Sprite Remix Aruba Jam (Wendy's 2024)

 

Product circa: Summer 2024

In an unbelievable move, Sprite has revived their 20 year old product, and one of my favorites of all time.  Returning as a Coke Freestyle machine offering, I'm not one to complain.  It's hard to say if this stuff tastes like the original, but it's damn close, and it's damn good.  Sprite with a vivid lime and complementary strawberry.  The original was clear, but the color of this modern version has no bearing on anything.

The freestyle machines really offer Coke an amazing opportunity - to bring back discontinued flavors in a way much more cheaply than bottles or cans, which require them to (re)create marketing and packaging.

What a special experience to relive this product.  Thanks Coke, keep it up!

Goldfish Frank's Red Hot

 

This is a Presumptive Ephemeral Nom. 

Product circa: 2024

Regular Goldfish crackers covered in hot sauce seasoning.  The seasoning manages to taste exactly like Frank's Red Hot Sauce (I put that shit on everything!).  I wish seasoning like this was sold in shakers bottles.  This was a really pleasant change of pace.

Cheetos Crunchy Salsa con Queso

 

Product circa: 2012+?

It turns out that I tried these back in 2012, but I don't think I recall seeing these on store shelves since.

What's funny is that I just re-read my old post about these, and my description of them from 2012 is still accurate to how they taste now... but I like them now, and I didn't then.  I guess my tastes have changed?

Doritos Baja Fiery Mango

Product circa: Spring 2024

This is part of the 20th Bajaversary, which is a joint celebration between Taco Bell and Mountain Dew.  I'm having trouble finding the significance of the year 2004 in this "anniversary".  Said to be part of this celebration is the permanent release of Mountain Dew Baja Blast products in stores, as well as Baja Laguna Lemonade & Baja Point Break Punch.

Anyway, these things are fascinating.  They start with a bright and tangy mango flavor that can't help me think of sugary breakfast cereal... maybe it's the sugar and corn crunch together that's giving that aura.  The heat then slowly shows itself, and this is some of the most impressive heat I've experienced on a Doritos product.  There's probably some savory elements in this snack as well, such as onion and garlic, but if so, they are very subdued.  Honestly, this tastes like spicy Doritos that have Kool-Aid Tropical Punch powder sprinkled over them.  Overall, a fun experiment, but not a snack that I would reach for unironically.

Pringles Honey Mustard

 

Product circa: 2024

This is a Presumptive Ephemeral Nom.

Overall, pretty disappointing.  There is the flavor of the mustard, there is a sweetness, and there is a slight vinegar taste.  But it's all too muted; they need to dial the flavor up by 3 times here.

Mountain Dew Star Spangled Splash, Freedom Fusion, and Liberty Chill

 

Product circa: Independence Day 2024

Should they really keep doing this for the US Independence Day?  They will run out of vocabulary words eventually.

Star Spangled Splash: Dew with generic red fruit.  It's not bad, but I've tasted this kind of Dew at least a dozen times.

Freedom Fusion: A peach lemonade Dew which will naturally be compared to the KFC exclusive Sweet Lightning.  I've only had the latter once or twice, and it wasn't memorable enough to recall.  This stuff is very tasty, with a little tartness that goes a long way.  I would say that they should have upped the peach flavoring, but if they had, I probably would be saying I had wished they dialed it back.  They deserve a lot of credit for this one.

Liberty Chill: Another one of the occasional "omnibus" varieties that combines an absurd amount of flavors into one beverage (in this case, 50).  This is a mess... it's overly sweet, and if I try, I can pick out "blue", and "cherry", and that's about it.