Better Libations | Healthy Drink Reviews

Today I’m going to look at a libation from Reed’s, who pride themselves on brewing soda the “old-fashioned way”.   This entails brewing soda flavors out of fruit juices, herbs, and spices, and allowing the finished product to age.  To be truly old-fashioned, this would also entail using yeast to carbonate the beverage, but Reed’s site does not specify whether or not they do this.  But the phrase “naturally brewed” would lead me to believe that they do.

I dig old-school “home-brewed” sodas a lot, to the point that I have even turned my own kitchen into a soda brewery multiple times.  But I have also found that sometimes the brewing process can bring in less than ideal flavors.  Getting a naturally brewed soda to meet or exceed all your flavor expectations really is a master craft.  So I’m curious to see how this raspberry brew measures up.

Scent: Off goes the cap, and out comes a spicy ginger aroma with a background of tart berry and citrus scents.  There is also a significant honey presence.

Taste: This brew has some very deep and complex flavors going on.  First, there’s the ever-present ginger bite.  This fades into a big blend of fruit juice flavors that all want to stand up and be counted.  Perhaps the most prevalent fruit note is the tart lemon, followed by the various berry flavors.  It finishes slightly dry and astringent, without a lot of lingering sweetness.  Its curious combination of tart/dry lemon and fruity berry/apple/pear flavors makes this land right in the middle of the spectrum, somewhere halfway between a true dry and a sweet ginger ale.

Health Factor: Points for all-natural ingredients, 20% real fruit juice, and a generous dose of fresh ginger.  However, there is still a significant sugar presence of 37.4 grams per 12 oz bottle, just slightly under the sugar content of your average Coke can.  So use this occasionally as a refreshing tonic or pair it with a spicy meal, but don’t guzzle it like it’s water.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5 – A pleasing blend of natural flavors with a ginger kick

-Danithius-

User Ratings: (2 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)
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4-Star Reviews drink reviews

Stare into the Apple-Jasmine Nexus...

Howdy there, Libationers!  Today I’m getting into the holiday cheer by indulging in Honest Tea’s new line of Kombucha.  (What does that have to do with Christmas?  Well, Jesus was honest, right?  And maybe he likes Kombucha, you don’t know.)

I was excited to see this new step taken by Honest Tea without really even knowing why.  I’ve tried Kombucha once or twice, and the idea of it is interesting to me.  I just didn’t fall in love.  So now it’s nice to see Honest Tea (a brand I already trust to do tea and juices right) taking on the Kombucha dragon.

Honest Kombucha’s tagline is “LIVE, ORGANIC, AND RAW”… sounds like a porno produced by Whole Foods, doesn’t it?  But it really is an interesting concept – the “live” and “raw” come from the live probiotic cultures that are used to make this stuff.  It is actually fermented by those cultures, which gives it both a tangy-sweet taste and various purported health benefits.  So enough talk, let’s crack this open!

Fragrance: Wow, this stuff smells tangy indeed.  It’s like apple juice that’s gone hard – not a bad smell, but pungent and tangy.  (And slightly fizzy).  Here goes nothin’.

Taste: Whoo! Taste bud assault!  It’s such a rush of flavors that it’s difficult to describe.  It has whiplash tang with a subtle sweetness to cushion the blow.  The fizz adds another intriguing element on top of this, making it tingle on the back of your tongue.  Or is that the live probiotic cultures?  I can detect the apple flavor, and it holds up decently well with the pungent kombucha.  The jasmine is detectable as an herbal overtone in the aftertaste.

From a health standpoint, this stuff is golden.  Real probiotic cultures, low sugar (7g per 8 oz serving, which is next to nothing), and real tea and fruit juice.  It also passes the hippie test with flying colors, due to its entirely organic and/or fair-trade ingredient list.  And as for the flavor?  Well, I’m halfway through the bottle, and I’m finding it increasingly addictive.  It’s different, but I like different.  I could really see myself trying the other flavors in the near future…

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 - uber-healthy with a unique (and increasingly addictive) flavor.

-Danithius-

User Ratings: (2 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)
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4-Star Reviews, Honest Tea drink reviews

Why hello there, liquid-lover!  You’ve come just in time to catch the low-down on on the new line of “eco-beverages” from Sipp.  Today I’m reviewing the Ginger Blossom flavor, which was sent to us by the folks at Sipp in order to get our two cents.  Expect to see WiseGuise’s rebuttal soon.

Outlook on Sipp

Sipp is positioning itself as a “sophisticated soda”, a category which has seen quite a few new contenders emerge over the past year or two.  Buoyed by gourmet/eco-conscious movements, these new-age sodas offer exotic ingredients and complex flavors that compete for the attention of foodies around the country.  Like some of these other companies, Sipp defines itself as an “Adult-friendly” soda by offering cocktail recipes for its various flavors.  (I would have tried the one for Ginger Blossom, too, but unfortunately I didn’t happen to have “organic cucumber vodka” lying around the house.)

Flavor

So enough about the image – how does it taste? Time to pop this one open to find out.  I twist off the black bottle cap and take a whiff.  A deep, spicy ginger scent jumps out to greet my nostrils.  OK, now I’m curious!  It smells very much like fresh, natural ginger root.  I don’t get much of a vanilla or lime fragrance (which are also listed as main flavors), so let’s see if they come out in the taste.

Right when the fizzy liquid hits my tongue, I get a sweet sensation that melts away to spicy warmth as the ginger makes itself known.  I also detect a squeeze of lime sneaking around in the background, which harmonizes with the ginger surprisingly well.  And what about the vanilla?  I’m almost ready to give up the search when the unmistakable sweet-herbal flavor shows up in the lingering aftertaste.  Wow.  Not a lot of sodas can pull off this kind of complexity.  All three flavors have a definite presence, and all three work together to complement each other beautifully.

Conclusion

OK, I am officially a fan.  The only thing that gives me pause from awarding this soda a full 5.0 score is the sugar content.  One 12-oz bottle contains 32 grams of sugar.  For a comparison, the average 12-oz can of Coke is 39 grams.  Now granted, Sipp does score extra points for using Agave nectar as a sweetener, which has been shown to have benefits over normal processed sugar or HFCS (e.g. low glycemic load).  But still, I think they could have toned down the sugar content by just a few grams and still had a wonderfully complex and flavorful soda contender on their hands.

Score: 4.5 out of 5 – for delicious flavor alchemy, all natural/organic ingredients, and furthering eco-friendliness in general.

-Danithius-

*****  Review Rebuttal!  *****

When I first smelled this, I thought I had died and gone to ginger heaven.  The vanilla hides behind its spicy comrade, but still shows through.  The lime is absent in the scent, but then I got to taste it. The ginger charges out with a sweet fusillade of vanilla lime goodness.  The mellowness of the vanilla counters the spice of the ginger and the sour of the lime beautifully.  Aside from the sugar content, this is one of the more beautifully resigned beverages I’ve tried.  A solid 4.5 stars.

– WiseGuise

User reviews: (2 votes, average: 3.50 out of 5)
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4-Star Reviews, Sipp drink reviews

As I wrote this review, I was slogging through a graveyard hift on 5 hours of sleep.  Suffice it to say, I needed some kind of pick-me-up.  My girlfriend picked this up for me, and decided to give it a try.  Brain Toniq has no caffeine, but has an interesting proprietary blend and is, according to the can, “fuel for my cranium.”  I pop the small can (8.4 oz) open and detect a light, fruity, citrusy scent, with hints of the agave sweetener.  With a swig I find that it is very lightly carbonated.  The taste is lightly sweet and herby, and finishes with a sweet fruitiness, and an earthy aftertaste.  The flavor is quite unique and pleasant.

The real test is my brain.  An hour after finishing this drink, I’m still dragging a bit, but possibly thinking clearer.  I’m going to have to call this test inconclusive.  Sugar is a little much for this, but it is agave nectar and therefore has a low glycemic index.  It is also vegan and kosher.  This was picked up at my local Sunflower Market, proprietor or healthy and organic goods.  I enjoyed this beverage, and would probably drink it again.

Score: 4.5 out of 5. A tasty and unique attempt at a healthy energy drink.

– WiseGuise

User Reviews: (3 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)
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4-Star Reviews, True Toniqs agave, all natural, drink reviews, energy drink, kosher, vegan

All right now, boys and girls, I’ve got the last purity.organic review for your consumption.  Thanks again to purity for supplying these for our particular and often verbose scrutiny.  This last one is an intriguing citrus and tropical fruit combination which I am excited to try.

Right off the top I can smell orange, lemon, a hint of pineapple and passion fruit. I toss back a mouthful and am greeted with a delicious multi-layered taste, sweet and tangy.  The fruit flavors come one at a time, unlike many fruit punch concoctions where one flavor takes over or they are completely indistinguishable, buried under sugar.  It is slightly pulpy, so remember to shake it, but it isn’t gritty.

This is quite easy to drink, I ended up chugging most of it, leaving my mouth and tongue feeling sweet and tingly.  The sugar is about that of a Coke 29 g per serving, but it’s 40% juice, so not a terrible amount is added.  Overall I really enjoyed this citrusy tropical extravaganza; all it lacked was some rum, a coconut, and a tiny umbrella.

I am also impressed with their efforts to get a higher return to the small farmers they purchase from, and their encouraging of sustainable agriculture.  It isn’t just some hippie feel-good idea, it can be a reality if we start purchasing our produce from local farmers, farmers markets, and store that sell and support locally grown and organic produce.  Any more questions?  Look here.

Score: 4.5 out of 5. Delicious fruity tropical punch, organic and sustainable!

– WiseGuise

User Reviews: (2 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)
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4-Star Reviews, Purity.Organics drink reviews, organic

Hey there, Libationers!  Step right up as I review my final Purity.Organic entry: Cranberry Harmony!  Don’t worry though, WiseGuise still has a couple of flavors to go, and I hear through the grapevine that we may even receive a brand new flavor from Purity!  So if you’re a Purity.Organic fan, there will be more to come!

Fragrance: This smells kind of like a cran-apple drink… probably because it is!  It has a blend of cranberry, apple, and grape juices.  Personally, I’m a cranberry fan, so I hope they didn’t sweeten my favorite tart berry too much!

Flavor: Tart, sweet and fruity!  Nope, I don’t think they sweetened it too much.  The astringent cranberry tartness shines through just fine, with a modest helping of sweetness to serve as a counterweight.  I’m usually wary of drink companies using apple or grape juices as “fillers”, especially when the advertised flavor has neither grape nor apple in it.  I’m wary because a.) it’s a method of cheapening the product, and b.) the grape and apple flavors will inevitably seep into the main flavor profile.

However, cranberry juice is a major exception.  Pure cranberry juice has such an intense flavor that it begs to be tempered with other juices.  And even when you do add another juice, the cranberry flavor will immediately let it know who’s boss, making it slink away into the background with its head hung low.  That’s what’s happening here.  This is cranberry juice first, with a light overtone of grape and apple that you almost have to be looking for to catch.  I can dig that.

Flavor-wise, it’s perfect.  I wouldn’t change a thing.  But one thing I must mention is the sugar content – one serving of this has 25 grams of sugar, which is comparable to Coca-Cola.  Yes, it’s natural sugar from juice, not HFCS.  And yes, as we discussed before it is a lot less sugar than many 100% juices out there.  But it is still a good amount of sugar, so I can’t give it full points.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 – for a splendidly tart cranberry cocktail that is made to be sipped.  Just watch the sugar on this, and you’re golden.

-Danithius-

User Ratings: (2 votes, average: 2.50 out of 5)
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4-Star Reviews, Purity.Organics drink reviews

ImPRESSive?

A telling sign of any good apple juice or cider is its lack of clarity.  This juice is as opaque as they come, with a nice ruddy brown color.  This is a good indication that it is a pure, un-clarified apple juice without any white grape juice mixed in to thin it out and make it clear and pretty.  This is actually pressed in a cider house according to purity.organic, and is labeled as a limited pressing.

Breaking the seal, it smells just like a freshly juices apples, but stronger, as if its been concentrated.  You better believe it tastes like it too.  It is rather sweet, as it is pure, unadulterated apple juice, almost too sweet.  It finishes a bit tart, a nice follow up on the sweetness.  I don’t think I could drink too much of this at once, so it’s probably a good think that the bottle is only 16 oz.  Still, it has 54 grams of sugar, that about equals Coke, without the HFCS, caffeine, and carbonation and other junk.

It tastes great, very apple-y, and it kind of reminds me of those dried apple slices that are so delicious.  As juices go, this ranks right up there with Simply Apple, which has slightly more sugar.  Purity.Organic’s Apple Juice is definitely a much better option than any of the sugar-added juices out there, but if you’re watching your sugar intake it might not be the best choice.  Still, it’s a sweet, tasty treat.

Score: 4 out of 5. A superior though sugary apple rendering.

– WiseGuise

User Reviews: (2 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)
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4-Star Reviews, Purity.Organics drink reviews, organic

Ahoy there, all ye sailors drowning in a sea of high fructose corn syrup!  This is Better Libations, the little tugboat that’s going to save your sticky hides.  Every week we bring you drinks that don’t contain HFCS, artificial sweeteners, and diabetes-inducing amounts of sugar.  Or as we like to call them, drinks that probably won’t kill you(tm).  Now buckle up for this week’s entry from purity.Organic, purveyor of organic juice drinks squeezed straight from the farmer’s market.

Fragrance: Today’s flavor is Tropical Bliss, and tropically blissful it doth smell.  You can tell without looking at the ingredient list that pineapple plays a major role in this drink, backed up by hints of kiwi, grape, and mango.

Flavor: Guh!  For some reason, this taste threw me for a loop at first – you do indeed get the pineapple juice flavor coming out strong at first, but it is tempered by the white grape and kiwi in a way that I didn’t expect.  It still tastes “tropical”, but it has a mellow finish that is not usually found in drinks like this.

After several more sips and lengthy contemplation, I have decided that I like this juice, but that initial grape/kiwi/pineapple combo still catches me in an odd way.  It’s hard to explain – it’s like you’re anticipating a tangy citrus rush, and you start to feel it on the tip of your tongue, but then the middle notes are surprisingly alkaline.  All in all, though, it’s a solid drink, with 36% fruit juice and some organic cane juice as the sweeteners.  It contains less sugar than just about any 100% juice, so this could be a good alternative.

A lot of people consider juice to be healthier than soda, but in terms of sugar content, most of the time juice blows soda away!  Try 40 grams per 8-ounce serving, as is the case with many grape juices.  (That said, don’t think you’re being healthy by downing Coca-Cola instead of juice!)  So in my humble opinion, it is best to go with fruit-juice-sweetened drinks like these which aren’t 100%, but still use a significant amount of real juice.  This one clocks in at 23 grams of sugar per 8 ounce serving, which is a little high for my taste, but again, it’s no 40 grams per serving!

Rating: 4.0 out of 5 – for a real organic juice drink with good flavor and reasonable sugar content.  Drink this instead of 100% O.J. in the morning.

-Danithius-

User Ratings: (2 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)
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4-Star Reviews, Purity.Organics drink reviews

Greetings, kids!  Today it’s time to try out Purity.Organic’s Lemonade.  You may remember that I’m something of a bottled lemonade snob, in that I hate every bottled lemonade that I’ve tried to date.  (With the exception of Simply Lemonade, which is pasteurized and constantly refrigerated like an orange juice, so I think it’s a slightly different category).  So to be specific, I hate every non-refrigerated bottled lemonade that I’ve tried to date.  The Purity.Organic rep that sent us these samples did rave about the lemonade in particular though, saying that it was her favorite.  So I am curious to see how it pans out – will it be the first bottled lemonade that doesn’t taste like a plastic lemon?

Fragrance: This smells sweet and tart like a lemonade should.  But wait… do I detect a hint of concentrate-y scent as well?  (You know what I’m talking about… like that concentrate juice that comes in squeezable plastic lemons).  It shouldn’t, because this lemonade doesn’t use concentrated juice – they just pasteurize it.  Hmm…

Taste: It’s sweet… it’s tart… it’s lemony.  There is a big difference when you use not-from-concentrate juice – the lemon flavor is a lot more true-to-life and not so plasticine.  Is it as good as my refrigerated favorite, Simply Lemonade?  ‘Fraid not.  But it’s close.  (And I hate to say that, because Simply Lemonade is owned by Minute Maid, who is owned by Coca-Cola.  The horror.)

Yes, I’m being nitpicky.  But there is a little something of the fresh fruit flavor that I’m missing in Purity.Organic’s entry, something that seems to be preserved by whatever technique Simply Lemonade uses on its juice.  It’s that pungent, fresh citrus edge that is so distinctive with fresh-cut lemons.  Don’t get me wrong, Purity.Organic has a good flavor going here, and the sweet and tart are perfectly balanced.  But I’m looking for something with that last little kick, that citrusy-fresh finish – something that is so hard to find in bottled lemonade.  It’s more of an aroma than a flavor, like the smell of the lemon zest when you first scrape it from the fruit.  Am I making sense, or am I off in my own little foodie world again?

But all nitpicking aside, I have definitely found a new “best” for my (non-refrigerated) bottled lemonade list.  It tastes good.

One other issue.  I know this comes with the territory when you’re making real lemonade, but this guy packs some serious sugar.  Just be aware of it!  And don’t drink it like it’s water.  One 8 oz serving of Purity.Organic’s lemonade contains 30 grams of sugar – this is more sugar per serving than Coca-Cola.  Some of this is balanced out by the fact that they use organic cane and lemon juices, sure, but I can’t give it full points as a “healthy” drink.

So with that in mind, I’m giving this .5 points off for sugar, and .5 off for my flavor nitpickings.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5. Finally, a solid bottled (non-refrigerated) lemonade.

-Danithius-

User Ratings: (1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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4-Star Reviews, Purity.Organics drink reviews

Hola, Libation-lubbers!  Today I’m going to review an entry from Purity.Organic, a drink company out of San Fran that backs sustainable, organic agriculture.  You’ll probably see a lot of these over the next few weeks, because they were kind enough to send us one of every flavor for review!  And as you know, while we don’t give preferential treatment in the reviews themselves, we do make a policy of placing company-submitted samples first in the review queue.

Let’s get down to business.  I’ve chosen the Orange Mango Tangerine flavor to begin with because it contains 25% juice and yet only has 14g of sugar per serving.  (This is about half the sugar content of your average cola, and much less than typical fruity sodas.)  And on top of that, it just sounds citrusy-fresh.

Orange Mango Tangerine is one of Purity.Organic’s three “functional drinks”, which are lighter on sugar and calories than their sweeter, juicier brethren.  This one is like their sports drink, containing calcium and sea salt intended to replenish the body after exercise.  I did just hit the gym, so let’s see how it treats me.

Fragrance: Well now, this does smell like real fruit.  Because this is a juice cocktail sweetened with cane juice, I was afraid that it would have that “from concentrate” smell or that it would just smell flat.  But this actually smells tangy like a mango, with overtones of fresh citrus.  I am officially enticed.

Taste: Lightly sweet, fruity, and refreshing.  White grape and citrus juices combine with tangerine oil to form an interesting flavor profile that I think is very well suited to chugging during exercise.  It’s pleasant, goes down smooth, and isn’t astringent at all thanks to the white grape.  If you were feeling parched, I think you could easily chug the whole bottle in a matter of minutes and be right back on your feet.  I mean hell, I just chugged the whole bottle in the time it’s taken me to write this review!

This drink has a lot going for it.  It’s all organic, it’s low sugar, it’s nicely flavored, and it’s produced by an environmentally conscientious company.  I’m hard-pressed to come up with a critique for this one…  The only thing I can wish for is perhaps a more defined flavor profile.  I realize that as a “functional drink” this is intended to be lighter than normal juices, and that’s fine.  But I’d like to be able to try this stuff without even looking at the label and tell you at least two out of the three flavors.  As it is now, I think I’d be able to pick only one – citrus.  Still, it’s a good flavor, and I really can’t complain.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 - Low sugar, organic ingredients, and real fruit juice.

-Danithius-

User Ratings: (2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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4-Star Reviews, Purity.Organics drink reviews