All Things Cherry – Soda Edition

Now that all of you know how much I love cherry-flavored food products, this post will not surprise you.

I love soda. And for years, I’ve drank a lot of soda. The last four years, I’ve had to cut back a lot, due to doctor’s orders. While I’ve felt healthier since doing so, I admit that I still love to have a soda every so often. And in today’s market, there is no shortage of soda types and flavors. Recently, there have been two cherry-flavored concoctions that caught my eye at the store and I thought I would try them to see if they passed my taste buds.

Cherry Crush

Cherry Crush

As a kid, I always loved Orange and Strawberry Crush. Getting a glass 16 oz. bottle at the corner store was a treat for me. I still find a bottle at the grocery store and “crush” all over again. There have been many types of Crush flavors over the years, in addition to the two afore-mentioned: Grape, Pineapple, Peach, Apple, Pear, Grapefruit, Lime… so when I saw this Cherry Crush, I had to buy it and try it.

First off, it’s pretty sweet… much sweeter than I was expecting. Strawberry Crush is sweet, too, but this had an extra kick of sweetness to it. The cherry flavor was good, though. Very natural tasting and something that I didn’t feel was some sort of “trying to be cherry” taste. Highly recommended if you are a Crush fan and are curious about trying this new flavor. I liked it and will buy this flavor again, but still, for purely nostalgic reasons, Strawberry Crush will always be my favorite.

Cherry Vanilla Pepsi

Cherry Vanilla Pepsi

In the cola wars, I’ve been a Coca-Cola fan ever since I can remember having my first cola-based soda. I’d try a Pepsi here and there, but it was always too sweet. In 1985, Cherry Coke came out and I loved it on the first taste. Pepsi responded a few years later with Wild Cherry Pepsi, and while it was ok, it was just too sweet. There have been other Cherry Vanilla sodas over the years, notably Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper, which I really liked a lot. It’s been discontinued now, so the news from Pepsi that they would have a Cherry Vanilla soda got me curious to see what it was like.

It’s pretty sweet, like most Pepsi products are. But the taste and flavor is good. Nothing to rival the Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper, but it’s still pleasing to my taste buds. It’s more vanilla than cherry, but that makes the two tastes go very well together. It’s got a small bite to it, but it does go down smoother than expected. Too bad it’s only around for eight weeks this summer. And it’s too bad they don’t make a sugar version of it. [replacing the high fructose corn syrup] Regardless, it’s something I will try again before it goes away, taking into consideration there is no Coke-variety equivalent to choose from.

What sodas have you tried and liked over the years? Have you tried the above two flavors? Thoughts and opinions welcome in the comments.