Tyler Kieft

The Jones Soda Holiday Pack is fast becoming a Thanksgiving tradition for me. The first time I had them was last year when my family celebrated Thanksgiving at my uncle’s house. This year I actively sought them out and shared them with six or seven kids on my hall. The flavors mimic an entire Thanksgiving meal from start to finish, and that’s the order we drank them in.

This year’s flavors were Dinner Roll, Pea, Sweet Potato, Turkey and Gravy, and Antacid. My favorite flavor was definitely the Sweet Potato – it was sweet and it had a hint of caramel flavor. It was what I imagine butterbeer both looks and tastes like. Pea and Turkey were both gross but drinkable, and Dinner Roll had a buttery flavor and was actually quite good. Antacid was right on the money – it smelled strongly minty. Drinking it was like drinking toothpaste water. It was over the top minty sweet. As a final homage to the awesomeness of Jones Soda I mixed a quarter ounce of all of the flavors together and drank it. The mixture retained each of the individual tastes quite well – strongly Antacid, with a good Pea/Turkey aftertaste. Gross, you think? Meh, I’m a savage.

It’s possible that time has modified my memory, but I think that last year’s flavors better matched the labels on the bottles. Cranberry was downright luscious, Pumpkin Pie was good enough to finish, and Wild Herb Stuffing was absolutely the most rotten thing I have ever willingly drank. This year’s flavors had too much sweetener, to the point where I think I could have finished off all of the bottles by myself (but not at the same time!)

You can get a Holiday Pack for yourself at Target, but make sure you have people to drink them with! My #1 wish for one of next year’s flavors – Rhubarb Pie. It would be a great bitter taste to round out the sweet and salty. Maybe it could go in the dessert pack.