OK, please forgive me here. Obviously, I try to use this blog to promote the smaller brands, but this tempted me. I’ve had a raspberry cola that I recall fondly, and everyone knows the glass bottle Coke is the best.
My family has had a few small raspberry bushes for the majority of my life, so they were always a wonderful summer treat. One year, my neighbor wanted to remove the fence on/in which the raspberry bushes had grown. The fence straddled the property line, so he wanted to get our OK before doing it. For some reason, my parents agreed and the raspberry bushes were gone. We tried to transplant a few, with a small amount of success. For a couple summers, instead of sweet raspberries, the only berries in our yard were tart currents. Ah well. We survived. Let’s do this.
Place of Acquirement: Kroger, Columbus, OH.
Drinking Vessel/Portion: 12 oz glass bottle, clear.
AROMATICS: 9/10
Ohhhhhh yeah. This is the good stuff. A beautiful, sweet, enticing scent that draws the drinker in. Definitely smell the raspberry!
FIRST SIP: 8.5/10
Good start! Tasty, not too sweet. Flavor doesn’t smash you in the tongue and tell your ex-husband that you’re lonely.
TASTE: 8/10
So, here’s the thing: Obviously I like it and it’s good, but the more I drink it, the more I think the flavor could be just a *tad* stronger. The raspberry and cola mix very, very well, though. Given the choice between regular cola and raspberry cola, I’m choosing raspberry cola every day of the week.
AFTERTASTE: 7.5/10
Aftertaste is good. Loses a little flavor and ends up being mostly about the sweetness, but not unpleasantly so.
MOUTHFEEL: 7.5/10
Standard soda mouthfeel, pleasant.
DEPTH OF FLAVOR: 6.5/10
In the realm of major colas, I’d argue that Coca-Cola has more depth of flavor than Pepsi. When it comes to this soda, however, some of the depth is lost.
SWEETNESS: 7.5/10
Standard sweetness, nothing wrong.
FLAVOR(S) TASTED: “Cola” flavor, raspberry. (shocker!!!)
LAST SIP: 8/10
Kept the carbonation and flavor very well!
OVERALL RATING: 7.5/10
After the new raspberry bushes started producing, raspberry season was a delight. Being able to walk into the yard at any point and pick a couple ripe buddies of the stem was a favorite pastime.
The Coca-Cola California Raspberry is a very nice soda, make no bones about it. In the end, I would’ve liked to have seen a bit more from it. A bit more depth, a bit stronger flavor and this would be a home run. Either way, as I said before, it’s a very nice soda.
