12 of the workplace soda-tasting crew tried 13 different black, red and blended cherry sodas on Friday. When the dust settled and the "cough syrup" complaints died away the winner was IBC, followed by Boylan and Cheerwine. Worst went to Flathead Lake, followed by Hank’s and Rock Creek. Seven of us voted a black cherry soda best, five voted for a cherry-flavored blend, and none of us judged a red cherry soda to be the best:

BEST:

BRAND TOP 3 NO. 1 SCORE
IBC 8 2 10
BOYLAN 5 2 7
CHEERWINE 5 1 6
DEERFIELD 3 2 5
SUBURBAN CLUB 4 0 4
CHERRY DR PEPPER 2 2 4
FROSTIE CH/LIME 3 1 4
CHER/LEM SUN DROP 2 1 3
DR BROWN'S 1 1 2
FLATHEAD LAKE 2 0 2
HANK'S 1 0 1
ROCK CREEK 0 0 0
CHERRY 7UP 0 0 0

TOTAL 36 12 48

WORST:

BRAND BOTTOM 3 NO. 13 SCORE
FLATHEAD LAKE 7 4 11
HANK'S 6 2 8
ROCK CREEK 5 1 6
DR BROWN'S 3 2 5
CHERRY 7UP 4 1 5
DEERFIELD 3 1 4
CHEERWINE 3 1 4
IBC 1 0 1
BOYLAN 1 0 1
SUBURBAN CLUB 1 0 1
CHERRY DR PEPPER 1 0 1
CHER/LEM SUN DROP 1 0 1
FROSTIE CH/LIME 0 0 0

TOTAL 36 12 48

Which is a Red Cherry soda? Is that more of a tart flavor like the wonderful Montmorency cherries used for pies?

My personal preference is Boylan's, especially the Natural variety.

No Cherry Colas included? I can take a yawn on Coke and Pepsi, but Cherry RC I think should have been included.
-Andy

Except that Cherry RC is impossible to find anywhere remotely near this area. I can't even remember where I saw it last. It used to be in southern VA, but when Piedmont Cheerwine bought out that distributor, they dropped it.

We drank a lot of Rock Creek Cherry Smash growing up. It was one of the cheapest sodas around, and still a bargain at 99¢ for a 2L (prepriced).

Originally Posted by Wally1912

Which is a Red Cherry soda? Is that more of a tart flavor like the wonderful Montmorency cherries used for pies?

My personal preference is Boylan's, especially the Natural variety.

We considered Suburban Almond Smash, Rock Creek Cherry Smash and Flathead Lake Sour Cherry to be "red cherry" sodas. All (besides being bright red in color) have a tarter flavor than the black cherry sodas we tried.

Originally Posted by fusion

Except that Cherry RC is impossible to find anywhere remotely near this area. I can't even remember where I saw it last. It used to be in southern VA, but when Piedmont Cheerwine bought out that distributor, they dropped it.

We drank a lot of Rock Creek Cherry Smash growing up. It was one of the cheapest sodas around, and still a bargain at 99¢ for a 2L (prepriced).

Unfortunate that you and treetoptom can't find Cherry RC. I can't find it here in SE Texas either. It's a great cherry soda. I agree with treetoptom's findings for the most part (of the ones I'm familiar with). IBC is excellent as is Boylan's. Treetoptom: Did you have bottled, 2 liter or canned Cheerwine?

The Cheerwine was in cans - whenever I visit my in-laws in NC I stock up and the cans have the better shelf-life. We can get fridgepacks in Northern VA now (Dale City, Warrenton etc.) but I visit NC more often than I find myself in NOVA. I do find the glass bottles around DC occasionally, but at a premium price. Cheerwine was the "love it or hate it" soda in the tasting, getting almost as many hate votes (4) as it did love votes (6).

How can this test take place without the king of cherry sodas, Cherry Crush!?!?

Originally Posted by Susan

How can this test take place without the king of cherry sodas, Cherry Crush!?!?

We had some of the oddball Detroit-bottled Crush flavors (Cherry, Fruit Punch, Pineapple) in 16 oz. glass bottles here in Maryland for about six months in 2008-2009 and then they disappeared, never to be seen again. Pineapple Crush came in 1st in our pineapple taste test, Fruit Punch came in 5th when we did them. By the time we got around to cherry sodas, Cherry Crush was long gone.