Powerade FIFA World Cup 2026 Trio

Products circa: Summer 2026

Yet another promotion for the 2026 World Cup.

Blood Orange Kick - It took me years to understand the flavor of blood orange.  The way I describe it today is a slightly more savory version of orange, a savoriness that borders on tomato.  Anyway, this has nothing of that.  It tastes mostly like any orange sports drink, but the flavor is slightly worse.

White Grape Wave - They somehow managed to alter the artificial grape flavor to simulate a commendably realistic white grape flavor.  It's not bad, but it's an odd mix with the sports drink base.

Cold Berry Burst - A tart blue raspberry with other generic "berry" thrown in.  Not teeming with flavor, but probably just the right amount of subtlety to make it easy to chug.  However, this stuff has the "cooling" menthol-like ingredients (which the internet doesn't readily identify)

Mountain Dew Dragon Fruit & TicTac Dragon Fruit

 

Product circa: 2026

Dragon fruit/pitaya is having a moment, I guess. In my cynical opinion, it's only popular because of its appearance.  I tried the stuff fresh many many years ago, and it's sweet, but its flavor is so subtle to almost be non-existent.  I think that any processed food product claiming to be flavored with it is being disingenuous.  Further, the color of its flesh is also white/colorless, and so any colorful dragon fruit products are also just doing it for "vibes".

Dew: Anyway, while its safe to say that this Dew doesn't look or taste like a dragon fruit beverage might or should, it caught me off guard on how tasty it is.  Overall, I'm just tasting "tropical", but it works so well, and it very much reminds me of Sprite Tropical Mix.  Call this Dew Tropical Mix.

TicTac: Extremely average.  Generic fruitiness, a touch of floral, but it does end with a nice sourness as it dissolves.  

Dirty Mountain Dew

 

Product circa: spring 2026

Following the dirty soda trend, Pepsico decided to create its own bottled version.

I wish they hadn't.  Mimicking soda and cream was never going to work in a non-dairy shelf-stable version.  They simply added vanilla "cream soda" flavoring to their Dew, and they added too much.  In the end, the vanilla overpowers the rest of the product, and ultimately this tastes like cream soda, but more tangy and bitter.

Ironically, the zero sugar seems to have less vanilla, and veers further toward balance.  But the sweetener completely ruins the attempt.

Lay's Brazilian-Style Garlic Sauce

 

Product circa: summer 2026

One of several Lays products promoting the 2026 FIFA World Cup, representing Brazil.

With a possibly extra-salted bite, these start with easily the strongest and most realistic raw garlic flavor I've ever tasted in a snack.  Next, the various cheese powders in the ingredient list manifest as butter on the palate, very much like that of buttered popcorn.  In the end, there is a tanginess that doesn't taste like vinegar at all, and well mimics the lemon juice that is intended.

These are very tasty, but because of the fact that they make your mouth taste like garlic for 6+ hours after you eat them, I'll never buy them again.

Fritos Flavor Twists Spicy Dill Pickle

 

Product circa: Summer 2026

I guess "spicy dill pickle" is plenty zeitgeisty enough to be an "American" flavor as part of this US semiquincentennial promotion.

They really provided "the works" of flavor profiles here for this snack.  I've tried plenty of spicy pickle snacks recently, and this is different.  This seems to have a ranch flavor base, with dill flavor added, with salt & vinegar powder added, and also the "red hot" flavor on top.  They're not unpleasant, but they are very busy in an All Dressed kind of way.  More than anything, this snack highlights that the flavor twists form factor provides an impressive crunchy texture when using new-fangled flavors, and I wish Fritos experimented with them more.

Lay's Wavy French Onion Soup

 

Product circa: 2026

Evidently as part of a promotion for the upcoming FIFA World Cup, this product represents France.

Onion powder is immediately evident here, but it avoids the pitfall of being too sweet, which I have experienced on past Lay's onion products.  Along with the onion is a heavy maltodextrin/MSG like flavor that is hard to miss.  There is also a lot of brown meatiness to simulate the beef broth of French Onion Soup, and it does well and making sure that this snack isn't too sweet.  In the end, this is a very enjoyable chip.

Twix Snickerdoodle

 

This is a Presumptive Ephemeral Nom. 

Product circa: 2026

I'll keep it short.  This is a regular Twix bar with some cinnamon flavoring added to it.  It's the same type of cinnamon added to "apple cinnamon" flavored food products.  And... it doesn't pair well, here.  This is a miss.