brand: Appalachian Root Beer. Origin: Mechanicsburg, PA. Purchase Place: Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop, Spring Lake Park, MN. Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar and Honey. Review: This was OK. I don't mind honey as a sweetner in soda (as I LOVE honey), but it sometimes sits as a strange combo with root beer, and it's doing that here - the honey comes on too strong. The root beer is deep and pretty tasty with a hint of wintergreen and a lot of ..read more

I cracked into this at work earlier today: Brand: Unicorn Magic Honeydew Soda  Origin: Incline Village, NV  Purchase Place: Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop, Spring Lake Park, MN.  Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.  Review: I didn't know what this would taste like... like I wasn't sure what to expect for a "honeydew" flavored soda. And after my first sip, I STILL didn't know what it tasted like. It was like a slightly muted extra sweet Mountain Dew flavor (and I don't think that was just because it was about the same color).  I kept sipping, and I k ..read more

I grabbed this while shopping with my son at Aldi recently: Brand: Inotea Brown Sugar Bubble Tea. Origin: Newark, NJ. Purchase Place: Aldi, St. Paul, MN. Sweetener: Sugar and Brown Sugar. Review: The tea was quite good! I shared a sip with my boys, and they both loved it. It was what I'd expect from a boba tea store when I order a "Milk Tea" or anything along those lines.  (One store near us calls it a "Royal Tea Latte" even though it doesn't have any coffee flavor.) I had no complaints about the tea! But the tapioca pearls were another story. They were kind ..read more

Last night, I cracked into my first soda from the Grandpa Joe's grand opening a few weeks back: Cool skinny "wrapped" can. Brand: Wild Bill's Root Beer. Origin: Millington, NJ. Purchase Place: Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop, Spring Lake Park, MN. Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar. Review: Maybe it was just the fancy can that "woo-ed" me, but this was good from the first sip. It wasn't trying too hard to be something new - it was just good. It had a bit of an herby bite, but not too much. It had the perfect amount of sweetness, and the flavor was decent - it MAYBE could have ..read more

Mmmm... smooth and salty ..read more

My wife picked this up for me recently:   Brand: Coca Cola "Spiced" Origin: Atlanta, GA. Purchase Place: Target, Minneapolis, MN. Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup. Review: It smells like Christmas in a mall near a Yankee Candle store... not IN the store, but just NEAR the store when you get a hint of aroma in the air. And it tastes similar. There's a slight cinnamon flavor to this, as well as like a "Christmas spice." It's not bad. I don't get a ton of "raspberry" flavor even though that's what is says at the bottom of the can: "Raspberry Spiced Coke & Other Natural Flavor ..read more

My son and I just got back from the north metro because we HAD to check out the Grand Opening of Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop! They purchased Blue Sun Soda in Spring Lake Park. They just announced it on Facebook 10 days ago, so a LOT has happened since then.  A little bummed they painted over the mural out front. It was HOPPIN' inside! Charlie was handed a sweet soda jerk hat when he walked in. FUDGE! That's new! This is where all the long aisles of soda used to be, and now it's all CANDY and GAMES!  Some soda farther back. I had t ..read more

If you click on my "Cooking with Soda" tag, you'll see I've often done pork roasts and/or beef roasts with Sprite or cola or root beer. But over the last year or 2, I've been using root beer to help finish off my pork rib recipe.  I start by following this recipe all the way through the dry rub and instant pot cooking (I'm not an instant pot freak, but I use it when it can be helpful).  But then when it says to finish under the broiler, I jump outside to my grill instead.  I add some BBQ sauce and a little honey, and I get just a little char forming on both sides (I like just a ..read more

This had no "flavor" listed, so I assumed it was Dr. Pepper rip-off:   Brand: Dr. Wells Soda. Origin: Jasper, IN. Purchase Place: "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store," Jordan, MN. Sweetener: Cane Sugar. Review: I was right. This is a lot like Dr. Pepper, just a bit worse. It really tastes similar, but just has an extra "artificial" flavor at the end that makes it not as great. It was OK... I'll rank this right in the middle. Score: 5 out of 10 ..read more