I WANT TO EAT A NUT OF LAERMA!

THINGS CANADIANS CAN GET NOW, PART ONE...

Pepsi Holiday Spice!

My mother went out grocery shopping earlier, and she got me a mini-bottle of Pepsi Holiday Spice ("Pepsi Fêtes Épicées" in French), described by Pepsi-Cola as being "the great taste of Pepsi with a festive blend of holiday spices", getting "its festive flavor from a hint of cinnamon and ginger."

Unlike regular Pepsi, the drink is sort of a dark crimson in hue. In opaqueness, it's somewhere between being totally opaque like normal Pepsi and see-through like Pepsi Blue was.

The verdict? Actually, it does taste delectably ambrosial, certainly much better than I'd heard elsewhere on the Internet by people who hate all kinds of flavoured colas. I don't know if it's just a suggestive psychological effect of the red colouring, and I certainly can't find any official acknowledgement of this in the list of ingredients, but I'd swear that this drink almost tastes like spicy cranberry juice. (I suppose cranberries might be included under the vague "natural flavours", the weasel words both major cola companies use to avoid listing the exact ingredients they use to make their cola taste distinctive from the other guy's cola, because, yes, Coke and Pepsi do taste very different from one another.) Like Pepsi Blue, I can't really detect the actual Pepsi "secret formula" taste which I could detect in Pepsi Twist, Wild Cherry Pepsi, and Vanilla Pepso, but, unlike Pepsi Blue, Pepsi Holiday Spice doesn't taste completely noxious.

Yes, Pepsi Holiday Space is very much like egg nog in being a special taste that is something that is very pleasant to drink every once in a while, but you wouldn't have with every meal. But I would drink it again, even if it wasn't a novelty drink.

Then again, I also liked the short-lived Sprite Ice, the mint-flavoured Sprite that Coca-Cola test-marketed in Canada and a couple of other international markets. (It didn't taste like mouthwash, the subtle mint flavouring actually kind of accentuated the lemon, making it taste more like Schweppes' Bitter Lemon.) And I'm a big fan of Vanilla Coke, which a lot of people seem to hate (though CJAD's Kevin Holden also loves it). And I was one of the few people who actually preferred New Coke. So be advised that my tastes in soft drinks do not necessarily reflect the plurality opinion. Like my favourite pretentious Latin phrase says, "de gustibus non disputandum est". (When it comes to taste, there is no point in arguing.)

So, this Christmas... erm, I mean, "generic Politically correct unspecified holiday" season, 'Tis the Cola, as Pepsi puts it.

Also, speaking of holiday soft drinks, X-Entertainment.com's Matt Caracappa has written a hilarious article wherein he, and a panel of four other co-workers, have a taste test of Jones Soda's heavily-publicized Limited Edition Holiday Pack of five rather unconventional (or four unconventional and one plausible) soft drink flavours: Turkey and Gravy Soda, Cranberry Soda, Mashed Potato and Butter Soda, Green Bean Casserole Soda, and Fruitcake Soda, with proceeds going to the charity, Toys for Tots. I don't know what Cranberry Soda is doing in with that lot, since I'm sure I've seen such a concoction sold elsewhere by one of the fruit-flavoured soft drink manufacturers, but the X-E panel also didn't totally hate the Fruitcake Soda, with one of them commenting that it "would be good [with] some Belvedere", whatever that means. Maybe she means it would taste good while she watches the great 80s sitcom Mr. Belvedere, since both fruitcake and the late Christopher Hewett, who played the titular Kim Belvdere, are both rather British in origin. (Ooh, I didn't know Christopher Hewett was born in Worthing, West Sussex, near Rustington, where I was born.) Also, the Mashed Potato and Butter Soda apparently tastes mostly like butter, which means that at least one person in the world, or, rather, the fictional "Free Country, USA", would appreciate it: The King of Town"!

EDIT: Speaking of Pepsi Spice, this site, written by a guy who, according to his blog, was the model for the guy in Sierra's Half-Life, is chronicling a month and a half drinking only Pepsi Holiday Spice, obviously inspired by Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me. Fine, but, like with Morgan Spurlock's experiences with McDonald's, I hope he realizes that he's only doing a glorified Stupid Human Trick and doesn't think he's proving anything significant by showing that, gasp, a constant diet of junk food isn't the healthiest thing in the world.

posted by Steve Brandon @ 11:59 PM