Tonight I made my usually weekly Kroger run to see if Vault was in yet... nope!

But I looked at some other stuff there...

I noticed that the store brand, Big K, has made huge improvements in their line of soft drinks. They now have analogs of Coke, Sprite, Mt Dew, Dr Pepper, Vanilla Coke, C2, Hawaiian Punch, and even Red Cream!

I was wondering if anyone has tried them, since the generics tend to taste different from the big brands.

I'm especially interested in the Red Cream. The only reason I didn't get it was because it was a monstrous 3 liter bottle, and I had already just spent 20 dollars on dnL, Cheerwine, Sun Drop, and glass bottle Orange Crush. I'm just about to finish my last can of Barq's Red Cream that I ordered from Bryan the SodaFinder, and I love it, so it'd be great if Big K Red Cream is comparable.

Has anyone test driven these sodas?

Snapple...
Big K Red Cream Soda tastes VERY CLOSE to Big Red. I can't get Big Red in my area at all. The closest Kroger to me is 30 miles away. I still go to that store just to get the cream soda.
Big K Root Beer is very good too. It's not like Barq's or Mug. It's not draft either. I think Kroger just took their own take on this one.
One that I haven't tried but want to is Drop Red (their version of MD Code Red). The only thing that's stopping me is that it's only available in 12pk cans where my stores are.

Hope this helps!

P.S. Where is there a Kroger in D.C.? I would have loved to go into it if I knew there was one there! The only grocery store I saw in D.C. was Giant.

I'm actually in Virginia right now, and there are several Krogers. I haven't seen any of them in DC, only Safeways.

I remember seeing the Drop Red too. Big K is really going all out. I also remember seeing a cherry soda(it could have been Drop Red, I don't remember). It may even be a Cheerwine copy.

Big Red isn't sold here either. I might pick some of the Big K Red Cream up too, albeit that the 3-liter bottle will go flat before I can finish it.

I just picked up a 2 liter of Big K Red Cream at a Smith's in Reno. I'll tell you later how it is.

The Drop Red is very good. I picked up 8 twelve packs in Phoenix thinking it was a straight cherry soda. ( The lable says, "Cherry blasted soda.") When I got them back to California I realized it was just a generic version of Code Red MD. I was a little upset, but I must say I've enjoyed them a lot. I think it's better than Code Red, with a much more distinct Cherry taste.

My favorite Big K soda is by far and away Citrus Drop. I made sure to bring home plenty of cases. Also the grape is good and the Big K Peach is wonderful, only I could just find it in 2 liter bottles.

I think I like the Big K Red Cream better than Barq's Red Cream.

Thanks for all the input, guys.

I guess I'm going to have to go buy even more soda this weekend.

"Shucks."


SEV

Originally posted by SnappleElementsVenom:
I also remember seeing a cherry soda(it could have been Drop Red, I don't remember). It may even be a Cheerwine copy.

There is no store brand knock-off of Cheerwine. We've got something like 40 different flavors of soda, but not a Cheerwine drink.

I've worked for Kroger for longer than I'm prepared to admit, and I just can't bring myself to consume any Kroger brand product. If the plant making the product is run as incompetently as my store is, I wouldn't trust it in a million years. I've only gotten enough nerve to try a handful of Big K drinks over the years, like their Lime soda (not that great), Vanilla Cola (fairly decent) and their Dr. K soda (also not that great).

One thing I've got to say about Big K sodas, there's plenty of variety. Like I said, they've got 40 or so different flavors, depending on whether they're trying something new or discontinuing something else. Years back, they were test marketing Texas Tea and lemonade in 2-liters in our area, but they didn't sell well. And we've got hispanic themed sodas here, like Mango and Lime (now discontinued). They also had Tamarind for awhile, but that one died off years ago.

I suggest trying their Big K vending machines at the front of the store instead of getting 12-packs. You don't want to buy a 12-pack of Drop Red only to find out that it's not all that good. There's usually a decent variety of flavors in the vending machines (that is, if the employees maintain tha machines).

Originally posted by Shatter:

I suggest trying their Big K vending machines at the front of the store instead of getting 12-packs. You don't want to buy a 12-pack of Drop Red only to find out that it's not all that good. There's usually a decent variety of flavors in the vending machines (that is, if the employees maintain tha machines). [/QB]

Great advice, thank you.

It's nice to hear the down-low from the inside.


SEV

I tried Big K's Red Cream this weekend, and it's very good, although it has an almost sour aftertaste.

But considering that Faygo's Redpop is the only thing around here that comes remotely close to a Red Cream soda, this stuff is gonna hafta do the trick for me.

But, this ridiculous 3 liter bottle is staring me in the face. It's the only size they sell this stuff in around here. There's no way that I'll finish this before it goes flat... [img]redface.gif[/img]