BevReview.com

With a large number of holiday-specific soda beverages out once again this Christmas season, Jones Soda continues their tradition of interesting flavor choices. As part of the many sodas available in the 2007 Jones Soda Holiday collection, I'd like to introduce you to a taste that is only available in 4-Pack packaging, Gingerbread Man Soda.

Traditionally, the drinks available in 4-Packs around the holidays are more "normal" when compared to the other specialized flavors Jones puts out this time of year. "Normal" being a very broad term. Thus I was quite leery about Gingerbread Man Soda. I'm personally not much of a fan of the cookies or food stuffs anyway, so I wasn't really expecting to really like this drink.

Looking at the bottle, we see the now-familiar green/red color scheme for these 4-Packs that Jones first introduced last Christmas. This hasn't really changed other than the branding of the drink. The name on the bottle changed from "Jones Soda Co. to "Jones Pure Cane Soda". (The same thing happened with the 2007 Halloween flavors.) Additionally, whereas Jones used to proclaim the flavor as "______ Soda", now they just list the flavor: "______". Thus, the bottle in our case says "Gingerbread Man" vs. "Gingerbread Man Soda".

The color of the drink itself is brownish, somewhat like a tea. If you pour it into a glass, it could easily be mistaken for a darker toned apple juice or cider. Of course, the bubbles of carbonation would quickly give it away as a soda! The scent of the product is also similar to apple juice, interestingly.

Ah, but what about the taste? Surprisingly, I found it to be pretty good. It's a very unique flavor. The base is heavily influenced by spices. If there would have been more cola-flavor, I'd say we would have good flashbacks to one of my favorite holiday beverages, Pepsi Holiday Spice (RIP!)

The aftertaste is strong with spices as well, but the overall taste is clean. That's probably helped by the use of inverted cane sugar, making its debut with the holiday flavors for the first time. Thanks Jones!

My wife considered this drink tolerable, and did like the fact that it smelled like a cookie somewhat. I liked it far more than that. It's very different, but it tastes good as a seasonal drink. I can't see it as something to be enjoyed year-round, but none of the holiday flavors from Jones really have that distinction.

And while I'm not a big mixed drinks guy, I can totally see how Gingerbread Man Soda would be a good basis for those who enjoy a little more alcohol with their carbonated drinks! Plus, it's Kosher, so how can you go wrong!

Overall, I expected not to like Gingerbread Man Soda… but I'm glad I was wrong. It's recommended for a different flavor this time of year. Try it, you might just like it!