When it comes to Jackass Soda, this may indeed by the golden age. Major beverage producers are not content to rest on their laurels- they are cranking out the special edition products at a steady pace.
Sprite cleverly(?) has been titling their limited edition products "Sprite Remix", presumably to catch the eye of the young consumer who is familiar with the term from the music they listen to. So it came as no surprise when the first two Sprite Remix Products- Tropical and Berryclear- were a bit on the sweet side. Targeting young consumers=make it sweet. The Tropical Remix (I’m pretty sure) came out in 2003. From what I recall, it was tropical tasting all right, it a very sweet way. I remembering it even smelling sweet. It was definitely edible (drinkable?), but only for those occasions when you needed a real jolt of sugar.
The summer of 2004 saw the release of Sprite Remix – Berryclear (like the way, like the Limited Edition Mountain Dew products, they started using code names?). Berryclear tasted like berries, and like all of the Sprite offshoots, was clear. But again, they kicked it into overdrive with the sweeteners. Their berry flavor is basically what you would find in candy- a sugar-coated rendering of the real thing. I think I have a few cans of this left from last year, next to my Faygo Rock N’ Rye…
So when I saw that Sprite had Aruba Jam coming out this year, I knew I would try it, and I expected to dislike it.
First, the codename- Aruba Jam. It’s the type of name marketing execs who think they’re cool and in touch with the youth of today come up with. These are the same guys who put snowboarding grannies in TV commercials. Strike One.
The description of the soda’s flavor was the next warning sign. I don’t remember the actual wording, but it ultimately came down to this one word: Fruit. If you can’t name a particular fruit, the result will most likely be an unidentifiable hodge-podge of a bunch of fruit flavors, ultimately tasting like a sugary mess. Strike Two.
As nervous as I was, I bought a 12 pack (hey, I like soda out of a can better). Thankfully, my fears were for nothing. It’s like a less-sweet(!) version of the Tropical Remix. It has a bit of a fruit punch taste and smell to it. Overall, what I liked about the Tropical Sprite Remix with a lot less sweetness. I may even wind up buying more of this, we’ll see how cans 2 through 12 go…
Name: Sprite Remix – Aruba Jam
Alleged Flavor: something something something Fruit
Actual Flavor: "Bill, we’ve got some Sprite Tropical syrup lying around- want to tone it down a bit and sell it as a new flavor?"
Color: A breathtaking shade of clear
Tasting sample was from: aluminum can, poured into glass
Note that there’s a jackass soda sub culture out there who have discussed this product and its siblings in great detail. I am merely a pretender to their throne when it comes to soda obsession. I did learn a lot about the soda world in a short period of time on that board. Let’s just say there’s a lot of Jackass Soda Gold yet to be mined by yours truly.