Better Libations | Healthy Drink Reviews

Crazy mosaic of Jones-ness decorates the bottle

Greetings, Libationers!  Today I’m tackling an interesting flavor contender by Jones Soda.  First off, props to Jones for getting off the HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup) bandwagon way back in ‘06.  That switch is the reason we can review their sodas – as you know, we don’t dig the HFCS.  But alas, while Jones does offer interesting soda flavors, it is still just flavored sugar-water, with no actual fruit juice or significant vitamins to sweeten the deal.  (At least this is the case with this particular flavor.  We did reviews of their new GABA line, which were a different story).  And wow, there is a lot of sugar in this thing.  46 grams for one 12-ounce bottle – that’s 15 teaspoons of sugar in this one bottle, people!

OK, with that said, let’s get down to business.  I crack open the multicolored bottle, and it explodes a cloud of fruity mist all over my face.  I must have shaken it up on the way back from the fridge.  It does give me an immediate sense of the beverage’s smell, however, which is acutely indescribable.  It’s like… it’s like… ow.  My brain is crying out in protest as I try to pluck out a single word to assign this product.  I have to break out the big guns for this one – excuse me while I grab a wine glass.

OK, here we go.  I swirl and sniff and swirl some more, trying to take it all in.  Hang on… OK, I think I have something.  I can’t produce a specific word for this stuff, so you’ll have to make do with a metaphor.  Imagine every kind of fruity candy and bubblegum that you see at your grocery store’s checkout stand.  Now imagine the checkout stands of all the grocery stores from all across the world.  With me?  OK, now all of those candies are placed in a single giant blender somewhere in northern Texas.  Hit “frappe” on that thing, and take a big whiff of the resulting product.  Yeah.  It’s like that.

Even the color is strange on this liquid.  It’s a translucent greenish color, like pond water in sunlight.

After all the drama that came from just smelling this stuff, I’m afraid to actually put it in my mouth!  I might break something in my tongue.  But no, I must press on, for the greater good!  Here goes nothing…

Ow, my brain… so many flavors… arghh…

I don’t know what the long-term effects of this thing will be… If I don’t make another post within a week’s time, please, someone send out a rescue crew.

Rating: 3.0 out of 5 – Loaded with sugar, but good when you need a thorough mind-blow.

-Danithius- (I think?)

User Rating: (1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)
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3-Star Reviews, Jones Soda Co. drink reviews, reviews

Brain power!

So far I’ve spent my weekend staying up way too late and being generally useless, so I figured I needed something to pick me up a bit in order to get through my afternoon of cleaning my bachelor hovel and organizing my room, so I pulled my last GABA out of the fridge.  I downed it after a hearty breakfast and waited for the brain to start functioning properly.

This flavor is grapefruit, an often hard to nail down flavor, usually ending up too bitter or too sweet.  Jones had managed to land right in the middle, capturing the heart of this citrus fruit in its tea-padded palm.  The faint sweet gives way to the light grapefruit bitterness that makes this fruit so recognizable.  The tea peeks out from behind the fruit after it begins to fade, rounding out the experience nicely.

But how do I feel?  After a trip to the store, I got right to my chores and managed to get my bedroom into a respectable condition without feeling worn out,  and am currently writing this review feeling quite able to focus on my task, something that often eludes my capabilities.  Is any of this a placebo effect?  I really can’t tell, and I am usually too cynical for that to work on me.

After not quite meeting my expectations the first time, this flavor has renewed my interest in GABA, and other flavors may grace my sticky fridge shelves in the future. This one has less sugar than the others, only 19g per 12 oz can, but still contains 12% juice.  I’m all for GABA, as long as it keeps working.

Score: 4.5 out of 5.

– WiseGuise

User Ratings: (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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4-Star Reviews, Jones Soda Co. drink reviews

I can't seem to find the headphone jack...

OK, it’s 3:45 on a Monday and I’m starting to drag.  Time to try another Jones GABA.  This time I’m trying Fuji Apple, which has 12% fruit juice to help the inverted cane sugar “sweeten the deal”… Wow, I must be tired, that’s the cleverest thing I could come up with.  Ugh.

This baby has a striking Green Apple scent that jumps out of the can the second you crack it open. And the flavor?

Apple-tea.  That is exactly the taste you get from this beverage, exactly in that order.  It’s like the two flavors politely line up to introduce themselves with every single sip.  The sweet fuji apple steps up first to give you a firm handshake, and is followed immediately by the white tea flavor, which sticks around for a while to get better acquainted.  The sweetness level is just about right – a little on the light side, but the flavor helps round it out and keep it interesting.

And does the GABA work?  Am I now in a state of perfect mental clarity?  Well, I still can’t bend spoons with my mind, much to my disappointment.  But I am feeling pretty sharp.  Definitely moreso than I was an hour ago, when I first cracked it open.  And it’s not an unnatural “caffeinated” feel, either.  I just feel awake and ready to go.

Rating: 5/5 – Low sugar, good flavor, real juice, and it delivers on its claims.  I can find no reason not to give this a 5.

-Danithius-

User Ratings: (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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5-Star Reviews, Jones Soda Co. drink reviews

Towering over even the mighty Wasatch Mountains, Jones GABA.

Danithius has already covered the claims on Jones GABA’s packaging, so I get right down to business instead of meandering through a paragraph of facts for the second time.

There is a bare hint of nectarine essence in the first waft, that peach-like smell that reminds me of summer mornings, but it fades too quickly, like my sepia-toned memories.  Sigh.  In the more important flavor department, the nectarine comes off a little weak, and slightly drying. It goes down smooth, though.  I would have no problem chugging it, if it wasn’t in a skinny can.

After finishing all 12 oz, I went to the gym, hoping it would pep me up after being awake since five-thirty am, getting six hours of rest and working all day.  After a good thirty-minute jog, I felt relatively alert, and had enough energy to do more sets than I planned on.  It may have done what it is supposed to do, but the taste was still a little lacking.

Score: 3.5 out of 5.

– WiseGuise

User Rating: (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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3-Star Reviews, Jones Soda Co. drink reviews

The new face on the block

It’s plain to see that Jones GABA has a lot going for it before I even open it up.  Fair Trade Certified ingredients, 21g of sugar per 12oz can, and this super gamma-amino acid “GABA” that has been the talk of the town (well, prefecture)  in Japan for the last few years.  Evidently it “increases the production of alpha brain waves”, which, to my great disappointment, does not mean that it will give you mutant telekenesis powers.  Instead, it’s supposed to raise your clarity and focus – sort of a natural energy drink without the caffiene crash.   And some body-building sites even suggest that it helps with building muscle and blocking fat.

Well all this is great, but how does it taste?  And does it in fact give me not-quite-mutant mind powers?  Let’s get down to business.

This stuff has a pleasant, lemon-honeyed smell with a tea  backdrop, and that’s the precisely the same way I would describe the flavor.  It’s light, slightly sweet, and very refreshing.  None of the lemon flavor gets caught in the back of your throat, and the  flavor is such that you could easily guzzle the whole can before a workout or perhaps a term paper.  The lemon-tea flavor is much more refreshing than your typical sports drink, and this one isn’t riddled with high-fructose corn syrup.  And how about the mind-powers?

I purposely waited until my lunch break  to try Jones GABA out.  This way, I’ll be able to compare my pre-GABA work self to my post-GABA self under similar conditions.  I didn’t quite get 8 hours of sleep last night, so I’m in that “sorta-feeling-tired-but-then-again-maybe-not” kind of condition.  I work with a computer all day, and mental focus is critical to my job.  Let’s see if I fare any better for the last half of the day…

(three hours later)

Well I’ll be damned.  I just got out of an hour-long meeting, and I was completely awake and alert for the entire time, even the large portion at the end that had nothing to do with my department.  This was a noticeable change from the norm.  We do these meetings every week, and usually I get that meeting-brain stupor after the first half-hour or so, even on days when I’ve had a full night’s rest.  But this time I felt sharp the entire time.  It doesn’t feel like a stimulant at all, either – there’s no caffiene jitters, and no crash at the end.  I’m impressed.

Rating: 5/5 – For a tasty, healthy, and environmentally conscious energy/sports drink that does what it says without riddling you full of caffiene and sugar.

-Danithius-

User Rating: (12 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)
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5-Star Reviews, Jones Soda Co.

Just the bottle, nothing fancy.

My final review from the Jones Organics line, White Tea Strawberry.  I liked the others so much I decided to do another.  I am very fond of tea, independent companies and fruit, after all.

There is a robust strawberry aroma escaping my freshly opened bottle, with only a bare hint of tea behind it.  It’s initially sweet, allowing a soft berry flavor to develop, which fades into the dry, herby tea flavor.  The sweetness lingers on the back of your tongue while the tea fades away, prepping you for another round.

It’s almost too sweet, but not quite.  Only 27 g of sugar per 14 oz bottle,  and I get the feeling that it isn’t quite enough.  I’d like to see this in larger bottles.

The strong tea presence in the flavor is a big plus for me, only enhanced by the secondary strawberry sweetness.  This is one I would definitely drink again.  It’s just another reason why I believe Jones Soda Co. will be around for a long time to come.

Score: 4.5 out of 5. Great flavor, but tastes rather sweet.

– WiseGuise.

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4-Star Reviews, Jones Soda Co. drink reviews, independent company, white tea

Nothing like a fresh, tropical beverage on a cruise.

I brought a few drinks to review along on our recent cruise, and only got to this one, another Jones Organics from Jones Soda Co.  These are a tea-based beverage, and therefore not carbonated.  One point just for that.

It smells great, a papaya-rich tropical punch in the olfactory, with a hint of that robust red tea.  Strong on the fruity flavor, again heavy on the papaya.  Finishes with a pleasantly sweet, strong tea flavor.  Has almost a pulpy gravity to it, and leaves that sweet tea aftertaste.

Sadly, I haven’t seen these widely available, so if anyone knows of a retailer that stocks these, please let us know.  A little less sugar than the White Tea Cherry, about 24g per 14 oz bottle.  Very palette-pleasing beverage.

Score: 4.5 out of 5.  I still like the White Tea one a little more.

– WiseGuise

User reviews – (1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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4-Star Reviews, Jones Soda Co. drink reviews, organic

White Tea Cherry, guest starring Charlie

Anyone who is already familiar with Jones Soda already knows about their quirky, customer submitted label pictures and unique flavors, and that they begin using mostly cane sugar in their sodas instead of HFCS as of Nov. 2006.  They also have ‘fortunes’ under their caps (not this line, as of now).  I was interested to see this line of Organics, so I grabbed a couple flavors to try.

The first is White Tea Cherry, and I hoped it was as good as it sounds.  The cherry aroma is almost cloying, sweet and fruity, but not overpowering.  A sip into the drink and I was hooked.  The sweet-tart cherry flavor blends well with the slightly dry, mild tea flavor, leaving a light tea aftertaste.  It finishes with an almost spicy, cinnamon-like flavor, quite interesting.  I had to keep myself from chugging it all at once. This is a great palette cleanser as well, washing away the garlic-ranch-bacon-cheese pizza I was consuming.  It’s nicely sweet with only 15 g of sugar a serving.

This is exactly what we are looking for here at Better Libations, an independent (though somewhat corporate) company, producing an organic, better-f0r-you drink with no HFCS.  And it does help that it is delicious.  Also, only 27 g of sugar per 14 oz bottle.

Score: 5 out of 5, I was very pleased with this beverage.

– WiseGuise

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5-Star Reviews, Jones Soda Co. independent company