Rocket Fizz Comes to Town

Last summer my daughter and I went and bought some odd sodas to try out.

This summer we decided to do the same.

Then my wife came home and announced that a new shop had opened up in downtown Campbell.  Called Rocket Fizz, it is pretty much dedicated to selling candy and soda pop.

Sure that this was a sign, my daughter and I went to see what they had to offer.

We were not disappointed.  My daughter was like a kid in a… well… candy shop.

We scooped up quite a few items while we were there, some good some… not so good.

These sounded like a neat idea…

But he selection of sodas was overwhelming.  How could we pick out just a few from literally well over a hundred choices?

It turned out that Rocket Fizz bottles some of their own soda along with carrying nearly every regional brand I had ever heard of.

So we decided to try the house brand for our summer soda taste test.  So we picked six of their flavors and gave them a try.

The Soda Selection

Here are our results.

Watermelon

This soda tastes just like a watermelon Jolly Rancher candy, capturing that sweet and tangy flavor.  I suppose, being made by a chain of candy stores, that should come as no surprise.  But the flavor was uncanny in that regard.  And yet it was quite drinkable.  Unlike some of the other flavors this one was both tasty and drinkable beyond small portions.

Cinnamon

As the watermelon soda tasted like one type of candy, the cinnamon soda tasted like another.  This was the pure liquid cinnamon bear experience.  Cinnamon bears have a mild cinnamon flavor relative to Red Hots or Hot Tamales, but still contain a small burning sensation in the after taste.  A well done flavor, but I would probably have to split a bottle with somebody.

Cotton Candy

Again, an amazing recreation of a candy in liquid form.  This soda is very sweet, but manages to capture the sensation of cotton candy, right down to that fading flavor sensation you get as you ingest it.  However it is so sweet I would probably dole it out in shots.

Black Licorice

Full points for aroma.  The bouquet carries just the right scent, though it is very strong.  And the tastes, well, but this point I am repeating myself when saying that it reproduces the sensations of the candy it seeks to imitate.  Again, very strong and good in small doses, but I am not sure I could finish the bottle.  It is so rich in flavor… well, maybe I could.  But it would be in small sips.

Blue Cream

Leaving the candy flavors and going into a more traditional soda flavor lead us to some disappointment.  Part of the problem is that blue cream soda has different flavors in different regions of the US.  I have had blue cream soda that tasted like anything from raspberry to bubble gum.  Rocket Fizz seemed to try to capture their own flavor, but it was not very distinct.  All in all, not something I could recommend, though I could say that about most blue cream sodas.  The color though… it is the bluest of the blue.

Mud Pie

Mud pie is generally a collection of flavors, but the key one in the mix is chocolate.  Going for chocolate flavor in a soda is always a risky play.  I have tried exactly one chocolate soda that I have liked, and I am afraid this one did not up the count to two.  Not the worst chocolate soda I have ever gone after, and if you like chocolate soda you might like this.  There are hints of whipped cream to it even.  But I could not see myself warming up to this soda no matter how much I like chocolate.

So that was the result of our first soda sampling with our new local candy store.  We will have to go browse their selection some more to see if we can come up with another selection to try.