Review: Frostie Blue Cream Soda

Please excuse my absence.

Background

     Well, it's starting to get into that holiday time of year so I decided to get into the spirit with some Frostie brand soda! Frostie is a truly old style of soda, the root beer flavor that Frostie makes has been around since 1939.

Frostie Root Beer cans circa 1975

I tend to really like the older brands like Boylan so I hope that Frostie keeps that trend going. I bought this from World Market for $1.29 and  it is available online as well. There was some apparent controversy over Frostie using cane sugar or High Fructose Corn Syrup as well. They started off just like every other old soda brand with real cane sugar but then they attempted a transition into HFCS with a new "retro" flavor which apparently failed because the bottle I am holding has pure cane sugar listed as one of its few ingredients.

Review

     Never thought I would say this but I really don't like the bottling. It's so generic, doesn't grab your eye at all. It's just sorta clear glass which can be nice but here it's nothing special. 

Furthermore the label is absolute crap!

Look at that, it's peeling away! They literally just take a clear glass bottle, pump their soda in, slap some glue on a piece of paper, toss that on there and out the door is goes. Boylan is ink laid onto the glass so it will never wear off. I have been keeping a collection of all my bottles recently and this one just will look awkward. The IBC Black Cheery with it's no-paint no-label all glass design is nice. The simple and bold expression of a Boylan label. But this is just a picture of an old guy with an odd red growth coming off his head.

Seriously, what is that?

Before I have even opened it I am unimpressed. Please prove me wrong Frostie! On an unrelated note, I wonder what blue cream is? I think that if you ever find blue cream you probably shouldn't drink it, it's probably been out a bit too long.

     I had a lot of trouble getting the cap off. Gonna blame that one me, it's been a while that this soda has been sitting there. My very very first thought was "well, it smells like cream soda." I really wonder what makes it so darned blue. On the topic I do really love the coloring. I know it's probably killing me but look at it!

The coloring is so darned pretty!

There is absolutely not visible carbonation which could work well or not, we'll see. Definitely not impressed with the carbonation just looking at it though. Okay, first taste. Hmmm it really does taste mostly like cream soda. Whoa after taste is a super duper powerful burst of cream soda. The after taste actually lends itself to that feeling of after you take a swig of HFCS. There's 48 grams of sugar which isn't ridiculous, but fairly high for only a 12 ounce bottle. I dunno I suppose it tastes pretty good. It's basically just a flavor like a cream soda with a little bit extra layered on top of it. I'm just wondering what that extra flavoring is on top since in the ingredients is just lists the generics like carbonated water, preservatives and sugar then is has "artificial flavor". That could be anything. Carbonation is non-existent. Total let down in that department, I can't feel it, I can't even hardly see it!

    I do not like the flavor in comparison to other things. If I didn't have to pay for it and it were offered to me I wouldn't turn it down it's just that the flavor doesn't mesh well with itself. Like I said there's an extra layer. It's sort of fruity. This has a lot of the failings that Sidral Mundet did. It's so damned middle of the ground. It's not a cream soda until after it's out of your mouth then it just kicks you. It's also not really a fruity taste because it's so subtle. If I had to describe it I would probably say that it's basically cream soda with way too much sugar. This may be blasphemous but they may as well use HFCS. The feeling I get in my mouth is so similar that even if they used HFCS I don't think I would notice at all.

     Overall, this is probably the bottom of the non-generic sodas I have had. It definitely beats out your Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew and all those others but it's left behind by something like a Henry Weinhard's Vanilla Cream soda. Maybe give this to a kid? They would like the sweetness and probably the flavor and the glass bottling. That would be the only reason to really get it though.

Interesting aticle on HFCS Versus Sugar

Science20.com: High-Fructose Corn Syrup Worse Than Table Sugar - Study

     I linked to the printer friendly version because it has no ads and is easier to read, link to the original article is that the bottom of that page. If the text is too small hold down control and then scroll your scroll wheel up (sorry mac users, don't know who to do that for you guys).

Summary

     Basically this study is to dispel the propaganda that's been floating around like this website. Which is pure propaganda, if you check out their "Web of Trust" ranking it reveals some of the truths behind that site. There's also these ads which are downright ridiculous. They act like it's from corn so it's natural and that you can take it in moderation. The truth is, High Fructose Corn Syrup is in almost everything. Anything you put in your mouth and think "that's sweet!" has High Fructose Corn Syrup. The study tackled what would happen giving mice real sugar water versus High Fructose Corn Syrup water and what was interesting is that although the sweetness of each was identical and the calories were identical, the High Fructose Corn Syrup mouse gained significantly more weight. They hypothesize that this is due to the fact that High Fructose Corn Syrup is super duper processed and thus our bodies don't know how to deal with it. Our bodies have been metabolizing sugar for millions of years so we've gotten pretty good at turning it from sugar to energy with little waste. With High Fructose Corn Syrup though our bodies have a "okay what do I do with this?" reaction and thus we can't convert it to energy and we end up with empty calories. You know how they always say soda has empty calories? Well, that's why!  The extra energy from the High Fructose Corn Syrup that we can't burn gets stored into fat cells which is no good.