The Pepsi Challenge

Poured two shot glasses for Mrs. See-Dub the other evening and told her we were having a little taste test. She picked up the first one and took a healthy gulp, swished it around, swallowed, and looked thoughtful. I asked her what she thought of that one.

HER: Hmm...kind of bland, a little girly, smooth, not bad.

ME: Okay, um...that was straight Jack Daniels.

The other one was something called "Joshua Brook". Ninety proof, aged eight years, and a little too hot for her taste. It does, in fact, kind of tickle your nose and tastes a little raw after the "girly, bland" JD.

BONUS SODABLOGGING: If you're not a fan of the hard stuff, or even the "bland, girly stuff", let me resume my periodic, intermittent reviews of soft drinks. The other day I tried a Sunkist Cherry Limeade soda. It was very surprising, because it actually tasted like lime and cherry--and not the cough-syrup fake cherry flavor: it tasted like actual cherry juice. It's not an intense, exaggerated flavor like Jones hipster-doofus soda, but it's just pleasant.

I don't know if it's that widely distributed; I just happened to pick it up at a hole-in-the-wall convenience store the other day. It can't replace an actual cherry limeade slush at a Sonic drive-in in Oklahoma in August when your car AC is broken, but it will certainly bring that to mind. Which is nice. Everyone should get to experience that. (A friend of mine even wrote a song about it.)