Trader Joe’s Tangerine Juice
Price: $2.49
Serving: 1/2 bottle, 8oz
Calories: 110 per serving
Calories from Fat: 0
Fat: 0%, 0g
Saturated Fat: 0%, 0g
Trans Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 1%, 15mg
Protein: 1g
Carbohydrates: 8%, 25g
Fiber: 2%, <1g
Sugar: 23g
WW Points: 2 per serving
WW Points: 4 per bottle
Trader Joe’s says: Fresh from California
Abi says: There was a time in college when I was depressed but I didn’t know I was depressed and all I did was drink juice. No food, just juice. My favorite juice was Naked Tangerine juice. It was both sweeter and tarter than regular orange juice.
Fortunately, that experience with vast amounts of juice drinking has not scarred me permanently. I remembered the amazing flavor of tangerine juice while I was at Trader Joe’s the other day and decided that since I’d taken a bus to Wal-Mart to get a car battery (I kid you not) I would treat myself to some expensive juice. Yes, my Trader Joe’s is next to a Wal-Mart. And yes, I carried a battery home on a bus. A car battery. It was really, really heavy.
This tangerine juice is just as good as I remember the Naked Juice being, and remember, I wasn’t eating back then, so juice was A-MA-ZING. This juice comes in the standard ‘two servings per bottle’ size and requires shaking before drinking. In a lot of items I don’t enjoy separation (cheese sauce, for example), but in juice it says to me ‘This is real juice with real fruit ingredients’. If you don’t like pulp and having to shake your juice, this may be a problem.
I’ll probably buy another bottle of this juice the next time I go to Trader Joe’s. It is healthier than chocolate milk, even if it is not shelf stable, and the package is totally recyclable.
Filed Under 2 Points, 4 Points, All Natural, Cholesterol Free, Fat Free, Five Stars, High Fructose Corn Syrup Free, Juice, No Preservatives, Tangerine, Trader Joe's
Columbia Gorge Organic Apple Cider
Price: $2.50
Serving: 12oz., 1 bottle
Servings Per Container: 1
Calories: 180 per serving
Fat: 0%, 0g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 3%, 67mg
Protein: 9g
Carbohydrates: 15%, 43g
Fiber: 7%, 2g
Sugar: 39g
Weight Watchers Points: 3 Points
Columbia Gorge says: Unparalleled in the world of apple ciders. We blend several different kinds of apples to achieve the tart yet sweet flavor of this cider. Making it from soil-enriched grown organic apples is the best way to taste the real apple flavor.
Abi Says: In Washington State, Fall means apples and apples mean cider. Okay, cider and apple sauce and deliciously cinnamony pies. But this is not a pie blog.
During a six-day visit to Seattle I figured that I’d just drink my way across every coffee shop in town. This is a good idea in theory, but in actuality it means jitters, possible tooth stains, and peeing all the freaking time.
In order to avoid the uncomfortable side-effects of diuretics, every noontime I switched to juices. Sometimes it was the blackberry version of an Izze sparkling soda and other days I turned to one of these adorable bottles of juice from the Columbia Gorge Juice Company.
The organic cider was lighter and clearer than I expected, a forewarning that the drink would exhibit few of the qualities of farm-fresh pressed cider. Columbia Gorge delivers a refreshing drink, made simply with organic apples. However, their cider walks a line between juice and true cider.
So, if you’re looking for something to mull with spices and wine, or spike with a bit of Jack Daniels and you have lots of cash to burn, you can’t go wrong with this cider.
Filed Under All Natural, Apple, Columbia Gorge Organics, Fat Free, Five Stars, Four Stars, High Fructose Corn Syrup Free, Juice, Juice Cocktails, No Genetically Modified Organisms, No Preservatives, Organic, Three Stars, United States, Vegan
Naked Just Juice Orange Juice
Price: $3.58 (including tax - yikes!)
Serving: 1/2 bottle, 8 oz.
Nutrition info below is per serving, not per bottle
Calories: 110 per serving
Fat: 0%, 0g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 0%, 0mg
Protein: 2g
Carbohydrates: 8%, 25g
Fiber: 0%, 0g
Sugar: 25g
Naked Juice says: Okay, so our OJ is just OJ, as defined by: Just the gorgeous, pristine, oh so sweet juice of the amazingly perfect orange, with tons of Vitamin C and sensational antioxidants to ruin a free radical’s day. It’s also just O-J, as in 9 oranges just picked, squeezed, bottle and rushed to your eager, orange-juice-loving but preservative-loathing self. So just shake, just chug and just say “I just love this stuff.”
We say: We had a brief moment of worry upon consuming 9 ORANGES in twenty minutes. My God, if the people who ran those eating competitions also allowed juicers, we might be able to beat the Black Widow of competitive eating, Sonya Thomas. Of course, if she also had a juicer than the edge would be moot.
While it seems a bit cliché to rate the first drink review a 5-star drink, we have to say that the only way you could possibly get better orange juice would be to travel to Florida and drink freshly-squeezed juice. Oh, you say that you can make better fresh orange juice at home? Well, you are wrong because it is not possible.
Filed Under All Natural, Fat Free, Five Stars, High Fructose Corn Syrup Free, Juice, Naked Juice, Orange
Port City Java Lemonade
Price: $3.50
Serving: 16oz.
Calories: 140 per serving
Fat: 0%, 0.3g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 0%, 7mg
Protein: 0.3g
Carbohydrates: 11%, 33.9g
Fiber: 2%, 0.4g
Weight Watchers Points: 3 points
Port City Java says: You won’t believe how this one is made. Apples and lemons, all-natural.
Abi says: For the last couple of weeks, Washington, DC has experienced some of the most glorious autumn weather imaginable. While I loved such a delightful send-off, wearing shorts in October felt a bit amiss. And avoiding coffee in the morning because, hello - freaking hot - also meant that I arrived at work sans-caffeine buzz. It was great to go for evening walks in little more than a sun dress, but during the day it was evident that warm days ≠ gorgeous fall foliage.
All of this insane weather has me craving summery foods and beverages. I’m not ready for root vegetables and pumpkins! Give me sno cones, hot dogs, lemonade, and cold beer! Basically, I want to live in a baseball game. And that baseball-game inhabiting self just about drooled when I saw approximately 18 people drinking tall, icy glasses of lemonade outside of the Eastern Market Port City Java.
“Ah!” I thought with glee “That’s just what I need! Lemonade!” Yes, my mind is that exclamatory.
While my friend Lisa checked out one of the myriad clothing sellers, I braved the line in anticipation of a tartly sugarrific expression of the last days of summer. And then waited some more for them to make my lemonade. And after about 5 minutes I started thinking “Where the hell is my lemonade already?”
“One lemonade on the bar!” called the person who could only be described as ‘The Juicer.’ I took one look at the bar and thought “That cannot possibly be my lemonade.” Scroll back up the page and take a look at it: opaquely cloudy, decidedly non-yellow, and definitely not containing a lemon wedge.
“Is this the lemonade?” I asked the barrista, who assured that yes, it was indeed the lemonade. I took an exploratory sip, worrying that I was about to experience a horrific meeting of dairy and unknown orangey fruits, when the taste of fantastically tart lemon zipped across my tongue. This was lemonade. Real lemonade. Really good lemonade.
I have a feeling that this drink consists solely of apple cider and lemons. From that sentence you might think that I didn’t like the drink. But then you would be wrong. It is everything you’d expect from that fresh-squeezed stuff you pay big bucks for at a ballgame, but instead of using sugar, or (God forbid!) high fructose corn syrup, Port City Java uses apples and lemons.
I don’t know exactly how they do it, but this drink it magical.
Filed Under All Natural, Fat Free, Five Stars, High Fructose Corn Syrup Free, Juice, Lemonade, Port City Java, United States, Vegan
Bell’s Batch 8,000 Ale
Price: $13.99 for six
Serving: 12 fl. oz., 1 bottle
Calories: 283
Alcohol: 9.00% ABV
Bell’s Brewery says: Batch 8,000 is part of our commemerative series celebrating our progress with special brews. Our 8,000th batch is a special recipe to be brewed only once. It is a wheat ale spiced with Coriander, Orange Peel, and Paradise Seed. Best consumed fresh.
Joe says: Most breweries are somewhat hit and miss with their beers, but Bell’s is one of the few that, for me, consistently makes an enjoyable beer. Maybe there’s something special in the water out in Comstock, Michigan, or maybe Larry Bell just really knows what he is doing. Either way, Bell’s Batch 8,000 Ale is a once-in-a-lifetime event that certainly lives up to the quality that I have come to expect from Bell’s beers.
At 9% ABV, I was expecting this beer to zing like other similarly strong beers that I love (e.g. Bell’s Third Coast Old Ale). I was, however, pleasantly surprised by its smoothness—Batch 8,000 is so smooth that it almost drinks like a 5%. But be careful with this refreshing beer, because while it goes down easy, it still kicks like a kangaroo.
The combination of the coriander, orange peel, and witbier style gives Batch 8,000 a very autumnal flavor—it almost tastes like those dried apricots you see next to the raisins and dates in the supermarket. The actual taste probably sits somewhere in between Blue Moon (original) and Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale, but a bit stronger, beerier, and better. And, while it doesn’t approach the fruity blast of the delicious Pyramid Apricot Weizen, it hints at fruit just enough to make this the perfect compliment to a traditional US Thanksgiving turkey dinner.
At $13.99 for a case of six, the price is really the only factor that would rule out Bell’s Batch 8,000 as a staple beer for me. However, since this is a one-time limited release, I am going to buy some more while I still can—if I can track down a store that has any left.
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