100 PLUS

So this drink did something pretty amazing to me. I'm not going to lie I'm a wild child and I have had some isotonic drinks before. In my early days I may have even dabbled in a bit of lucozade sport. Then I had me some of this stuff right here

Get this right. This is grapefruit flavour and I still liked it a lot. It's lightly carbonated and that's great it tastes like good right but it's the can that's done something weird to me.

It's awoken something 80's in me and it feels rad. I'm Ferris Beuller up in this joint but no much more than that I'm sporty, I'm like a sporty wrecking ball. Something that epitomizes all that was right with the 1980's.

IVAN DRAGO UP IN THIS BITCH

Yeah that's right. This drink is the Ivan Drago of drinks.

Hawaiian Splash Beenies Jelly Beans

Jelly beans. I love Jelly Beans and I think most people do as shown by the popularity of Mike and Ike these days and well Jelly Belly I guess. I found a new brand in a local deli and was tempted to try them out. First things first they sort of evoke Mike and Ike to you. There's not a massive amount of similarities in packaging but enough to get something ticking at the back of your mind and the flavour blends seem pretty consistent too.

So what do they look like then


Nice packet. As I said they remind me a bit of Mike and Ike possibly because I'm unaware of many jelly beans being sold in packets this size and shape before them.

What do they taste like? In a word.. Great. Some of the flavours are fantastic personal favourites were Coconut, Passion Fruit and Watermelon. These tropical sweets are great.

So what's special about them. Well they make a big deal about being Vegetarian and suitable for Celiacs so it's nice they are willing to call these things out and carve themselves a nice. I enjoyed them a lot and will be looking to try other flavours soon.

Keep an eye out

Tayto Titanic Corn Snacks

So we're getting closer to some Titanic centenary events here in Belfast and it seems that uncontent with releasing the stellar hand-cooked potato chips on us recently( http://fizzness.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/tayto-titanic.html ), Tayto have also released yet more Titanic themed snacks. This time it's a corn based snack which is aimed at a lower price point than those hand-cooked delights before

Now as it's a different snack and different price point etc it would be unfair to draw too many parallels here I guess. One is a prestige model and line and the other is more functional I guess, so it's probably best to consider it in relation to other snacks of it's ilk. That would be I guess Monster Munch or Transform-A-Snack.

These are in essence Salt and Vinegar Monster Munch but with a nautical slant. What's more they are very good as well. I'm not sure you need to hear much more than that really. They are tied into the titanic with some bits about the engineering of the ship and some facts. I know a lot of people feel really strongly about people profiting on what happened to the ship but , maybe this is just with me being a local, I still think there's a lot of pride hear about what was built and what it meant at the time. The Titanic is , this isn't meant in a bad way, almost the perfect story arc not in terms of the end result and the huge number of people that lost their lives but as a story it has almost everything and it resonates with people still to this day. Do I think a corn snack is a fitting tribute to the lives of those people? No of course not, but it's not meant to be I don't think it's to let people know that we as a City are still proud of what was built here.

I think they're a great snack and worth trying if you're over in Northern Ireland any point this year.  If you're only going to have 1 titanic themed snack it probably shouldn't be this one as the hand-cooked are exceptional and as odd as it seems feel like more of a prestige product.

Coke and Pepsi Recipe Change

In what seems a bit like terrifying news on the surface Coke and Pepsi are mandating a recipe change to avoid a cancer warning label on their products thanks to Californian law.

The facts paint a slightly less scary picture. It is restricted to the caramel colouring used by both products and the changes are underway now.

A Coca-Cola representative said "While we believe that there is no public health risk that justifies any such change, we did ask our caramel suppliers to take this step so that our products would not be subject to the requirement of a scientifically unfounded warning,"

There's inication that 1,000 cans a day would need to be drunk to reach the levels that showed links to cancer in animal testing.

So hopefully this latest scare is just that and there's nothing more sinister to it but if you are interested more can be read at http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/mar/09/coke-pepsi-recipe-change-avoid-cancer-warning

Pepsi Max Wild Cherry

Quests.

What are the best Quests of all time?

Lord of the Rings?
Fievel goes West?
Herbie Goes Bannanas?
Laser Quest?

No. None of those, well maybe Laser Quest, but instead my quest and single minded drive to get some Pepsi Max Wild Cherry. I heard people giggling all over twitter OMG IT DIS LIKES A LIQUID BAKEWELL TART BRUV or NOW THAT I HAVE HAD THE WILD CHERRY PEPSI I CAN FEEL LOVE IN MY HEART FOR THE FIRST TIME. I was angry. I was lashing out. I didn't know where I could get me some of this. I tried like maybe 3 or 4 shops. I know right. I tried asking Pepsi people on twitter but my desperate tears broke my keyboard. I felt alone and abandoned until I found it. I finally found it. After months of searching I found it. Where did I find it? Ohh a small independent store. What was it called you say? err ASDA something like that


I walked into this ASDA store and slinked past the forest of pre-packed salad guarded by the chattering old women. Through the frozen wasteland of the pizza peninsula being careful not to alert the slope browed worker men of my presence.

Into the lost world of FIZZY DRINK AISLE and there I spotted it. SHAMBALA

The quest was not over like as I had to queue at the self-service tills then go home. EPIC. They are turning it into a movie with Kevin Sorbo playing me.

So I get this back to Fizzness Towers and I have Fizzy G round. This is a big moment in our adult lives. We are both a little addicted to Pepsi Max so a new flavour is kind of a big deal. Then the fear hits. Shit we built this up a lot. A lot. What if it's not good. What if it's a bit of a dissapointment like the Wild Cherry Pepsi import we picked up


We cracked it open. It was ice cold, hey you no necrophelia wise cracks alright, and the smell was intoxicating. Then we tasted it. AMAZE BALLS.

This is better than Wild Chery Pepsi USA and what's more this better than nearly every single cherry drink on the market. How does it stand up against Cherry Coke you ask. Well that's a hell of a question. Taste wise I would say it's almost a dead tie then you remember this one has like no calories.

WINNER.

WINNER OF LIFE

I love this drink.

LOVE IT.

YES


IT GETS TWO SEALS

St.Patricks Day Preview

Hello


One week to St.Patricks day and we're gearing up to review some of the island of irelands best soft drinks in a special next week. Including (hopefully) the much fabled FOOTBALL SPECIAL.

That's right.

To keep you topped up until then check out these special Nike SB Dunks. They are called Guinness and inspired by the black stuff. Can't think of much I would rather be rocking on my feet on Saturday week

Credit on Pictures to Sneaker News : http://sneakernews.com/2012/02/22/nike-sb-dunk-high-guinness-available/

Rodeo Energy

Going to keep this short. Rodeo Energy Drink has that Guarana taste that Red Bull has. It's hard for me to say if it's better or worse than Red Bull. I think it's probably about the same. I find a lot of these drinks taste really similar. Maybe I need to sit down and actually try a few at the same time and find little nuances like there would be with Cola but to be honest I'm not sure I want to. With a lot of energy drinks you feel the taste is secondary right? That's dissapointing. This drink is not bad in any way, it doesn't feel special in anyway either. It's just another one of the red bull clones. It's a Mr. Me Too

Brisk Mango and Dragonfruit

We're back and we're hoping to hit things up at a Brisk pace again.

For those of you in the know Brisk is Liptons non-carbonated fruit drink range. We've reviewed a few of them before and they normally hit the spot quite well, they also have insanely well designed cans. This is definitely the case with their Mango and Dragonfruit infused green tea drink

Green Lantern theme? What? Exactly. It's a sensational can and it speaks to you. You've been chosen by this can. I'm not a massive fan of ice tea really or any tea so I had my suspicions that it probably wouldn't be sweet enough for me or I wouldn't really enjoy the tea kick that would come through.

I was wrong.

The taste is fantastic and smooth. The mango really hits quite hard and as discussed with the Frugo product it's quite hard to properly grasp the taste of Dragonfruit. So we're kind of left with Mango green tea who claims to be a 2nd generation immigrant from Dragonfruitopia.

I've been going back and forth over whether to award this the seal of approval. I was a little dissapointed that the dragon fruit flavour was weak but I don't know if I can blame them for it as I think that might just be down to the dragonfruit itself. It's made me enjoy a tea blended soft drink and that seems pretty special to me. So for that reason as my personal favourite tea blended soft drink I guess it needs the seal right?

Yeah it gets it. Recommended.

You can cop this at americanfizz if interested

http://www.americanfizz.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=186

Fizzy G : Mountain Dew Throwback vs Fizzy G

Fizzy G has been lying low since his Christmas escapades. It seems shooting your father is frowned upon, he took it all rough and hit the fizz pretty hard and now he's thinking about cleaning his act up and, GULP, maybe stop reviewing fizzy drinks.

Say it ain't so Fizzy G