(This is filed under Cooking Tests even though no cooking was involved... didn't know where else to put it.)
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This isn't quite true - just because sucrose is composed of glucose and fructose doesn't mean it's the same as a 50-50 mix of glucose and fructose. First off (and most important to me) it tastes different. Whether it tastes better or worse is a matter of preference, but I think sugar tastes better than HFCS. It's currently unclear which is worse for you - HFCS detractors claim that HFCS can lead to and/or promote obesity while other research shows that HFCS has no detrimental effects when comapred to sugar. (The fact that the majority of the pro-HCFS research has been conducted with money from industry sources like the American Beverage Association and the Corn Refiners Association does not invalidate the results, but can lead to some eyebrow raising.)
In any case, for taste reasons (as well as reducing the number of sodas we had to buy), we limited our taste testing to only those products using cane sugar. We stocked up our fridge (these sodas don't usually come in singles - so we had four and six packs of them) with nine different varieties of cream sodas. Here's how we felt about them after multiple tastings.
We tried (from left to right): Natural Brew Hand Crafted Vanilla Creme Soda, AJ Stephans Pure Cane Sugar Boston Cream Soda, Virgil's Micro Brewed Cream Soda, Fitz's Premium Micro-Brewed Creme Soda, Dad's Classic Cream Soda, Journey Softbrew Java Island Vinalla Creme Soda Twisted Bean Vanilla Brew, Boylan Bottleworks Brand Creme, Boylan's Creme Soda (The Natural Kind), and R.W. Knudsen Vanilla Creme Spritzer.Our favorites
Virgil's Micro Brewed Cream Soda - Gentle vanilla flavor and smooth finish made this our favorite cream soda
AJ Stephans Pure Cane Sugar Boston Cream Soda - Rich solid vanilla flavor
Dad's Classic Cream Soda - Good, strong vanilla flavor but extra sweetness reduced the complex vanilla flavors
Fitz's Premium Micro-Brewed Creme Soda - Fruity taste, mild vanilla flavor
Second choice
R.W. Knudsen Vanilla Creme Spritzer - Sweetened with fruit juice, this cream soda had a sweetness that hinted of grapes
Boylan Bottleworks Brand Creme - Crisp start with a slightly odd after taste; overall bland flavor
Boylan's Creme Soda (The Natural Kind) - Clean cream soda flavor, but a little bland and unexceptional
Natural Brew Hand Crafted Vanilla Creme Soda - Weird citrus flavor at end followed by a super-sweet lingering aftertaste
We really didn't like this one
Journey Softbrew Java Island Vanilla Creme Soda Twisted Bean Vanilla Brew - the winner of longest named cream soda had some overwhelming weird flavors of maple syrup and spice (as in spice cookies) which ended up tasting like medicine
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55% of the sucrose sold in this country actually comes from sugar beets. While sucrose from sugar beets and sucrose from cane are 99.95% similar, apparently that .05% is significant, as reported in this article from the San Francisco Chronicle:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/03/31/FD91867.DTL
The article claims that sources sometimes produce cane and sometimes produce beet sugar (based on, surprise, economics). I wonder if the soft drink producers always use one or the other or if it depends on their suppliers -- or if it makes a difference in that application.
The sodas you reviewed sound yummy though! I love cream soda - it's underrated in the U.S.!
The name probably comes from the vanilla flavor. Ice cream and whipped cream are commonly flavored with vanilla, and I believe that's what people were reminded of when they tasted the vanilla flavored soda.
Yum!
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/02/18/FDG...DTL
I did see some at the store once, but the price was horrible and had to pass.
Good job on the story!
They also keep their mugs in the freezer so you sometimes get a layer of frozen cream soda right on the inside of the mug. Yum.
~ Lyra
I miss the days of the Soda Jerk!
Henry Weinhard uses HFCS as it's main sweetener and so was disqualified from this tasting.
a cream soda with a rich vanilla / honey flavor.
I don't think it has HFCS in it.
Their root beer is spectacular also.
It's availiable at Menard's in the midwest.
http://www.sprecherbrewery.com/sodas.php
Avoid their Lo-Cal Root beer- they use ghastly bitter saccharine instead of splenda or nutrasweet in it.
I am a nutrition geek and get very happy to see you taking this seriously. Integrity is cool.
I don't know where you heard that Obama specifically endorsed ethanol only since I know he's promoted biodiesel as a fuel as well as other alternative fuels. (Tina and I both use biodiesel only in our vehicles so it is of particular interest to us.) Also, at the moment corn is the main source of U.S. ethanol production but it need not be so - there are a variety of other grains, plants, and even bacteria and algae that may be promising for the future of ethanol. With the current economic crisis, I suppose we'll have to wait a while to see if President-elect Obama will stand by his word and promote a multitude of new fuel sources (or if he's in the pockets of the corn lobby). I prefer to give him the benefit of the doubt at this point.