i was quite shocked when i got an email asking me if i wanted to obtain some of this soda. i assumed i had reviewed it years ago. but i had not. strangely, that night i went to Marshall’s to look for something else and of course i had to browse their food aisle as there are always yummy cookies and junk. for whatever reason, they had gotten a bunch of Maine Root beverages and also Sioux City! as the shelf was a mess, i figured maybe i could get a mixed four pack as i did not want four diet sarsaparillas. sadly though i got the head cashier or manager or something (i don’t know his level, i just know i have seen him ordering people around before) and he sent someone to the aisle to see if a full four pack could be made. of course it could and i had to get 4 diet sarsaparillas. alas.
i find it a little interesting that this is the only diet drink from Sioux City that falls under my review banner. no diet birch or diet root. i guess Sioux City has always stressed the sarsaparilla as their main product anyway. yet with only one other US made diet sarsaparilla, this is still surprising.
in the grand scheme, this is not tasty. in the diet realm, it is pretty good. i don’t get the awful diet aftertaste quite as much, but i still know it is diet. the metallic tinge is present, kind of wrecking the sarsaparilla flavor underneath it. i can taste the intended sarsaparilla undertone so i know it is there, but that fades kind of quickly so just the metal flavor is in my mouth and i go “ick”. oh well.
Ingredients:purified carbonated water, caramel color, potassium benzoate (a preservative), natural and artificial flavor, sucralose, citric acid and acesulfame k

Anthony’s Rating: 52
User’s Rating: 65
# of ratings:1
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wow, this is the FIRST american diet sarsaparilla i have reviewed in the almost 15 years of doing these reviews! that seems so strange. but then again there are not a lot of regular sarsaparillas out there so it sort of makes sense. yet the number of birch beers and sarsaparillas are pretty close and there are a bunch of diet birch beers. on the 4th hand, many birch beers are stand alone entities while most sarsaparillas are just one in a larger line of sodas made by the same company, usually including a root beer and they would be more likely to make a diet root beer as it is more recognizable. i am just guessing on all of that, but it may be true.
i really thought i would eventually find some of this in my searching in the real world as i see the full sugar version reasonably often. but i just never did so i gave up and mail ordered it.
the label is excellent. good illustration of a mug of frothy soda in front of a bunch of leaves and junk that i assume are sarsaparilla tree leaves.
it is a shame that the image is so deceiving.
oh my golly gosh green grape, this is really really horrendously bad! wow. i think it is worse than the Villa Diet Sarsaparilla even! geez. i am trying to think of how to describe the taste. for lunch today i brought a piece of leftover pizza in foil. just to see, i but off a piece of that foil. it taste very similar but better than this drink. so yeah, very metallic, very bitter. i think stagnant swamp water tastes kind of like this. if anyone in the world enjoys this i think i have found my opposite. not in a good way. now i know why i could not find this anywhere. it is evil. and i am going to put the cap back on and try to forget it ever happened. please never even open one yourself, life will be happier that way. i provide this service for you.
Ingredients:carbonated water, natural flavor, caramel color, citric acid, aspartame, preserved with sodium benzoate

Anthony’s Rating: 5
User’s Rating: 1
# of ratings:1
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so this actually does not say “sarsaparilla” anywhere on it at all, but i am well aware that regular Sarsi is indeed a sarsaparilla thus this must be too. or i think it must be, which is pretty much the same thing. i have only come across one other diet sarsaparilla and that one does not even mention it is diet, so perhaps there is some obscure regulation in the beverage world that declares the words “diet” and “sarsaparilla” cannot appear right next to each other. granted, the other one is from the UK and this one is from the Philippines which are doubt are governed by the same laws in any way. it is also a little weird that no American company makes a diet sarsaparilla.
so anyway, the regular Sarsi is in fact rather gross so my expectations for a diet version are so very low that i have put off reviewing this drink for months. but i may as well get it over with. pop the tab… it actually smells rather tasty! hhhmmm, curious indeed. a very herbal scent with a heavy licorice concentration is definitely present. wait a second, this actually tastes decent too! it just cannot be, a diet sarsaparilla from the Philippines that is not bad?! where am i and what have you done with my world?! it is not great or anything but i like it better than their regular soda which is wacko! it is quite unique tasty and that strong licorice smell is in the taste too. if i had to have a diet drink, i guess i might pick this one. if i could ever find it again, it seems quite elusive. but then again i don’t really try to find it much anyway. but if you are force to not have sugar and want a different beverage, try this one.
Ingredients:carbonated water, carmel color, sodium benzoate, natural and artificial flavors, aspartame and citric acid

Anthony’s Rating: 52
User’s Rating: 78
# of ratings:6
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ok, so this has aspertame AND saccharin for a double dose of evil, false sweeteners, plus it is an english version of an american drink, i do not have a very good vision of this pre-tasting. hhhmmm, weird. tastes like bubblegum. i think another english root beer did too, let me check… yeh, the Free root beer tasted kind of like this. if you have read that review you know how this one is going to rank. ok, so i just realized that this is made by the same people who made 330 Sarsaparilla which had the same bubblegum taste, only more so. while i very much thank Sam for sending me this, it is just terrible. granted it could be because i got it over two months ago in the mail, but i doubt age would alter the taste this much. and the date on it is 9/03 so i have some time yet, supposedly. avoid this one too please english people.
Anthony’s Rating: 11
User’s Rating: 44
# of ratings:5
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