Bonus Video

Not really my thing but...

"Sweet like a chic-a-cherry cola..."

Savage Garden - I Want You

Oh 1997, what have you wrought!!!

Best New Products

I love seeing what's new in the world of drinks (especially diet ones), even if I stick to old favorites like Diet Pepsi, Diet Coke, and Diet Dr Pepper. The very cool web site BevNet announced the winners of their Best New Products of 2007 awards. Honestly, even though I try to keep up with new products and trends, I have never heard of most of these. I have started to see Steaz Energy drink at a few independent coffee shops recently, but haven't had the chance to try it yet.

Both big and small companies had representatives among the winners. "The winner of the Best Packaging Innovation award, NOS, is owned by the Coca-Cola Co. and Mark Hall, the president of energy drink giant Monster, was named Beverage Executive of the Year. But freshman efforts like the kids’ bottled water, bot (Best Children’s Product), and fast-growing Yerba Mate tea company, Bombilla & Gourd (Best Non-Carbonated Product), also produced award-winning drinks."

So it looks like 2007 was a great year for beverages. I think the trend I liked was the proliferation of diet cherry colas that I talked about here. What new products would you like to see in 2008?

Lentils!?!?!

Recently I put up a post about the upswing in diet cherry cola varieties available. I love diet cherry colas, but I would never think to use them quite like this.

Thankfully for all of us, Bob Jarecki of Davis, CA submitted my new favorite recipe to the fine folks at The Coca-Cola Company. Are you ready for it? Diet Cherry Coke® Lentils! Read that again. It's like the marriage of chocolate and peanut butter. Two great tastes that go great together.

Anyone willing to give this a try?

1 pound lentils
6 to 8 cups water
2 cups diced ham
1 medium onion, finely chopped
12 oz. Diet Cherry Coke

Wash and sort lentils.
Cover with water. Bring to a boil and reduce. Heat to a simmer.
Add ham and onion. Simmer for 40-50 minutes.
Add Diet Cherry Coke®. (This will produce a lot of foam.)
Simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes or until lentils are done.

Cherries by the Bushel

It has probably never been a better time to be a fan of diet cherry-flavored colas.

As part of a big push for the Coke Zero brand, The Coca-Cola Company introduced Coca-Cola Cherry Zero a few months back. I must say I was very impressed by the real Coke taste and the more subdued cherry flavoring. A big hit if you ask me! (Note: This is not a picture of me, just another big Coca-Cola Cherry Zero fan.)

In additional cherry news, Coke has not discontinued making Diet Coke Cherry, even with the expansion of the Zero line. In fact, I purchased a Fridge Pack of it just yesterday. The cherry flavoring is a bit stronger in the Diet Coke version, which in my opinion leads to a sweeter taste. By the way the new Diet Coke packaging aesthetic is great, I love the minimalist designs.




I'm not sure how this slipped by my radar earlier, but Diet Rite has rather recently started marketing a Cherry Cola. You'll notice from the label that this diet cherry cola is sweetened with Splenda brand sweetener. I haven't had the opportunity to sample this one yet, but if it is as good as the other flavors in the Diet Rite line, I'm sure it will be great!





And finally, not to be outdone, Diet Pepsi has updated the packaging for Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry along with the other products in the Diet Pepsi line. I'm guessing that since this cherry is "Wild" it's for the more adventurous diet cherry cola fan. :-) Check it out here.

So what do you make of the sudden popularity of diet cherry colas?