Funyuns Steakhouse Onion

 

Product circa: 2024 and most likely earlier

Oddly enough, the first impression I get of these is tomato powder.  It's in the ingredients list, and I'm not sure why.  But other, these are heavy with herbs and spices, and with the tomato, it reminds me most of pizza-flavored snacks.  There's also a heavy dose of steak sauce-like umami here.  Overall, I'm not sure it's better than the original, but it's a nice change.

Doritos Salsa Verde

 

Note: This is a presumptive Ephemeral Nom

Product circa: 2024, and probably before and after

I think I've seen this one around over the years, but I'm finally getting to try it.

Very salty and heavy on MSG, both of which are very high on the ingredients.  Then the flavor is very green: green chiles, like jalapeno, maybe even tomatillo, then green herbs, like parsley and cilantro.  Not too heavy on onion and garlic.  Very decently spicy.  But heavy on salt.  I wish the flavors were stronger; this snack is fairly subtle.

Mountain Dew VooDOO 2024

 

Product circa: autumn 2024

The yearly tradition returns.  Evidently this is known as "VooDEW 6.0".

Anyway, the flavor of this stuff hasn't been announced yet, but people online have been saying it continues the "Halloween candy" tradition by being flavored like a strawberry candy of some sort - some are staying strawberry Nerds, strawberry Starbursts, and even others.

I'm pretty underwhelmed with this one.  It definitely has a candy-like flavor that approaches cotton candy/candy floss.  When I push myself, I can understand the strawberry Nerds comparison.  I'll update this post when I learn of the reveal.

Fanta Haunted Apple

 

Product circa: late Summer 2024, promoting the film Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice

I've been thoroughly enjoying the horrible reviews of this stuff that I've been seeing online, and so I was excited to find a bottle and waste my money on it.

Damn, I'm disappointed, because it's really not that bad.  Self-described as a spiced apple soda, the spice is clear on the nose, and the apple taste is somewhere between green apple and red apple.  The spice also makes itself known on the tongue, and it probably contains more than just cinnamon, but it's hard to tell what.  The flavors combine with a bitterness at the end that prevents this from being cloying.  Honestly, it's really not that bad.  I've tasted so many things that were worse.

Mountain Dew Infinite Swirl

 

Product circa: Summer 2024

Supposedly a berry pineapple Dew, I would say that the berry here manages to support the pineapple, such that, to me, this is ultimately a pineapple Dew.  And that's good, because it's probably the best pineapple Dew I have tasted so far.

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.