Lo-Cal Natural Sodas - Fight!
I don't know why, but I there are more restaurants purveying more exotic sodas in Reno than any other city since Flagstaff, to my recollection. First, there was Newman's Deli - they have a whole cooler of unusual and hard to find sodas. On my last trip, I ate at Eclipse Pizza and Freeman's Hot Dogs which also had sodas available that are not commonly found in restaurants. More on those establishments in later posts, but for now, let's talk about something I didn't know existed - Lo-Cal Natural Sodas.
I assumed if a soda was natural or gourmet, it would have a bunch of calories because it was flavored with cane sugar or honey. Turns out, that is no longer the case. Now, a quick qualification. The Thomas Kemper soda, may not be wholly natural - it used Splenda for its sweetening. With that out of the way, let's talk soda:
Thomas Kemper - I first had a Thomas Kemper soda when I lived in Salt Lake City, UT, while going to law school. The source of most things good, Costco, was selling assortment cases. I bought a few of them. The sodas were original tasting, even thought the flavors were not particularly exotic. They were simply very good, mostly natural sodas. I haven't had one for quite some time.
At Eclipse Pizza, in Reno (Mayberry, actually), I ordered a Diet Pepsi. Then, I noticed the Lo Cal- Thomas Kemper. I asked to pay the difference and he said they all cost the same, so I just exchanged (good call, Eclipse). As noted above, the soda is sweetened with Splenda. How did it work? Really well. I have had a lot of experience with Splenda. Coke Zero uses it. I have had candy with it. Baked goods with it. In general, I find it pretty good. More real tasting than nutrasweet, but not exactly like sugar. I dare say that Thomas Kemper's low-cal Root Beer is the best use so far of Splenda. It really tasted just like a great soda, not just a good Diet Soda.
Virgil's. I first had Virgil's in law school also. I wanted an easy A, so I took Dante and the Law from the craziest professor in the school. We read the Divine Comedy and tried to apply it to the law. Since there wasn't much meat to the class, it devolved to a book club wherein we took turns bringing snacks to class for everyone. Then it became a contest to see who could talk a local vendor into donating the food. Anywho, someone brought Virgil's Root Beer (for obvious reasons - if the reasons aren't obvious, check wikipedia). It was the BEST root beer I had ever tasted. It was complex, not overly sweet and had a great finish. I had high hopes for Virgil's low calorie version.
In short, I was disappointed. The first drink was wonderful. The second, horrible. The third through the seventh were simply not very good. Virgil's had taken a wholly natural approach to low cal - since sugars have calories, they omitted all sugars. There was no real sweetener. Do you think you like vanilla flavor? You don't. You like vanilla SYRUP flavor. Without sugar, it isn't a great flavor.
So, for the purists, Virgil's is the only choice. Nothing artificial - but no sweetness. If you can have a processed version of sugar - Splenda (sucralose), you can have a delicious, reduced calorie soda. Me, I'm no hippy. I'm drinking Thomas Kemper.
I assumed if a soda was natural or gourmet, it would have a bunch of calories because it was flavored with cane sugar or honey. Turns out, that is no longer the case. Now, a quick qualification. The Thomas Kemper soda, may not be wholly natural - it used Splenda for its sweetening. With that out of the way, let's talk soda:
Thomas Kemper - I first had a Thomas Kemper soda when I lived in Salt Lake City, UT, while going to law school. The source of most things good, Costco, was selling assortment cases. I bought a few of them. The sodas were original tasting, even thought the flavors were not particularly exotic. They were simply very good, mostly natural sodas. I haven't had one for quite some time.
At Eclipse Pizza, in Reno (Mayberry, actually), I ordered a Diet Pepsi. Then, I noticed the Lo Cal- Thomas Kemper. I asked to pay the difference and he said they all cost the same, so I just exchanged (good call, Eclipse). As noted above, the soda is sweetened with Splenda. How did it work? Really well. I have had a lot of experience with Splenda. Coke Zero uses it. I have had candy with it. Baked goods with it. In general, I find it pretty good. More real tasting than nutrasweet, but not exactly like sugar. I dare say that Thomas Kemper's low-cal Root Beer is the best use so far of Splenda. It really tasted just like a great soda, not just a good Diet Soda. Virgil's. I first had Virgil's in law school also. I wanted an easy A, so I took Dante and the Law from the craziest professor in the school. We read the Divine Comedy and tried to apply it to the law. Since there wasn't much meat to the class, it devolved to a book club wherein we took turns bringing snacks to class for everyone. Then it became a contest to see who could talk a local vendor into donating the food. Anywho, someone brought Virgil's Root Beer (for obvious reasons - if the reasons aren't obvious, check wikipedia). It was the BEST root beer I had ever tasted. It was complex, not overly sweet and had a great finish. I had high hopes for Virgil's low calorie version.
In short, I was disappointed. The first drink was wonderful. The second, horrible. The third through the seventh were simply not very good. Virgil's had taken a wholly natural approach to low cal - since sugars have calories, they omitted all sugars. There was no real sweetener. Do you think you like vanilla flavor? You don't. You like vanilla SYRUP flavor. Without sugar, it isn't a great flavor. So, for the purists, Virgil's is the only choice. Nothing artificial - but no sweetness. If you can have a processed version of sugar - Splenda (sucralose), you can have a delicious, reduced calorie soda. Me, I'm no hippy. I'm drinking Thomas Kemper.
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