I brought this to work with me and enjoyed it at my desk: 

I opened this last night: 

Brand: Jones Special Release Icee Cherry Soda.

Origin: Seattle, WA.

Purchase Place: Cub Foods, Minneapolis, MN.

Sweetener: Inverted Cane Sugar.

Review: It SMELLS like a cherry Icee at first sniff! And the taste is right on when it first hit my tongue. But then it has a harsh, almost bitter flavor. As I think about it, it's about right on when sipping a melted Icee, but that's just not desirable to me. 

The grocery store in Alexandria (Elden's) had a sale on Jones soda on an end-cap:

So I grabbed two. The first one I opened was grape at the cabin:


Brand: Jones Grape Soda

Origin: Made in Canada.

Purchase Place: Elden's Grocery Store, Alexandria, MN.

Sweetener: Inverted Cane Sugar. 

Review: This was OK. It was a little “sharper” than I’d prefer, when I hoped it was smoother. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t have the best flavor. Overall, just a bit lower than average.
Score: 4 out of 10.

I'm sipping on this during class right now:



Brand: Jones Birthday Cake Soda

Origin: Made in Canada.

Purchase Place: Fresh Thyme Farmer's Market, Minneapolis, MN.

Sweetener: Inverted Cane Sugar.

Review: Oh my God. It tastes like a sugary fun-fetti birthday cake. For real. I *like* sweet sodas, but this is too sweet to drink. It's a sipping soda for sure. If you like sweet cake/frosting like at a kids birthday party, you'll be happy with this. If you sometimes think some sodas are too sweet, this might be one of them. Good flavor, but a bit too sweet.

Score: 6 out of 10.

After a race yesterday, I cracked into this:



Brand: Jones Root Beer.

Origin: Seattle, WA.

Purchase Place: Blue Sun Soda, Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: Inverted Cane Sugar.

Review: The first thing that hit me was the caramel flavor - it was a very "caramel-y" root beer. It wasn't too bad. It was pretty smooth with just a little bit of a foamy head. I thought it was OK. If you really like a bit of caramel flavor, then try this for sure. But I'll give it a slightly-above-average score of 6.5.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.

I enjoyed this (with some pizza) the other night:



Brand: Jones Strawberry Lime Soda.

Origin: Seattle, WA.

Purchase Place: Frattallone's Ace Hardware, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Inverted Cane Sugar.

Review: Let it be known that "strawberry lime" would never be my first choice for a soda flavor. But this one was done well. Each sip started with the sweetness and smoothness of strawberry, and then ended with a little tart "kick" of lime. It was a nice balance.

Score: 7 out of 10.

After my disappointing Jones Soda this past weekend, it was time to try one more that I had.  My "fortune" under the cap was "avoid a hasty decision." So I took my time with this:



Brand: Jones Zero Calorie Black Cherry.

Origin: Seattle, Washington.

Purchase Place: Frattallones Ace Hardware, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Sucralose.

Review: I had low expectations, but this was pretty good. It had a slight creaminess to it, as well as a hint of a bite. Good flavor, nice amount of sweetness, and pretty tasty all around. So I guess I haven't totally written off Jones Soda - I'll have to grab some other flavors shortly.

Score: 7 out of 10.

I was working on building some raised veggie beds yesterday, so I grabbed a soda to enjoy while working:

Sitting on the corner of one of the raised beds being built.

Brand: Jones Cream Soda.

Origin: Seattle, Washington.

Purchase Place: Frattallones Ace Hardware, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Inverted Cane Sugar.

Review: This smelled good, but just tasted off. It had a slight bite that tasted artificial. "Bite" has no place in a cream soda, and an "artificial" taste is never good. I didn't even quite finish this. Not good.

Score: 3 out of 10.

Easter is this weekend, which means Lent will be over, which means I will be able to drink soda again! In celebration for this glorious day, I headed to Frattallone's Ace Hardware on Grand Ave in St. Paul earlier today to stock up on soda. But I encountered some bad news! They had NO root beer left on their shelves!!

Lots of empty spots where root beer once was. (And technically, there's 1 diet root beer left on the 2nd shelf next to the blue stuff.)

This marks the first time a "stock up" of soda didn't include a root beer. Depressing. Here's what I brought home:


From left-to-right:

- Jones Cream Soda
- AJ Stephans Raspberry Lime Rickey
- Cicero Beverage Co. Chicago Style Cherry
- Faygo Redpop
- Saranac Black Cherry Cream
- AJ Stephans Black Cherry
- Jones Soda Zero Calorie Black Cherry
- NuGrape Grape
- Double Cola
- Cicero Beverage Co. Chicago Style Orange Cream
Check back early next week as I start to go nuts on this stash.