Pepsi Next

Pepsi's new soda for 2012 -- Pepsi Next -- actually makes me feel like I'm time traveling back to roughly 2004; way back in the earlyish days of the turn of the century. (And now I am making us all feel old...sorry.) Back then both Pepsi and Coke debuted products that were not quite "diet" colas, yet not quite full calorie colas either. Remember those? Their lack of specific gender, if you will, made them strangely androgynous and hermaphroditic in a way -- kind of like what Justin Bieber would be if he were a beverage.

Well, the Pepsi Edge of yesteryear has evolved to become this decade's Pepsi Next. Pepsi Edge had 70 calories per can (or 12 ounces). and was sweetened with a blend of high fructose corn syrup and Sucralose. Its "benefit" was that it was supposed to taste more like regular Pepsi while not having all of the calories and carbs of the regular version. Pepsi Edge was discontinued in 2005 (as was Coke's competing soda, C2 -- and later that year both Pepsi Max and Coke Zero were launched, and are still going strong today). Apparently, sales were sluggish, and the most common comment I remember hearing at the time was "If I wanted a diet soda I would just drink one."

Anyway, here we are in 2012 with Pepsi Next. It has 60 calories per can (or 12 ounces) and has what could be a boy band worth of sweeteners -- four total. HFCS, Sucralose, Aspartame & acesulfame potassium are all combined in the hopes of making it taste more like a full calorie soda, but with less calories and carbs.

At least as far as the numbers go, it succeeds. A 12 ounce serving of regular Pepsi has 150 calories and 41 grams of carbs. The issue is -- how many people will this really appeal to? I am admittedly a diet soda drinker (and when I drink regular Pepsi, it is the Pepsi Throwback...sooo worth the calories!), so I don't mind the flavor of diet sodas. But I have noticed that my friends who only drink "regular" tend to dislike the artificial flavor that sweeteners give. If it gets past the "why?" factor, it will of course be the taste that makes or breaks it.

So how does Pepsi Next taste?



It does seem to have a cola taste that is closer to regular Pepsi than Diet Pepsi. (I haven't had Pepsi Max in so long I can't remember it sizes up). There is also a distinct lemony note, even though no such thing is listed on the label. It's more noticeable than that of Pepsi/Diet Pepsi as a rule, but not as strong a lemon as Pepsi Twist had. (And where can I sign a petition to bring that back?!) On one hand, I like the idea of a lemony cola. What I don't like here is that the lemon note is pleasant at first, and then dissolves into a nasty chemical aftertaste.



The carbonation is also dialed down. (It does make an impressive head when poured into a glass, but that head collapses in literally three seconds.) I know a lot of people will like that, because it makes it easier to guzzle without thunderous elephantine belching like I imagine Kim Kardashian does when the cameras are turned off. (Cease and Desist letter in 3...2...1...) For me this is neither a breaking nor a selling point. It's not a bad soda; it just doesn't rock my world. I could be wrong, but I'll give this a year, tops, on the shelf. I just don't see there being enough of a market for a half-cal option. Personally, I would rather just have a smaller portion of Pepsi Throwback.

Be sure to check out these reviews from The Impulsive Buy and Grub Grade.



PURCHASED FROM: CVS

PRICE: $1.25

CALORIES: 100 calories per 20 ounce bottle.

ADDITIONAL INFO: Contains phenylalanine.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE: pepsiusa.com

Kosher for Passover Coke & Diet Coke

OK guys, this is the last post in our Kosher for Passover week. I told you I was saving my favorite for last. No, I was not in fact able to get my hands on a bottle of The Zohan's favorite soda, "Fizzy Bubblech." I got a hold of my favorite soda: Kosher for Passover Coke!

Those of you who pay attention for such things are probably already well aware that Coke is always kosher. But the normal everyday bottle of Coke -- while still being deliciously tasty, is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup -- and if we've learned nothing else this week, we have still learned that certain grains are considered kitniyot, and yes, corn is one of them. So corn is OK most of the time, but not for Passover.

Kosher for Passover Coke:




Passover brings with it the one time a year that Coke itself keeps things real and sweetens the soda with actual real cane sugar. If you're old enough to remember what Coke tasted like in the days before the sugar was taken out and replaced by HFCS (circa 1985), this is what you remember.

Sadly, the production runs of this type of Coke are very, very small, and seem to be targeted only at the larger metropolitan areas -- and even there, it can be hard to find. For example, I live in a far eastern 'burb of Los Angeles and I couldn't get it locally. I even put a cash bounty out to my friends if anyone could find it and bring it to me. In fact, I got so desperate that I called my local bottler. (Never got a response from them, either. And in a rare lapse of customer service on the part of Coca-Cola's corporate end, I didn't even get an answer from them on where to find some locally to me.) Finally I ended just biting the bullet and driving to the San Fernando valley, which has a significantly higher Jewish population than my area. And there I found what I wanted. The ever fantastic Gelson's Market had more Kosher for Passover Coke than I could shake a stick at.

I know you are probably wondering how to tell the difference between the KFP Coke and the regular the Coke that is always on the shelf, since the label itself (minus the ingredients list) is exactly the same. The answer, my friends, is the cap. The cap for KFP Coke is always different. All of the KFP Coke bottle caps I have ever seen are bright yellow in color and contain Hebrew lettering along with the "U-P" symbol. To make life super easy, I have provided a picture to use for reference:



So I drank some. What more can I say? It was as good as it always is. It has that sugar "bite" that HFCS lacks entirely. This is really old school Coca-Cola, the kind that has otherwise been extinct in the U.S. for more than twenty years.



Do whatever you have to do to find the remaining supplies in your area this year, because it is that good! And now you know for next year. You can thank me by sending bottles to me.



PURCHASED FROM:
Gelson's Market

PRICE:
$1.50

CALORIES:
100 calories per 8 ounces.

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Kosher, kosher for Passover.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
cocacola.com



Kosher for Passover Diet Coke:



I have to admit that I can't begin to tell you what's different between this version and the "normal" version. As far as I can tell, the ingredients are the same. And to be brutally honest, it even tastes the same.

Once again, I am going to point the short, stubby finger of shame at Coca-Cola. This was one of the questions I wanted to ask them, and neither my local bottler nor the corporate offices could be bothered to return my phone call or email inquiry. So if anyone out there knows what makes Diet Coke for Passover special, please leave a comment.

Given that I honestly can't tell the difference between this version and the normal version, I am not entirely sure how to review it, let alone rate it. If you have ever had one sip of Diet Coke, you have had this -- so I am just going to leave things at that.

PURCHASED FROM:
Gelson's Market

PRICE
$1.50

CALORIES:
0 calories.

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Kosher, kosher for Passover, sugar free, contains phenylalanine.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
cocacola.com

Slim Fast Low Carb Diet- Creamy Chocolate Shake

So my Doctor has decided that for various reasons we may want to try a low carb diet.
Does anyone still do Atkins? (yes, I know they do please don't send me 900 emails telling me so). There are many reason's I am not sure I am going to be able to pull this off. First I just don't eat a lot of meat and I don't know how I feel about any diet that says a carb is bad but I can have all the butter I want... wait maybe I didn't think that one through.

Being lazy today I decided to try a Slim Fast Low Carb Shake. Honestly, I don't mind the regular or the Optima shakes. No, they aren't great but they aren't without some charm. What's weird about the LCD shake is that the flavor shifts from vaguely chocolaty envelope paste to an almost Silk Soy Milk chocolate milk taste back to envelope paste. I know you are supposed to leisurely sip these shakes while thinking about how good you will look in clothes you bought hoping to fit into two years ago, but the only way I can stand it is to suck it down as fast as possible. This is by far not the best meal replacement ever.

PURCHASED FROM:
WalMart*

Diet Pepsi NFLKickoff Limited Edition

Yesterday I reviewed the "regular version of Pepsi NFL Kickoff and today we have the Diet version

It's almost hard to believe that the diet and regular version are supposed to be the same flavor. Everything that was less then stellar in the normal version seemed to work themselves out in the diet version. I will spare you guys the whole back story again- check out the first review for the niceties. Let's just talk taste.

First, the lemon flavor seems brighter and zestier.
Second, the strong corn syrup aftertaste I didn't like in the normal version is completely absent here. I would assume that is because the diet version of course does not have HFCS in it.

This may actually surpass Diet Cherry Pepsi as my favorite Pepsi product.

PURCHASED FROM:
Vons Supermarket

Diet Rite Cherry Cola

I love cherry cola's but I am also an old geezer who can't tolerate caffeine after seven P.M. if I want to sleep that night.
On top of that I try to drink more diet soda then regular soda- because I LOOOOOVE me my soda and let's face it, who needs to waste empty calories on soda when I can use them for ice cream!

Now sadly there just don't seem to be many diet, caffeine free cherry soda's out there. I was pleasantly surprised to see the Diet Rite Cherry Cola. The Diet Rite family of soda's all boast zero calories, carbs, caffeine and sodium.

But how do they taste?
In the case of the Cherry Cola the answer is not good. Think cherry cough syrup in generic "cola" and add to that the strong after taste of artificial sweetener- which I had a hard time figuring out because it uses Splenda and Splenda as a rule doesn't have that funky after taste.

This was really disappointing.
PURCHASED FROM:
Albertsons Supermarket

Lean Cuisine Butternut Squash Ravioli

Frou Frou ravioli? why of course I can have them- they're lean!
Do you not want to slap the women in those commercials?.
Anyway, the dish is according to the box:
Butternut squash ravioli in a creamy sauce with walnuts,snap peas and carrots

In real life the thing is also teeming with red peppers a.k.a. pimentos. I HATE pimentos! does anyone out there really like them? either they are really cheap or more people like them then I give credit for. Yeah, they are pretty but...

The julienned strips of carrot, what I think was more squash and snow peas unfortunately tasted more of the pimentos then of their own flavors. Let's not talk of the walnuts. Great idea but the microwave is not a friend of the walnut (unless you like chewy, stale nuts)

The ravioli themselves... say something nice... they were square. And that's all I got. The pasta is doughy and over cooked and the filling is just enough like butternut squash to legally be called butternut squash but I couldn't tell you what it really is.

For all of the good options Lean Cuisine has this is just not one of them. Eating paste would be better.

Diet Dr. Pepper Chocolate Cherry Soda- Limited Edition

I have to admit it has taken me 3 bottles of this soda to decide what I thought about it.

I've said this a few times about other chocolate items. Sometimes the idea of the product is better then the product it's self. That is how I tend to feel about chocolate soda's.

The smell is the first thing that hits you. It is like a grenadine covered tootsie pop was left out in the sun- and oddly enough that's not a bad thing.

If you were expecting any type of a Dr. Pepper type taste, give that up now. That is one of the reason's it took me so many times to get a handle on if I liked this or not. The first few sips it tastes like liquid Tootsie Roll mixed with flat Cherry Coke. The interesting thing is that the more you drink as you get used to the taste it really does start to taste like a chocolate covered cherry!
Specially one of those liquid filled Cella cherries- which I happen to love. The chocolate taste is strong enough that this would even satisfy a chocolate craving.
It's lightly carbonated which works well for this flavor and personally I did not notice a strong taste from the artificial sweetener.

I ended up really liking this soda the more I drank (even though I do admit it was not love at first taste) I have not tried it but I bet it would be wonderful with ice cream (which kinda makes the whole purpose of diet soda redundant but...)

PURCHASED FROM:
Kroger