4 Other Things I Consumed This Week: 11/14/2025

Slice Shirley Temple Healthy Soda can

Slice Shirley Temple Healthy Soda

This was not my first Slice Healthy Soda, nor was this my first Shirley Temple-flavored soda. While this might not be my favorite Shirley Temple-flavored soda, it’s definitely my favorite Slice Healthy Soda. Granted, I’ve only had two Slice flavors, counting this one.

The soda has a tasty cherry flavor, with a hint of citrus hanging out in the background. It has a different flavor profile than the Shirley Temple 7UP I had last year (which is back this year if you missed it). That 7UP had a flavor that reminded me of an Orange Julius. Oddly, this Slice Soda smells creamy, like an Orange Julius, but its taste doesn’t convey that creaminess. 

Favorite Day Banana Pudding Ice Cream

Favorite Day Banana Pudding Ice Cream pint

I’m a sucker for anything banana-flavored (see: banana water). So this easily made its way into my basket, although I had to do some body contortions to get this pint from the back wall of the bottom shelf of the freezer case. Was it worth tweaking my arm? Yeah, I guess so, but again, I’m REALLY into banana-flavored stuff.

The pint features banana-flavored ice cream, whipped cream-flavored swirls, and vanilla wafer pieces. While there are other components to this ice cream, it’s ALL banana. Even when I got a spoonful of the swirls, I didn’t taste anything like whipped cream. It was bananas. Even the vanilla wafers couldn’t make their flavors come through, although their texture added some chewiness. But despite the swirl and cookies not making their flavors known, I really enjoyed this pint. Because, again, I love bananas, and I’m delighted that there’s another banana-flavored ice cream available.

Oh, one last thing, when I pulled this pint out of the back wall from the bottom shelf of the freezer, I was surprised by how light this container was.

Poppi Cream Soda

Poppi Cream Soda can

I’ve been wanting to try this for about a year now, since it debuted as a limited-edition flavor late last year. I finally got my hands on one because it’s now a permanent flavor. Apparently, this was the best-selling Poppi flavor when it was first available. Perhaps that explains why I couldn’t find it.

But now I’ve experienced it, and it smells better than it tastes. Its aroma is similar to cream sodas from A&W and Jones, so you might think it tastes like them. However, its flavor still has that “Poppi-ness” from the apple cider vinegar that all of the brand’s sodas have, which is what I expected. However, it is significantly more pleasing than Olipop’s Cream Soda, and it’s great tasting for a prebiotic soda. I taste why this became a permanent flavor, and it’s definitely one of my favorites.

Liquid Death Cherry Obituary Sparkling Water

Liquid Death Cherry Obituary Sparkling Water can

I’ve never had a Liquid Death before. I thought it would taste disappointing, like all the other flavored sparkling waters I’ve had from Bubly and La Croix, which have flavors that I’d call ghostly and not pleasing to my palate.

But I thought I’d give Liquid Death a try. So I asked the internet what Liquid Death flavor I should taste first. Many of the responses were for Severed Lime, so I had my mind set to obtain one…eventually. However, my neighbors trashed all those plans by handing me this can of Liquid Death Cherry Obituary.

After drinking it, I have to wonder why the other sparkling water brands have such weak flavors, while this has just the right amount of pleasing cherry flavor. It’s surprisingly great. But then I dug deeper and learned that Liquid Death sparkling water flavors contain sweeteners, while the other brands don’t. This Liquid Death has broken my stereotype of what sparkling water is, and now I’m going to find a can of Severed Lime.

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REVIEW: Chips Ahoy Chewy Cookie Butter Inspired Cookies

Chips Ahoy Chewy Cookie Butter Inspired Cookies package

What inspires you?

Your family? Money? The prospect of a long and fruitful life?

Boring! How cliché!

Chips Ahoy! has the right idea when it comes to inspiration because they’re only inspired by one thing this holiday season – Cookie Butter!

Some twenty years after the advent of pulverized Speculoos cookie spread, Chips Ahoy! is finally dipping its chips into the world of cookie butter with its new Chewy Chips Ahoy! Cookie Butter (Inspired.)

If you’re wondering what “Speculoos” means, it’s a portmanteau of the words “speculation” and “looky-loo.” Perhaps it’s best you stop being so nosy, you speculoos.

Actually, speculoos are thin spiced Belgian wafers and the centerpiece of cookie butter. I apologize for calling you nosy.

… but speaking of nosy – these Chips Ahoy! smell incredible!

Chips Ahoy Chewy Cookie Butter Inspired Cookies package peeled back

I’ll be honest, Chips Ahoy! Cookies are a mixed bag for me, so I was a bit of a speculoo myself when I saw the folks at Mondelez tackling this flavor profile. The aroma instantly sold me. They smell like 25% gingerbread and 75% fresh pancakes. I’ve been huffing the sleeve for days. It’s getting weird.

Taste begins at your schnoz, right? Surely these scent-sations must taste amazing?

They taste pretty good, but dare I say uninspired?

It’s a nice random sweet cookie, but severely lacking cookie butter flavor.

Top view of Chips Ahoy Chewy Cookie Butter Inspired Cookies

I’m sure you’re all familiar with Biscoff cookies and know what they taste like. They have what I just call a “winter spice” flavor. It’s that concoction of every spice in your Lazy Susan – cinnamon, clove, cardamom, nutmeg, etc. Maybe not all, but you know what I’m saying. They’re delicious. I’m a big fan.

Chips Ahoy Chewy Cookie Butter Inspired Cookies middle

These Chips Ahoy! are tasty but… lack taste. They’re at most about 20% “cookie butter.” They don’t claim to use Biscoff or any cookie similar, but they don’t taste like ‘em anyway. They’re inspired by cookie butter in the same way this review I’m “writing” is technically inspired by the collective works of Bill Shakespeare.

Chips Ahoy Chewy Cookie Butter Inspired Cookies split

The fatal flaw here is in the namesake – the ahoy… no, wait, the chips. Cookie Butter flavored cookies shouldn’t have chips, especially chips that are inexplicably white chocolate, I think? White chocolate inspired at least.

The white chips taste fine, but they’re unnecessary. There is a layer of inspiration in the middle of the cookie that has a little bit of a “gingerbready” flavor when isolated, but it’s no match for the overpowering chips. I guess you just can’t be Chips Ahoy! without chips, but then why do the white chips?

It’s weird — these don’t taste like they should, or like anything, really, and I still like them.

Chips Ahoy Chewy Cookie Butter Inspired Cookies recipes

The best I can tell you is that the “holiday spice” flavor is there, but extremely muted. No one on Earth would ever guess “cookie butter” in a blind taste test. They’d probably say, “uhhh, cookie. Cookie flavor? It tastes like a cookie.” Did Chips Ahoy! just think cookie butter tasted like generic cookie?

There just wasn’t nearly enough inspiration with this flavor. The speculoos over at Chips Ahoy! should’ve probably just stuck to what they know. That said, it’s still a good cookie-tasting cookie.

Purchased Price: $4.97

Size: 9.9 oz

Purchased at: Walmart

Rating: 6 out of 10

Nutrition Facts: (2 Cookies) 140 calories, 7 grams of fat, 3.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 115 milligrams of sodium, 21 grams of total carbohydrates, 12 grams of sugar, 0 grams of dietary fiber, and 1 gram of protein.

REVIEW: Monster Ultra Wild Passion Energy Drink

Monster Ultra Wild Passion Energy Drink can

To make my five-year-old son feel like he has some control in my life, I let him pick which Monster Ultra Energy Drink flavor I’ll drink to give me the energy to play with him for the rest of the day.

He can’t read most of the names yet, but he can easily point out colors, so he tells me which Monster Ultra to choose by pointing to the color. Take that, Cocomelon! If you’re unfamiliar with the Monster Ultra lineup, they come in different cans that span the color spectrum in a Kindergarten class. But now there are two purple cans: Ultra Violet and the new Ultra Wild Passion Energy Drink.

Granted, Ultra Violet is a dark purple can, while Ultra Wild Passion is a light purple can, and my son knows the difference between light and dark. When daddy doesn’t have caffeine, he’s Dark Tired Daddy, and when he does, he’s Light Awake Daddy.

Monster Ultra Wild Passion Energy Drink in measuring cup

While there’s a flavor difference between the two purple Monster Ultra Energy Drinks, after drinking Ultra Wild Passion, I can’t help but think it tastes oddly similar to another in the Monster Ultra Rainbow — the Monster Ultra in the white can. The energy drink company describes Wild Passion’s flavor profile as “passionfruit with citrus,” while the white one is “light refreshing citrus.”

I’m very familiar with Ultra White because my kid has chosen it for me many times, and it’s a default when my body goes into decision paralysis and can’t make up my mind between the gazillion flavors. The two energy drinks aren’t identical taste twins; I think Wild Passion is slightly more tart and fruitier, while the White one is a bit sweeter. But from the moment I took a sip, I realized the newest flavor might be just a slight tweak of one of the oldest.

Does it bother me that they taste similar? Not anywhere as close as it bothers my son that he absolutely can’t have any of the energy drink he picked. Since Ultra White is one of my most consumed flavors, I don’t mind a slightly tweaked tasting version. Besides, since there are now two purple Monster Ultra flavors, I can teach my son the difference between violet and lilac the next time we play Choose the Caffeine.

Who’s the teacher now, Cocomelon!

Purchased Price: $2.69
Size: 16 fl oz can
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 can) 0 calories, 0 grams of fat, 400 milligrams of sodium, 6 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of sugar, 2 grams of erythritol, 0 grams of protein, and 150 milligrams of caffeine.

REVIEW: Taco Bell Mountain Dew Baja Blast Pie

Taco Bell Mountain Dew Baja Blast Pie box

Fast food really isn’t about food. Really, it’s more like an edible form of pop culture. And nothing demonstrates that more than the existence of the co-branded Taco Bell Mountain Dew Baja Blast Pie.

It’s a 2,500-calorie-plus novelty dessert that nearly tips the scales at two pounds when it’s still in the box. It’s not really marketed as something you eat as much as it is an experience. That’s doubly reinforced by its steep $20 asking price; there may not be a vast market for something like this, but there’s definitely some kind of consumer demand for it. (Just so you know, I could still hear my local TB representative through the drive-thru speaker after I placed my order: “Hey, some [expletive deleted] is actually buying one of these things!”)

Taco Bell Mountain Dew Baja Blast Pie top

I’ve got a feeling people are going to pick these up just for the packaging alone. And to be fair, it is pretty cool looking. I can easily see the boxes fetching a pretty penny on eBay in about ten years.

But what about the pie itself? Well, all in all … it isn’t bad.

Taco Bell Mountain Dew Baja Blast Pie teal color

Probably the first thing you’ll notice about the pie is its rich teal color. It’s not quite the same color as the beverage it’s named after, but it’s pretty close to it. The instructions on the box suggest leaving the pie out to thaw for about four hours, with the explicit recommendation that you don’t microwave it. I can’t think of a reason why you physically couldn’t put it in an oven and bake it, though — but just to play it safe, I took Taco Bell’s advice and patiently waited for my pie to unfreeze itself.

The aroma of the pie is unmistakable. It’s Baja Blast scented, alright, with just a little sherbet ice cream smell in there. Even if you had no idea what the product was supposed to be, if you get a big whiff of it, you should automatically deduce that it’s a Mountain Dew derivative.

The pie has a nice, sturdy Graham cracker crust, with a couple of flourishes of whipped topping encircling it like a halo. It’s obviously not a rush job either, as somebody definitely took their time making the creamy border look as pretty as possible. Aesthetically, it’s a lot nicer than I anticipated.

Taco Bell Mountain Dew Baja Blast Pie slice

Now, the moment of truth: the taste test.

It’s a fairly unusual product, but I guess we all knew that heading into it. With the first couple of bites, all I got was a super tart, key lime pie flavor. But the more I chewed, the more the Baja Blast flavor made itself apparent. Granted, it’s not a perfect one-to-one replication of the Baja Blast taste, but it’s an impressive recreation all the same. The texture and mouthfeel of the pie filling kinda reminded me of a thick sorbet, or maybe an extra chewy gelato. And it syncs up shockingly well with the aforementioned crust and whipped topping. The co-branding gimmick aside, it actually IS a real pie, and a surprisingly pleasant one at that.

Objectively, you can’t tout the pie too much. It’s way too pricey even for a novelty product, and I probably wouldn’t want to eat one of these every week. But overall, I’d consider it an unexpectedly decent fast food dessert item — even if it does open the floodgates for an inevitable wave of cola-flavored comestible imitators.

Purchased Price: $19.99
Size: 30.4 ounces
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: One serving (eight servings per container) — 320 calories, 13 grams of total fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans far, 15 mg of cholesterol, 200 mg of sodium, 46 grams of total carbohydrates, 2 grams of dietary fiber, 32 grams of sugar (including 26 grams of added sugar), and 5 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Mr Pibb Zero Sugar (2025)

Mr Pibb Zero Sugar (2025) 20 ounce bottle

Although Mr. Pibb originally debuted in the mid-70s as Coca-Cola’s answer to a Dr Pepper-dominated market, it’s always felt newer than that. As a child growing up in the 90s, I could have sworn it came out during that time, part of the same era as 1997’s now-nostalgia-bait classic Surge. But maybe Coca-Cola just ran really aggressive ads targeting youth at the time that made Pibb seem cool, new, and fresh — like Surge. In any case, it went away in 2001, became Pibb Xtra, and outside of Coca-Cola Freestyle machines, I pretty much never saw it in California, especially the Zero Sugar variety.

Now, at the end of 2025, Coca-Cola is no doubt preying on that millennial nostalgia, bringing Mr. Pibb back into rotation with regular and zero-sugar varieties. The new Pibb is catapulting onto the soda scene with 30% more caffeine and a “bolder, spicy cherry flavor.” I know Coca-Cola has a lot of faith in this comeback because I have never seen Pibb Xtra at my local grocery store, and this popped up within a day of its announcement online, and the nostalgia baiting worked.

I have always loved Dr Pepper, and before the zero-sugar sodas took the crown, Diet Dr Pepper was always one of the most faithful and impressive calorie-free sodas on the market. I was a Dr. Pepper boy but grew up in a Coca-Cola household, so Pibb has a special spot in my heart, even if it was an imitator of something quintessentially Texan dating back to the early 1900s. And I must say, this new Pibb is incredible.

Mr Pibb Zero Sugar (2025) bubbles

2025’s Mr. Pibb definitely has a sharper cherry flavor than what I remember of the old recipe (and had from the AMC freestyle machine last week), but not as forward as the Cherry Dr Pepper you can get on shelves today. Mr. Pibb is smooth and profoundly sweet with a nice peppery bite in the finish that leaves a pleasant, slight creaminess and invites you to drink more. When it comes to the boosted caffeine, this 20-ounce bottle has 90 milligrams, whereas Coca-Cola has 57, Diet Coke has 78, and the staple champion of high-caffeine sodas, Mountain Dew, has 91. It’s safe to say this reformulated Pibb brings a legitimate extra boost for the caffeine crowd.

Mr Pibb Zero Sugar (2025) in a glass

Caffeine content aside, from a flavor and enjoyment standpoint, it is fantastic. I will go so far as to say this is one of the greatest, most faithful, and refreshing zero-sugar renditions of a soda that has ever been created. It is up there with A&W Zero Sugar Root Beer, Dr. Pepper Zero, and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar for one of the most satisfying calorie-free drinks money can buy, and it might even be my new favorite. I drank three bottles in preparation for this review to make sure I wasn’t drunk on nostalgia, and I can confirm, the new Mr. Pibb delivers resoundingly.

Purchased Price: $2.29
Size: 20 fl oz bottle
Purchased at: Safeway
Rating: 10 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 bottle, 20 ounces) 0 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 60 milligrams of sodium, 0 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 0 grams of total sugars, and 0 grams of protein.

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