Enchilada Soda

 

 It’s a special one! RtW original Eddie is back with Brian & we’re sipping on enchiladas! "¡Ay, caramba!" Mexican food in soda form? We’ve done bacon, buffalo wing, and peanut butter & jelly sodas – but this is arguably the most bizarre yet! Don’t fill up on the chips & salsa .. we’re donning sombreros & skipping straight to the entrée tonight!

Jones Sugar Cookie Soda

A beautifully blue-hued soda pop flavored after those frosting-topped cookies found at all office parties and family reunions is the latest drinkable diversion by the fine folks at Jones! Watch and marvel as the guys get their sugar cookie sip on

Purple Reign - Screw’s Southern Soda

The epic conclusion to the Screw's Southern Soda review series!!! We bid adieu to Brian's old apartment with a bubbly blowout as Prince yelps in his grave as Purple Reign reigns supreme in our cups and hearts. We say so long to "chopped & screwed" sodas with a cherubic chug and a special bonus as we add some "spirits" to this Purple DRANK and we ain't talking specters, ya feel!? Tip back some lavender liquid and share it with all your homeboys -- it's time to end this odyssey and wish a final RIP to DJ Screw!

Screw Blue Cream - Screw’s Southern Soda

Here we go with the third in our series of Screw's Southern Soda reviews! The boys are back for another "chopped & screwed" Relaxation DRANK! This time we sip Screw Blue Cream, a turquoise cream soda meant for max relax makes DJ D, Nick, Brian, and Eddie rethink their careers as taste-making trendsetters as Papa Smurf drops a bubbly blue bomb on our domes!

Ridin' Red Cream - Screw’s Southern Soda

 

We're back with the next in our series of Screw's Southern Soda reviews! These "chopped & screwed" Relaxation DRANKs are one of the more bizarre things we've imbibed on RtW! This time we try Ridin' Red Cream a ruby cream soda that's supposed to help you get your chill on! Join Eddie, Nick, DJ D, and Brian on this cruise through the sugar cane sweet sea of "slow down" soda!

Hella Yella - Screw’s Southern Soda

The first in a series of reviews on Screw's Southern Soda! A "Relaxation DRANK" inspired by the chopped & screwed genre of music pioneered by DJ Screw. We start off hot & heavy with HELLA YELLA a pineapple soda - does it get us hyped or chill? A crossover event the likes of Marvel vs. DC as Brian brings together RtW All-Stars Eddie & Nick with Carolina goth celeb DJ D to have some dranks!

Cookies 'N Cream Bites Soda

 

RtW Brian is joined by the whole fam to deliver our impressions on Cookies 'N Cream Bites Soda! An ice cream flavor transformed into a candy then adapted into a soft drink? Bottoms up to better days!

Sunkist Strawberry Lemonade Soda

From what feels like a relic of a bygone era of junk food Sunkist has unveiled unquestionably the first pink lemonade soda! Brian is joined by Eddie as they tackle this vibrant brew in a snowcapped alleyway opining on its taste, scent, and color, as well as the larger concept of pink lemonade itself! Join us for a bubbly brouhaha as mix together strawberries, lemons, and effervescent oratory!

*NOTE – We’re aware the last 30 seconds accidentally got cut off. We had a technical error that prevented us from using the first take and then the 2nd one got prematurely cut off. Eddie compared the scent to lip balm, said the flavor was “indescribable and very good”, and said he’d pick another bottle up on the way home if he could find one!

Mountain Dew Holiday Brew

I first came across this merry and mirthful beverage just yesterday while taking my daughter to get some Pokémon cards. I scanned the label with a speed not unlike Yuga Khan and was disappointed to see it wasn’t an entirely new recipe but instead a hybrid of two preexisting Dew flavors. I was hoping for a tart berry or splash of cinnamon. I’d dreamt of Linda Cardellini but woke up to Linda McMahon.

Now this isn’t the first time I’ve tackled seasonal beverages on RtW. In fact they’ve become all the rage in recent years. Going way back I’ve investigated the mysterious Fred Claus Icee and would be remiss not to tip my hat to Pomegranate 7 Up. Labeled as the “Ultimate Holiday Blend” the Holiday Brew is a combo of Mountain Dew & Mountain Dew: Code Red. Code Red premiered in 2001 to acclaim infusing Dew with a “rush of cherry flavor”. It’s still around today and is as common in rec centers as false bravado.

You gals and guys want to know how is tastes so let me don my Clark Kent investigative apparel and report the facts. I like it. I definitely found it more palatable and pleasurable than I’d expected. Sure, I would have loved a new holiday flavor, one that we’d look back on in tearful remembrance in a decade, but this not only tastes pretty good but also somehow captures a Christmas-y zest. It’s bright and bubbly. In the last year or so I’ve switched to diet sodas (Mellow Yellow Zero is solid if you’re into citrus pops) when I do imbibe in sugary or faux-sugary drinks but I drank this guilt free.

I even gave Yukari a sip. She doesn’t drink soda normally but was curious and feeling the giving holiday spirit I couldn’t resist. It’s not a drink to chug while washing down your sandwich or after a jog, it’s designed and done best when sipping sporadically, preferably within eyeshot of old-fashioned blinking Christmas lights, a model train, or while cruising in a warm car admiring people’s holiday lights and yard decorations.

This is a welcome edition to the blossoming 2017 holiday junk food scene and gives hope that Pepsi Co. will continue experimenting with holiday-specific beverages in the future. Grab a couple soon and open one up next time you pop in Christmas Evil on Blu-ray and kick up your pajama-ensconced legs.

Elderflower Lemonade & Lemoncocco

Sat amongst donkeys and bulls and chomping on tacos RtW mastermind Brian is joined by Texas pal Toby to drink two completely randomly selected soft drinks. Elderflower Lemonade is a new floral twist on an old summertime treat and Lemoncocco an Italian favorite. Will our fearless flavor trendsetters approve of these unique beverages? Will they conduct a science experiment? Tune in and find out!

Grass & Dirt Soda

Ever mow the lawn with your mouth? Now you can theoretically do just that — or wisely don’t and just allow RtW’s brave leader Brian and his hand-selected merry band of pranksters Will and DJ D to do the dirty work! We do a taste test on Grass and Dirt flavored soda pop. So break out the pruning saw, rake, and gardening gloves and join us out in the front lawn for a swig!

Snapple Fall Spice Tea

As summer comes to an end it’s time for us all to start embracing and celebrating all the things that make Fall time wonderful: pumpkin festivals, haunted hayrides, leaves changing colors, hoodie weather and non-hipster usage of beanies, turkey chompin’, and Tricks or Treats. Today on RtW we choose to celebrate by opening a vintage year-old 2015 bottle of Snapple Fall Spice Tea. What exactly is Fall Spice? Is it clove and cinnamon? Is it citrus and cranberry? Or is it that dish of potpourri atop your grandma’s toilet?

RtW Cameo: Ecto Cooler

Ghostbusters is all the buzz right now and at the forefront of this neon green nostalgic wave is the triumphant return of Ecto Cooler! A soft drink birthed in 1987 in conjunction with The Real Ghostbusters cartoon show and lasting well over a decade it's long since been the subject of online petitions and ritual sacrifices. While visiting my buddies down South we were lucky enough to land a couple cases of this nectar of the pop culture Gods.



After watching the video head on over to this article on Will's recently launched Casserole of Disaster where he gives some more background on this adventure that's got all them bloggers out there thirsty.

ONYS Seltzer Sodas: The Sequel

After our last encounter with Original New York Seltzer beverages the company itself took notice and sent us a few more sodas for our perusal and patented deep dive examinations. This time Brian and Nick hit the streets to sample Root Beer, Concord Grape, and Blueberry seltzer sodas! Enjoy!

Original New York Seltzer Sodas

Brian and Nick are back hitting the ballpark and Great Miami River to sample some bubbly bliss via five Original New York Seltzer Soda flavors! We've got Lemon & Lime, Vanilla Cream, Raspberry, Black Cherry, and Peach so grab some of your favorite snacks, find a comfortable spot, and settle in for a near half-hour exploration of ONYS offerings. Enjoy!

Planes: Fire & Rescue Foodstuffs

First off Happy New Year to all of you! I hope it’s one of the best yet for each of you. My wish is that if you come across a tiny Chinese restaurant with one of those old menus inside with faded pictures of the various entrees you’ll think of RtW.

January also marks the 11th year of Review the World proper (although technically we’ve been around since 2003 but the official dot.com didn’t materialize until 2005). Many of you probably weren’t around during the old days. Back when the site looked like it belonged on Geocities or Angelfire as I utilized a web building tool from ’97 and notebook paper and markers to breath life into this little site. I considered doing some top lists of my favorite articles and videos from over the years but alas I’ll just defer to the massive RtW archives and urge you to explore and discover for yourself a treasure trove of randomness and glee.

Today I’m going to look at two items inspired by the box office hit Planes: Fire & Rescue. And I’m not being facetious. This thing earned over $151 million tripling its budget. Ancillary items spurned from television series’ and movies can range from the common to the confounding. Before we take a patented deep dive and I deliver my hot take on some crummy merchandise let’s talk about the Planes franchise. When Planes took flight on August 9, 2013 commercially it did very well (its earnings more than quadrupling its budget at over $239 million) although critically crapping the bed registering a 26% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 

But of more interest to me was the derision its very existence received by a vocal majority online. Many people believed it to be a lame copy of Pixar’s Cars grabbing at that potential merchandise revenue. Some wrongly thought it to be a Pixar film itself (DisneyToon Studios created it). While Pixar is generally beloved by almost all it’s fair to say that Cars (and its subsequent sequel Cars 2) are the last well-received of its oeuvre. So doubling down and doing Planes was taken as an egregious sin. There seems to also be an unfair prejudice against non-Pixar animated films I’ve detected including features from DreamWorks Animation and Blue Sky Studios that I find troubling. I believe each movie should be taken on its own merit and it was with that belief in mind that I went into Planes open-minded. And while my 2 of 5 score may seem dismissive I mostly enjoyed it as evidenced in my Letterboxd review quoted here:

“While everything about the story is indubitably clichéd and plays out exactly as imagined every movie (especially in the kids genre) doesn't need to reinvent the wheel. It looked gorgeous (I watched it on a big screen plasma TV on Blu-ray) and found it entertaining and diverting enough to be a harmless joyride.” 

Unfortunately its sequel Planes: Fire & Rescue fell flat for me. From the first time I saw its heavy-handed trailer bathed in a sappy, cringe-inducing pop song it left behind what little fun was to be had in the original substituting in its place an eco-disaster story and call for heroism. The movie itself didn’t alleviate those initial feels being a resounding dud.

While at Big Lots (remember when it was called Odd Lots?) I came across not one but two outdated product spin-offs from this lousy film. A drinkable and an edible. While fear of fire was not a concern I worried a rescue may be a serious consideration if I were to undergo this sampling. Combined the two items cost me a measly $1.50. Disappointingly I can’t add that as a tax write-off on my upcoming W2.

Up first the “Planes Shaped Gummies”. No variety to speak of as each gummy is crudely shaped like protagonist Dusty Crophopper. I was immediately irked to not hear the cries of Dane Cook with each bite. Couldn’t we have at least got Cedric the Entertainer’s Leadbottom? Each box comes with three individually wrapped packages. Not all packages are created equal. Can you imagine someone futzing around with these during a more somber, serious films like 12 Years a Slave? “Excuse me, sir, I’m trying to watch this picture. What on Earth are you doing back there? Wait . . is that, oh . . are those . . Fire & Rescue gummies? Get the hell out of here you deplorable scourge!” Green Apple and Strawberry were equally loathsome. Orange, while also stale and an affront, had a flavor I can’t point to a direct comparison to but somehow reminded me of late-’80’s orange candy in a generic sense. Soon after I poured these onto some loose tree bark and sent them down a stream behind my house ablaze in a homemade funeral pyre (similar to that time they killed Splinter).

Then I had to wash it down with some “Watermelon Flavored Coconut Water”. They also had Original flavor but let’s not kid ourselves. My knowledge of coconut water is fairly limited besides seeing some UFC fighters gulp it down immediately after weighing in at pre-fight weigh-ins to rehydrate. I couldn’t find an expiration date on the little bottle but considering the movie was released a year ago I can assume its freshness was questionable. I was a little trepidatious as if I’d just been hit with Cravex’s Power of Fear staff (+20 bonus points if you get that reference). This tasted like the distilled saliva of a llama stirred with fetid watermelon guts and a hint of Carl Shrub. In conclusion I think I’d rather watch that 84 minute atrocity again then ever taste either of these foodstuffs. To think this might be one of Hal Holbrook’s final screen credits is as embarrassing as Gene Hackman retiring after Welcome to Mooseport.

A&W Root Beer Candy Twists

Last year we looked at Dr. Pepper Candy Twists and adored those and as avid root beer fans we figured why not try the A&W variety? Join Nick and Brian on a pretty day at Huffman Park where we eat candy and try to feed the wildlife soluble carbohydrates. Enjoy!

RtW Cameo: Monster Sodas

Last month I went to North Carolina and spoiler alert: it was a blast. I crashed the offices of VeggieMacabre and over a weekend that saw us crush some BBQ and hush puppies, fancy Italian dining, and lots and lots of junk food, we also made time to shoot some videos! Here's the first of my cameos on Will's Halloween Hell Show! Hope you love it!

Kool-Aid Great Bluedini

Do you remember the fun and fabulous "mascot" flavors of Kool-Aid from the '90's? We sure do! Yes, guitar-playing crocodiles and magician octopuses shilled their fantastic fruit flavors and we giddily drank them up! And now, bless them, Kool-Aid has brought back a big chunk of our childhoods in limited release bringing back all 5 mascot flavors! Watch as we wax nostalgic on these drinkable gems and do a live review of Great Bluedini's blue brew!

Kiss Grapefruit Soda

Growing up I absolutely loved when my Dad would cut up a grapefruit, sprinkle some sugar on top, and we'd dig right in! Now I get to try grapefruit in soda form thanks to my pal Toby from Texas as we're joined by his kids right outside downtown to sample this bubbly brew. So come and watch and let RtW give you a big wet Kiss!