A group of eight of us at work held a Orange Soda Taste Test. We sampled 2 oz. servings of ten different orange sodas:

Orange Crush
Sunkist
Tropicana Twister
Fanta
Boylan Bottleworks
Stewart’s Orange & Creme
Aranciata
Barillitos (Tangerine)
Safeway Select
Orangette (Sam’s Club)

After the tasting, we each ranked out top 3 and bottom 3. There were two runaway winners for best, with Orange Crush coming out on top on 7 of 8 ballots with 4 #1 rankings, followed by Sunkist (7 of 8 with 1 #1) and Tropicana Twister (4 of 8 with 1 #1). Boylan and Stewart's each got one ballot with one first place ranking).

There was also a runaway winner for worst, with Sam’s Club Orangette coming in on every single bottom 3 ballot and with six last place votes. No surprise, since it was so dreadful (actually, when drunk seperately, I've found it halfway decent, but up against the others it's flaws shone through). In fact, one has to wonder what the two people who didn’t vote it last were thinking. They chose Aranciata, which admittedly is an acquired taste and came in next to last, followed by Safeway Select.

Next up this week: Colas. We are doing it as a blind taste test and have:

KP Coke
Coke Classic
Pepsi
RC
Jolt
Cricket
Soho
Shasta
Boylan

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\"With thousands of sodas available for the choosing, why drink just one or two?\"

No Nehi?


How about Red Rock cola.

Orange Crush is mighty tasty, if hard to come by in these parts.

It's a shame that Minute Maid Valencia Orange was such a short lived product, that was easily one of the best orange sodas around.

We wanted to keep it to sodas we could obtain locally without having to have them shipped in. Orange and Grape Nehi are two "hard finds" here in Central Maryland. I'll rarely see them (but never Nehi Peach) in some larger c-stores while traveling on the Eastern Shore or Western MD. I've never seen Red Rock cola here in MD.

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\"With thousands of sodas available for the choosing, why drink just one or two?\"

Every fareway (over 80 stores) in Iowa carries Orange Crush.

If you want to drive to VA, there is a distributor that services the north Shenandoah valley. Blue Ridge Beverages buys Nehi from IBC in Charlotte. I have seen cans and 20oz near Staunton and Harrisonburg, but it's been a couple of years.

Their Waynesboro VA warehouse is (540) 941-3730.

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90 years of Cheer...1917-2007

They sold all their soda rights to Dr Pepper of Staunton when they merged with Dod Distributing.They discontinued Nehi because they already sell Sunkist and Welch's.

Really? My girlfriend will be pleased to hear this. We were resigned to get Crush when we visited friends in WI.

I've had Orange Crush before and wasn't a big fan, but I'm willing to give it another shot. Although for the most part I don't bother with non-caffeinated soda. If I'm going to have pop, it's gotta have some bang...

-HM

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\"I see a Hollow Man, gun in hand, it points my way.\" - The Cult<br /><a href=\"http://band-chat.blogspot.com/\" target=\"_blank\">Band Chat</a>

Fanta!
I was surprised to read it wasn't at the bottom of the list. I take issue with Fanta, and not just their orange.. the last time I was so quick to reject a beverage based just on my own taste was when we tried Ski. Yikes!