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!

Vintage: Mountain Dew Pitch Black (re-release)

Famous for releasing flavored versions of their products, Mountain Dew released a variation for Halloween of 2004 called Mountain Dew Pitch Black.  Pitch Black claimed to be flavored with "black grape".  While black grapes aren't technically a thing, I imagine PepsiCo simply refers to very dark heavily-sugared varieties of red grapes.

The combination of grape with Mountain Dew's pan-citrus flavor doesn't seem like it would work, but it does.  This is because while the drink is dark purple and would indicate overwhelming grape flavor, the grape is restrained in the recipe and manages to accent the Dew in a "this doesn't really taste like grape" kind of way.  Pitch Black was one of the best sodas of all time, in my opinion.

A year later PepsiCo released a sequel to Pitch Black: Mountain Dew Pitch Black II.  The flavor was mostly the same, but this time it contained a kick of sourness like an under-sweetened lemonade.  While novel, I felt the change was for the worse.

But in a move blessed by the angels, the company brought back the original Mountain Dew Pitch Black for a few months in mid-2011 as a Limited Edition "Back by popular DEWmand."

I can't say for sure if this Limited Edition Pitch Black is identical to the original, but it sure seems like it.  Like Dark Berry, this Dew is sweetened further past the original formula.  The flavor of the mix doesn't actually taste like grape soda, but instead of a generic "berry" that's sweeter and heavier than what your average berry product might taste like.  The peppery sweetness weighs down the bright citrus and transforms it into a different animal.  I'm not sure a blind taster would be able to tell that this is a Mountain Dew.  Overall, a fascinating study in what a Dew can be, and I urge PepsiCo to, if they can't bring it back again, at least continue to innovate on this level.

I only have one 20oz bottle of this 2011 Limited Edition left, and it's already gone flat.  I'll see how long I can make it last.


Mountain Dew Pitch Black: - Outstanding
Original Mountain Dew(for comparison): - Great

Vintage: Sprite Aruba Jam Remix

I know what you're thinking, and the answer is "Yes! Occasionally I'll get my hands on Ephemeral Noms from the past!"  Such noms shall be marked as "vintage" whenever they appear on this site.

This is one of my favorite Ephemeral Noms of all time.  In the early 2000s Coca-Cola began releasing a new line of Sprite-related drinks called Sprite Remix.  Each flavor was released individually and stayed in production for about 6 months before the next one.  Wikipedia tells me that Sprite Remixes are still available in Canada, Barbados, and Turks & Caicos... is this true?? Anyway, aware of its ephemeralness, I nabbed a few 12-packs of Sprite Aruba Jam Remix before its production stopped.  I've kept them for 6+ years, and as I drink my last few cans for this review, they're almost as good as the day I bought them.

Similar in flavor to the first Sprite Remix iteration, Aruba Jam was the third, and my favorite of the three.  The nose of the stuff is similar to normal Sprite but has a hint of pineapple.  The taste initially seems simple, and it takes a lot of effort to pick out its components.  One of the most prominent flavors is the aforementioned pineapple, which really gives it that overall "tropical" feel.  I can also swear that I'm getting a bit of coconut here.  A strained attempt picks out some orange as well.  My favorite part of this stuff is the aftertaste, which is of strawberry, but it combines with the Sprite's lemon-lime flavor to somehow make it taste like real strawberry, and not the fake strawberry that you'll find it most soda or candy.  This stuff is overall sweeter than original Sprite.

Sprite Aruba Jam Remix is one of the most complex and tasty sodas that I've ever seen sold.  It's a damn shame that Coca-Cola feels that it, much less the whole Sprite Remix line, is not worth having as a permanent product.  As these last cans of mine dwindle, I can only try to savor these last sips as best I can.

Rest In Peace.

Sprite Aruba Jam Remix: - (Outstanding)
Original Sprite(for comparison): - (Good)