Turkey and Gravy Soda — Just like Mom’s — Burp!
A couple of weeks ago, Tarn and I hosted a Jones Holiday Soda tasting party. We had two soda packages from Jones: The 2005 Regional Pack and The 2006 Holiday Pack (9 sodas total), and we paired them with the real dishes.
We also captured the tasting notes of various attendees. Here they are for your enjoyment:
| 1 Smoked Salmon Paté | Slight fishy nose, overly saccharin, lacks saline quality — 87 |
| Too sweet for salmon | |
| 2 Sweet Potatoes | No aroma, candied flavor, caramel notes |
| Caramel nose & overtones, slightly vegetable quality, candied sweet potato — 90 | |
| Burnt sugar nose, sweet aftertaste | |
| Maple syrup smell, just tastes sweet, not much flavor | |
| 3 Broccoli Casserole | Gravy nose & color of raw sewage, possibly broccoli floaters, more butterscotch than broccoli — 85 |
| 4 Corn on the Cob | 1st one I dumped |
| Smells like butterscotch & tastes like butterscotch & Alkaseltzer | |
| No body, only thin butterscotch & candycorn flavor — ok but where’s the corn? (and where’s the cob!?) — 85 | |
| Fine bubbles | |
| Buttery sweet smell but no flavor. Dies on the tongue | |
| 5 Turkey and Gravy | More raw sewage color/butterscotch & canned gravy nose with surprisingly similar taste. The closest thing to turkey I can imagine being carbonated & bottled! — 90 |
| Disgusting | |
| 6 Pea | All green butterscotch — Where’s the |
| Citrus finish | |
| Chemical taste but not in a bad way | |
| Best color | |
| Least offensive so far | |
| 7 Dinner Roll | The logical progression of Wonderbread: completely lacking a crust and vaguely sweet-butter flavor. Completely awful, but on target — 88 |
| More buttery than butter | |
| Little flavor | |
| 8 Antacid Flavored | Although it looks more Pepto than antacid, flavor is good and on target — a great break before dessert! — 94! |
| 9 Pecan Pie | More butterscotch, but this time not offensive to the target flavor. Slight moldy overtone — but is it pecan? — 91 |
| Leaves a weird film in your mouth. I kind of like the smell |
December 6th, 2006 at 10:02 am
“broccoli floaters”…. ewwwww.
Which of these would be best paired with pine nut marzipan tart and Idiazabal?
December 6th, 2006 at 12:21 pm
I attended this “Soda Surprise” extravaganza…… On my trip to Seattle, I stepped off the plane and into helping out in the preparation for this “something different” party….. I tasted most of the flavors – as a matter of fact, I’m still tasting them!….. Burp-o….. The one I liked best, which wasn’t in the tasting, was “Bubble Gum”….. No wrapper, no card, and you couldn’t stick it under the table, but it did taste and smell like “Double-Bubble” already chewed…. You just had to swallow it….. HS, I would go with the “Bubble Gum” for any meal…….
December 6th, 2006 at 12:22 pm
Think I’ll have to stick to the Beer, Wine, Vodka, Gin, Tequila, & Rum tasting parties I’ve been frequenting these days. Although, jek, I do give it up to you for originality.
December 6th, 2006 at 12:58 pm
It was all conducted very scientifically. I felt like a test monkey.
December 6th, 2006 at 1:12 pm
HS: We paired the sodas with the near equivalent food selections. In the picture you can see the bowls of sweet potatoes, broccoli, corn (not on the cob), turkey & gravy, and peas. Most people didn’t sample the real things, but at least it made for a nice presentation.
Zook had the fancy rating system in the tasting notes. Perhaps he will explain it.
December 7th, 2006 at 2:38 am
One word: “Ewwwwww.” Oh, looks like husky beat me to it…
December 7th, 2006 at 12:10 pm
Ah, yes: the ratings. Highly scientific, I assure you.
They’re based on wine ratings. Now, according to this site Wine Enthusiast Says:
95-100 — Superb. One of the greats.
90-94 — Excellent. Extremely well made and highly recommended.
85-89 — Very good. May offer outstanding value if the price is right.
80-84 — Good. Solid wine, suitable for everyday consumption.
Translating into normal-person terms, I read this as:
95-100 — Hock the diamonds, this one’s worth it.
90-94 — Very good to excellent.
85-89 — Mediocre to reasonable.
80-84 — Oy veh, schlock it to me. May induce hallucinations and/or comadeathprojectilevomiting. Seek medical attention immediately.
As to my assignment of numbers: they were based on two factors. First, I considered how well the soda represented its intended flavor. Second, I considered how palatable they were.
For example, the Broccoli Casserole tasted nothing like broccoli (nor casserole) and was rather unappealing, hence the low numbers. Turkey and Gravy was not particularly yummy, but definitely suggested turkey and gravy. Antacid was both a convincing rendition of the target flavor and was (relatively) quite tasty.