Purpletually in Search of Dewlicious Diet Soda
Ultra Violet
I make no secret of my love of diet soda. If I wanted to be buried when I die, I’d request that a couple of 2-liters be thrown in the coffin with me. Since I’m leaning towards cremation, I suppose I want to be doused in diet soda before they roast me, so my molecules can bond with the diet soda molecules for eternity. I can only hope I’m clutching a diet soda when I take my last breath, and some poor soul will have to pry it from my cold, dead hand. Unless you missed my post about my, some would say disturbing, fondness for artificially-sweetened, carbonated, flavored beverages, you more or less know this about me. And if you have any remote fondness for me, you honor and appreciate the weird love I have for diet soda.
Diet soda makes me happy.
I have my favorites, which I also enumerated for you in the aforementioned post. Inspired by that post, my BlogHer roomie, Heather, presented me with liquid heaven in the form of a 12-pack of Diet Code Red Mt. Dew. Oh the delight! That will forever elicit a big, goofy smile from me. I indulged in a few while in Chicago, but determined to not waste the untouched cans, I packed the rest in my suitcase since cans of soda are considered a national security threat.
When I travel, I always bring a handful of plastic shopping bags and various sizes of zip-lock baggies, just in case. It sounds really old-ladyish of me, doesn’t it? I use them though, for dirty clothes, for damp swimsuits, for anything that could leak or spill or make a mess in one way or another. When we go to San Francisco, I even bring home baked goods from the best breakfast spot on the planet, Dottie’s. The only thing that compares to enjoying one of Dottie’s scones here at home in New Jersey is enjoying one of Dottie’s omelets a stone’s throw from Union Square in San Francisco. Baked goods from Dottie’s are a bolus-worthy souvenir if ever there was one.
Ultra Violet's Blue Froth
Anyhoo, I packed the Diet Code Red, two 1-gallon-sized baggies with 3 cans each, and hoped I wouldn’t have bags full of red soda and exploded cans once I got back to Philly. Much to my delight, the cans survived. I downed a couple of them in the days after returning, relishing the glorious redness of them. The remainder have been sitting in my fridge, partly because I kept meaning to blog about them, and partly because I wanted to make them last.
Obviously, Diet Code Red is to be found in some places, but I haven’t found it at any of the places I shop. I still look and hope though. Mt. Dew annoys me because they’re constantly cranking out new flavors in all colors of the rainbows and flavors that don’t exist in nature, almost never in diet. This is a pet peeve of mine, for sure, and I’ve been known to joke about how they discriminate against diabetics by not making diet versions of their day-glow sodas. So imagine my surprise when I learned that they had a new flavor that actually had a diet version. Someone on twitter told me about it, and for the life of me, I don’t remember who so I can’t give proper credit. They linked to a picture of the light, transparent purple beverage with the blue foam, and naturally I was intrigued.
Just like that though, I forgot about it, until yesterday when I practically tripped on a stack of them in Sears Essentials. Jason didn’t ask when I lit up and excitedly sputtered something about twitter, purple soda, and dire necessity. He just picked up a 12-pack, and I anxiously awaited getting home and putting some in the fridge to chill.
A couple of hours later, I was ready to try it. He eyed it suspiciously as I poured it into the glass, observing that it was in fact violet, but the foam was blue, and pointing out to me that anything blue is likely not designed for consumption. I was too excited to taste it to remind him about blueberries and blue M&M’s.
Sadly, my verdict is that I don’t think I’ll buy it again. It is no Code Red. The can is labeled, “Ultra Violet, with a flash of natural and artificial berry flavor”. I’m not really picking up any berry flavor though. My first thought was that it was somewhat reminiscent of grape soda, which I haven’t had in an eternity. If I remember correctly, Shasta used to make a diet grape, but I haven’t encountered diet grape soda in probably 25 years. Then I drank some more, and ultimately decided it was awfully reminiscent of cough syrup. It’s not so awful that I won’t finish what we bought, but that probably has more to do with how much it bothers me to waste diet soda than anything else. It’s definitely not as bad as Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr. Pepper, the only diet soda I can recall not being able to even finish.
I’m certainly disappointed, but on the plus side, when it starts disappearing from my supermarket shelves, the same way Diet Code Red did, at least I won’t miss it. If anyone wants to give it a try without buying an entire 12-pack, feel free to stop by because I still have nine cans left.
And please be understanding when I’m less than generous with my Diet Code Red. I swear, it’s nothing personal…
Awesome Gift from Awesome Roomie
I wasn’t a huge fan of the Diet Berry Mt. Dew either. I like to stick to cokes that aren’t flavored w/ anything. No lemon diet Coke or diet vanilla cherry dr. pepper. I’ll stick w/ Diet Pepsi, Diet Sundrop (which I can’t get in my town!), Diet Dr. Pepper, etc.
Comment by Cara — October 5, 2009 @ 1:48 pm
I posted a pic of this on facebook, maybe twitter?
It’s almost but not quite the same flavor as Pepsi Blue from a few years ago.
Comment by Chris — October 5, 2009 @ 1:49 pm
Considering my obsession with Pepsi One, I can’t really say that your fascination with Diet Soda is odd or anything. But I don’t ever recall squealing with glee over the sight of some soda. Just sayin…
Comment by Chris — October 5, 2009 @ 2:11 pm
oh that so thrills me that the code red is now diet .
Oh that is fabulous thanks for sharing and posting and
letting us all know that code red now comes in diet .
im headed to my store to pick some up .
Comment by cathy thompson — October 5, 2009 @ 2:38 pm
I love Diet Orange Fanta! It is an ACT1 favorite. Reading about all these sodas makes me want to go back on caffeine. I will keep my eyes open here in NY for Code Red for you
Comment by Tina Conaty — October 5, 2009 @ 2:41 pm
I was unimpressed with the ultraviolet as well. I was excited about it, I have been missing grape soda for all of my 11 years of being a pwd. Code Red and I have a lovely relationship. They even carry it in the soda machine at church. My newest fave is Shasta Diet Strawberry. Mmmmmmm
Comment by sajabla — October 5, 2009 @ 3:35 pm
I just found a Diet Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash that is very good. The only reason I don’t try all those Dew flavors is the caffeine. I’d be up until 3am! ><
Comment by Amalas — October 5, 2009 @ 7:02 pm
I didn’t like the ultraviolet either. I think it’s a boot leg version of grape pop.
Comment by Cherise — October 5, 2009 @ 8:57 pm
I agree about the discrimination. I strongly believe that we need to start a petition to get more flavors of diet soda into restaurants. When my girlfriend orders a drink, she can get whatever she wants. I get either, water, unsweetened tea or diet coke.
Comment by Chris S — October 5, 2009 @ 10:17 pm
I could have written this post! I am a huge fan of Diet Code Red and I keep worrying that they’re going to discontinue it. I used the live in DC and Diet Code Red was really tough to find out there. Here in Nebraska, though, it’s in all of the grocery stores. Yay!
I was also disappointed with the UV flavor. I was hoping that it would make a nice addition to Code Red, but it tastes like cough syrup to me. Too bad..
I wish they would make a diet version of Voltage!
Jill
Comment by jill. — October 6, 2009 @ 3:13 pm
[...] good; I’m a Stevia user myself. But I’m also addicted to diet soda. With diabetes, you have to pick your battles! (It’s impossible to not eat everything that [...]
Pingback by » The Case for Real Chocolate - DiabetesMine: the all things diabetes blog — October 22, 2009 @ 8:01 am
You know, I don’t mind the stuff. I buy a couple of bottles when I’m on the road, just for the variety of them.
Comment by Scott K. Johnson — October 25, 2009 @ 8:46 pm
I like that soda too but they say it isn’t good as it still programs your brain to want sweet stuff. Still they say everything is bad for you…
Comment by Peter Morell — March 3, 2010 @ 4:37 am