Ever heard of a Soda Tasting?

A what? You've heard of wine tastings, whiskey tasting, and beer flights but soda tasting? What kind of crazy idea is this? My crazy idea, that's who! 

Have you ever heard of a place called Rocket Fizz? Well, let me tell you about my recent visit to this unique store in Ankeny, Iowa. I first saw the store while stopping for lunch at the restaurant my daughter was managing, Zombie Burger and Shake Lab. Rocket Fizz is a couple doors down. Stepping through the doors was like stepping into my childhood. Sooooo many candies from all over the world, current and vintage. Literally everything I can think of. Candies I haven't seen in years. They even had a great selection of British candies, like Cadbury Flake chocolate and Fry's Turkish Delight- a rose flavored gel covered in chocolate. I had to take those two home, but there were so many others, like Aero and Allsorts, and so many more. They had Japanese KitKats made with matcha tea- had to have those too. 

The real reason I went to Rocket Fizz, however, was not for candy. It was for soda. I had seen an ad on their Facebook page for Pickle Juice Soda and I had a brilliant idea- host a soda tasting! At first I thought I'd just grab a couple bottles of Pickle Juice soda and have a few friends over for giggles and see how horrible or good it is, but wandering around Rocket Fizz, in absolute awe over the endless shelves of crazy soda flavors I knew this would be something so much bigger. I picked out a twelve pack of mixed sodas and you are going to crack up over these flavors: Tractor Organic Cucumber, John5 Limeade (more about John5 later), Lester's Fixins Buffalo Wing, Red Velvet Cookie Dough, Barf Soda, Big Red, Snooki Wild Cherry, Boylans Shirley Temple, Pickle Juice, Kickapoo Fuzzy Navel, and Sioux City Prickly Pear. 

Next step in the planning was to compile a list of the right friends, with a sense of adventure and no picky eaters. Usually the promise of tasty food will draw lots of volunteers but I needed to find the right group of people to try these weird soda flavors without balking. It was HARD to find willing participants, as one requirement was you must try EVERY flavor, no skipping, no excuses. I didn't find many willing to take the plunge with The Chef and I but we soldiered on bravely and tried them all. Let's break it down by flavor:

Tractor Organic Cucumber- HORRIBLE!!!!  Awful awful awful. By far the WORST of all the flavors, even Barf. This didn't taste in any way like cucumber, it tastes like soap and chemicals. Absolutely awful.

John5 Limeade- This one's bright green color should clue you in- it tastes a lot like lemon lime KoolAid. It's VERY sweet. Cloyingly so, and not very bubbly for a soda.

Lester's Fixins Buffalo Wing- Not as bad as I expected but not good. Quite fizzy and a weird after taste. Didn't have any of the heat associated with buffalo sauce and didn't really taste like wing sauce, but it was not sweet.

Red Velvet Cookie Dough- Boring. Overly sweet and boring. Tasted like creme soda.

Barf Soda- Big surprise here- Barf wasn't awful at all. It didn't taste like I expected, sour and gross. It was fruity, not as sweet as some of the others, and didn't even smell bad. It was very hard to actually take the first sip but we were very surprised.

Pickle Juice- Looks like, smells, and tastes like pickle juice. Gross gross gross. Dill pickle juice at that. One sip and we were done.

Big Red- Just a typical red creme soda here, no surprises.

Snooki Wild Cherry- Verrrrrrry sweet and not as bubbly. Red color was over the top, tasted like hard candy. This one was probably my favorite of all the flavors in spite of the sweetness. This would make a decent cocktail with a splash of vodka.

Boylans Shirley Temple- This one didn't taste like a Shirley Temple at all. It just tasted like unidentifiable fruit soda. Not horrible, not memorable. Would also probably benefit from a splash of vodka or something.

Kickapoo Fuzzy Navel- This one was gag-inducing. I expected a sweet and peachy soda with a little hint of orange but it was all wrong. No peach flavor, no cocktail flavor, no orange.

Sioux City Prickly Pear- Another one with an unidentifiable hint of something fruit flavored but you're just not sure what exactly. Since none of us had ever eaten an actual prickly pear we really didn't have anything to compare it to. Also another of the cloyingly sweet sodas.

Now, back to John5. In case you are wondering about this weird name for a soda, John5 is a heavy metal guitarist who has played with David Lee Roth, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Loser, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Meatloaf and others. He has also worked with MANY well known metal musicians including Ozzy, the Scorpions, Rob Halford and many more. In 2015 John5 teamed up with RocketFizz to create and release his own soda, a carbonated limeade, and that, my friends, is how this came to be. Amazingly, shortly before this story was finished, The Chef and I got a chance to see John5 LIVE at the Vaudeville Mews here in Des Moines- amazing amazing amazing show!!!!!


Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 55: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."