Coca-Cola Blak (ULTRA THROWBACK)

Product circa: 2006

Due to the time elapsed since this product's release, this post will concentrate on what the product was, and not how it tastes.  But to be clear: I have this bottle pictured, and I drank it around the year 2020.  Years ago, on a whim, having remembered this old product, I went on eBay and bought an unopened bottle.  As expected, the taste wasn't much, due to age.

If I'm not mistaken, Blak was Coke's first coffee-flavored product.  It was piloted in France, then released in North America, and it shows; it was a boutique product.  It was released in 4-packs, in small glass bottles wrapped in plastic which had a coffee-like design.  These were fairly expensive, as well.

The taste was not unlike its successor, Coca-Cola with Coffee.  It had a dark-roasted coffee flavor, which doesn't perfectly pair with the cola flavor, but it was fine.  In a prescient move that wasn't popular at the time, Coke switched half of Blak's sweetener with the sucralose and acesulfame potassium mixture that was getting popular at the time.  Did it make the product suffer?  Probably.

In the end, Blak is simply one of the more oddball entries in Coke's historical stable.  While not as storied as something like Pepsi Blue or New Coke, I consider it among them as one of the more memorable blips in the beverage industry history.

Brownie Batter Oreo

 

Product circa: 2015

Simple: a chocolate cookie, with chocolate creme.  But the creme is somehow different than the regular Chocolate Creme Oreos that you can find; it’s darker, more sumptuous/unctuous??  It might even have some flour or flour-like flavor mixed in, like some cake batter products do.  Really good overall.

 

Mountain Dew Liberty Brew & DEW-S-A

                  

Products circa: various years after 2016

Liberty Brew- Supposedly this is 50 fruity flavors all in one recipe; it certainly tastes it.  There are some interesting but unknowable flavors that pop up here and there on the tongue, but ultimately this just ends up taste blue, like its color.  But this is one of the sweetest Dews I’ve ever tasted.  After this product was released, it was re-released in subsequent years as Liberty Chill.

Dew-S-A - This product is a mix of the Code Red, White Out, and Voltage products, to match the red, white, and blue theme of the American flag.  However, this formulation was the 2017 version, which had zero calorie sweetener in addition to sugar.  Aside from this awful sweetener combination, the tastes of Code Red and Voltage combine to provide an overall berry taste, but it's further ruined by the pepperiness of the White Out.

Dr. Pepper Strawberries & Cream

 

Product circa:  2023 and after

Note: This is a presumptive Ephemeral Nom

Not the first Dr. Pepper to have berries or cream added.

Not much to see here.  While vanilla is assuredly in Dr. Pepper’s original mix of flavors, if they added more here, it doesn’t come through with the artificial strawberry.  The strawberry here doesn’t play well with the regular formula.  As always, I applaud the attempt, as well as the numerous recent attempts at other Dr. Pepper variations, but this one misses the mark.

Kit Kat Birthday Cake

 

 

Product circa: 2020 and occasionally since

This basically tastes like a white chocolate Kit Kat with a bit of vanilla and cute sprinkles in it (the crunchy kind, not the waxy kind).  Should I have expected more?  Hard to say.  When it comes to birthday cake flavored snacks, I yearn for that uncooked flour taste.  Am I strange?  Probably.

Doritos Flamin' Hot Korean-Style BBQ

 

Product circa: 2025

These had huge potential, but they fell flat.

Perhaps the most pleasant part of the experience in the first bite, where there's an immediate smokiness that reminds me of the charred beef that you'd find in Korean barbecue.  After that, the experience is mostly a combination of chile powder and what I would describe as the flavor of a dark umami-heavy Asian sauce, whether it's the kind on Korean barbecue, or even something not far from a teriyaki sauce or even a potsticker dipping sauce - slightly distinct, but also a bit bland.  There's a bit of heat too.  However, after eating a few more of these chips than I should, I start detecting a pungent flavor that borders on disgusting... I'm not sure what it is... maybe the citric acid combined with the other flavors?  Also, if you eat too many of these, the taste will stay in your mouth for hours and hours.

Caramel Cold Brew M&M's

 

Product circa: 2022

The chocolate is infused with coffee powder.  The first few bites will have you think you’re chewing on a chocolate-covered coffee bean.  Soon after, the caramel center takes over, and it’s very chewy, with a pleasing texture.  The coffee flavor stays until the end.  A perfectly executed snack, very satisfying.