Very sweet. Reasonably good classic orange soda. Not much bitterness, but does have some around the edges. Finish is long but fine. Ok. Purchased at FYE Maplewood Mall

Quite sweet. Floral and fruit in equal parts tries pretty hard to stay true to a natural flavor but gets stuck a little bit in an uncanny valley. Floral lingers pleasantly for quite awhile but does fade. Ok. Purchased at FYE Maplewood Mall

Quite sweet. Classic artificial grape soda for the most part. The finish is slightly odd in that it fades from the center to nothing very quickly. Ok. Purchased at FYE Maplewood Mall

Very sweet. The label says "vanilla", but that's not what I'm tasting. Fairly acidic, almost citrus-like but never really resolves into much beyond "sweet". Maybe "vaguely flavored" is the best description? I suspect the use of the word vanilla on the labelling should have been …

Very sweet. Light, bright, and citrusy. A bit more lemon than lime, for all that it's mostly a pretty good generic citrus soda. Closer to 7-Up than to Sprite. Decent finish. Ok. Purchased at FYE Maplewood Mall

Not sweet. It is interesting to note that the label lists both My Private Label and Ginseng UP, which gives some idea where some of their formulations are being sourced. Just opening the bottle releases very fragrant artificial strawberry, with the actual flavor a pretty close match. Stays fragrant in the mouth all the …

Very sweet. Surprisingly, a very good example of a classic orange soda. Checking the packaging, the white label provider appears to be My Private Label who pretty clearly know how to make a good soda. Clean orange flavor from start to medium long finish. Good cane sugar ensures that finish is pretty clean. Surprisingly …

Medium sweet. I am conflicted. Unlike the Sour Blueberry this one is much closer to the flavor of the natural fruit. At the same time it's also kind of a generic "berry" flavor. It would be nice if I had another can of the blueberry so I could do a blind tasting because I'm really not sure I could tell the …

Medium sweet. Picture in your mind the classic grape soda: Nehi, Buddy's, Boots, Fanta, whatever. Now, imagine there is a dial on the bottle (because of course it's in a glass bottle) that is currently set to 11 out of 10. Turn that dial down to a 4 or 5 and you get this. The classic grape flavor is still there but it …

Medium sweet. Perhaps slightly tart, but hardly sour. Plenty of fruit, and I suppose it is vaguely blueberry like. Certainly blue and berry anyway. This is not to say it's bad. It's just... fine? Short finish. Ok. Purchased from United Sodas of America

Slightly sweet. The flavor is deceptive in that it is mostly in the nose, so in the mouth while it smells like it should be really full, rich, and creamy coconut, in the mouth it feels thin and lacking. Really long, slightly sour finish. Pass. Purchased from United Sodas of America

Quite sweet. Definitely ginger, but a fairly light natural flavor without any fire. Slightly peppery. Maybe a little bit too similar to Canada Dry? Ok. Purchased from United Sodas of America

Medium sweet. Well defined pear and perfumy floral quickly trade places smoothly through the middle. Pear starts but the elderflower is strong near the finish before both evaporate surprisingly quickly when the liquid is gone, leaving a subtly pear-skin flavored extended finish. Recommended. Purchased from United Sodas …

Medium sweet. A pretty good example of the difference between true citrus and aloysia citrodora. Where a typical lemonade or lemon-lime soda would be more clearly single noted and acidic, this has some subtle herbal depth that rounds out the flavor profile of an otherwise understated soda. Lovely finish. Recommended …

Quite sweet. Identifiably mango but sharper than I usually expect, which is where I suspect the "young" in the name comes from. The start is somewhat tart before mellowing out in the middle and fading till a somewhat creamy medium length finish. Ok. Purchased from United Sodas of America

Medium sweet. I really don't mean this to be too negative, and I will grant that it has been probably a couple of decades since I've had what I'm about to compare this to, but in a lot of ways this is pretty much carbonated Tang. I always enjoyed Tang so that isn't a bad thing in my book but it is difficult to not make …

Medium sweet. A surprisingly dry take on a fruit flavor like peach. The initial sweetness evaporates quickly leaving the floral fruit behind for a really long finish. Strongly reminiscent of a really good bellini I had many years ago. Recommended. Purchased from United Sodas of America

Medium sweet. Fruit and basil start has a little bit of white pepper. The fruit is pretty close to natural, though more like the huge and slightly bland strawberries from the grocery store than the intensely flavored wild varieties. In a lot of ways that's kind of how the soda is flavored: laid back and not intense. …

Very sweet. Candy start obscures any actual flavor until maple finally shows up in the middle and hangs in just through the beginning of the finish. Butter does appear but is generally elusive. Mostly this just tastes like medium grade sugar. Ok. Purchased from Blue Sun Soda Shop (Spring Lake Park)

Marketing is a funny thing. When a particular product or type of product is selling very well there is a tendency for other companies to come up with "new" products that are labelled and marketed like the new hotness so they can get in on the fad. Tealixer's line of "Herbal Sparkling Water" would …

Medium sweet. Superficially I can see why they call this cranberry but I find it lacking in the character of the real fruit, though no more than the usual way so many artificial and "natural" fruit flavors only vaguely resemble the real thing. That said, it is a nice cranberry-adjacent berry flavor and even …

Quite sweet. Sharp natural ginger start joins with an interestingly tart fruit flavor that isn't quite like anything I've tried before. Something like a less-sweet tamarind? Hints of bitterness around the edges add to the herbal depth of an already complicated brew. Fruit diminishes quickly in the moderately long …

Not sweet. Natural ginger suffused with complex bitter and earthy flavors present a challenge to anyone who read the label text and expected something different from the use of the term "ginger beer". The bitterness, which I suspect is from the dandelion root, is very present but also not overpowering. More …

Very sweet. While present, the usual wintergreen and other flavors from the root beer are quite muted and hard to discern over the fairly strong vanilla flavors along with a little bit of burnt sugar and caramel. More caramel into the medium length finish. Fairly nice as a vanilla cream soda. Dissappointing as a root …

Very sweet. Kind of an interesting blend between a lemon-lime and strawberry soda. Neither side really takes precedence but neither do they quite blend fully either. Would probably be better with 1/2 the sugar. Oddly long citrus-like finish. Ok. Purchased from Blue Sun Soda Shop (Spring Lake Park)

Very sweet. I really did not know what to expect from this one. The likely outcome of course was that it was going to be terrible in some very creative way, but to my somewhat incredible surprise this is actually kind of good. Picture in your mind the flavor of a rich Maytag or Stilton and strip away the creamy parts …

Very sweet. Starts with sharp lemon and pretty quickly gains nice raspberry. The sweetener blend appears fairly quickly afterward, seeping in slowly at first and eventually resolving to an ever present candy presence in the mouth. The main flavors fade fairly quickly in the finish, but the sweetener blend lingers. The …

Very sweet. Mostly a fairly classic vanilla cream soda but with a tiny bit of caramel for a slight burnt sugar flavor along with faint hints of coconut. Ok. Purchased from Blue Sun Soda Shop (Spring Lake Park)

Very sweet. I'm generally a big fan of sangria in it's many forms. It varies so much depending on so many factors it can be hard to pin down what specifically makes a good sangria, but to me it has to start with good wine and good fruit. So far it's been rare to get a really good example in a soda, but it has happened. …

Something Bowl Sunday 5/5 Not sweet. Like the Hairless Dog Lager earlier today this is hop forward. The difference then is in degree, not kind. Where the Hairless Dog used a big hammer, Athletic instead adds enough to be assertive but not enough to be abrasive. Floral notes develop in the middle and the finish is like …