Snow Natural Soda

Photo by Snow Beverages

I was recently contacted by a rep from Snow Beverages, a small natural-beverage maker based in New York,asking if I'd be willing to review Snow Natural Soda as they stepped up distribution in my part of New England.  Since I am always looking for a decent alternative to the syrupy HFCS-laden stuff that the big bottlers make I agreed, and they sent along samples of all three Snow flavors:  Pure Cola, Cranberry Pomraz, and Lemon Lime.

Snow Natural Soda really is different than the standard big-label stuff.  It starts with the cans - taller and more slender than your average soda can - and goes on from there, with no artificial ingredients at all and a small boost of B vitamins.   All three flavors are lighter on the carbonation than most soda and, although they are sugar-sweetened, they contain less sugar than the average.  Twelve ounces of Snow Lemon-Lime Soda has 115 calories.  Twelve ounces of Mountain Dew Throwback (to compare a mass-market sugar-sweetened beverage) has 170 calories.

So, how does Snow taste?  Here's a rundown of our take on the flavors:

Pure Cola - If all the colas you've ever tasted have been the heavy brown syrupy Cokes and Pepsis of the world, you are in for quite a surprise.  Snow Pure Cola - while hanging on to the traditional deep brown cola color - is lighter in taste and a bit less fizzy.  It has a pronounced citrus note and a drier taste.  I found it very quenching and my wife Maryanne liked it as well (though she's still a Coca-Cola loyalist.)  Lynnafred, however, did not care a bit for it.  To her, the stronger citrus gave the cola an "off" flavor.

Cranberry Pomraz, on the other hand, was a universal hit.  The flavor was a delicious and well-balanced blend of cranberry, pomegranate, and raspberry.  The raspberry seemed to me to be the most pronounced of the flavors, but the other fruits gave it a tarter, fuller taste and there was just enough sugar to take the edge off.  The carbonation reminded me more of a sparkling wine than a soda pop.  All three of us thoroughly enjoyed it.

By the way, the color of the Cranberry Pomraz was so gorgeous that I had to take a picture of it.  It's amazing.  Pale, perfectly transparent cranberry red.  A treat for the eyes as well as the palate.

Lemon Lime - Perfectly clear and transparent, Snow Lemon Lime was also terrific.  The lower amount of sugar allows the bright, clean citrus taste to shine like it simply can't in a heavy corn-sweetened drink and the light fizz was very close to that of a traditional European lemonade. To Maryanne and I, the drink was a pleasant reminder of the locally-bottled "half-and-half" lemon/lime sodas that we used to get as a kid.

So - Is Snow Natural Soda for you?  Well, if you're looking for a very high-quality all-natural beverage that won't make you belch like a fat dog, you might want to give it a try.  We thought it was pretty aces.


Hey!  It's Another Cool Giveaway!

Do you want to try some Snow Natural Beverages for half price?  I've got some buy-one-get-one-free coupons for Snow that I'd like to send you.

The first SIX readers to send an email to me will recieve TWO buy-one-get-one-free coupons for your choice of Snow soda.  Send your emails to:

daves.cupboard [at] gmail [dot] com

The subject of your email should be SNOW, and the body of your email must include your name and mailing address.  Your personal information will not be retained after the coupons are mailed.  This blog post will be edited announcing the closing of the giveaway sometime after all the coupons are spoken for.
.