Well it looks like you can't include links for some reason in comments...

Try this (remove space):

"tr. im/haGE"

Instead of attacking the source, try reading the article for their sources.

You may or may not be correct with your assertions about how the body handles HFCS, but, as the studies show, it apparently it doesn't matter.

Sounds expensive. Kolas are endangered and - as we all know - the males only have two nuts to give.

@Snarkysnake:

Red Rock Golden Ginger Ale is...DELICIOUS. I love watching the expression on people's faces when they take the first sip.

There were some studies that showed a correlation between corn syrup and obesity, but more recent ones(which didn't make the news, so you didn't read them, who's lame now?) have showed that there is no difference between that and regular sugar.

If you need hand-holding to find this out, let me know.

LandruBek: yes, that's what he's saying.

And, quoting USA Today as a "source" is just lame.

I hope I'm wrong.

There are so many falsehoods and half-truths in those three sentences I don't know where to begin. Other countries use sucrose because it is more readily available than HFCS. The process is simpler to produce sucrose, but it is in no way cleaner than HFCS.

Food products that contain corn as an ingredient are typically made from food-grade corn that are not GMOs. As far as safety, non-GMO corn is actually at a higher risk of carrying mycotoxins from fungi that make the recent peanut salmonella problems look like a hangnail. Food products made from corn by-products (HFCS, corn starch, etc.) likely use corn by-products made from GMOs. However, the production of said corn by-products involves a level of processing and purification to the point that immeasurable, miniscule amounts of genetic material (natural and introduced) or the proteins associated with the inserts actually make it into the final product.

In other words, buy a whole bunch of the "throwbacks" and, hopefully, they'll become a permanent part of the lineup.

now if only i could get sugared dr. pepper for my son. . . .

I've had both of the "Throwback" drinks (a Pepsi sales manager lived in my apartment before me and they keep sending delicious samples) and I can honestly say that they taste exactly the same as the HFCS drinks.

We tried this and dubbed it "Pepsi Nasty".

It is *okay* if it's chilled really well but as it starts to warm up, you get this really weird, unpleasant aftertaste that we couldn't put our finger on. Love Kosher Coke/Kosher Dr. Pepper/Mexico Coke, but this is not like those. I guess I'll wait for Pepsi/Mt. Dew throwback.

Pepsi or any soda in a plastic bottle isn't worth drinking if it was free. Nasty.

And as for some of the others, like Boylan, Jones, Hank's and others, you can taste the difference. They are also much less likely to make you gain weight than HFCS products. Your body recognizes and knows how to metabolize natural sugars. Not as simple with HFCS.

[www.dublindrpepper.com]

The Goose Island root beer and grape soda someone mentioned shows up occasionally at ALDI's. :) I have some in my fridge right now.

Buying soda in individual containers always costs more than buying it by the 2 liter. I bought a six pack of the 8 ounce cans of Pepsi for $2.89. So per gallon it is roughly $7.54

BTW, for anyone who can't tell the difference, try making Kool-Aid with store-bought light corn syrup sometime...

LOL @ maple syrup made out of corn.. I wonder how much business they lost because people suddenly became informed that high fructose CORN syrup is made from CORN and corn does not come out of trees

@ Corporate Guy:

Its a really common marketing technique. They will release it for long enough to do an advertising blitz, then just after word starts to get out they will take it off the market for another few months. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. It helps keep sales up for "fad" products - if they just left them on the market then sales would dramatically decrease once the novelty wore off.

Pizza Hut is well known for doing this with different kinds of "speciality pizzas".

Although the FDA does not have official guidelines for the use of the term "Natural", it usually indicates that ingredients are harvested in some way from nature, as opposed to synthesized from base components.

This can often lead to situations where the same flavoring component is available in both 'natural' and 'artificial' form, but are the same molecule, only that the 'natural' version is several times more expensive to produce (and thus costs more), and is not quite as pure.

I highly recommend Boylan. I think the pure cane cola is decent, but the Boylan grape is fucking out of this world. Yeah, it really did require the use of a cussword to describe it. I haven't had it in years and I am now salivating just thinking about it.
Also, it tends to turn your poop bright green due to the purple in the soda and the yellow from.... which is a neat side effect.

Same here. Hopefully some of that natural gets over here somehow

I saw that on Good Eats! Yay for knowledge

It's delicious.

I talked to a Pepsi rep today who noted that Pepsi Natural will be sweetened with a combination of cane & beet sugar (which is the same as the Throwbacks). Because of this, Pepsi Natural is NOT Kosher.

Additionally, they mentioned that there is a LOT in common with the UK's version of Pepsi Raw, but that there were differences.

I compared the ingredients, calories, and caffeine counts over at BevReview if anyone is interested.

[www.bevreview.com]

"worse" = HFCS bad.
"isn't worse" = HFCS good.
"hadn't shown [it] isn't worse" = HFCS bad.
"if only [they] hadn't shown [it] isn't worse" = HFCS good.

So, you're saying HFCS is basically OK?

I saw this at a Super Target in Chicagoland last weekend. So, it's out there, at least some places.

Ingredients as listed on the clear adhesive label:

Water, Sugar, Natural Apple Extract (Color), Caramel Color, Citric Acid, Caffeine, Acacia Gum, Tartaric Acid, Lactic Acid, Natural Flavor, Kola Nut Extract

The taste reminded me of sips of diet coke w/ whiskey that I used to sneak from my dad's glass when I was little. Odd association, I know. Overall, it was alright- kind of like a weak-sauce Pepsi.

@brokedickrooster: From Vermont Maple Cows, dude. Their all natural, organic caramel is what keeps Ben and Jerries in business (and still at 16oz per pint!).

@ohiomensch: living in new mexico we have steady access to what we call "Mexican Coke" which is sold in the glass bottles and made with, you guessed it- SUGAR. it's so much better than regular coca cola when you want your soda fix.

I think I will just stick to Boylans . All there sodas are made from sugar not hfcs. They also have a good all natural line also.

[www.boylanbottling.com]

Instead of being "artificially" being bad for you, it's now "naturally" bad for you.

cassia =/= cinnamon. You try and find real cinnamon in the US.

@edwardso: Nice as that is, they're not necessary in making a soda. Good, quality natural sodas do without them. And they're much less expensive!

Hansen's Mandarin Lime Natural Cane Soda
Contains:
Pure triple filtered carbonated water, cane sugar, citric acid, natural flavors with extracts of yucatan mandarin and colima lime

I am glad big producers are starting to at least get a clue that there is demand for things without HFCS in them, even if they do decide to charge more.

@ratty: gums are natural (arabi, guar)

Everyone! I keep hearing how great soda tastes with real sugar, I'd love to see the companies ditch corn syrup altogether and go back to their original formula's. It can't be that much more expensive.

I think that Pepsi (and coke) have been complacent in going after the 'mass market' beverages for long enough, and now they want a piece of the highly lucrative speciality/premium soft drink market. Basically, its gotten too big (and made too much money) for the big boys to keep ignoring. I'm sure pepsi and coke already own some specialty beverage companies, but in this case, Pepsi is leveraging the power of their brand name directly to jump-start their efforts.

I don't know how 'true to formula' these companies are, but here are some specialty soft drinks that I like:

Virgil's Rootbeer and Cola
Henry Weinhard's Root beer and Cream Soda
Goose Island Root beer and Orange Creme <-- can be hard to find outside of chicago, but I once found it here in SF at Targets.

The main flavor components in most cola drinks are things like cassia, caramel, and citrus oils (hey all "c" words!).

Kola is kind of herby, or medicinal, and can be a turn-off for some tasters. I like a real kola beverage every now and then, but I don't think I'd enjoy it every time.

@ Farcast. I don't think it's fair to compare a 2-liter to 4 20 oz. bottles-4 20 oz. bottles of normal Pepsi run about $4.00. Granted, the new stuff is only available in 20 oz., but still, apples to apples.

We have it in Reno, which is not a "premium market" by any stretch. I checked the ingredients as well--not really natural. They have several kinds of gum in there, and "natural flavoring" that isn't.

I'd stick to hansen's for cheaper, more natural sodas.

Caramel is usually produced by heating sugar to point of melting. Not from a caramel tree or a caramel mine or a caramel creek.

@ohiomensch: I agree coke always tasted way better in the glass bottles. Not sure why it makes a difference but it sure did. Sadly when the companies agreed to cut waste by 50% it was on a per weight basis so the easiest way was to ditch the glass and move to plastic.

The fact that this starts on 4/20 is awesome.

Also, I drink very little soda, so even if it is more expensive, I'd still buy it. It would be a nice treat.

I miss coke in glass bottles. It tasted so different, better in glass than plastic.

I forgot to include the source.

[www.usatoday.com]

@emona: Caramel is mostly used to color the cola to its signature dark shade (generally seen as "caramel color"). It's generally what makes a soda dark. :)

@Snarkysnake: Boylan's, Hank's Premium, Hansen's Cane Sugar Soda; just a few at the top of my head.

I'm living overseas now, and right on the pepsi bottle i drink in regular english it says sugar. As someone that drank pepsi back in the states, i cant really see a difference, but at the same time i dont have an American pepsi to compair it to.

So it's already on store shelves?

It gets scary when you scale things up to a well known reference point. Even more so when you figure a gallon of high test is running 2.09 here in FL. That's a product that has to be found in the earth, drilled to, pumped out, put on an oil tanker, shipped to a refinery, refined, put on another ship or piped, to a distribution center, then put on a truck, shipped to a gas station and put in expensive underground leak-proof tanks. 2.09 a gallon, vs 12.50 for a gallon of water with some sugar and flavors...*I know that is an over simplification of pepsi but still, it gives you some pause*

I saw this at Target a while back, and decided to check it out.

Less fizzy, and less sweetness, and less cola flavor than stock Pepsi. Interesting for a change of pace, but not worth the $4.50/4 pack.

4:20 for the throwbacks . . really?

Including the CRV, the traditional Pepsi 2-liter rang up at $1.89, while the four 12 fl oz bottles of Pepsi Natural set me back $4.69. Scale that, and you'll find that regular runs $3.69 per gallon, while super-ultra-premium-natural goes for an astonishing $12.50 per gallon. $12.50 per gallon! For sugar water!

Would appreciate it if any posters here have any kind of list of soft drink makers that have stayed true to their formula and are making a quality product.