I HAVE A STREAM

HO HO HO MERRY CHRISTMAS FIZZNESS READERS

I bring you good tidings. I scored myself a soda-stream for Christmas from the loving other half. Awh. She knows me far too well and will soon start cooking up some home brew I reckon.

I missed out on the soda stream revolution as a child and so this is my first foray into the home carbonation movement. This has of course left me very excited and got the mind bubbling away, what can I fizz first MILK? GRAVY? VODKA? but wow there I also got a lovely flavor sampler pack which I'll work my way through first and after that well I might try out this little recipe here for  Chocolate Soda

This will be our last past of the year so all that's left to do is wish you all a happy new year and watch this space. We have a big review coming up in the next month that we can't say too much about right now

Forever Home Alone

TaB Cola

I'm a moron. Yep, it's out there. As a delightful man from the delightful city of Belfast my knowledge of TaB began and end with the ill-fated clear cola of TaB Clear in the early 90's

Look at it, it's so.... well pointless but still the point stands so imagine my confusion, if it helps picture Peter Andre trying to remember the last time he wasn't a cretin, when I got myself a can and well it wasn't clear. See Tab Cola was one of the worlds first ever Diet Colas and pre-dates Diet Coke apparentley. WELL I BE DAMNED

Shock! It's a coca-cola product and I'm drinking it. It's got a strong cola taste and an incredible pink can. Err and it's very 80's styleee. You can tell this by the crazy usage of a capital letter and the start and end of the word. This isn't to be confused with the vErY nInEtIeS nU-mEtAl way of making things eye bleedingly bad.

It's pretty cool drink but there is a worrying kind of hum from the can that makes you think it might be a little bit toxic. The sweeteners used seem a little harsh but not overly sweet. It's main plus points are probably that it's a bit different and err pink but it really isn't a patch on Pepsi Max or the current young pretenders. In the world of Diet Colas Tab is probably the Karl Largerfeld. Older than most, maybe not ageing that well, flamboyantly attired and err got shit hair, I think I've got distracted. The funny thing about that is even he drinks Diet Coke

Aside from that it's totally rad and gnarly. Sorry guys in true 80's style I'm off to befriend a small alien creature, party with a caveman robot before finally going to prom with that swimsuit model that lives next door.

BRISKY BUSINESS : Brisk Lemonade

Brisk is a non-carbonated US drink brand from the same family of products as Lipton Ice Tea. Most don't contain any tea they just contain powerful flavours in pretty out there can designs. The 1st one I'm trying (and in total I will be trying 4 from the range) is the Lemonade drink.

With non-carbonated lemonades you run the risk of something like Marks and Spencers lemonade cooler that melts your face off with it's powerful lemon cannon. An unrelenting roller coaster of sourness that makes you want to go crying to your mother.

This is not that drink. It's tangy and sweet without any sharpness and by god does it look good. I prefer it that way and that's actually how the police described me after a toga party at fizzness tower went a bit awry recently.

Overall it's a lot of fun. I'm going to rank it just below the Rockstar Recovery as it's more readily available, has the added hangover killing caffeine and the can is equally as pimping.

I think it's worth picking a few of these up just to see the artwork including the particularly fetching Green Lantern inspired piece we'll review soon. So for me this is a  7/10 to a really welcome change up in pace.Quite a fan of these non-carbonated drinks, but this isn't quite up there with Hawaiian Punch

You can get your grubby little mits on it at AmericanFizz
http://www.americanfizz.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=187

Christmas Fizzness

Get your christmas tubes around this

Sneak Preview of our Xmas video

Tymbark Cherry and Apple

We reviewed the apple and mint flavour of Tymbark recently and the only reason it avoided the dreaded Jude Law award was simply because we hadn't invented it yet.

It was a confused mess of a drink so it was with a great deal of trepidation that I took on the Cherry and Apple Flavour

We're on much more stable ground with this one. It's a more common flavour and I think they've pretty much nailed it. The cherry flavour is really strong and nice. The apple doesn't overpower it due to the strength of the cherry flavour. It's like biting into black cherrys. It feels like something cobbled together from the black forest.

Really good and has fully made up for the flat dissapointing Apple and Mint Flavour.

FIZZNESS SEAL OF APPROVAL

Great news it's on special offer at Tesco at the minute. Only 50p! BOSH
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=265845700

Kicking Kola

An organic Cola you say? Seems odd but why not. Free Natural you say? Seems odd but why not? Sweetened with fruit juice rather than sugar? Ok but you're just making me a bit sad now.

Kicking Kola is an odd little product that I found in a Deli recently. It was the only bottle left so I quickly snaffled it up and brought it home.

I wish I'ld left it there.

The smell is a bit off putting as well it's a bit spirit like. I guess it's probably botanically brewed like Fentimans but the smell isn't as alluring as Curiosity Cola. The taste well it doesn't fully taste like Cola. There's a hint there but instead of the apple juice adding to the cola taste and strengthening it, you kinda feel the other way and that the cola is the background flavour.

The apples taste stewed. I doubt they have been cooked or whatever but you get that kind of apple tart taste to them.

Wasn't a fan 2/10. The only thing kicking here was what this drink did to my nuts. I feel stunned.

It also gets the dreaded Jude Law award. I tried to be nice in my wording last time but apparently gave the impression I fancied him. The Jude Law award is for something that makes you want to reach inside your own face and disconnect your brain so you don't have to deal with it anymore. In real terms it also means I havent even been able to finish the drink, that was the case here and it was a small bottle

Frugo Strong White

Another Frugo review. If you've seen our other reviews you'll know the drill by now.

We've almost worked our way through the entire Frugo range now. Just two left. Today we are dealing with Strong White, which you will be thankful to know isn't some sort of political statement from our Eastern European friends...phew. It's a Lychee infused drink and I'll be really honest here. I was not looking forward to this one.

Why you ask? Coconut, Pineapple and Bannana sounds like an odd mix alone but adding Lychees (and again that's a weird combo right because Lychees are more common in Asia right?) just makes me feel we are on a really shaky ground here.

DO NOT TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS EVER.

This was really really good. Tastes really 'tropical' and has a really sweet refreshing taste. The lychees flavour is masked quite happily by the other 3 but together they have created something really nice here. Again if you are a fan of snapple drinks give this a go. It's still relatively cheap in tescos

It's a high score it's probably an 8/10 but it's falling a little short of the official seal of approval. As a drinks range though it probably earns it.

You can get it here
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=271638424

So that leaves us with only 1 Frugo flavour left to try and thats the orange which is Passonfruit flavour I believe. We got a strong recommendation on that from a fizzness reader. If you guys have any suggestions for us either hit us up on Facebook or Twitter (@Fizznessblog)

Kubus Apple Raspberry and Carrot

Like the soft drink Michael Palin we are continuing are journey sampling some of easternly europes finest beverages by way of the international food aisle in our local supermarket, which in some ways is exactly like being there in the first place right?

KUBUS. Where to start? Well the bottle is pretty cool with little pawprints and the like on it. The top of the cap has a delightful pawprint as well. Great and it's nice when someone takes a little time to make a bottle look a bit different and stand out.

If you've not heard of Kubus well I will be a little suprised. It's pretty common sight here in most convenience stores in some form or other, normally the larger bottles. It's a high vitamin fruit juice blend, the small 300ml bottle accounted for 150% of my Vitamin A and C for the day.

It kind of reminds me a bit of the V8 product which I think in the UK was normally carrot based, in the US I believe they have like beets and sweet potato juice blended. This is Carrot, Apple and Raspberry but to be honest on tasting it none of the 3 are dominant. Is it because they are such a delightful blend or is it soemthing to do with the glucose-fructose syrup being added just kind of dulling the corners of the taste a little? Probably leaning to the latter.

One thing I need to say about this is the consistency is odd. It's thick but it feels whipped or aerated somehat. It's like a melted sorbet or Calippo Ice Cream or something. Not sure how they've managed that? I don't think it's entirely down to the make up of the juice either. It sounds maybe similar to a thick smoothie you would make at home but here it kind of feels like an artificial example of that.

All in all. It's pretty inoffensive stuff. Nothing jumps out either way except maybe the oddly offputting texture might cost it a couple of points. Run of the mill stuff I thought 5/10

If you fancy trying it you can order it online from the following places.
http://www.polishfood.co.uk/section.php/70/1/kubus
or
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=265723862

The Bannana, Peach and Apple flavour has got me a little interested if I'm honest

Pepsi Wild Cherry

Look at it. Isn't it glorious? This is one of the holy grails for us UK type folk. We hear a lot about Wild Cherry Pepsi well now I managed to find it on the shelf of my local deli (Sawyers in Belfast http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/sawers-belfast which if you can get past the smell of fish is a bit of a treasure trove for drinks and candy)

So in the interest of full disclosure I will come clean and admit this isn't my first dance with Wild Cherry Pepsi. No no no, I had it from a dispenser in a buffet type restaurant called Sweet Tomatoes in Florida (http://www.souplantation.com/locations/restaurant.aspx?store_id=116&store_name=Lake_Buena_Vista) It's only fair to give that a place a whole hearted recommendation to anyone in Florida. I thought it was fantastic.

This however is not holiday time and therefore I had my serious hat on (it has a picture of godzilla on it) when I sat down to review this drink. So here it is.

It is very very good. You smell it and there's like an almondy background to the smell and a little bit to the flavour. I think the Cherry flavouring is a lot nicer than the stuff we get here in Cherry Vimto or Cherry 7-UP (both reviewed on this site you say? http://fizzness.blogspot.com/2011/08/cherry-vimto.html and http://fizzness.blogspot.com/2011/07/cherry-7-up.html ) but that might be an america vs uk deal going on there.

The obvious competitor here would be Cherry Coke right? Is it better than that? Probably no for my money and I think due to the almond type flavour I'm getting it's possibly a little closer to the UK Dr.Pepper than Cherry Coke. Madness? Possibly. It's good but I'm not sure it's any better than what's currently readily available here in the UK.

I will get my hands on this Cherry Pepsi Max as surely it's nicer than that frankly vulgar diet coke with cherry. Which makes my eyes bleed.

Want to get your hands on some? Not from Belfast? Try the following web links
http://www.americanfizz.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=72
http://www.americansweets.co.uk/american-wild-cherry-pepsi-12-can-pack-643-p.asp
http://www.americansoda.co.uk/uk/American-Soda/Home/Drinks/Regular-Soda/Wild-Cherry-Pepsi-12-FL-OZ-(355ml).aspx

I have had experience with all of these guys and they are all reputable sellers.

Haribo Super Sour Monsters

Haribo have a new(ish) product called Super Sour Monsters and oddly enough it doesn't seem like it's a Halloween only treat.

Stomping along in Lemon, Cherry and Apple flavours these terrifying critters will surely have you screwing your face up. Not only because they are powerfully sour but also because you would think to yourself doesn't Haribo already have Tangfastics? Aren't they brilliant? Couldn't they have just added these to tangfastics for Halloween rather than make it stand alone?

Odd. Still good like don't get me wrong but given the choice I would probably go for Tangfastics. These sweets have the 3 flavour variations and each is nice, apple would be my personal favourite. but they don't have the same range or excitement that tangfastics generates.

Left me feeling a bit  flat 5/10

Frugo Green

So after the success of my initial Frugo tasting and the sheer revulsion following my second tasting I decided I owed it to myself to try out a few of the other flavours.

First up is the STRONG GREEN. Which is a blend of kiwi, passion fruit, apple and Lulo. Yeah Lulo, no it's ok I didn't know what it was either but check this out it's like something out of a sci-fi film

SPORES!

So this is Frugos thing they like to take odd or tropical fruit and blend them with more familiar flavours to give us something unique. Great idea, especially as most of us will have no idea what a Lulo tastes like....


So first things first it smells nice, kind of like Tropical 5-A-Live which I guess is kind of a direct competitor for this sort of drink as again it's non-carbonated and fruit based.

The taste is nice you can get Passion Fruit and a bit of Kiwi coming through and it's nice. Very tropical and again it's sort of snapple-esque in terms of the flavour and the way it's blended.

Here's the thing. I like the taste of this, I like the price of this (still 33p until Christmas) but it's hard to give it the seal of approval as I can't tell if they have nailed the Lulo taste. I have a funny feeling the passionfruit and kiwi blend is probably something akin to what the lulo tastes like and it's there to give you that feeling or taste.

It's good. At this price you should try it but it's not quite good enough to get the golden seal of approval.

7/10

Available at Tescos http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=271636138

Merry Christmas from CocaCola

I just wanted to bring you a little snippet about something Coke does in Ireland (North and South) at this time of the year.

So as we all now Christmas is a time for families, presents and general good tidings but also sadly it's a time of increased convictions for drink driving (I'm using my adult voice now). So what coke have done is offer 3 free soft drinks for designated drivers! Yep 3 free soft drinks for those who are not partaking in alcohol that night.

http://www.cokezone.ie/home/assets/xmas11/driverLanding.jsp

In the rest of the UK you are getting a BOGOF type deal, which whilst not quite as good is still a fantastic offer from coca-cola
http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/designated-driver/pub-finder.html

So next time you're heading out and don't feel like drinking remember you might be able to get youself a nice little freebie this christmas

Pink Frugo

Now in terms of looks this is the strongest Frugo product. You may have found yourself drawn to it in tescos. BEWARE. IT HAS GRAPEFRUIT IN IT AND LOTS OF IT. It burnt my face off. I now have no face because of grapefruits.

As graprefruit juice is the devils piss I've decided to take a stand. A real stand. This is the 1st time I've ever awarded a drink the dreaded JUDE LAW AWARD, given to those drinks which may look alright but have a genuine core of evil running through them

Fizzness Brain Dump :- Celebrity Energy Drinks

Right so we have celebrity perfumes, celebrity endorsement of alcohol and it can't be too far away from us having Celebrity Energy Drinks right?


I mean we already have 50 Cent getting involved firstly in Vitamin Water and now Street King and then we have people like Nelly who a few years ago launched something called Pimp Juice, err ok.

Pimp Juice :- The aroma of the sex industry

So we're going to muse about what we think might be future possible drinks, the current pretenders as well as coming up with 1 we desperately need to see


So at the minute Ed Hardy has a drink out

Someone else has gone to the bother of writing about it so I won't add much (http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bella/2009/01/caffiend_ed_hardys_celebrity_e.php) sound's ........interesting. I'm not quite sure I understand the connection between tatoos and Energy drinks but there you go. It shows that there's potential there for lazy endorsements and products which I believe is like oxygen to a lot of these celebrity types.


Surely someone has to be looking at a Jersey Shore Energy Drink. That filth would sell itself. There seems to have been endorsements for 6 hour power and vitmain water. That's how a lot of the fragrance stuff started out though didn't it? Endorsements then leading to someone going 'hey I like money, maybe I could get more money by doing my own thing!'. For flavour I guess they could for Sicilian Lemon, if they can make something that tastes decent as a mixer they will be raking it in. Or even better than that they could launch a different flavour for every character. That's so awful it's brilliant.

The 'Straight Edge Messiah' CM Punk is a big fan of Pepsi but could you imagine him sporting a WWE Energy Drink. BOOM. I'm getting in line. He could even finally get his ice-cream bars back in a way by making it cream soda energy drink.

So as well as Fiddy and Nelly another Hip Hop Superstar was rumoured to be coming with an energy drink. Kanye. God this would have been incredible. It seemed like there was a lot of buzz about a collab with Guru Energy Drinks (http://www.guruenergy.com/new/us/drinks.php) although I can't ever seem to see something coming out? That's a real shame because who knows what Ye would've come up with but it would've given you all the energy needed to jack fools at award ceremonys and at the end of the day isn't that why we all drink Energy Drinks?

If we're getting into it then there is still something in the realm of hip hop energy drink cross overs that would have me super interested. This is the one Celebrity Energy Drink that is getting me buzzed without even tasting it....

I want a Beastie Boy endorsed energy drink. The thought gets me peaked, seriously. These guys have quirky taste so we'll get a sensational flavourbut we also could, this is what pushes it into the next level for me,  we coluld bloody get a robot shaped can like the Intergalactic video.

AS A CAN OR A BOTTLE. A ROBOT.
JESUS. Are you serious Bro?
I have friends in high places, not one to name drop like but I'm good mates with youtube star Fizzy G, but this might be beyond even our stroke.
SOMEONE Make this happen

Right I'm away to bother famous people on Twitter to get them to start making energy drinks

Tyrrells Sour Cream and Jalepeno Popcorn

Social Responsibility, Whoopie Pies and Designer Popcorn. Three things you know you should probably like but there's something a bit off putting about them right?

That's been my issue. I've liked the thought of designer popcorn, you know the sort one piece of popcorn covered in chocolate with caramelized ginger stuck to it etc etc, but something just never felt right about it.. that was until last week.

I've had Tyrrells brand of crisps before and I know the remit pretty well, they want to bring full flavoured snacks back to the mainstream market right? People are tired of yellow under cooked crisps lacking in punch and flavour so they did something about it. Excellent and now they've turned their attentions to Popcorn.

I'm not sure there's many popcorn at home brands I have a loyalty to nor is it something that I would consider getting if not watching a film, the two are that intertwinned to me, but this flavour of Tyrrells Proper Popcorn seemed more like a Crisp Alternative to me and so it found it's way into my snack rotation.

One thing to clear up and this is pretty important, this is not a massively high calorie snack. Popcorn is constantly labelled as that calorific nightmare and I'm sure sweet popcorn is. It's covered in sugar so I guess the two follow hand in hand. This is a bit different though with the entire bag (76g) coming in at about 375 calories according to myfitnesspal.com with a sharing bag of something like Walkers being around 500 calories. This makes sense if you think about something like Snack-A-Jacks and that they are basically popcorn cakes.

Ok so onto the flavour of this. Initially I won't lie I was a little worried it was going to be like a bag of broken up sour cream snack-a-jacks which would be a bit dull but that's were the Jalapeno Chilli flavour comes into it's own. The added background heat from that is what brings this snack crashing forward as a real alternative to crisps.

I would enjoy these as an alternative to snack-a-jacks as well if they had some multi-pack type deal. Very tasy and a lovely product. Recommended for your next fight night get together.

Fizzness Seal of Approval is well earned here


That's almost it but I can't let you go without suggesting you pop over to their website.http://www.tyrrellscrisps.co.uk/ it's a great site with a way to register yourself as a taste tester. I look at Tyrrells and can't help but draw some comparrisons with Jones Soda... Just me?

Video Review Natural Confectionary Company

Fizzy G is back with Fizzness Video Episode 3

That bastard Spooky Dan has been at it again and stolen all the bloody soft drinks in Northern Ireland so he's had to review sweets.

ENJOY

HO HO HO XMAS SPECIAL

Hello one and all,

It's creeping closer to that time of year. Presents, Turkey and good tidings yes it's almost DIEHARD-HOMEALONEFEST/christmas!! Jones Soda have got into the swing of things alright with 4 special flavours.

For anyone lucky enough to live in a location that they ship to make sure you hit them up and get some of these goodies http://www.jonessoda.com/jones-soda-2011-holiday-flavors-12pk.html

The flavours are

Pear Tree
Candy Cane
Sugar Plum
Ginger Bread


God I'm so jealous of you North American bods on this one.

Biscbits Honeycomb

So for some reason you don't normally get hoop biscuits. I'm not sure why that is but I'm struggling to think of many. Geometrically for a biscuit I think people feel ripped off by the big gap in the middle. So it was a brave man who made these rude boys.

This is one of those massive sharing pack concepts that are popular at the minute and this time it's a hoop with some honeycomb pieces in it. Since the Honeycomb yorkie became an endangered species something has been missing from my life a little (I've since fallen in love with the Milka Daim Bar) and I had hoped these might be the one.

Honeycomb Yorkie the gold standard of HoneyComb Chocolate


Taste wise they are great, the chocolate might be a little thin as it does seem to melt very quickly in your hand. That's a bit annoying but hey maybe it was an unseasonably hot november evening (it wasn't) but you can live with that as the biscuit itself is nice.

The downside to me is the packet size, what's the point here? I don't think they are fancy enough to have with your local mobsters at a sit down and that's normally my acid test of how fancy something is. Are they aimed at kids partys? Just at familys? I think the packet is too big for fewer than 3/4 people, perhaps its my glutton speaking here but do people really reseal these things and have them in more than 1 sitting? I don't see it.

What I want to see if lunchbox size packets. Something akin to Nestle Flipz. The flavour stands up for itself it could stand up to being sold in smaller packs, even in multipacks of smaller packs. ANIMALS STYLE

This is really close to being something great. It's tasty but I just don't see myself buying packets this size regularly

Asda Gourmet Jelly Beans

Ok this is a secret that the government probably don't want you to know. Asda have an own brand of gourmet jelly beans and they are pretty bloody good. The cola flavour is fantastic, the pear flavour is fantastic and all round they taste pretty sensational. The next best bit is they are cheap, like very cheap. About a pound. Jesus man keep it cool. The only downside is I don't think they are made in a magical kingdom by elves like most jelly beans, they're probably made by robots in a factory and because of that they don't have a flavour guide on the packet.

That's probably the one downside of these, the lack of a flavour guide and maybe the lack of a Dr.Pepper or Bubblegum flavoured jelly bean but as we all know that would mean a Dr.Thunder flavoured jelly bean and that's just confusing.

Highly recommended!

SEAL OF APPROVAL

Ain't Nuttin but A G(fruit) Ting Baby :-Ting Grapefruit Soda

Grapefruits. The evilest of all the fruits, not grape not fruit but somehow named after both. It's face melting bitterness if the bane of my life and how people can drink unsweetened grapefruit juice I'll never know.

So what I'm learning is in the Caribbean they like sugar. A lot. So much so infact that they said GRAPEFRUIT MON YOUR TYRANNY IS AT AN END MON and they tried to murder it with sugar and sell it in a can.

This is sweet and you pay for it, it racks in at 50cals per 100ml. Which is high. What you get for that is something that still tastes a little like grapefruit but rehabilitated grapefruit, ones who have a place in our society now.

Yeah it tastes a bit like Lilt and yeah it tastes a bit like Levi Roots Crush and it's somewhere in the middle there. That kind of sums it up. It's not a hot ticket but it certainly doesn't taste bad. If you are a fiend for either of those drinks give it a go. If you hate grapefruit then drink this as it might encourage more people to cover them in sugar. Or better yet encourage the GM farmers to finally sort that shit out

Cadburys Magic Elves

Cadburys Magic Elves

Everybody should know two things in life: 1. That Badger loves mashed potato and 2. Christmas officially begins at one minute past midnight on Halloween night, therefore its officially Christmas right now.

So to celebrate the start of the festive season I’m going to take some time over the next few weeks to review some of the Christmas swag hitting the shelves and everybody knows that Christmas and swag go together very well.

Here are some other pairings that go well together
Chicken and Broccoli
Frank Crank and kicking people's heads off
Mountain Dew and video games

So far so good, now by way of contrast here is a list of things that don't go together well
Michael Jackson and kids
Frank Crank and the Chinese synthetic
Popping candy and chocolate

Yes popping candy and chocolate, which is unfortunately what we have here. Cadbury’s Magic Elves are small milk chocolate bars (similar to a Taz or Freddo) with popping candy inside, dirty stinking popping candy.

Popping candy to me is nothing but a gimmick from the 70s that has been trying to crawl its way back into the mainstream ever since its glory days ended. Sure its fun once or twice on its own but its not a flavour you'll go rushing back to (unless you’re Peter Kay he loves old stuff him). Everyone laments it and wants it to return from the past but there's a reason it never made it out of the 70s, it's not nice. Plus it's a health and safety nightmare, mix a mouth full of that with a swig of coke and your head explodes, it's true it happened to my mate’s cousin.

So to actually use this in a chocolate bar just baffles me. Chocolate is meant to be a smooth experience not fizzy, so what you end up with in this bar are two polar opposite flavours and experiences bouncing of each other refusing to mix.

What's worse is this isn't even an original idea other companies have put popping candy in chocolate bars before. Don't remember them? Exactly! They were rubbish and have all disappeared without a trace.

Now these bars have been popping up (pun not intended, actually it was intended) the last few Christmases so you'd think they must be selling well but to be honest slap an elf on anything this time of year and it's going to sell especially when you factor in their bargain pricing and character driven 'collect em all' packaging.

So get them if you like perfectly decent Cadburys milk chocolate being ruined by tiny chemical explosions in your mouth, but I'm going to stick to Taz bars (caramel Freddo my arse).

Tymbark Apple and Mint

Right so the lack of mint based soft drinks has always kind of peturbed me. I don't get it, I know there's something there that could work right but it's not going to be easy. That's why I was delighted to see the following concoction this week.

An Apple and Mint drink from Tymbark
It's got track record from a long standing polish company and on the back there was indication of a distributor in America. I'm not going to lie but I was quietly confident I was onto something special here

The bottle cap is also a bit incredible. It's a mix of a ring pull and a bottle cap. It made me feel like a god of sorts of possibly even a bit like Ray Romano from Everybody Loves Raymond.

With the lid off I took a big gulp. OHH GOD WHAT HAVE THEY DONE!! The stillness of the drink and possibly the strength of the apple juice just washes out the mint completely and you're left with a really odd in between nothing type flavour.

It's worse than that. It tastes like you've just used mouthwash then drunk some apple juice. Seriously. This is upsetting and has put back Mint flavoured soft drink relations back years :(

Back to the drawing board

(Sort of)Gone but Not Forgotten : Wispa Gold

Hello I have received communication from Fizzy G and in it he talks about one of his most loved but sadly departed snacks. The odd thing being it's back in the shops at the minute. It's the Nick Cotton of the snack world. Dissapears for years on end only to come back for increasingly brief periods of time. This is an ode to Wispa Gold and how his love for it is eternal...

Interesting take on Sex Ed there from Wispa Gold with messages of encouragement to first timers

 Looooooove Goooooooold
Like Mr. T before me, I love Gold.
Like 'Funnyman' Peter 'hey mum do you remember old things' Kay I love old things, and what do you get when you combine old things with gold things? THE GOLDEN GIRLS! but also WISPA GOLD

A few weeks ago P-Walk asked me to nominate a long gone favourite confectionary item of mine that I wanted to see return from the past for the #Bringback feature on the site. Wispa Gold was my number one choice, sorry Secret bar but I looooooove goooooold. Now suddenly they’re back! So either PWalk has magic ninja powers or that demon I met at six road ends really did give me 3 wishes).

Gold was always one of my favourite chocolate bars, and what's not to like? Wispas are already pretty awesome but these have added GOOOOOOLD, and who doesnt loooooove gooooold?(I loooove gooooold) They were last available in 2003 it has been a long 8 years without them (bar a temporary comeback in 2009 which somehow I missed completely) and during this time nothing has really stepped in to full the golden void.

By way of illustrating how much I love Wispa Gold here is a true story; I was once mugged by a gang of well… muggers and the only thing I had on me was a Wispa Gold I had just spent my only change on. Not fancying a shanking for a chocolate bar, even one as tasty as a Wispa Gold, I reluctantly gave it up. This was a loss that haunted me deeply, I agonized over my missing bar and couldn’t sleep properly for weeks. Then one day I was afforded an opportunity to exact revenge when I saw one of my muggers on a golf course and hit him round the head with a golf flag (neither of us had clubs) (thank god) (can't remember why either of us were on a golf course) (the point is I loooooove goooooooooooooooooold).

So as you can see Wispa Gold bring out a strong reaction in me and you don't want to steal my gold. I looooove gooooold so much I even liked them when they were advertised by real life super villains Ant and Dec.

Anyway I digress they're back for the Olympics, hopefully permanent, taste great, perfect balance of bubbly chocolate and caramel yadda yadda just buy one because you'll LOOOOOOOVE GOOOOOOOLD.

I hate gold bars though.



We're going to have to talk about his attitude towards Gold Bars though as that shits not on.

Frugo DragonFruit/Pitahaya

Todays review is of a polish non-carbonated fruit juice based drink. Tescos seem to be throwing their considerable weight behind it at the minute with it having pride of place at the end of an aisle and an eye catching price point (JUST 33P for a 250ml bottle)

My eye was instantly caught by the DragonFruit flavour (called Pitahya in Poland seemingly) and I snagged a bottle to consume at my lesuire.

The drink itself is a blend of  grape,lemon,blackcurrant, cherry and Dragonfruit WITH ADDED SUGAR so it's going to be packing a hell of a punch. What I wasnt expecting was for there to be a genuine dragon fruit taste to it, normally the dragon fruits you get here are a bit dull probably due to the long flights etc etc but you can get, although it is subtle, a real taste here.

That mixed with the grape and lemon is fantastic but fantastically sweet. The Cherry and Blackcurrant do come through but they are the backing singers to the other flavours for me. I'm glad it's only a 250ml bottle as it's super sweet (although still sitting around that 40kcalper100mill barrier) but it's a really nice alternative to snapple and at this price a hell of a lot cheaper.

Try it while it's cheap

FIZZNESS SEAL OF APPROVAL

Gone but not forgotten : Pizza Pringles

Dearly Beloved,

We are congregated here to talk about a wonderous memeber of our extended family who is no longer with us. Depite the bold promises from all the leading experts its turns out that once you pop you do eventually stop :(

Don't cry, the moustache twirling pizza pringle man wouldn't want you to remember him with sadness but with fondness for the strongest flavour of crisps ever. So strong it was good that no girls wanted to talk to me. The tube was Italian flag themed with a semi-racist version of the Pizza Pringle man looking like a pizza chef.

Right let's keep this real I did a review of Pizzas flavoured pomm bears and it's done alright in terms of hits, no suprise there bitches be crazy for pomm bears right? Wrong. It went crazy because of Pizza Pringles.

I'm going to give you a guess as to which area seems to have the most interest in Pizza Pringles?

ITALY.

Yep the birthplace of Pizza wants Pizza Pringles, they love Pizza Pringles. We live in the future guys we should have our Pizza in crisp flavour.

Pizza Pringles are like Colour TV, Sliced Bread or Crotchless pants. It makes sense. it feels good and it shouldn't be against the law to be rocking them in a public park.

Yeah the flavour was bold and over powering but fuck it I would rather that than the new limited edition 'Fois Gras and Blueberry Compote' or 'Salmon Sashimi' or whatver the current 'Gourment' flavour is. I want Pringles to have real flavours again. I want them to go at the flavours people truely love and enjoy.

I know that Pringles had a Chip and Ketchup flavour out recently promoting classic takeaway flavours, this is our window back in. I hear there's a classic Margherita flavour but nah let's go hard on this give us a limited edition run of the old Pizza Pringles again and I will give you my money.


Do you miss Pizza Pringles or another snack? Leave us a comment below and let us know

Mtn Dew Supernova Video Review

Fizzy G is so in love with MTN Dew Supernova he made a video

you should watch that video

Yeah it's really that good

Maine Attaboy Soft Drink

 We're reviewing another of Northern Irelands own soft drinks again from local Bottler Maine and why not in a week were Justin Beiber had 90% of belfast girls under the age of 16fizzing it seemed only appropriate (ie unlike that comment)


The name of this flavour is Attaboy...errr...yeah

No no they haven't gone full renegade on us and created a soft drink flavoured like an American dog food product



Or so I think.....

 
Yeah it says Colin on it.


Listen I don't know why but there is a mythical soft drink in Ireland. It's called Football Special and it roams the hills in Donegal eating Hikers. For some reason despite everyone claiming this to be the finest soft drink in the world it doesn't get sold outside of a 20 mile radius. It's like one of those big cats people always claim to spot in England to the point now that I'm not sure if it really exists. The Fizzness crew are in early stages of planning a road trip to pick it up but I have this incredibly odd feelin that Maine have tried to recreate it here. The wikipedia page indicates two flavours Bannana (which is probably reason enough to make a trip) and a secret blend of 7 flavours.


Now yes how can you now that this drink is like a drink you've never had? I don't. All I know is Mrs. Fizzness (she won't like being called that) was startled. Is that football special? It looks like Football Special. This paired with the fact this product is so secret it's not even listed on their website (http://www.mainesoftdrinks.co.uk/products/) was getting me excited (It's probably because it's sold as a 'Colin' product)

Excited I bust open the bottle. The smell is crazy. It's like Cherry Irn Bru. I'm not kidding this smells delicious.

I pour it out and even by looking at it it seems more like something from an apothecary than a corner store. It's science going on in that glass. The flavour god well ok it's a mongrel of a flavour and we all know that mongrels are invariably the best of all worlds.

This is like a heady mix of cream soda, irn bru, cherry and and cola (red kola like the Skottish Kola we reviewed before) and together it works incredibly well.

This is highly recommended. If you can get your hands on some you owe it to yourself to try this out.


FIZZNESS SEAL OF APPROVAL

Firefly Elderflower and Pomegranate

For those that have followed the posts so far you can probably tell I'm a man of simple and unrefined tastes. Therefore the thought of delicately flavoured Elderflower and Pomegranate didn't fill me with the greatest of excitement. I don't like Pomegranate and I think Elderflower can be really overpowering but as it was Firefly I thought this can work.

Firefly are makers of 'adult' soft drinks no not that sort of adult soft drinks but ones designed for people with more refined tastes. Hence they have blends including green tee, ginger and the evilest of all fruits Grapefruit.

With my trusty robot buddy looking on I decided to tackle this one head on. The bottle and label design are really nice and it has that kind of Deli vibe to it. I mean that in a really nice way as well it's relaxed it's comforting and it hints of being something really special inside.

The flavour for me though was overpowered by elderflower to the point that I couldnt finish it. That's going to be a real positive to some people but I just couldn't get past it.

Won't be having this again but certainly will be trying out more Firefly flavours in the future.

Guarana Antarctica

Things to come from Brazil


Thongs
Pubic Hair Stylings
Samba Dancing
Talented footballers
Massive Statues of Jesus

And now we're getting a hold of their most popular soft drink!

It's a Guarana, one of the main components of Red Bull and a lot of energy drinks, flavoured beverage dating back to the 1920's when the only Red Bull we had was Communist Propoganda (POLITICAL SATIRE AND BEVERAGE REVIEWS! FIZZNESS YOU ARE REALLY SPOILING US)


So here is a link to the UK website and I can't quite work out if it's a joke or not http://www.guaranaantarctica.eu/.

Erm ok very popular in Brazil and that's cool and all but as the world famous song goes "We're not Brazil, we're Northern Ireland" so will your saucy samba antics really play as well on the Shore Road


Down to flavour. You would assume it's like Red Bull due to Guarana being the main ingredient and that's fair but because of the lack of energy its a smooth drink. Really fruity actually and I guess the closest thing you could come to describe it is red bull mixed with a drop of apple juice.

It's refreshing it's sweet and not only that by virtue of having Guarana juice it should be packing a little energy spike as well.

This is really interesting and it's on offer this week in Tescos so grab yourself a 6-pack you deserved it.

Power is Black

ICONIC

When Tommy Smith and John Carlos did this at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City I think we all knew (even those of us like us were a good 20 years off being born) that one day someone would use this imagery and politically charged statement in the way it probably should've been done in the first place, that's right everybody someone would make an energy drink!

no but actuallly......

http://www.powerisblack.com/

Erm yeah. It's like Red Bull but in a black bottle with a bitching kind of tiger think on it, you would've thought they might have done a panther (maybe it's meant to be a Panther) but no.

I was also a bit upset they didn't colour the drink to be black, it's red bull colour and tastes like red bull.

Son I am dissapoint.