Better Libations | Healthy Drink Reviews

Time to bust open another entry by Zevia – this time I think I’ll try the Ginger Ale, which was heartily recommended by the President of Zevia. (As was the Black Cherry, which I liked a lot).

I crack it open and take a whiff, finding a very light scent of… well, whatever ginger ale smells like.  I suppose it smells like a Schwepps or a Canada Dry ginger ale.  As a born Michigander, I’m a long-time fan of Vernors brand ginger ale, which has a much bolder, richer ginger scent and flavor.  (And get this: ironically, it was sweetened with Stevia before it was banned!)  Now, unfortunately, Vernors has succumbed to the high-fructose demons, presumably in an effort to lower costs for its national distribution efforts, and so it will not be reviewed on this site until they come to their senses.  Dammit, what’s the point of barrel-aging anything with high-fructose corn syrup in it??  You should have stayed as an exclusive, Michigan-only secret instead of watering yourself down for the masses!  But I digress…

Right.  Back to Zevia.  I think Zevia’s sweetener mix does well with potent-flavored drinks like this.  The ginger flavor in this entry is sufficient to compete with the stevia/erythritol mix, and indeed makes it almost undetectable.  (Then again, maybe I’m just getting used to it.  It seems that Wise Guise has been able to pick up on it more than me.)

Zevia’s ginger ale has a slight ginger tang and a dry finish, again similar to a Canada Dry-type flavor, but with a slightly more natural, gingery taste.  If this went head-to-head with the other dry ginger ales on a purely flavor basis, I think the ginger-kick in Zevia would win out.  To give you an idea, I’d give Schwepps and Canada Dry a 2.5/5 for flavor, while I’d give Zevia closer to a 3.5.  The thing is, Zevia pulls this off with no sugar whatsoever, and no artificial sweeteners, so yes, it does get extra points for that.

Rating: 4.0/5 A natural-tasting, dry ginger ale that won’t make you morbidly obese.

-Danithius-

**WiseGuise Review Rebuttal!**

I agree a little more with Danithius on this one, the sweeteners are not so apparent as in some of the other flavors. This reminds me of a 7-up with a bit of a ginger kick, also, I’m not quite as familiar with ginger ales as my amigo here is, although I do know Vernors.  It’s pleasantly bubbly and sweet, with a citrus/ginger taste to it.  And yes, I can pick up on it, even in this.  I think it may be an acquired taste.  I’ll give it a 4 as well.

User Rating: (2 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
 Loading ...

4-Star Reviews, Zevia drink reviews

Zevia, post-makeover

You may remember some of my previous Zevia reviews as being, well, less than sparkling – particularly the “Natural Twist” flavor.  It didn’t have any real flavor or sweetness to it – it was like drinking club soda with a milligram of sugar and a 1/2 drop of lime.  Well, it turns out that the guys at Zevia were listening, and they revamped their entire product line, including the drink formulas.  They were good enough to notify us about this, and they sent us a box of the new drinks for review.

A note to our readers – while we always like receiving sample products from companies for review, this does not entitle the company to preferential treatment in our product rating.  The only thing we offer these companies is first priority in the review queue.  (i.e, in exchange for the trouble and expense of shipping out the samples, we guarantee that we’ll review them first, before any of our own drinks that we had lined up).  That way you know the people sending the samples actually believe in their products.  So with that said, get ready for a big batch of Zevia Reviews!

OK, first up: Black Cherry.  I am hit by a strong, tart, cherry scent from the second I crack it open.  It smells like “sugared” Black Cherry sodas that I’ve tasted in the past, even though it’s sweetened with Stevia and erythritol.

I take a sip, and find a deep, tart-sweet cherry taste.  The cherry flavor lingers for a while, and finally disappears into a light, dry finish.  It has a slight overtone of the stevia/erythritol flavor.

As you know, we don’t review artificially-sweetened drinks, but both the stevia and erythritol in this are natural.  Barring any findings that they cause brain hemorrhages or something, they have our support at Better Libations.  The flavor of these sweeteners definitely differs from sugar, but it’s much better than your sucraloses or your aspartames or anything else artificial that I’ve tasted.  It is mostly non-intrusive.  In this particular entry, it isn’t very noticeable at all due to the strong cherry flavor – a few sips in and you won’t be able to tell.

Rating: 4.5/5 – A refreshingly complex, natural, sugar-free soda.

-Danithius-

**WiseGuise Review Rebuttal!**
I’m afraid I have to disagree with my comrade on this one.  On the cloying cherry soda smell he is correct, but on the false-sugar flavor, my palette say otherwise.  It has an almost diet soda-y taste, which attempts to hide under the cherry sweet/sourness.  The aftertaste is not nearly as bad as a regular diet soda, and the sweeteners are natural, but the combination may be causing the odd pseudo-sweetness taste.  Still not too bad, as diet sodas go, you get used to the taste.
Score: 3.5 out of 5.

User Rating: (6 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)
 Loading ...

4-Star Reviews, Zevia drink reviews

You may remember that I didn’t like the first two flavors of Stevia-sweetened Zevia that I reviewed (Orange and Lemon Lime), but a few nights ago I found my thirsty self in the drink aisle of a natural food store,  and root beer just sounded good.  And it was on sale.  So back off, all right?  Everyone gets a second (well, third) chance.

So, did they redeem themselves?  Actually, yes.  The root beer has a little bit of a fake-sugar aftertaste, but the up-front boldness of  the hearty root beer flavor is satisfying.  It’s a night-and-day comparison with the two citrus “flavors”, which are incredibly weak.  Good job, Zevia, you get the BL gold star award for “most improved”!  I would actually drink this on a regular basis instead of normal root beer.

Rating: 4.0/5 – A tasty, natural, stevia-sweetened root beer.

-Danithius-

User Ratings: (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
 Loading ...

4-Star Reviews, Zevia drink reviews

***Note: this is a review of the pre-2009 version of Zevia’s Natural Twist.  See the other Zevia reviews to find a review of  the new reformulated flavor.***

Smells like sprite lite!

This stuff is sweetened with Stevia, an herb extract that was banned by the FDA, reportedly after receiving one anonymous complaint.  Hmm… I wonder if that call could be traced back to the Corn Refiners Association.  Anyway, check out the Orange flavor for a more detailed exploration of the Stevia topic.

Down to business.  While I’m an advocate of Stevia use (especially when compared to other artificial sweeteners on the market), it has to be used right.  If you don’t have the right flavor to begin with, it doesn’t matter what you use to sweeten it, you’ll still end up with a subpar finished product.  This drink had an off aftertaste, and hardly any citrus flavor, or any flavor at all, for that matter.  The lemon and lime flavor could be much more pronounced.  Nay, they must be more pronounced for a beverage that’s trying to subvert the diet drink market!  I’ve tasted lemongrass teas that had stronger flavor than this.  There’s no punch, and it leaves a bit of phlegm buildup in the back of your throat.

Again, I love the idea of getting away from heavy sugar use, but you still have to sport sufficient flavor to give me and the rest of the population a reason to switch to you.  If I was dieting and I had a choice between this and water, I’d go with water.  For the narrow segment of people that want something fizzy without any sugar and without chemical-based artificial sweeteners, this may do the trick.  But I warn you, Zevia, they’d be fair-weather consumers at best!  As soon as another Stevia option comes along with a halfway decent flavor, you’ll be wondering where your sales revenues have gone.

I love what you’re trying to do, but you could be so much more than than what you are now!  With the right flavors on your side, you could make something that would woo all soda drinkers into your sweet herbal embrace!

Rating 2.0/5 – great potential, but this particular entry fizzes out.

- Danithius -

User reviews – (No Ratings Yet)
 Loading ...

2-Star Reviews, Zevia drink reviews, Stevia, Zevia

Zevia on Maple, cir. 2008

***Note: this is a review of the pre-2009 version of Zevia’s Natural Twist.  See the other Zevia reviews to find a review of  the new reformulated flavor.***

I typically avoid diet sodas of any kind, but one sweetener has come to my attention more than once, and I’ve been looking around for a chance to try it. I heard about it first from an anecdote in The Four-Hour Workweek. It’s called Stevia. It’s South-American herb with the nickname of “sweetleaf” – extracts of Stevia can be 300 times the sweetness of sugar.

Stevia has been outlawed by the FDA as a sweetener, reportedly after only one anonymous complaint… probably by a corn industry executive…

The FDA’s official stance is that “no one has ever provided FDA with adequate evidence that the substance is safe”.

Psh. You’ve passed a lot more fishy stuff than this, FDA. Any negative studies you can find on Stevia are nowhere near as freaky as some of the fake sweeteners on your approved list! (You’ll notice on their site that they are still defending Saccharin.)

Stevia has been used for 30 years in Japan and for centuries in South America with no reported ill effects. Google it, there’s a whole mess of controversy out there.

OK, down to business. The makers of this soda get around the FDA by labeling it as a “carbonated stevia supplement”.  Smooth.  It has Erythritol, a sugar-alcohol also contained in SoBe Lifewater.  It can be purchased online at https://store.zevia.com, and at the time of writing, they were having a FREE 6 pack sampler special.  You only pay for S&H.  If you’re interested, check it out.  I don’t know how long it will last.

This soda has a kind of mellow after-sweetness with a light orange flavor. (Think Sobe Lifewater’s orange flavor, only carbonated and with a little less flavor punch). This is heavily carbonated – too much for my taste, but nothing to a hardcore soda chugger. The flavor and sweetness seem to grow on you as you drink it, but it never quite delivers the flavorful body I’m looking for. I have a feeling it will take more oomph to wean hardcore soda lovers (or diet soda lovers) off the bottle. Some intense herbs and spice will do amazing things for flavor, Zevia, just look at some of the totally non-sweetened drinks that we’ve reviewed!

This is an interesting entry, but not amazing. Yes, it is probably a lot better for you than teeth-rotting regular soda or the chemical sweeteners in the diet stuff, but that’s not enough to make my buddy list. I’m prepared to make some small flavor sacrifices for big returns on health, sure. But to get the big points, you need to give me the Holy Grail, that perfect combination of both flavor and health. I must have it all!

Rating: 3.0/5

Danithius

User rating: (No Ratings Yet)
 Loading ...

3-Star Reviews, Stevia, Zevia