Pepsi Throwback

Much has been made in recent years of the evils of high fructose corn syrup, with claims made about its more negative health effects than "regular" sugar and a vocal subset of cane sugar fans who insist that sodas made with their standard-bearer just taste better. I don't have any particular interest in getting in the middle of either of those debates (I go back and forth on cane sugar, due to its extremely distinctive taste), but it's interesting to see a company of Pepsi's stature giving some play to the whole debate by releasing "throwback" editions of its two biggest brands, Pepsi and Mountain Dew, to a national audience. There's something about "throwback" which implies that things were better before, and one wonders what Pepsi might do if this new edition proves popular. (At least they learned the lesson of New Coke and didn't try to completely supplant their existing product. As it is I've yet to find Pepsi Throwback outside of grocery stores in the Chicago area; not a convenience store I've been in has carried the stuff.)

Pepsi doesn't specify the provenance of the "natural sugar" found in Throwback. Assuming it's sucrose, sugar cane is the most likely source, but as I said above I usually find cane sugar to have a distinctive "caney" taste, which I didn't notice in Throwback (though cola always does the best job of hiding any distinctiveness in the taste of its sweetener, so it's not out of the question).

Regardless of where the sugar comes from, it does its job. As outlined by Malcolm Gladwell in Blink, Pepsi's sweetness relative to Coke was the key factor in its winning sip-based taste tests in the 1980s despite being less popular as an overall brand (as Gladwell notes, when you're taking home a two-liter bottle of the stuff, you're possibly not looking for the same things that you're looking for in a sip or two of it). Coke's more distinctive flavor and less overpowering sweetness - in spite of its use of HFCS - have allowed it to maintain more brand loyalty. But by taking out the HFCS, Pepsi Throwback starts to taste, well, a lot more like Coke.

Pepsi Throwback ranks right up there with the best of the mass-market colas. It has a cleaner taste than Pepsi itself because of the lack of corn syrup, and while it doesn't have Coke's trademark tang, it actually has a deeper, more complex cola flavor. (Coke is also more syrupy, although not hugely so. But I found it odd in comparing the two how relatively light the cola taste of Coke was. Pepsi Throwback's is much darker and richer, for lack of better words. I'm not sure if that's what a mass audience wants from their cola, but it's out there.)

Will Pepsi Throwback last? I don't know. It's hard to see it picking off committed Coke drinkers, and if Pepsi drinkers prefer it because of the sweetness, it's hard to see them switching to a cleaner, drier alternative. People who really like the taste of the kola nut and find HFCS too sweet should flock to it if the word gets out, but how many cola drinkers does that describe? Probably not enough to save Pepsi Throwback from its likely fate as a limited edition, but the increasing national popularity of HFCS alternatives at least gives it a chance.

Pepsi Natural

Pepsi Natural strikes me as an odd product. To whom does it really appeal? Sure, it uses real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup, and it's made from all-natural ingredients. But if you're on the kind of green kick where you refuse to consume regular Pepsi because of all its chemicals, are you really so desperate for "all natural cola" at all? And if you are, aren't you probably going to be just as happy with the organic colas that already exist?

The answer might be no. I ran a cola taste test two years ago in which the organic cola from Whole Foods was graded pretty low. And Pepsi Natural, while it'll never be mistaken for regular Pepsi, actually isn't that bad just as a cola. As you might expect, the flavor is a little more watery than a "standard" cola - sort of like if Vitamin Water made a cola - but it isn't too bad, and there's really none of the sometimes overly harsh bite that cola can have; it's much smoother going down. The difference between sugar and corn syrup is only really noticeable (aside from the fact that the cola is not overpoweringly sweet) in the aftertaste, which left hints of what reminded me of maple. I also thought I got a little bit of the flavor of the apple extract which the label says is used for color; that light fruitiness adds an interesting layer of "naturalness," for lack of a better word.

At 150 calories and 38 grams of sugar in a 12-ounce bottle, it's hard to imagine Pepsi Natural catching on among the health food set, no matter how all-natural it is. But considering the inherent flavor disadvantages it has next to its more industrial brother, I think it comes out pretty well, and in some cases even nudges ahead. You could do worse than trying it once, certainly. It seems to be sold mostly at Target (although I did see it at Dominick's tonight), so check that out if you're interested.

Dr. Pepper Cherry

Dr. Pepper has tried out a lot of different permutations in the last few years, including Cherry Vanilla, Berries and Cream, and the rather woeful Cherry Chocolate (reviewed in the 3/31/08 episode of the old podcast). I actually liked Berries and Cream pretty well, but the others ranged from "hardly different from basic Dr. Pepper" to "pretty horrible." Maybe the problem was they were just trying too many flavors.

The front of the bottle of Dr. Pepper Cherry that I picked up actually has the tagline, "It's so amazingly smooth, you have to try it to believe it!" on the front. Ordinarily I would say this was incredibly hubristic, but you have to give to Dr. Pepper here - they're right. I'm not sure how I would explain it - the cherry flavor, much like in the old Cherry Vanilla variety, is hardly strong. But the undertone that is there does just enough to make the regular Dr. Pepper flavor easier to drink. I'm not sure it's "amazingly" smooth, except that it is kind of amazing that just adding cherry flavor could actually make your soda taste smoother.

On the other hand, Cherry Coke is one of my favorite sodas ever, and it's certainly smoother than regular Coke. The irony is that I'm not even a huge fan of cherries or even cherry flavor most of the time. In soda, though, I really enjoy it for whatever reason. I guess I would say that it's a good complementary flavor - I don't want to eat an entire bowl of cherries, and I thought that Cheerwine was pretty good, but not great. However, you take that mild, sweet cherry flavor and mix it with the strong, rather robust flavor of cola or Dr. Pepper, and the combination manages to mitigate the few harsh aspects of the original soda's taste. (Just don't make the mistake of trying to pair it with yet another flavor.)

So if you like Dr. Pepper, put Dr. Pepper Cherry on your list. It's at least as good and possibly even better.

Sierra Mist Ruby Splash

It's often hard to know exactly how new a product is when you happen to notice it for the first time at the store. I'm pretty sure that Sierra Mist Ruby Splash just came out, however. First of all, there are barely any available images online and I don't have my digital camera at the moment, so all you're going to see of it is this shot I found online of the basic logo design:

Was it Sierra Mist who used to run the "Yeah, it's kinda like that" ads? Anyway.

The initial aroma coming out of the bottle is good - it really does smell like fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice. And the initial sips tasted as much like a grapefruit soda as I think it's possible to taste - alternatives like Squirt and Fresca are much tamer in comparison. I was actually a little surprised Sierra Mist went this way, to be honest. It's not like there aren't people who like grapefruit juice, but it tends to run towards that sour/bitter end of the spectrum and be more of an acquired taste; to me, the stereotypical grapefruit juice drinker is a grandmother. Of course, I like it, but I like grapefruit.

We're still talking 39 grams of sugar in a 12-ounce can, though. After the first few sips, the grapefruit taste started to fade into the background a little bit, as the overall sweetness and lemon-lime flavor of the Sierra Mist overwhelmed it (and as my tastebuds got acclimated to the grapefruit flavor). It did hang around, but a little less obviously. That's probably not a bad thing for sales, of course - people probably aren't buying "Ruby Splash" expecting a grapefruit soda, but rather a typical Sierra Mist with just a little kick. And ultimately that's pretty much exactly what you get.

I'll be interested to see the reaction to this one. I liked it pretty well, but I enjoy grapefruit juice and I'm not sure that everyone does. Either way, I'm glad to see Sierra Mist carrying the torch for trying slightly different things in the mainstream soda market (following Cranberry Splash the last two holiday seasons). Up until this point I was worried that only Mountain Dew was really trying to branch out, and that would be unfortunate.