Sweet Stuff - Blooms Candy & Soda Pop Shop

Week 2 of our weekly soda tastings with Pedro, Nate & Jake.  This week we had a couple of customers partake as well.  The more the merrier!  This week we let Pedro, Nate & Jake pick the sodas to taste.  They selected Cock 'n Bull Ginger Beer and Lester's Fixins Buffalo Wing Soda.

Lester's Fixins Buffalo Wing Soda

Lester's Buffalo Wing Soda has an orange hue similar to a true buffalo wing sauce. With a picture of Lester and a couple of buffalo wings on the label we are anxious to pop this open and give it a try.

There was a flurry of comments being spewed for this tasting and I'm not sure who said what.  12 & 13 year olds are difficult to keep calm.  Here are the comments I was able to document:

Tastes like orange juice, tastes like Coke, tastes like an orange Coca Cola.  It tastes like clearing your throat after you puke.  Only the aftertaste gives you the buffalo wing taste, its acidic, like wing sauce.

Cock 'n Bull Ginger Beer

Pedro - It smells like Coke.  Oh! My uvula is burning! Its like ginger and Sprite, its terrible!

Nate - It tastes like ginger...a WHOLE LOT OF GINGER.  I really like this.  My Dad makes ginger ale at home and this is better!

Jake - I like it too, its good. (Nate & Jake are brothers.)

John & I and a few others tasted this ginger beer as well and it was really really delicious.  I grew up drinking Vernors and this has a really interesting slow spicy bite at the end.  I found it really refreshing and everyone that tried it really like it.  Now I know why its so popular.

You may ask why I am continuing to do these tastings when the reactions arent so favorable.  Number one, because its entertaining and we really like these kids.  Number two, its fun and hopefully someone will find their comments interesting enough to peak their curiosity and drop by our shop to try one of these for themselves.

Bubble on!

Nicole

I'm trying something new this week.  We have selected a focus group (4 regular customers) and are having them sample two sodas a week.  Let me preface this by saying that I promise next weeks reviews will be a bit more descriptive.  We're still working out the bugs on this project.

Our focus group consists of my daughter Reese, 7, Pedro, 12, Jack, 13 and Shane, 12.  Shane, Pedro and Jack are regular customers who stop in the shop at least 2 times a week. We have been having them taste new stuff for a while now as long as they tell us what they think.  Reese has no choice.

First up, Lester's Fixins Bacon Soda.  We have been having a ton of fun with this soda pop lately as people are shocked at its mere existence.  Lets see what the panel had to say:

Reese: "Yuck"

Pedro, Jack, Shane: "Don't like the bacon"  "Tastes like grease"......"I taste peanuts".... "kinda like root beer?".  However, please note that they liked that the bacon flavor went away and left a kind of a cream soda taste after a while.

Next up, Looks Like Orange, Tastes Like Grape Soda  This is a grape soda that is a pale orange color.  Its got a really cool label with a giant eye on it that is repeated on the cap as well.

Reese: "It tastes really good.  Theres nothing about it I don't like."

Pedro, Jack, Shane: "Its orange, but grape soda."  "I was expecting something bad like the bacon but this was sooooooooo good."  "I was really expecting something bad." 

So there you have it, Blooms Candy Shops first official soda pop tasting.  We have yet to encounter anyone who has really liked the taste of the Bacon Soda, our focus group included.  Next week we will work on giving more descriptive reviews...  I feel that we need to give you a bit more to go on than "Yuck".  A work in progress... 

Bubble on my friends.

Nicole

Chick-O-Stick, Chicken Leg, Chicken Bones, its all the same.  A candy that we can barely keep in stock that has been manufactured since the Great Depression.

Chick-O-Stick is an orange candy in the shape of a tube or stick that is dusted with coconut.  The stick itself is honeycombed with peanut butter and a hardened syrup/sugar mixture that forms a delicious dry/brittle candy.

Chic-O-Sticks original wrapper had a cartoon chicken wearing a cowboy hat and a badge in the shape of the manufacturer (Atkisons) logo.  It was thought that the chicken on the label created confusion as to whether or not it was truly a candy or a chicken flavored cracker.

I have heard customers say that its taste is very close to a buttefinger without the chocolate and much flakier.  I'd have to say my favorite thing about the Chick-O-Stick is that they are made here in Texas!

Stay Sweet,

Nicole

Today I was witness to someone, a group actually, tasting their first Lester's Fixin's Bacon Soda.  Where do I begin?

Lesters Fixins Bacon Soda

It was a group of three college-age kids and there seemed to be a bit of underlying excitement as they made the purchase (with 3 other sodas).  When I asked if they were buying it to drink or buying it to take there was a quick response of "I'm going to try it right now!"  So I offered to open it for them and asked if we could watch them try it since we had yet to witness a tasting and hear feedback. "Sure!"  Here we go.

Frosty bottle raised to lips and down the hatch.  Oh, to have thought to have taken my camera out to catch his reaction!  The look on his face was bitter, squinched up and followed up  with a "uuughhhh!"  "It's awful, had a greasy aftertaste and I may go home and cook with it later."  Then passed the bottle to the other two people in his party and they had equally shocking and repulsed expressions.  When offered to us to try, we politely declined.

This, my friends, is why we don't necessarily taste everything in the store.  Its way more fun to watch the efforts of others.  :)

Stay sweet!

Nicole

We have had lots and lots of requests for Delaware Punch.  So much so that I set out on my normal quest to track it down.  This one was NOT easy.

(Click the image below to purchase Delaware Punch)

Delaware Punch is a fruit-flavored soft drink. Its formula uses a blend of fruit flavors, with grape being the most prominent. It is non-carbonated and caffeine-free.

Delaware Punch was created by Thomas E. Lyons in 1913 and the brand is currently owned by The Coca-Cola Company.

As I did my research even Wikipedia told me the  beverage is difficult to find, and they were right.  All in all it took me about 3 ½ months to find someone who was willing to ship it to us.  Delaware Punch is still sold in some grocery stores in Louisiana, Arkansas, and south Texas, and some restaurants in Houston.   Due to licensing agreements the bottler is not allowed to sell this product outside of their territory so we ended up having to go through a third party in order to get it. 

 Once we finally tracked it down we were further disappointed to find out that we couldn’t get it in glass bottles either :(.  Now we know why….  The bottled form is sold in Guatemala and Mexico, but is currently banned in much of the United States due to a coloring agent, allura red, that is used.   

 Some more fun Delaware Punch Fun Facts!  Delaware Punch was commonly sold at the New Orleans drug store chain K&B, before it was bought by Rite Aid in 1997.  Delaware Punch is named for the Delaware grape from which its flavor is derived. The grape is native to Delaware County, Ohio, and the drink therefore has no affiliation with the state of Delaware.

 We hope to keep it in stock but our supply stream seems to be a bit shaky.  Get it while we got it!  Click here to order Delaware Punch.

Stay Sweet!

We started with just Duff Beer Energy Drink, and now we carry nearly 10 different novelty energy drinks.  Lets just review a few of them....

The one that started it all.  Duff.  In the traditional Beer Can shape, this energy drink has the cool Duff Logo just as it appears on the cartoon tv show The Simpsons.

[caption id="attachment_712" align="aligncenter" width="150" caption="Duff Energy Drink"][/caption]

While were on the topic of the Simpsons, we cant leave our Homers favorite bartender and signature drink, the Flaming Moe Energy Drink.  With an image of Moe and vivid image of the drink, this will surely be a great gift for the Simpsons Fan.

[caption id="attachment_714" align="aligncenter" width="150" caption="Flaming Moe"][/caption]

Speaking of famous men, we can't leave out Elvis!  In addition to our Elvis Lunch Box, this is another great gift for the Elvis fan.  All Shook Up Elvis Energy Drink is sure to leave a smile on their face & some pep in their step!

[caption id="attachment_715" align="aligncenter" width="150" caption="All Shook Up Elvis Energy Drink"][/caption]

I have a soft spot for Faygo Soda as it is what i grew up with.  (Yes, I am a yankee and grew up in the suburbs of Detroit.)  I remember my dad making Faygo Root Beer Floats and even Faygo Rock & Rye Floats on Saturday nights.  On occasion we would even do Faygo Slushes.

Faygo has a rich history and was originally Feigenson Brothers Bottling Company, founded in 1907 by brothers Ben & Perry Feigenson.  The original flavors of grape, strawberry & fruit punch were based on their own cake frosting recipes.

Another fun fact, the Insane Clown Posse, a Detroit band with a huge cult following, always sprays the audience with Faygo Soda during their concerts.  I prefer to drink mine cold but hey, different strokes for different folks! :)

We currently carry Faygo Root Beer, Faygo Rock & Rye and Faygo Red Pop.  Should we add Cream Soda?  Drop by and let us know!

Stay Sweet!

New Year..New STUFF!

We are proud to announce that we now carry over 50 different regional and novelty sodas.  From 14 different Root Beers to Sasparilla and an Italian lemon mint soda, we have something your bound to enjoy.

Along with the traditional old time cream sodas and such we have some interesting new items that might just give you a chuckle or two.

Judge Wapner Root Beer

Leninade Soviet Style Soda

Thats right, Judge Wapner Root Beer.  Surprisingly good tasting, so I don't really mind being sentenced to drink it.

One more soda with great tag line... Leninade....Its A Taste Worth Standing In Line For.  Made with pure cane sugar its a citrus, berry soda.

Finally, we have Black Lemonade Scary Soda.   This is an interesting one.  Its color is a really dark bluish black and its flavor is super tart.  An interesting flavor that is really memorable.  Oh yea, it has a cool label too.

Black Lemonade - Scary Soda These are just a sampling of what we have in store now.  Stop by when your thirsty! Stay Sweet!

I thought I'd take a moment and spotlight some of the UK brands of candy that we carry since it seems to be fairly popular with our customers.  Plus, blogging gives me an opportunity to do some research (which I love).  You have to constantly work at being a know-it-all..dontchaknow?

Back to the chocolate....Cadbury Dairy Milk was first presented in 1905 in the UK.  These chocolate bars were made with a higher concentration of milk than Cadbury's other chocolate bars at the time.  By 1913 it became Cadbury's top selling product line.  Currently Hershey's makes the bar here in the United States.  The formula is slightly different than that of the bar that is manufactured in the UK but still a delicious taste treat.

In the United Kingdom there are 16 versions of this chocolate bar!  Sorry Dallas, we currently only carry 4 :(.

Each bar is 3.5 oz and sells for $3.99.  You'll find them in our "Candy From Across the Pond" section.  C'mon, step away from your favorite and try something new!

Stay Sweet!

Nicole

New Stuff!

Zombie Jerky