Ripe Craft Juice: Cranberry - Unsweetened

Two of the initial three varieties of Ripe Craft Juice are cranberry offerings (and all of the products use fruit from Ocean Spray). This variety, which is 100% juice and contains no sweetener, is the pure unadulterated form. It’s extremely tart and slightly dry tasting, so it takes a little bit of getting used to. But unlike pasteurized unsweetened cranberry juices that we’ve sampled, this one is light in body and actually tastes somewhat refreshing as you make your way through it. That said, it’s a pretty nice showcase of how flavor is different when a product is HPP versus pasteurized. Still, it’s somewhat hard to imagine just how many people will come to a product like this for everyday or even frequent consumption. Furthermore, we think that most consumers will be surprised to find that the product has 160 calories (more than the sugar sweetened variety) and 21g of sugar. Like the other Ripe Craft Juices, this one uses a 12 oz. bottle that is tapered and slightly wider at the bottom. This, combined with the product’s use of a white label, make it visually stand out from other products in the category. It’s intuitive as to what the product is, although we do feel as though there’s too much text on the front of the bottle. Otherwise, this product does a nice job of presenting itself as a line extension to the Ripe bar juice line. All in all, Ripe has done a nice job of creating a unique -- albeit intense -- cranberry experience that is unlike anything else currently out there.