Wednesday, November 25, 2009

When Sugar Isn't Sweet Enough

Did you get a chance to try Pepsi Throwback when it came out earlier this year? If not, you're in luck, because it's coming back in December for a limited engagement of 8 weeks.

What's the deal with Throwback? It's made with natural sugar.

(As opposed to un-natural sugar? Deviant sugar? Perv sugar? It's actually a blend of cane sugar and beet sugar.)

The point is that this cola is flavored with sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup, ye olde cheap sugar substitute.

So I thought, hey, what a great idea, I'll try that. And I did.

It wasn't sweet enough.

At which point my brain exploded. Apparently I have grown up on Cheap Artificial Crap so that my tongue no longer recognizes Actual Food. It was sort of a revelation.

I need to drink less soda anyway, but now when I reach for a bottle, I try to pick one with all natural ingredients.

Just Because.

My current faves are Boylan Creme Soda and Boylan Creamy Red Birch Beer.

(Again, per FTC rules, let me state I buy my soda with my own money. No freebies.)

If you've never had Birch Beer, it's a lot like Root Beer only ... different. It's hard to explain.

So anyway, I invite y'all to try some Pepsi Throwback or another sugar-sweetened soda and see if you like it or if your taste-buds also need to be re-trained like mine. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Patrick Moberg's Internet Vices

is a vodka cranberry.

Social lubricant used to enhance still developing social etiquette. You're aware of your uninhibited actions, but comforted by the built in safety net of excuses.



Guess the Internet Vice where: "Plans of overthrowing mass media fall prey to collective laziness."

You must go see the rest: http://www.patrickmoberg.com/internet-vices/

Monday, November 23, 2009

Pumpkin Coffees

With Thanksgiving approaching, I have three different pumpkin coffees to compare for you.

(Yes, it's a difficult job, but somebody's got to review all these coffees, and I'm thinking it should be me.)

First:
Timothy’s Perfectly Pumpkin.
This is pumpkin pie in a cup.
Warm pumpkin pie in liquid form. Yum, yum, yum. It smells lovely and it tastes both of pumpkin and pumpkin spices. My favorite.
If you like pumpkin pie, you’ll like this.

Next:
Green Mountain Pumpkin Spice.
Now this tastes like the container of pumpkin spices you use when you’re baking a pie. Not so much pumpkin. At first I was a little disappointed, but it should be all about the spices because the name is Pumpkin SPICE. I hadn’t noticed that before. If you like cinnamon, ginger, and clove you will like this. It is very tasty.

And last but not least:
Gloria Jean’s Pumpkin Spice. This is also a pumpkin spice coffee, and has even less pumpkin taste. I found it to be the most mild of the three coffees, but still very good.

Now, these three were all tested with skim milk and 3 spoons of sugar (which is how we roll here), so the tastes described may differ if you use less or more of these ingredients.

Happy coffee!

PS I bought all these coffees with my own hard-earned little dollars.