Food: Dang! Red Cream Soda

Came across this at the store the other day. They were selling it by the bottle, so I thought I'd try one. Big Red is, to my mind, THE "red cream soda," but it's hard to come by where I currently live, so I hoped this one might do the trick.

Dang! has its sugar content turned up to 11, so to speak. It's really something for me to comment on how sweet a drink is considering I usually am the one to love things other people tell me are too sweet. Dang! isn't too sweet for me, but it's noticeably sweeter than pretty much anything else I've drank in recent memory. And that includes milkshakes (though those are a different kind of sweet, really).

It doesn't have the bubblegum flavor I associate with Big Red, the flavor I really look for in a red cream soda. I guess nothing is ever going to have that signature taste, though a few have come close. Dang! has a hint of it, but the sweetness is the overpowering factor in this soda. It tastes good; it's more than a simple cream soda, and I'd drink more of it. But it can't hold a candle to my Big Red.

Food: Big Red Float

I received something very cool in the mail yesterday. Big Red soda. And not just the regular type (though there was some of that, too), but a box of something labeled Big Red Float.

That unmarked silver can is the Float.

I couldn't help it; I opened one right away and poured it over some ice. And I'll be damned if it didn't taste almost exactly like Big Red poured over vanilla ice cream. This drink tastes like a Big Red float.

I've had the Dr Pepper Vanilla Float, and it didn't win me, despite my love for DP. Big Red, however, got it right. This drink tastes just like what it's supposed to be and without any weird aftertaste (well, not any weirder than any soda aftertaste anyway).

Whether or not people who don't like Big Red will like this? No idea. The chief criticism I've heard of Big Red is that it's too sweet and/or tastes too much like bubble gum (rather than cream soda). But the Big Red Float is mostly a vanilla ice cream flavor with the underlying taste of Big Red. It's the vanilla that hits first and foremost. So maybe people who aren't as fond of Big Red will tolerate the Float version.

The pros to drinking Float rather than making an actual float? No melting ice cream everywhere. No mucky glasses to clean (assuming you drink from the can, but be sure to chill it first since this absolutely should be served cold). None of that inconvenient trying to get the last of the ice cream up a straw. And I think the Float soda would actually make a great slush, too, if you were to freeze some. Might have to try it . . .

Our ability to find Big Red regularly out here on the West Coast has been spotty at best. Online searches give a list of places in the area I should be able to buy it, but the hunt often proves fruitless. So either there are a lot of Big Red drinkers stocking up or those stores aren't stocking it as much as the Internet thinks they are. I sure would love it if a few would make it a point to keep Big Red available—and Big Red Float, too, if and when it hits the market.

Food: Virgil's Cream Soda

I think we've established my love of soda, and sweets, and cream soda in particular. Sure, an A&W or I.B.C. will do in a pinch, but I'm always on the lookout for something that goes above and beyond.

The last new cream soda I tried was Henry Weinhard's last November. I really like that one. Very thick and foamy head on it, great vanilla taste without being too heavy. In fact, there are times one almost wishes it were a tad stronger.

Not too long ago I came across another cream soda I hadn't tried: Virgil's. They have a line of sodas, but so far I've only tried the straight-up cream. And I really like it, too. It's a smidge stronger than Weinhard's but doesn't have the draught-style head. In fact, the one big drawback I've discovered to Virgil's is its tendency to spew when you open the bottle. Even if you've only taken the bottle out of the cupboard, apparently it doesn't take much to cause what should only happen when you really shake the thing.

While Weinhard's is more butterscotch in flavor, Virgil's is a definite vanilla. It's darker in color, too. I'd place it as a step up from A&W or I.B.C. and on par with—though different from—Weinhard's. And I'm curious enough to try some of the other flavors they make. Black cherry cream soda? Yeah, I'll taste test that. Stay tuned.

Food: Henry Weinhard's Vanilla Cream

Since Thanksgiving is approaching, and Thanksgiving is all about food, I thought I'd do a little post about my new favorite cream soda.

Let me start by saying I love cream soda. There are the staples: A&W and IBC. These are fine. But I grew up drinking Big Red (which tastes nothing like cream soda, despite it calling itself that), and I used to also buy this weird blue cream soda whenever we went on car trips . . . Not sure what brand that was, but I don't think I've ever seen it outside of Texas and Louisiana. (Nerd alert: I used to pretend it was Romulan ale.) I always order the draught cream soda when I eat at BJ's, too. Sure, root beer is nice now and again—and I'm way pickier about my root beer than my cream soda—but when I want something sweet and smooth, cream soda is a go-to . . . If I can't have a milkshake, anyway.

I'm always on the lookout for new and better sodas. So when I came across Henry Weinhard's Vanilla Cream Gourmet Soda, well, I had to. And now I buy myself a six-pack whenever I'm at the store.

This soda is butterscotchy in flavor (though not quite as much as BJ's) and produces what the label calls a "Draught Style Head," which translates into lots of foam. Like, Snoopy-at-the-bar foam. Despite all the bubbles, though, it's a light touch. When poured out into a clear glass, the color is very pale. I haven't tried it with vanilla ice cream yet, but this soda begs for that; I'll bet it makes for amazing floats. The down side is, because it's so drinkable, I finish one within minutes. It's not a soda one can nurse or make last. And it does leave you thirsty for more. (I only allow myself one a day and go for water or tea after.)

In any case, Henry Weinhard's is, for me, the take-home version of a BJ's cream soda, which probably stands as my favorite. Makes for a nice afternoon pick-me-up, something to reward myself with after hard work.

Food: Dr Pepper Vanilla Float

Had to try it. Had to. Because I love Dr Pepper, and I love ice cream, and by extension floats.

Now, upon reflection, I'm not sure what I expected. This is, for all intents and purposes, vanilla Dr Pepper. And that's fine. I'm cool with that, in theory.

Thing is, it doesn't have the full flavor of Dr Pepper. Nor does it have a very strong vanilla taste either. Except when you take that last sip from the can, which tasted very strongly of vanilla. Is the vanilla flavoring denser than the soda syrup? But it's not like I could shake the can before actually drinking, so . . . Well, I mean, I could. But I'm not that stupid, nor am I that desperate to disperse the vanilla throughout the drink.

On the plus side, this drink didn't leave the weird aftertaste in my mouth Dr Pepper sometimes does. I didn't feel an immediate need to go get a stick of gum after finishing the drink.

Bottom line, this is like Dr Pepper Jr. or something. Intern Pepper? Whatever a junior doctor is called, I guess. It's nice as a novelty, but I wouldn't drink this all the time; it will only leave me wanting the real deal. (Or, carrying on with the doctor metaphor, a second opinion.)

Food: Cheerwine

I'm sitting here drinking my first ever Cheerwine. I'd heard of it, of course. I've listened to people rhapsodize nostalgically about it . . . Though they always seemed to finish with, "It's actually not very good." Huh?

Apparently Cheerwine inhabits a place in many people's childhoods (at least people I know). We didn't have it where I grew up, but I found it at a store the other day and decided to give it a try.

The bottle (I bought one individual bottle as a tester) reads: "Legend since 1917." Um, okay. It also says the drink is made with cane sugar, wild cherry, and other natural flavors. Is it all natural? Seems unlikely. But it is milder than a lot of other colas. My first impression was that it didn't have much flavor at all, that despite its carbonation it was somehow flat.

However . . .

The more I drank it, the more I could taste it. (It may also have benefitted from my having poured it out of the glass bottle and into a cup with a straw.)

I like cherry-flavored things in general. Cherry Coke, black cherry drinks, Black Cherry Dr Pepper, cherry sours. (Come to think of it, my car is a color known as "dark cherry.") Cheerwine is definitely cherry once you get a bit of build up out of it; unlike Cherry Coke, the cola part in Cheerwine is in the minority in that you don't taste much "cola" at all.

Also, it leaves my mouth feeling a bit dry.

Final verdict: I like it but don't love it. Though it's the kind of drink I can imagine developing a taste for over time, on the whole I probably wouldn't buy or drink it regularly.

The Strangeness of Site Stats

I just have to pause for a moment and reflect upon the sometimes seemingly illogical peaks and valleys of post popularity. I periodically check my site statistics, seeing where people come from and such, but every now and then I find myself asking, WTF happened there?

Like today, suddenly everyone wants to read about Big Red Soda. Why? My Big Red post was the second most-read today, even though it's over two months old.

And then The Decoy Bride has a spot on the all-time most-read posts. What's that about? How is it that that movie gets so many hits for this site?

Some things make sense: my Elementary and Revolution (and, once upon a time, Smash) posts have always been good for site traffic. Okay, sure. But why do the Parade's End posts come up at least once a week?

Though it's my concert reviews and Matchbox Twenty coverage that gets me the most hits (looking at the lifetime of the site).

I like to look at where people are visiting from, too, and while there are the usual places—the U.S. and the UK and I'm apparently quite popular in Russia and Germany—every now and then I get a bunch of hits from somewhere different. France was active today. Are they the ones wondering about Big Red? A couple weeks ago there were lots of hits from New Zealand. ::shrug:: (Actually, I've noticed NZ comes in spates and figured out that particular pattern. But it's still interesting.)

It's also fun to see what people search for in finding the site. Most are pretty mundane, like titles of shows and episodes, but "Revolution TV stupid" is one that made me laugh. Also, "Jonny Lee Miller hairy arms."

Finally, I'm always curious when I see how many people click on my contact info. It's the imaginative writer in me, but I picture these people hovering, trying to decide whether to take that step and send me an e-mail. I do get a few, which is nice. Some may even be from New Zealand. Though I never thought to ask.

Food: Big Red Soda

It's that time of year again. The time when I order copious amounts of Big Red and stock my fridge and cabinets. Because while they have a lot of great stuff out here in California, one thing they don't have is Big Red.

In my life, I've never met another person who drinks Big Red. I'd say it's an acquired taste except I've loved it for as long as I can remember, yet no one in my family will touch it, so I have no idea how I acquired the taste for it. Maybe just from growing up in Texas and Louisiana, which is Big Red's natural habitat. I used to always grab a bottle of it for long car trips. Or freeze it at home for homemade slush.

Once at orientation for uni, I had a Big Red and my bunkmate (who was from Boston) asked if she could try a sip. She hated it. Too sweet, I think, for some tastes.

Big Red touts itself as a "red cream soda" but it doesn't taste at all like those caramel-colored creams. I'd say the closest description would be "liquified bubble gum." And since I love bubble gum, and all things of that flavor, Big Red is a win in my book.

Alas, it's difficult to find outside its immediate region, so I must resort each spring to hoarding it as if provisioning against some kind of cataclysm. Even so, it won't last the summer. But that's fine. I'll get my fix and then go back to Dr Pepper (which at least has a wider reach). And when next spring rolls around, it will be time for another huge order of Big Red.