BevReview.com

The third time's a charm!

We've previously mentioned "whispers" via BevReview's Twitter account about the return of Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback in late summer/early fall for a third limited release.

Per Pepsi's customer support, this is now being officially confirmed:

We're thrilled to announce that thanks to the overwhelmingly positive feedback we've received, Throwback is coming back! You'll begin to see these beverages in stores starting July 31st for five weeks or while supplies last. They'll have the same real sugar formula and retro graphics that you liked so much the last go-round.

5 weeks? Seems like these runs are getting shorter and shorter, doesn't it. For those who like to mark their calendars, those dates are around July 31-September 4.

As we get more details, we'll be sure to share them. It's back for a third time, Throwback fans! Special thanks to BevReview fan Rick Powell for passing along the information.

As always, keep checking in here at BevReview for the latest Throwback developments. Keep up via RSS, Twitter, and Facebook.

Other Throwback coverage on BevReview.com:

• Pepsi/Dew Throwbacks discovered via trademark filings (February 9, 2009)
• Unused prototype bottle designs leaked (February 19, 2009)
• Official Facts about Pepsi Throwback & Mountain Dew Throwback (February 26, 2009)
• Preview of another sugar-sweetened drink: Pepsi Natural (March 5, 2009)
• Review: Pepsi Natural (March 16, 2009)
• Review: Pepsi Throwback (April 17, 2009)
• Review: Mountain Dew Throwback (April 21, 2009)
• Tips in finding Pepsi and Mountain Dew Throwback? (April 21, 2009)
• NPR Interview with Steve Tanner about Pepsi Throwback (May 5, 2009)
• Pepsi, Dew Throwback to return in December for 8 weeks (August 10, 2009)
• New Mountain Dew Throwback Design (September 9, 2009)
• Pepsi Throwback, Mountain Dew Throwback December 2009 relaunch designs (November 27, 2009)
• Review: Pepsi Throwback (December 2009 Rerelease) (January 1, 2010)
• Review: Mountain Dew Throwback (December 2009 Rerelease) (January 6, 2010)

DEWmocracy 2 has ended, the "crowdsourced" promotional campaign to select Mountain Dew's next flavor. Started in 2009, this second iteration of DEWmocracy produced three finalists by which America could vote upon. The winner of the first DEWmocracy was Mountain Dew Voltage.

(Source: Dewmocracy.com)

The 3 choices debuted in Spring 2010 — which we reviewed here on BevReview.com:

• Mountain Dew Distortion
• Mountain Dew White Out
• Mountain Dew Typhoon

The voting closed in mid-June. The winner is Mountain Dew White Out, the oddly white-colored, mildly citrus-infused flavor of the bunch.

Per the results provided by PepsiCo (which were based on online voting, not sales), 44% of the vote went to White Out, 40% to Typhoon, and 16% to Distortion.

Look for Mtn Dew White Out to claim its proper place in the Dew empire this fall when it's formally released as the new flavor.

Another beverage we checked out during our time at the 2010 National Restaurant Association show here in Chicago was Fresh Ginger Ginger Ale. While the name may seem repetitive, I assure you, this is a wonderful beverage and probably one of the best ginger ales we've ever tasted. At the NRA show, we got the chance to talk to company owners Bruce Cost and Kavi Reddy about their line of three flavors. For this review we'll focus on Fresh Ginger Ginger Ale – Original.

Mr. Cost started the Big Bowl and Wow Bao restaurants in Chicago with Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises in 1995. Almost a decade earlier, he authored a book entitled Ginger East to West that is best described as a cookbook that traces the history of ginger and the associated drink itself.

At his 11 restaurant locations, they started making ginger ale from scratch and serving it to customers, selling an estimated 3 million drinks (per their website). Based on this success, he recently partnered with a Brooklyn, NY-based bottler to bring the product to market.

Sampling at the NRA show

The result is the Fresh Ginger Ginger Ale brand, available in Original, Jasmine Green Tea, and Pomegranate flavors. Our 12 oz. glass bottle of Original Ginger flavor features very "earthy" branding, with simple label design that reflects a homemade nature. The coloring of the beverage is on par with the yellowish hue that might be associated with lemonade.

Ginger particles float in this drink

The label clearly denotes that this drink is "Unfiltered" and that's very much true. You can actually see ginger floating around inside the bottle, which is why they also note on the label that "Separation is natural. Shake gently."

This drink is pretty basic in ingredients:

Fresh Ginger Ginger Ale – Original
Carbonated water, pure cane sugar, 100% fresh ginger, and citric acid

That's it, but the combination and dosage of these ingredients make something quite magical.

Now real ginger ale is nothing like the standard stuff you see on the shelf from the likes of Canada Dry, Schweppes, or Seagram's. We've tasted quite a few in the past, including Boylan Bottleworks Ginger Ale, Krest Ginger Ale, Canada Dry Cranberry Ginger Ale, and Canada Dry Green Tea Ginger Ale. There are quite a few authentic tasting brands out there a well, some featuring that "spicy, burning" sensation that is typically associated with a quality ginger ale.

What's unique about Fresh Ginger Ginger Ale, aside from its strong ginger scent, is that it manages to actually make the tasting experience smooth and subtle… with just a nice touch of burn in the back of your throat during the aftertaste. A nicely chilled bottle of this stuff really does an impressive job providing a refreshing experience. It tastes clean, natural, and quite different from most products you associate with the genre. That can probably be attributed to the deep knowledge that founder Bruce Cost has with the subject matter of ginger. His ability to bend it to work for his tastes is evident. The use of cane sugar is icing on the cake, and surprisingly, doesn't make the drink too sweet like a Jones Soda product might. Since each batch is created "by hand", there is the possibility that different bottling runs will have distinct tastes.

A 12 oz. bottle features 160 calories, 40 g carbs (37 g sugars), and even includes 6% of your recommended daily dosage of Vitamin C and 10% of iron.

Overall, Fresh Ginger Ginger Ale Original by Bruce Cost is one outstanding beverage. The distinctive ginger taste, pure ingredients, quality mouthfeel, and "refreshing" factor make this one of our favorites in the ginger ale category. Distribution is limited, with availability in New York and some other states, so it may be a challenge to track down. However, if you do, it's well worth it. This stuff is quite the treat!

Official Website: FreshGingerAle.com

We're all used to seeing Snapple and it's wide array of juice flavors in glass bottles. Thus it's a little odd to see a 16 oz. tall can with a the logo slapped on the side. But that's exactly what we found with Snapple Grape Berry Punch.

We discovered this product at a 7-Eleven, where clearly labeled on the can there's a suggested retail price of $0.79. This is obviously a budget play, but given the look/feel of the can, I can't help but wonder if this hurts the brand equity of Snapple.

The can is purple with a green band around the top denoting the pricepoint. The Snapple logo appears below this along with the flavor name ("Grape Berry Punch"), in addition to very clip art-y representations of grapes and strawberries. A small body of text at the bottom of the can mentions the following: "You love grape. You love strawberry. But, do you love one more than the other? Well, Grape Berry Punch means you never have to choose — you get both delicious flavors in one refreshing drink." Overall, the can doesn't feel like Snapple. Rather, it looks like a store brand.

Upon opening the can, you are greeted with a scent very similar to grape soda. The color is light purple and somewhat translucent. That first sip is rather surprising, however. I guess I was expecting something that pretty much tasted like grape soda. Surprisingly, it wasn't as sweet as that expectation. It seemed like the berry flavor took off the harsh grape edge. That was quite pleasant. Sure, there's still somewhat of a fake flavor and a syrupy taste associated with the high fructose corn syrup. But for the price, it's not a bad drink.

Snapple Grape Berry Punch
Filtered water, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, sodium hexametaphosphate (to protect flavor), sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (preserve freshness), natural flavors, potassium citrate, calcium disodium EDTA (to protect flavor), calcium lactate, calcium gluconate, Red 40, Blue 1

This 16 oz. can contains 230 calories, 125 mg of sodium, 55 g of carbs — 54 g of which are sugars. This drink is caffeine-free.

Snapple Grape Berry Punch is a decent grape/strawberry blend. It's a low-rent version of the Snapple we are familiar with, but for the affordable price, we can let that slide. It's not something to write home about, and the can is a questionable extension of the brand, but it's refreshingly different take on grape soda.

While attending the 2010 National Restaurant Association show here in Chicago, I had the chance to chat with Lamont Seckman, the Owner & CEO of Inspiration Beverage out of Denver, CO… the company behind Petey's Bing Energy Drink. While providing me with a sample of his beverage, he also explained what he felt was different about Bing vs. other energy drink offerings on the market today.

Bing gets its name from the use of bing cherries and not the Microsoft-owned search engine formerly known by a bunch of unmemorable names like Live Search, Windows Live Search, and MSN Search. In fact, Bing includes 5% cherry juice in its formula, which would explain the emphasis on red in the packaging color scheme.

Bing comes in 12 oz. slim cans packaged in 4-Packs. The can design features a dark red color with a black "B" logo that contains a cherry-shaped outline. The pitch on the front of the can notes that this is a "delicious energizing beverage with Ginkgo Biloba, Ginseng, and Vitamin C."

It's also only 40 calories per 12 oz. can. How do they pull that off? Well, even though the sweetener is cane sugar, it's complimented by the one-two punch of sucralose and acesulfame potassium (Ace-K) as artificial sweeteners (though the marketing materials claim that there is less than 0.02% of sucrolose content).

Bing CEO Lamont Seckman

In talking with Mr. Seckman, he mentioned that the inclusion of the artificial sweeteners to cut down on the calorie count was intentional to broaden the appeal of the drink. Bing is being positioned not against the likes of Red Bull and other energy drinks. Rather, it's going up against standard soft drinks, while also walking that line between full-calorie and sugar-free. Thankfully, it does seem to succeed better than other hybrids we've seen in years past such as Coke C2 and Pepsi Edge.

By being cherry-flavored, Bing is hoping to be more demographically appealing to a broader audience, especially females. Traditionally, energy drinks tend to skew towards young males with cash to burn. The lower calorie count, use of real juice, inclusion of various nutrients, and natural colors/flavors also are being aimed at the more "health conscious" energy drink-type customer.

Upon opening a can, you are greeted with a tart cherry scent, thus supporting the branding of the beverage. Bing possesses a very sweet, cherry flavor that is quite a break from what you'd come to expect from an energy drink. The dark-but-translucent red color of the beverage reminds me of something you'd see in a Jones Soda bottle. The initial "wow" of cherry flavor is quite refreshing if the drink is chilled well.

We did detect that "artificial sweetener aftertaste" with the drink. If you are used to low- or no-calorie soft drinks, this should not be an issue. However, if you are more adverse to the sucralose/Ace-K combo, this might turn you off. Consistent with other energy drinks, there's a bit of syrupy flavor combined with what we assume are the supplements packed into the beverage, producing an expected taste for the genre. Speaking of what's inside, let's take a closer look, shall we?

Bing Energy Drink
Water, dark cherry juice (from concentrate), cane sugar, natural flavors, citric acid, grape skin extract (color), potassium sorbate (preservative and potassium source), sodium benzoate (preservative), sucralose, acesulfame potassium

As previously mentioned, a 12 oz. can contains 40 calories. It also features 10 g of carbs (10 of which are sugars), 20 mg of sodium, 60 mg of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), 1.7 mg of riboflaven (Vitamin B2), 20 mg of niacin (niacinamide), 2 mg of pyridoxine HCl (Vitamin B6), 6 mcg of cyanocobalamin (Vitamin B12), and 10 mg of d-calcium pantothenate (pantothenic acid). Caffeine is 10 mg/oz.

As far as your added energy drink-oriented supplements, they include 1000 mg of taurine, 100 mg ginkgo biloba left extract, 100 mg ginseng root extract, 100 mg beta-glucan, 10 mg guarana seed extract, 0.01 mg acai berry extract, and 0.01 mg of flax seed extract.

Being both beverage connoisseurs and Web enthusiasts, if there is anything we'd advise the folks at Bing, it would probably be in their positioning on the Internet. It's got to be a challenge to maintain any easy search engine ranking now that they share a name with a Microsoft property (in the drink's defense, it came first!)

The promotional materials point to no less than 3 web addresses for the product (getbinged.com, bingenergydrink.net, and bingme.net — all which point to the same location), which is rather confusing when you want to share information. As for the official site, it's loaded with images and Flash objects that make it really hard to read, very difficult for search engines to index, and seem to bring into question the target market. On the social media front, an associated MySpace page reflects the drink's usage in bars as a mixer. We like the drink, but if we were to tell a friend about it by providing them a web link, it probably would be hard to take the marketing seriously. The Internet is probably low on the radar of a brand trying to establish itself, but perception goes a long way. Getting involved with Facebook and Twitter would be very low-cost venues to spread the word.

Overall, I really liked the refreshing cherry taste of Bing. It's the type of drink that you wish more folks knew about because of the unique approach it takes on the energy drink category. It's not "scary" like the marketing of a lot of energy beverages, which are very in-your-face and alienate anyone not in the targeted demographic. While I'm not totally sold on the artificial sweetener-influenced aftertaste, it's rather hard to argue with just 40 calories per can!

Official Website: BingEnergyDrink.com

We've previously sampled the tasty sweetness found in MaryAnna's Summer Sweet Tea. If you are hankerin' for something with a little fruit flavor thrown in, then it's time to read about MaryAnna's Berry Sweet Tea.

Like the original flavor, this drink is packaged in a 16 oz. glass bottle. The label design emphasizes a purple color, playing up the raspberry flavor. We see the return of the vintage "woodie" station wagon. The neck of the bottle is larger than one found on a typical 20 oz. plastic version. The artwork plays up an East Coast feel, as the company is based in New Jersey.

The drink is described on the bottle as a "genuine brewed tea", "rich infusion of custom blended teas", "all natural", and "raspberry flavored". Perusing the ingredients, you can see the makeup of this product is rather simple:

MaryAnna's Berry Sweet Tea
Filtered water, pure cane sugar, 100% lemon juice, black tea leaves and raspberry leaves with natural raspberry flavor

The bottle notes that you should "shake before enjoying" and this is very true, because the tea elements tend to settle at the bottom.

Upon opening the bottle, you actually aren't greeted by a strong smell. There's a hint of berry there, but not something that indicates a tea experience. The color of this Berry Sweet Tea is dark and cloudy, with a bolder brownish color than flagship Summer Sweet Tea.

The taste? Well, this is sweet tea, so yes, it's sweet! Let's not forget that this contains cane sugar, so it's a very clean flavor. When you start a sip, you are greeted by the raspberry flavor, while the aftertaste brings the tea element into play. It's not a harsh flavor, but rather smooth. You'll have a hard time putting down the bottle because of the tastiness. It's nothing too crazy or out of the ordinary as far as flavor combinations, but after drinking it, you think, "yup, that makes sense and works well!" We also enjoyed how the drink did not taste watered down like many bottled teas.

The 16 oz. bottle lists two 8 oz. servings per container, but I'll provide the nutritional information for the entire bottle, as that is how most consumers tend to partake of such packaging. A full 16 oz. bottle features 160 calories, 10 mg. of sodium, 38 g. of carbs — all of which are sugars. This tea contains 2% of your recommended Daily Value for Vitamin C.

MaryAnna's Berry Sweet Tea is a refreshing twist on the sweet tea concept. Of course it's packed with sugar — cane sugar — and is quite sweet. The raspberry flavor actually takes the edginess off the drink a bit, helping it become quite smooth and amazingly drinkable. Thumbs up!

Back in March, we reported on a new Sunkist brand extension from the Dr Pepper Snapple Group called Sunkist Solar Fusion. Now that the product is available, let's give it the ole BevReview look and see what's inside!

The folks at DPSG noted that Solar Fusion is "a powerfully delicious blend of tropical and citrus flavors, combining the great taste of Sunkist with Caffeine and Vitamin B for energy." In fact, this drink contains Vitamins B3, B5, B6, and B12. Sunkist already has the distinction of being one of the few orange sodas that contain caffeine, so this version with more "pep" is a logical extension, though it does seem like the same approach that we saw with 2008's Squirt Citrus Power… shortlived and also from Dr Pepper Snapple Group (well, Cadbury Schweppes at the time… same company, new name).

The label design uses the recently-refreshed Sunkist logo (which is actually quite good) complimented by black highlights and a red/blue "flame device" behind the logo — apparently depicting a solar flare of some sort. The drink describes itself as "tropical mandarin flavored soda" and notes that it contains caffeine and B vitamins. The package design is attractive and compliments the red/orange-colored beverage well.

Open the cap and you do smell mandarin oranges… or at least something in that same tangerine family. There's a sharpness to your initial sip which contrasts against the perceived taste of what an orange soft drink should be. It's somewhat bitter, but welcomed, to be honest. As the taste lingers, that aggressive flavor fades away and produces a somewhat weak-tasting traditional orange that sits on your tongue. The aftertaste is awash in a syrupy, high fructose corn syrup-ladden mess that is expected with this type of carbonated beverage.

So, to summarize… starts intriguingly, middle is so-so, end is "seriously, this flavor again?" With a small tweaking of the formula (and maybe the inclusion of sugar vs. HFCS), this could be a standout flavor, in our opinion. The use of B Vitamins has questionable value that probably can only be determined by personal experience. We're not sold on this idea of making a carbonated soft drink seem healthier by infusing it with nutrients.

What's inside? We're glad you asked:

Sunkist Solar Fusion
Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, sodium benzoate (preservative), caffeine, natural flavors, Yellow 6, ascorbic acid and calcium disodium EDTA (to protect flavor), niacinamide (Vitamin B3), calcium pantothenate (Vitamin B5), Red 40, pyridoxine hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Blue 1, cyanocobalamin (Vitamin B12)

A 20 oz. plastic bottle contains 300 calories, 120 mg of sodium, and 81 g of carbs (of which, 78g are sugars). On the nutrients front, Solar Fusion possesses just 25% of your recommended daily value each of Niacin, Vitamin B6, B12, and Pantothenic Acid… so don't go ditching your colorful Flintstones vitamins just yet.

In the caffeine department, Sunkist Solar Fusion contains 4.1 mg/oz. In comparison, Pepsi contains 3.2 mg/oz while Coke has 2.9 mg/oz. In the fruit/citrus pop category where Solar Fusion probably will be compared, Mountain Dew has 4.5 mg/oz., Mello Yello has 4.3 mg/oz., and standard orange Sunkist contains 3.4 mg/oz. So even though the caffeine element is hyped, it's not beyond the threshold of other soft drinks and is definitely not at energy drink levels.

To be honest, we liked the taste of Sunkist Solar Fusion. It's twisted orange/pineapple/mandarin flavor actually is pretty good. The packaging design is very attractive, which should help with impulse buys at convenience stores. Inclusion of caffeine continues a differentiator of the Sunkist brand in the "orange soda" space. The biggest drawback is probably how the bite from the flavor disappears quickly and leaves you with a very syrupy aftertaste.

It wasn't that long ago that we were writing about a new "natural" formula for 7Up. It was 2006, in fact. At the time, the folks behind the drink were excited to be "the first mainstream carbonated soft drink brand to address consumer demand for a great tasting lemon-lime soft drink made from 100 percent natural ingredients." Thus, a new version of 7Up was born.

And we hated it.

In our May 2006 review, we noted the following:

Upon opening the new formula, it smelled like good ole 7Up. However, the taste was different. It still was the traditionally "clean" taste associated with this brand, but something else was there as well. I couldn't quite place it, but it had similarities to Sierra Mist, which in my opinion, was not a good thing. I'm not a big fan of Mist. The aftertaste is different, but I think I liked the older version of 7Up better.

The problem with 7Up was not the formula. The problem was marketing and support from its owners, Cadbury Schweppes [later renamed Dr Pepper Snapple Group]. Hopefully they put some promotional muscle behind this and its sister brand, Dr. Pepper.

We still stand behind those comments. Around the time, 7Up Plus appeared with its horrid flavor extensions (Mixed Berry, Island Fruit, and Cherry). The flavor wasn't broken. Distribution was lacking, promotion was lacking, "buzz" was lacking. But the flavor was still good.

2006: "Now 100% Natural" vs. 2007: "100% Natural Flavors"

Ironically, the "natural" claims of the 2006 reboot of 7Up got Cadbury Schweppes into trouble with the Center for Science in the Public Interest which threatened to sue the company because the "natural" drink still used high fructose corn syrup. 7Up eventually backpedaled on their claims, changing "100% Natural" to "100% Natural Flavors". They continued this new claim on Pomegranate 7Up and Cherry 7Up Antioxidant.

In any case, it looks like the formula for 7Up is back on the drawing board again. This from The Wall Street Journal:

Dr. Pepper Snapple To Reformulate 7UP; Ad Campaign Planned
May 24, 2010

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Dr. Pepper Snapple (DPS) is reformulating its 7UP brand, adding new graphics to its packaging and launching new advertising around the brand in a move that could help boost volumes of the drink in the fourth quarter.

In an interview, the company's chief marketing officer, Jim Trebilcock, said the newly "restaged" 7Up will hit U.S. stores in September and that the company is using technology to give the drink a "crisper" lemon and lime taste. Trebilcock said the relaunch could help raise the brand's volumes as soon as the fourth quarter.

7Up is a key brand for Dr. Pepper in the U.S. and is the company's second largest carbonated drink after its namesake Dr. Pepper. "We grew 7Up last year. We wanted to see if we could accelerate it," said Trebilcock.

So, it looks like we're getting a "crisp" flavor back to 7Up. Of course, if they just made it with real sugar, that would go pretty far in differentiating this lemon lime from the likes of Pepsi's Sierra Mist and Coke's Sprite. It's not like the idea hasn't been floated by their competitors (um, Sierra Mist Natural?) Plus, given how 7Up's market share was about 1% in 2009 vs. Sprite's dominant 5.5% (per Beverage Digest), it could use a little love.

In any case, it looks like we may see the new 7Up in the fall. I know we're not alone in curiosity wondering about the new taste!

Recently, I attended the National Restaurant Association show here in Chicago, held from May 22-25, to check out what was on display in the world of beverages. I was joined by my friend Nicko Sahlas, founder of our partner site ChefTalk.com, as we explored the thousands of exhibitors showcasing their products and services.

Steve Tanner (BevReview) & Nicko Sahlas (ChefTalk)

Now, the NRA show (not to be confused with that "other NRA") is primarily focused on the foodservice industry, restaurants, and hotels/motels, so when it comes to the beverage side of things, everything is filtered through that perspective. Here at BevReview.com we take a look at the non-alcoholic side of the coin, thus we didn't dig into the Wine, Spirits, & Beer Event that was taking place as part of the convention. Hopefully, you trust our eyes and ears as we explored the event to see what's interesting and new… and what that means to someone like yourself who is probably a beverage enthusiast.

Incidentally, I've been to the NRA show many times in the past as a guest with some of the food service management I used to work with way back in my college days. During my education, as part of my student loan work program, I spent 4 years working in differing areas of the dining commons, from clean-up crew up through management. Anyone who has served time in institutional food service understands the interesting life lessons you experience in those environments! In any case, since BevReview HQ is here in Chicago as well, it was easy to drop by the show and check it out for a few days.

We'll be showcasing reviews on many of the beverages we tried at the show, so please stay tuned in future weeks for that. While the "Big 3" were in attendance (The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, Dr Pepper Snapple Group), it often was the smaller brands that had the most interesting products and stories. We hope to spotlight a lot of these brands and hopefully introduce something to diversify your tastes! It was a lot of fun to get out from "behind the screen" to talk to the folks that bring these items to market, from owners to distributors to marketing & PR folks.

As we gear up to write about many of these beverages, here's just a taste of what we saw…

Like the previously-reviewed Trader Joe's Vintage Cola, Trader Joe's Vintage Root Beer is also a branded, cane sugar-sweetened beverage from specialty grocery chain Trader Joe's. Packaged in a classy 12 oz. glass bottle and attractive graphics, let's see how it stacks up!

Vintage Root Beer follows the nice packaging design found on Vintage Cola, this time with brown/white/orange scheme. A collegiate font is used to spell "Vintage" under the Trader Joe's logo, but is dwarfed by a bold "Root Beer" name in the center of what reflects a bottle cap-type logo. Bubbles and period-specific diamond shapes sit in the background on the label, enforcing the classic treatment of the brand.

The label also notes that this drink is "vegan" and that there are "no gluten ingredients used". Other proclamations include "caffeine free", "no artificial flavors", and "no preservatives".

Pop the cap (which actually is a vintage cap that twists off) and you are greeted with a subtle root beer aroma. There's another smell in there that decidedly is not root beer, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Something almost plastic-y in nature. Not pleasant.

Luckily, the taste is better than the smell. You'll be shocked to know that this drink tastes like root beer. (I know, aren't you glad you read this review?) It's not a strong flavor and in some ways the flavor is a bit watered down. That was disappointing. There's very little bitterness or spice flavor here, so if you are a root beer connoisseur, you are probably going to be left wanting more. However, the cane sugar sweetening does provide quite a clean experience, and for what is basically a store brand, it's not bad.

Here's what's inside:

Trader Joe's Vintage Root Beer
Triple filtered carbonated water, cane sugar, caramel color, wintergreen birch, anise, sassafras, Tahitian vanilla extract and citric acid and tartaric acid

A 12 oz. glass bottle packs 170 calories and 43 grams of carbs (all of which are sugars).

I wish Trader Joe's Vintage Root Beer "went farther" with its flavor. When you have cane sugar on your side, why not totally be awesome? Instead, this is a passively-flavored root beer drink, despite having an ingredient list with recognizable items! Clean, but uneventful… and actually, a bit weak in overall flavor.