JoelF wrote:

tjr wrote:Saw these at Mariano's: Pepsi & Starry Sodastream syrups. No Mountain Dew, though. Wonder if Coke will respond in kind.

I've seen Coke syrup at GFS (although it's not listed on their website). I seem to recall some restrictions on purchase, though -- they may limit it to restaurants or something.

I believe that the stuff at GFS is for fountain drinks and the Soda Stream stuff is something you add to your Soda Stream water to get the approximation of drinking a Pepsi. I looked at the nutrition facts and the Soda Stream stuff only has a third of the calories and sugar as a regular Pepsi for the same volume. If you want a Pepsi, just drink a Pepsi!

I'm apparently late to this game but I just ran across Rocket Fizz in Woodstock. Apparently one of many in a chain. A pretty impressive selection of oddball sodas but a business model that does not seem to be lend itself to repeat business (says the guy who dropped $100 on his niece's kids).

Fever-Tree in general. The cucumber tonic water in specific. Small persistent bubble. Light cucumber aroma and flavor. Refreshing straight from the bottle, over ice, with citrus or mixed with alcohol.

Downside, bit on the costly side. Small glass bottles, 6.8oz, and not available everywhere.

Fever-Tree, count me a fan!

Climate crisis: Coca-Cola trial to make bottle tops from CO2 emissions

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-67060 ... c_team=crm

The last part of this mini-series is where I annotate all the 12-packs of soda now in stock in the beer cellar.
Scanning and putting away the soda is a project which takes time to finish. Learning from how some cans in the 12-packs which were on the bottom of the stacks sprung a leak in the ridge on the bottom of the can, most probably from the constant pressure being placed on them from the above cases; I now have more stacks with fewer cases in each stack. I marshall the cases so that those with the latest "best by" dates are on the bottom.
Here are the contemporary 12-packs:

• 2 Sunkist Cherry Limeade
• 2 Pepsi caffeine-free
• 1 Starry
• 1 Cherry 7-Up
• 1 Pepsi real sugar
• 1 Coca-Cola Vanilla
• 1 Fanta Pineapple
• 1 Canada Dry Ginger Ale
• 1 A & W Cream soda
• 1 A & W Root Beer
• 1 Tropical 7-Up
• 1 Coca-Cola Cherry Vanilla
• 1 Sprite Lymonade Legacy
• 1 Sprite Winter Spiced Cranberry
• 1 Pepsi Mango
• 1 Pepsi Wild Cherry

In the upstair fridge is Mountain Dew Code Red and Coca-Cola caffeine free. The next two 12-packs to come up will be from the three bought at Family Dollar. They seem to have expiration dates of February 2024.

There were no snags motoring back to the abode (which again is not at 3203 N. Cicero Ave.). Now I have to find another P145/80-R12 tire. Which, and I do not recall revealing here on LTHF, might get a break in the next month when I journey to Tokyo + Yokohama, Japan for a meetup with U.K.-based members of the Japanese Railway Society. This tire is still used on several automobile models in Japan. I'll query Japanese t(y|i)re shops to find one who will ship it to the U.S.A. [Current exchange rate: 1 USD = 150.36 JPY]

You have completed the circuit of all the shops and stands I visited on Saturday, 28 October 2023. I hope you enjoyed and | or appreciated it. I will continue to not operate the 1987 Sprint all that much. But it will get into action again. The next time may be after I return from Japan and will head for Trader Joe's in Park Ridge to buy its 2023 Vintage Spiced Ale from Unibroue.

This is the restraint on me registering for the LTH Holiday Party. I'm looking at potential expenses for the rest of the year. Before leaving the U.S.A., I shall have to withdraw funds from an account which might put it close to the lowest limit it can have. I might have to do some slick transfers between financial instruments in order to prevent an automatic payment bouncing.

As fun as it might be to t[i/y]re shop in Japan, I don't think I'd futz around with shipping when you can easily get a Sprint tire here: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Atturo-ST200 ... /516352846 . Discount Tire has some, too, at higher prices. It's also the size for Geo Metros which one occasionally sees.

Jim-Bob wrote:I looked at the nutrition facts and the Soda Stream stuff only has a third of the calories and sugar as a regular Pepsi for the same volume. If you want a Pepsi, just drink a Pepsi!

SodaStream's syrups cut back on sugar but add artificial sweeteners (sucralose, aspartame) to the mix, so they're present in both zero-calorie and sugar-sweetened blends.

gleam wrote:razbry, you may be happy to hear that there's a coffee shop in Wicker Park that is listed on Hot Lips' product locator:

Caffe Streets
1750 W Division St
Chicago, IL 60622
http://caffestreets.com/

I haven't had a chance to verify this, so you may want to give them a call and see what they have.

One of the city’s best coffee shops, Caffe Streets, has announced its closure after 13 years. Via Instagram, ownership shares their last day will be Sunday, March 2 at 1750 W. Division Street.

https://chicago.eater.com/24041449/chic ... inter-2024

Jewel had a freebie of Coke's raspberry spiced flavor. I didn't hate it, but I'm not buying it again.

The flavor is primarily raspberry cough syrup. There's nothing that I would consider spice in the flavors, unless you count something that seems like menthol.

Two more 12-packs came up from the beer cellar {and 24 more cans of various Friskies wet cat food for Mirko}: Vanilla Coca-Cola and Wild Cherry Pepsi. This leaves these 12-packs in storage.

• Cherry 7-Up
• Tropical 7-Up
• Sunkist Cherry Limeade
• Pepsi w| real sugar
• (2) Caffeine-free Pepsi
• Pineapple Fanta
• Cherry Vanilla Coca-Cola
• Sprite Throwback
• Spiced Cranberry Sprite

I should get this out here before I delve into the Weekly Flyer. It has not yet been delivered here [@ 13:33 hours GMT-6].
The last fortnight has been peculiar to scribe the least. It involves transit accounts being prematurely and incorrectly closed not by me; the 1987 Sprint being stuck at the repair shop (I'll return to this.); and to do with my new primary health care provider (Because I was ejected from Illinois Medicaid.).
The 1987 Sprint was towed to the shop. Its starter motor would not crank. When this was fixed on Monday; I was contacted here at the abode and told it was ready. I get to the shop on transit, with the Ventra reader on the bus exhibiting "Insufficient fare" each time I touch (which was wrong - I'll inform you what happened there later); and Oscar M., my mechanic, who really does an outstanding job; tells me that as it was manuevering the auto to a spot where I could motor it away, the brakes failed! Imagine how this could play out on a main street in Chicago at the first red traffic signal, when I step on the brake pedal, and it sinks to the floorboard. I would have managed to halt it somehow, but then determine, 'Where do I go from here?' So I did not get the auto that day. I did not expect to get this fixed for at least a couple of days.
On Tuesday, I had to deliver a test sample to my new primary health care provider @ 5635 W. Belmont. I bought lunch to go at Los Casitas restaurant (5746 W.). I tried using the Visa debit card obtained when I bought all those Nestle frozen entrees some months ago. I could not remember the PIN Code. Another credit card was utilized.
I get back home, with one more "Insufficient fare" warning on the Ventra reader.
U.S.P.S. delivered something from the Regional Transportation Authority. I had been informed by the IL. Dept. of Aging I am now eligible for the "Seniors Ride Free" program. Applying for it prematurely terminated my Half-Fare Permit, which is why I was getting those "Insufficient fare" outputs.
The R.T.A. mailing has another Half-Fare Permit; NOT the "Seniors Ride Free" Permit. I call the 866 number to report receiving it and turning my Ventra account back to 'Active'. I consume the carne asada burrito from Los Casitas.
At 15:40, Oscar M. calls from the repair shop and says it has fixed it. It is open until 17:00. I head out there again; this time without the tacky "Insufficient fare" alarm sounding. But what I also have is the advert from Tony's Fresh Market.
I get the Sprint. The way back here is routed via Milwaukee, Pulaski, and Belmont Aves. I get to the Tony's @ 4630 W. Belmont. When this mini-series began, the concept was to get fourteen 12-packs of 12-oz. soda - 10 @ Food 4 Less, and 4 @ Jewel-Osco, all in the suburbs. It broke down a week later to six 12-packs of Dr. Pepper brands at Tony's.
Here are the 12-packs bought @ Tony's:

• A & W Cream Soda
• Dr. Pepper
• 7-Up
• 7-Up Cherry
• Sunkist Cherry Limeade
• Sunkist Mango Orange

If I decipher the packaging codes correctly, codes starting with "C" are good through March 2025. I also bought two 16-oz. tubs of Dean's dips for all the potato chips and snack crackers in stock here. Total = $31.20
O.K. I think I tied up all the loose ends. I'll go check to see if the Weekly Flyer has shown up.

Coinciding with this post in 'Eating Out in Chicago', here is the first sighting of Cherry RC Cola since the COVID-19 pandemic in stock at Frank's Chicago Shrimp stand {#2}.
https://up2www.com/uploads/20_05_24fran ... se2-02.jpg
The next day when I shopped at Jewel-Osco - I was intent on purchasing Coca-Cola brands, but I scanned the shelves holding Keurig Dr. Pepper brands. I did not view it in stock. But it is allegedly out here.

pudgym29 wrote: Coinciding with this post in 'Eating Out in Chicago', here is the first sighting of Cherry RC Cola since the COVID-19 pandemic in stock at Frank's Chicago Shrimp stand {#2}.
https://up2www.com/uploads/20_05_24fran ... se2-02.jpg
The next day when I shopped at Jewel-Osco - I was intent on purchasing Coca-Cola brands, but I scanned the shelves holding Keurig Dr. Pepper brands. I did not view it in stock. But it is allegedly out here.

It's in stock at Woodman's, but it costs $6 for a twelve pack.

Here in one place are the twenty 12-packs of 12-oz. soda cans bought for $3.99 each on 22 May 2024.

I am curious how peachy the Peach Crush is - does it capture the nuances or is it just sugary? Also curious about the Dr. Pepper Creamy Coconut - that one's hard to fathom.

tjr wrote:I am curious how peachy the Peach Crush is - does it capture the nuances or is it just sugary? Also curious about the Dr. Pepper Creamy Coconut - that one's hard to fathom.

It is going to be a while before I get to the Crush peach or Dr. Pepper creamy coconut.
You can glimpse the 'Best by' dates in the list. There are a lot of 12-packs which shall be consumed before I get to it.

To follow-up on that post, here is what is currently inside the refrigerator here at the abode.
I am only now getting around to the 'Holiday' variants of Sprite. A note is that I will not buy Fanta pineapple again.

Fanta Pineapple is like drinking a cup of sugar. 180 calories. Fanta Strawberry has 160 calories.

Here is the content of 12-packs of 12-oz. soda in the beer cellar downstairs.

• 1 Minute Maid lemonade &
• 1 Pepsi lime &
• 2 A & W Cream soda
• 2 Dr. Pepper
• 1 cherry 7-up
• 1 7-up
• 1 Minute Maid pink lemonade
• 1 Sunkist strawberry lemonade
• 1 Coca-Cola cherry
• 1 Canada Dry cherry ginger ale
• 1 Canada Dry zero sugar cherry ginger ale
• 3 Sunkist cherry limeade
• 1 Pepsi real sugar
• 2 Pepsi wild cherry
• 1 Dr. Pepper cherry vanilla
• 2 Pepsi caffeine free
• 1 Sunkist berry orange
• 1 Royal Crown cola
• 1 Sunkist berry lemonade
• 1 tropical 7-up
• 1 Starry
• 1 Starry zero sugar
• 1 Pepsi peach
• 3 Coca-Cola caffeine free
• 3 Coca-Cola vanilla
• 1 Pibb xtra
• 3 Sprite chill
• 1 Coca-Cola spiced
• 1 Squirt ruby red
• 1 Crush peach
• 1 Crush orange

& = designated for LTH Picnic

pudgym29 wrote: Here is the content of 12-packs of 12-oz. soda in the beer cellar downstairs.

• 1 Minute Maid lemonade &
• 1 Pepsi lime &
• 2 A & W Cream soda
• 2 Dr. Pepper
• 1 cherry 7-up
• 1 7-up
• 1 Minute Maid pink lemonade
• 1 Sunkist strawberry lemonade
• 1 Coca-Cola cherry
• 1 Canada Dry cherry ginger ale
• 1 Canada Dry zero sugar cherry ginger ale
• 3 Sunkist cherry limeade
• 1 Pepsi real sugar
• 2 Pepsi wild cherry
• 1 Dr. Pepper cherry vanilla
• 2 Pepsi caffeine free
• 1 Sunkist berry orange
• 1 Royal Crown cola
• 1 Sunkist berry lemonade
• 1 tropical 7-up
• 1 Starry
• 1 Starry zero sugar
• 1 Pepsi peach
• 3 Coca-Cola caffeine free
• 3 Coca-Cola vanilla
• 1 Pibb xtra
• 3 Sprite chill
• 1 Coca-Cola spiced
• 1 Squirt ruby red
• 1 Crush peach
• 1 Crush orange

& = designated for LTH Picnic

That's several hundred dollars worth of soda in your cellar! The price of soda has gone insane the past few years. If you don't get it on sale, most stores want at least $7.50 for a twelve pack. It's not worth it.

Pudgy only gets his soda on sale.