Better Libations | Healthy Drink Reviews

It's fortified! And reindeer like it too

Wouldn’t you know it, Fizz Ed isn’t the only sparkling fruit juice on the market, and they just so happen to be sold right next to each other!  So I picked up this (which costs more than the Fizz Ed, $3.15 for a four pack) and decided to give it a try.  Find IZZE here.

It smells like a handful of overripe berries soaking in soda water, even smells a little sour.  It tastes okay, fruity, the sour of the lemon and raspberry juices also come through, and it leaves a bit of an odd aftertaste.  Like overripe berries.  Hmm.  It’s not terrible, it you sip it it’s more enjoyable, the sour fades and leaves the sweetness of the berries.  That sweetness is provided by 20g of sugar (from the fruit juices) and the ‘fortified’ means they put vitamins C and B6, and some niacin.  That’s it.

Compared to any regular soda, this is probably much better, but I still liked the Fizz Ed a little more.

Score: 4 out of 5. That odd little aftertaste just knocked it down a little.

– WiseGuise

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4-Star Reviews, IZZE drink reviews

Aroma: Mmmm, tangy. The pomegranate and lemon scents shine through in this one, making it smell surprisingly tart.

Taste: Wow, and I thought the smell was tart… This is so sour that I’m wondering if I just left it in my fridge for too long. I usually like strong, pronounced flavors, but this is just too stringent. It’s like a bowl full of cranberries and pomegranate seeds with a slice of lemon. (And about a thimble full of sugar).

Price: $1.29 at a local health food store. Available nationwide at Whole Foods, Wild Oats, and a whole bunch of other national stores.

Ingredients: Pure juice from apple, grape, pineapple, lemon, pomegranate, cranberry and acerola juice concentrates, sparkling water, carrot juice (color), blueberry juice (color), natural flavors

Other Comments: Pepsi owns these guys, but I’m happy to review the IZZE line as a step in the right direction for one of the big boys. I respect the use of only fruit juice to sweeten their drinks.

Overall: This was just too sour for me. It’s really surprising, since all the other flavors from IZZE are very well-balanced. I seriously think this may have been a bad batch, so I’ll have to get a fresh bottle to make sure. For the time being, though, I can’t give it more than two stars.

Rating: 2.0/5 stars.

-Danithius

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2-Star Reviews, IZZE

Aroma: Yep, smells like grapefruit all right. Grape, apple, and lemon juices actually come before the grapefruit on the ingredients list, but you coulda fooled me.

Taste: This one is going to be hard to describe. Instead of having an immediate grapefruit taste, I would describe it as more of an aftertaste. The initial flavor is a nice blend of all the juices that went into this product backed by that little sparkling bite of carbonation. (More of a nibble, really. It’s quite pleasant). The sweetness is well-balanced with the tart taste of the grapefruit and lemon. I personally like my grapefruit juices to jump up and smack me in the face (makes me feel more like a man), but they have done a nice job of making grapefruit accessible even to those who normally avoid it. (a.k.a. “pansies”)

Price: $1.29 at local natural foods store. Available nationwide at Whole Foods, Wild Oats, and a whole bunch of other national stores. You can’t throw a stick without finding a store that sells it, it seems…

Ingredients: Pure juice from grape, apple, lemon, grapefruit, and orange juice concentrates, sparkling water, gum acacia [from acacia trees], red cabbage extract [color], natural flavors, ester gum

Other Comments: I looked over their site, and they had every indication that they were a smaller independent company. But when I wandered over to Wikipedia….
“On September 26, 2006, Izze Beverage Co was purchased by PepsiCo. PepsiCo has announced that it plans to leave Izze as is, only assisting with marketing efforts.”
Hmm. So that’s why they’re so widely distributed.

Overall: The price is nice, and I like the 70% fruit juice, 30% sparkling water aspect a lot. But keep in mind that even though fruit juice offers much better nutrition than the straight HCFS and water you find in regular sodas, fruit juice still does have a lot of sugar. (37g per 12 oz. bottle in this instance – a 12 oz can of Coke has about 39g). So it’s probably not a good idea to drink it like it was water. All in all though, it’s a good-tasting, more nutritive alternative to regular soda.

Rating: 4/5 stars.

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4-Star Reviews, IZZE