These pretzels are making me thirsty...

One day last week on our lunch break, one of my friends purchased the new Berries and Cream Dr Pepper in CVS,and convinced another friend to buy one as well. Something about the sight of wild raspberries on a cream colored label set off some warning signals, so I myself avoided it. The first friend took a sip, contemplated the flavor, made a face, and concluded that it tasted like cough syrup with a subtle Dr Pepper aftertaste.

Soda is something we take for granted, whether on tap, in a bottle, or in a can. There are certain brands we've grown up with that have always been around, that we assume will endure and never change. Yet every few years, even these old standbys try to mix things up with new flavors, and imitators are constantly on the rise. Tonight I'm going to review some of my favorites, although I won't be numbering them the way I numbered cereals. Beverage preference can vary due to many factors, including but not limited to the type of food I'm having with it, whether or not I'm even having it with food, or if I'm cutting back on caffeine at the time.

When it comes to a basic cola, I definitely prefer the taste of Pepsi to Coke. Coke has a more bland flavor, and a bit of an aftertaste. Pepsi presents more of a kick. When comparing their diet counterparts, Pepsi is an even stronger winner. Diet Coke tastes like opaque, fizzy water. Standard cola is rarely my first choice with so many more interesting options out there, and while both of the big two have experimented with variations, from Pepsi Vanilla to Cherry Coke, Cherry Coke is the only variation I'm drawn to again and again, if only due to the lasting subliminal influence of that Cameo commercial in which the phrase “CHERRY COKE!” is substituted for ”Word Up!” in the song of the same name.

In college, a friend introduced me to the generic punch of Simply Soda, which packed more of a caffeine wallop than Jolt or RC. Like RC, the taste was somewhat bland, but, much like with beer, taste wasn't a factor after the second can. Hoffman's will always reign supreme as my favorite generic brand though, due to their fantastic cream soda and notable presence at many of the first Italian feasts I frequented. I enjoyed both the grape and orange flavors as well. I'm not sure they're still in business, as I found very little information online.

Sometimes, I don't want caffeine, and my plain soda of choice is usually Sprite. It can be a little sweet, especially from a tap where the ratio between flavor and seltzer needs adjusting. Still, I generally prefer it to Sierra Mist or 7Up. Sprite lends itself nicely to mixing with fruit juices, especially cranberry. Cranberry juice normally leaves a bad aftertaste and lingers on the back of the throat, but Sprite cuts it and makes it smooth even as it enhances the flavor of the soda. I generally prefer lemon/lime sodas to ginger ale.

My favorite sodas are the unique flavors in a category apart from colas, especially Dr Pepper. If I were ranking these drinks, Dr Pepper would be at the top, followed closely by any brand of cream soda, then root beer, then birch beer. My friend Curt would probably find it blasphemous to include Dr Pepper in the same sentence let alone category, but I'm not saying Dr Pepper is interchangeable with any of these others, only that they’re all unique from Coke or Pepsi. Curt once stabbed a waitress with a fork for suggesting root beer as a substitute for Dr Pepper, which the restaurant didn't carry. That didn't actually happen, although many of us saw the thought flicker across his eyes for a second before he told her through gritted teeth that no, he would not like root beer in lieu of Dr Pepper. My favorite cream soda would have been the aforementioned Hoffman's, which may not exist anymore, and my favorite root beer was Barq's, although that's best in moderation.

When I was young and my parents would take me to Roy Rogers and other fast food restaurants, I was never allowed to have soda with my kids' meals. Usually I got milk or juice instead. The first time I had soda, coke I believe around the age of 7 or 8, was a real treat. I think they regretted my subsequent hyperactivity due to the sugar intake, and it took some more time before cola gradually became a regular drink at dinner time. I probably consumed the most soda during my college years, and as an adult I lean toward Sprite, with Dr Pepper and Cherry Coke as occasional “treats”. There are other options at lunch, and I could probably write an entire essay on iced tea brands and flavors alone, but that's an article for another night.