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.
Anthony’s Rating: 5
User’s Rating: 1
# of ratings:1
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| Type: | Diet Sarsaparilla | Comes In: | 10oz glass bottle |
| Available: | NY, online | Obtained in: | mailorder from Rocket Fizz |
| Head: | Tiny | Sweetener: | aspartame (NutraSweet) |
| Caffeine: | No | ||
| Website: | http://www.manhattanspecial.com | ||
Ingredients: carbonated water, natural flavor, caramel color, citric acid, aspartame, preserved with sodium benzoate
Hey, Anthony! Funny that you reviewed this because I just mentioned Manhattan Special Sarsaparilla yesterday to a colleague (I know you don’t like it but I think it’s wonderful, as are all of the non-coffee MS sodas). It’s too bad this one turned out to be a dud but are you surprised? It’s diet soda, after all. :O~
(I call that a “vomiticon.”)
I see that you have Chico Soda Works on your wish list. Me too–I believe it’s brewed with yeast for natural carbonation. Why don’t the breweries pick up on this?