Izze Sparkling Clementine
Price: $1.79
Serving: 12oz., 1 bottle
Servings Per Container: 1
Calories: 135 per serving
Fat: 0%, 0g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 1%, 15mg
Protein: 0g
Carbohydrates: 10%, 33g
Fiber: 0%, 0g
Weight Watchers Points: 3 per bottle
Izze says: Clementines, sweet little cousins to the orange, have been used throughout history as both aphrodisiacs and characters in catchy banjo tunes, though rarely at the same time. Then again, nothing quite gets us in the mood like an old miner’s song.
We say: Since Starbucks dropped Jones Soda products in June, Izze is as close as we’re going to get to having a carbonated beverage in the coffee mecca. That’s right, no more Root Beer with cute pictures, no more clear Cream Soda, and no more weird Blue stuff that we never drink but just stare at while trying to decide whether or not the ceasar salad wrap is safe to eat.
Instead, we get Izze, owned by Pepsi (they also bottle those nasty Frappuccinos). Izze is simply fruit juice, soda water, natural colors (beta carotene in this case) and natural flavors (we have no idea what those are, they don’t tell us). Izze’s Sparkling Clementine is also fantastically good-looking, with minimalist decorations on the bottles, terrific colors (thanks, beta carotene!) and a classy font. Because typefaces are really, really important when choosing a beverage.
Izze beverages are just the sort of thing that one sees in Starbucks, but never in real life at our grocery store. Okay, so they might be at your grocery store (if you shop at Whole Foods), but since we haven’t seen them we are pretending that they only exist in the alternate universe known as Starbucks. Izze sparkling beverages shall henceforth be known as Schrodinger’s Soda.
While it isn’t something we’d drink every day (a case of 12 is $17.00 at Whole Foods - yikes!). It is nice for an occasional treat. You know, for when you want to feel like virtuous yuppy.
Filed Under Juice Cocktails, United States, Izze, Fat Free, Orange, High Fructose Corn Syrup Free, All Natural, Four Stars
Miller High Life
Price: $3.69 for six
Serving: 12oz., 1 bottle
Servings Per Container: 1
Calories: 143 per serving
Fat: 0%, 0g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 0%, 7mg
Protein: 1g
Carbohydrates: 4%, 13.1g
Fiber: 0%, 0g
Weight Watchers Points: 3 per bottle
Miller Brewing says: Miller High Life, the “champagne of beers,” is a timeless American beer dating back to 1903. Miller High Life is a classic American-style lager recognized for its consistently crisp, smooth taste, classic clear-glass bottle and its famous “Girl in the Moon” symbol. Miller High Life embraces its rich heritage and is positioned as a refreshingly authentic beer. For our target consumer, Miller High Life is a refuge for the real in an increasingly pretentious world. As the best beer value in America, we encourage our target consumers to “Take Back the High Life.”
We say: Right now Miller is running a campaign in which delivery men walk into Dean and Deluca look-a-likes and take all of the Miller High Life. They are the anti-delivery men and they are taking back the High Life from snooty stores.
As though they even sell the High Life there.
Why not take the Sarah Maclachlan music video guilt trip route and just say “Miller High Life: $3.69 for a six pack. And by not making a commercial we brought water to 7 African villages.”?
Yeah, that’s the whole ad campaign. Or don’t make ad campaign. Be like Trader Joe’s and make High Life the next 2-buck-Chuck, relying on word-of-mouth to boost sales. Oh wait, word of mouth campaigns rely on a product being good, whereas this beer is just cheap.
So, if you’re looking for a relatively cheap way to get drunk, pick up a six-pack of Miller High Life. You’ll seem semi-classy because it comes in bottles, though if you’re anal about recycling (like us) that will probably suck for you because you’ll be forced to put the bottles back in your messenger bag and take them home where they can be properly recycled.
Give us a break, we’re from Oregon.
[If you aren’t familiar with the Miller High Life Delivery Guys commercials, here’s the restaurant version:
We love the part where the delivery man scoffs at the $11.50 hamburger, saying “$11.50 hamburger, y’all must be crazy.” The first time around, we (being East Coast people) didn’t get it, thinking ‘Yeah, $11.50 is a bit much for a hamburger, but not if it comes with guacamole, cheddar cheese, bacon and a side of tater tots.’
Maybe these commercials aren’t for us. Maybe these commercials are for people who eat at What-a-burger, people who laugh at the idea of $11.50 hamburger, people who go apoplectic when they visit New York or L.A.]
Filed Under United States, Miller Brewing, Alcohol, Fat Free, High Fructose Corn Syrup Free, Beer, Three Stars
Stonyfield Farm Organic Strawberry Smoothie
Price: $1.69
Serving: 10oz., 1 bottle
Servings Per Container: 1
Calories: 230 per serving
Fat: 5%, 3g
Cholesterol: 5%, 15mg
Sodium: 6%, 150mg
Protein: 2g
Carbohydrates: 13%, 40g
Fiber: 8%, 2g
Sugar: 38g
Potassium: 14%, 500mg
Calcium: 40%
Weight Watchers Points: 4 points
Stonyfield Farm says: Every delicious sip of this incredibly smooth and refreshing drink delivers all fo the natural benefits of our yogurts - calcium, protein, dietary fiber and six live active cultures. Now that’s a taost to your health. Cheers!
We say: New Hampshire is a pretty fantastic place. After all, it has the best campground in the world (Waterville Valley), plenty of hiking, and is the home of Stonyfield Farm.
Granted, the name 'Stonyfield' makes us think of 'Stonybrook' which makes us think of the Baby-sitter's Club and of course then we have to mull over which character would most enjoy this smoothie.
At first we thought it might be Dawn, the child of California hippies. After all, the smoothie is made with 100% certified organic ingredients. Or it might be enjoyed by Claudia, the sweet tooth of the bunch. She'd certainly be satisfied by the 38 grams of sugar. Considering the huge amount of sugar in this drink, Stacy (the diabetic) wouldn't be able to consume any of Stonyfield's smoothies.
In the end, this drink would be Mary Anne's. It is reasonable and predicatable and reliable, all adjectives that we would use to describe Mary Anne. Sadly, just like Mary Anne, this drink also lacks self-confidence, using beet juice concentrate to add color. Isn't about damn time that we admit to ourselves that strawberry juice mixed with 9 ounces of yogurt does not produce a bright pink drink? Yes, we are adults and we can deal with truth in product coloring.
Thankfully, the flavoring in here is simply strawberry. No scary fake flavors, no Splenda, just fruit. And how could this product be improved? For one, we prefer our smoothies a bit thicker (this one was perhaps too drinkable) and we'd prefer Greek-style yogurt as a base. Perhaps Stonyfield can make some tangy fruit-infused smoothies for adults. After all, even the girls of the Baby-sitters Club had to grow up.
[After beginning on the Babysitter's club theme, we had to reference the Wikipedia article about them when we realized that we could not remember Stacy's name. Or whether ‘Mary Anne’ was one word or two. -Ed.]
Filed Under Probiotic Bacteria, Stonyfield Farms, Strawberry, United States, Smoothies, High Fructose Corn Syrup Free, Organic, Four Stars
Krispy Kreme Rich Coffee
Price: $1.69 plus tax
Serving: 16 oz.
Calories: 18 per serving
Fat: 0%, 0g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 0%, 4mg
Protein: 0.6g
Carbohydrates: 0%, 0g
Fiber: 0%, 0g
Sugar: 0g
Caffeine: 230-350mg
Krispy Kreme says: A refined, aromatic coffee with balanced, rounded intensity. It’s a roast with a simple name, but a complex and robust flavor.
We say: Some people allege that we stop at the Krispy Kreme for coffee because it a) has doughnuts and b) is on the way to work. This is not true.
We stop at Krispy Kreme because their coffee is reliable. That and we have the willpower to resist the doughnuts from Krispy Kreme, especially since the ones at the Dupont Circle store are deep fried somewhere else, trucked to the store, and then simply glazed here. That sort of grossness is simple to decline.
However, their coffee is not easy to turn down. First because it $1.69 for a 16 ounce coffee. While this is a bit much to make the beverage a daily habit (we’ll suffer through the free stuff available at work most days), it is enough to guarantee that one is getting something of a bit higher quality than your standard gas station fare.
You might think that 4 stars is a high reward for providing consistent better-than-gas-station coffee, but if you’ve ever had a job that involves waking up at 4:45 a.m., you understand the importance of routine.
Filed Under Vegan, United States, Krispy Kreme, Gluten Free, Coffee, High Fructose Corn Syrup Free, Coffee, Fat Free, Four Stars
Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Lemonade
Price: £0.99
Serving: 250ml
Calories: 64 per serving
Fat: trace
Sodium: trace
Protein: 0.1g
Carbohydrates: 14.8g
Fiber: 0.2g
Sugar: 12.8g
Caffeine: 0mg
Sainsbury’s says: Lemonade made from freshly squeezed lemons. Sharp yet refreshing.
We say: Summer means summer drinks and you don’t get more summery than old fashioned lemonade. Sadly, society has become accustomed to chemical drinks rather than good ‘ole squished lemons. This drink harks back to a finer age when grandma squashed the lemons from her own back garden. One pleasant surprise in these times of complicated ingredients you need a degree to understand is that this lemonade contains only water, freshly squeezed lemon juice, sugar and lemon pulp.
Sainsbury’s lemonade is sweet initially (but not sickly), with the sour finish expected in all good lemonades. It reminded us a bit of the aromatic honey and lemon one would use to treat a cold. Plus, we were pleasantly surprised to find they’d not sieved it, leaving the elixir au natural with bits of lemon pulp. Reaching the bottom of the bottle we experienced a refreshing sour shiver from that pulp sediment. Due to the strong flavour this is not a down in one gulp drink - and savoring rather than gulping is the point of this lemonade. It’s only ‘fizzy’ nature is the slight zing from the fresh lemons, so you’ll need to look elsewhere for something carbonated.
Instead of the laborious squeezing of tons of lemons you’d need for decent lemonade Sainsbury’s bottled product really does reach the spot. And the complete lack of artificial sweeteners ensures that the taste is pure and fresh, not the chemical aftertaste found in other lemonades. Too bad it’s not a very large serving and didn’t refresh our thirst so much as make us want to drink 2.
Filed Under United Kingdom, Sainsbury's, Vegan, Lemonade, High Fructose Corn Syrup Free, Juice Cocktails, Four Stars
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