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11/09/2004: Pepsi Holiday Spice Soda Review.

Well, I knew it was coming, and I was first in line to get it. Pepsi Holiday Spice, the second of the company’s new hip flavors for this quarter (Mountain Dew Pitch Black was the previous), offers Pepsi some small minute chance of doing what it never could before: competing with Coca Cola during the Christmas season. Everyone has their favorite brand, but no one can deny Coke’s authority over Everything Santa. For many decades, the Coca Cola Company went the extra mile to always make sure they had some Christmas-centric ad campaign going down during the holiday season, and to this day, I can’t let a single December slip by without sipping from one of the classic glass Coke bottles at least once. So strong have my associations between Christmas and Coca Cola grown, I’d even go balls out blasphemous in saying that this particular soda is more closely related to the holiday than movie legend Jesus Christ.

Pepsi seeks to contend by not only altering the wrapper around their top seller, but the beverage itself. What was once normal Pepsi has now been tinged with red dye and beefed up with a suspiciously undefined bevy of spices. Even the ingredients label fails to identify which spices are included, though it only takes one taste to finger the culprits as cinnamon and an awful concentrated pine essence. Honestly, all holiday biases for Coke aside, I’m just not digging the stuff at all. It’s not easy to describe the taste (a thought shared by several who’ve e-mailed in recently), but it definitely doesn’t seem like regular Pepsi with a few additions. Pepsi Holiday Spice is an entity all its own, and though I can’t say I’ll be buying a second bottle (partly untrue, because I’m lame and still want to keep a sealed one for decorative purposes), I’ll admit that it’s probably well suited for mixed drinks. You’re one shot glass of rum away from a cocktail worth patenting.

All that said, I’m glad Pepsi gave it a shot. The bottle is nice, celebrating Holiday Spice’s limited availability, and adhering to the hot new politically correct fad of making something look more Christmassy than Father Christmas himself without ever using the totally denominational C-word. Worth trying once just so you can say you remember the flavor ten years down the road in a sappy trip down memory lane with friends during a drunken binge, but don’t expect to be too terribly disappointed when the shit disappears in a few months. I give it Three French Hens.

Wow, the first poster didn’t say ‘first post’!. This doesn’t sound like something we’ll even remember in two years.

A friend of mine tried some of this stuff last night. Her reaction: "It tastes like Old Spice…or like how Old Spice smells."

Yeah, it was just okay. Nothing more, nothing less. I will buy a second bottle to try with alcohol. That sounds pretty damn fine to me!! But who the hell would buy the twelve-packs? That’s just crazy talk!

Speaking of weird new sodas, has anyone else tried 7-Up Plus? It tastes like carbonated fruit punch but it tasted pretty damn good…it kinda reminds me of Slurm from Futurama…

Like everybody said,it not best tasting Pepsi, but hey at least it came out during the holiday for Matt to Review.

Speaking of Slurm from Futurama, it came from a worm anus as Planet Express crew took a tour of the Slurm factory, Willy Wonka’s style.

Norbert- you are an absolutely terrific person, I was just about to demand Blue coming back.

I wish Coke thought of it first since Coke is sooo much better. And the new season of OC is gonna suck maja balls yo. (yes Iwatch it and I’m proud of it!)

A little off topic of the Holiday Pepsi, but this music video on http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/564/564783p1.html with Hasselhoff and Spongebob (not talking, just a clip art) creep me out. Matt, you may want to see it yourself to how many time Hasselhoff creep you out.

I’ve been drinking Holiday Spice Pepsi for the last couple of days thanks to a sale at the grocery store where I work. I, too, am usually a Coke fan, but I actually kinda like this one - it tastes like Pepsi with a cinnamon stick. Not bad at all, really, especially if you’re a fan of cinnamon or cinnamony-foods and beverages.

Beta-Theta, I already knew that, since I just watched that episode on DVD with the commentary on. ^_~

And on the subject of obscure sodas, A&W has a cream soda flavor which just tastes…twice. Once in your mouth and one in your esophagus. It just knocked both Vanilla Coke & Pepsi Vanilla right out of the park, and they were my new favorite sodas too!

for some wierd reason that new pepsi gave me a horrible headache. And yes, to make sure it was the pepsi, i tried it again on another day, same results, headache so bad i had to sit down. Spices my ass, more like poison!

I don’t know about you guys, but the second I tasted it, I thought it tasted exactly like Coke myself. Just a little redder than usual.

Matt, I picked some of this stuff up a few days ago and was hoping you’d review it. Thanks for making the first of my holiday wishes come true.

Oh man, I gotta try this Pepsi Spice. I missed out on all the clear drinks and the Mountian Dew variations, so I want to try at least one novelty soda. I’ll give it a shot.

Pepsi Holiday Spice will never compare to Pepsi’s 1989 CHristmas giveaway where they were offering Game Boys (which were new at the time and I was totally obsessed with for some odd reason, probably because the most technologically advanced hand held games at the time were the knock-off games made by Tiger ) as one of the top prizes. You didn’t have to contend with shitty cinnamon carbonated shittiness (yeah i know that sounds really intelligent) and you had a shot at the "spinach" colored blurry goodness of the Gameboy.

Well technically Pepsi and Coca Cola don’t really "compete" anymore since they are now owned by the same person, but oh well, i guess they still have to take a market share off of each other to survive individually.

My mom and I were just talking about Pepsi Spice and I said "Matt’ll review it." I tried 7-up plus it tasted like that carbonated falvored water from Wallgreens.

Tried it. The first half is much easier to drink than the second. Anyway, glad you wrote about it, christmas articles can never begin too soon

I tried the stuff too. I have to agree that it’s ok at first, but don’t try to finish the bottle yourself! If I buy more, it’ll be for a party or something.
As for the taste, I thought it tastd a lot like a gingerbread man drowned in my Pepsi.

There’s no way that Pepsi even with devious Spiced crap could ever beat…specially during x-mas season when all I want is red cola cans and stuffed plush polar bear-shaped dolls…

Ugh, I want a glass of cream soda now. At 7:17 am. And no way to get a hold of some. Crud.

Hey, has anyone else tried mising vanilla flavoring (like the kind you would mix w/ milk, like chocolate and strawberry) w/ soda to give it a vanilla-y flavor? You can dump as much as you want into the glass, so no holds barred on the vanilla goodness. Also, a nice tall (but slighly flat) glass of Coke w/ a scoop of vanilla ice cream is sweet (literally and figuratively). Just watch the carbonators, they go crazy when the sugar is added.

Ginger beer tastes like ginger-a$$. I dunno if what we got up here in Canada is different then what u guys got…but our pepsi spice tastes like pepsi with cinamon hearts…I think it rawks

I’ve tried every new Coke/Pepsi product to come out lately, since I work in a convience store and I’m really disappointed with all of them. :/

Pepsi Spice just tastes meh, while C2 and Pepsi Edge (or en francais, Pepsi Advantage - which I think sounds waaaay better and less pretenious) just taste like shit.

The best new thing to come out is Peanut Butter KitKat Chunky. It rocks the house.

I’ve been dreaming of this for years, we are one step away from an atomic fireball flavored cola of some kind.because that would make all other cola its bitch

I tried a bottle last night - I kinda liked it, though my wife and I both thought it tasted rather "coke-ish" and we’re big Pepsi drinkers. We both also thought it would be great as mix during the holidays, so I guess great minds think alike…

I have yet to taste the pepsi spice, but i am planning on nabbing a bottle as soon as i see one.

And Mandi, i tasted KitKat peanut butter this weekend and it is to die for. Hoping the dollar stores get it soon so i can stock up

Hey Matt, have you seen those new Jones soda holiday packs? I think they are available at Target:

Turkey & Gravy Soda
Cranberry Soda
Mashed Potato & Butter
Green Bean Casserole
Fruitcake Soda

I desperately want to know what these taste like, though I can’t stomach the tought of trying them myself…

Oh man, some people have tooooo much time on their hands!!! Check out this site!!!

While skipping a class yesterday I picked up a Pepsi Holiday Spice, as well as a bag of Thunder Potato Chips flavored with Texas Pete’s Hotsauce. I found the beverage to be semi-delicious. I tend to find that when Pepsi or Coke come out with some new drink that blends their beverage with some other flavor, they don’t blend it properly. They overpower it with the taste of the original beverage and give you just a hint of whatever it is they’re adding in. I probably could have made this drink myself, with a regular Pepsi and a few Hot Tamales or some other type of hot cinnamony candy. I did like the redness of the drink, it made it more Christmas like. The chips were good, although they made me sick.

Still, I’ll probably get a bottle just so I can take a swig and say "The Spice Must Flow"

I’ve tried it this last weekend, and its not too bad. I always choose Pepsi over Coke if given the chance, but I don’t think I’ll be going out and buying this. But will drink it if available and a party or something. Matt might be on to something by using it it for mixed drinks.

You know what I really miss? Crystal Pepsi. That stuff was awesome. I still remember many fine afternoons with my buddies enjoying icy cool 2 liters of Crystal Pepsi.

Ah, yes, the spiced sodas of yesteryear discussions always resulting in me ranting about OK Soda, a Coke product test-maketed in the Providence, RI area when I lived there. A strange fruity-spiced concoction promoted with labels designed by ultra hip (at the time) cartoonists like Daniel Clowes. I saved a couple of bottles for a couple of years after it went away in the mid 90’s, but the plastic didn’t keep in the fizz.

God, I loved OK soda too! I was obsessed with calling the number on the back of the can…

1-800-I-Feel-OK and listening to all the freaky recordings they had on there….the commericals made the stuff sound like a cult…

Woo, glad you hear you’ll be reviewing the foul holiday soda! That should be hilarious!

I was going to say something about the new Pepsi, but the thought of Turkey flavored soda put my right off thinking about any of it. The only use I can think of for that is to induce vomiting. Fucking hell.

Funniest thing is that I agree with the newspaper article that said that the cranberry soda was the one most likley to be the one you’d actually want to drink. And the fruitcake one? "Just like the one your Aunt sent you, only less liquidy." Glad Mr. Matt is gonna take the hit for most of us.

Why does the christmas scene involve a very industrial factory on the front of the label?

It’s Pepsnog! It’s not quite Pepsi and it’s not quite Eggnog! Why didn’t they use that title!?! Pepsi Holiday Spice?
It sounds like a Christmas flavor from 1997 when the Spice Girls were plugging Pepsi.

If you want the taste of OK back mix pepsi or coke with an orange drink, it’ll be about the samething.

B-Dawg, I saw an article in the Toronto newspaper Saturday about the Jones sodas. They asked the top exec at Jones about the stuff, and he admitted himself he couldn’t bring himself to drink a bottle…

I miss Pepsi One and Crystal Pepsi. But Diet Coke with Lime is the only cola mix I can stomach. I haven’t seen this Spice Pepsi yet, but I’ll give it a shot, for the novelty of it.

I couldn’t really detect much "spiciness", but I’m not a regular Pepsi drinker. There was a bit of vaguely fruity syrupyness, though.

Actually, I think whoever said it tastes like RC Cola hit the nail on the head. Doesn’t bother me, since I prefer RC to Pepsi. I might buy Pepsi Holiday Spice again, but I dunno… I’d rather just have RC.

I gotta agree with blizack on both the non-spiciness and the RC Cola comparison. I’m drinking Holiday Spice right now and I must say that my first thought was "Pepsi.. with a little kick to it". I’m not a regular Pepsi drinker either though. Funny though: the only drink I’ve had tonight is Holiday Spice and regular Pepsi.

I will say it’s a cool bottle though and I’ll probably keep it around just because I’m a Christmas-everything nut like our other Matt… Madd Matt. Actually, I think the smell of this stuff is more Christmasy than the taste. It kinda smells like a tree.. a tree with cinnamon sticks for ornaments, but still a tree. Plus, anything that reminds you 500 times that it’s a Limited Edition has to be good, right? Well.. at least it’s trying to be good.

It tastes like 40 year old dried cinnamon powder with a little bit of Pepsi and a pinch of death. Not like I’d know what that particular flavor is, of course…

I saw those Jone’s’ sodas at Fark. Now, I’ve been seeing them everywhere. Didn’t one of the morning talk show make their hosts drink some? I think the weatherman even liked his. Hey, they’re kosher! That’s gotta mean something on Thanksgiving.

I haven’t tried the Pepsi Holiday Spice, but just yesterday I tried Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper. God, that’s a tongue-twister. How many more titles can we tack on to soda labels? Let’s find out!

Hrmm… I tried a bottle of this and thought i was drinkable. I’m kind of surprised though, since I thought the most discernable flavour was nutmeg.

Just in case anybody isn’t aware, since Jones isn’t in every area, they don’t only make disgusting flavors intended to horrify and traumatize. They have yummy ones too. Fufu Berry is excellent, and their Cream Soda is unbeatable.

That stuff is disgusting. I couldn’t even finish the bottle and I like to eat at Arby’s!!!

I had me a Quick Slam of this and it didn’t make me ill but didn’t wow me either.

It’d most likely be better mixed with adult bevrages but I kinda liked it plain.

I’m hosting my Book Club this month, next Friday, 11/19. I fully intend to spring a "just for fun, gals, seriously!" taste test on my dearest friends. Let us see what occurs; I may have no friends left come Saturday morning. I’m fully intending to include Pepsi Spice now. Thanks, Matt!

If Matt doesn’t object, I’ll post *extremely* brief reports on the comments the next day, just for B-Dawg, because s/he brought it up first. Of course, I can’t guarantee the reviews won’t be a little jaded; we always spend plenty of "book discussion" time in "man discussion" time, and drinking heavily all the while.

FYI: Jones Sodas can apparently be found at Target and Albertson’s, starting TOMORROW, 11/11! I’ll be there at 7 AM.

It’s cinnamon flavored soda with no spiciness whatsoever. It’s like Act Cinnamon Mouthwash.

I’m going to have to try it again because when I tried it on Tuesday, it definitely shouldn’t've tasted like what I thought it tasted like. Now, if I’m right, I’m going to regret the second bottle. Tell me if I’m nuts, but something about that soda made it taste like carbonated cough syrup. Not the horrible kind that you can’t bear to swallow, but the kind which is actually made tasteless and then they try to make it taste somewhat palatable so that you’ll swallow it. Now you know why I’ll regret the second bottle if I’m right.

And yes, as someone further back in this post mentioned, Pepsi Spice is in fact the 3rd new soda this quarter, after MD Pitch Black and 7-Up’s new thing. It’s sad to see 7-Up kinda forced into trying all these new venues since Pepsi dropped their contract with them. What ever happened to dnL?

It’s nice, though, that when I see something on the shelf and tell my friend "give it a day or two and it’ll be on X-E" I was right! ::does little victory dance::

Honestly I think this stuff tastes good, and I don’t know why. It may be because of my love for the season, but dammit i’m addicted. I keep like two 2 liters in my house at a time of the stuff!

Gads! If you go to Pepsi’s homepage they have a little section devoted to this new product. One of the new sections is recipes. They’re promising 4 holiday-themed recipes incorporating this shit but none of them are up yet. They also have links to their ad campaign for this but I haven’t seen them yet.

Anybody up in Maine know where to get these Jones Sodas? Do they sell it anywhere in Auburn or Augusta? I might pick some up if they turn up at the Hannaford near the Turnpike Mall.

Oh, never mind. I’m looking at the Jones website and they sell these things at the local Food City.
They once had a huge stock of the things they were selling for cheap, actually.

Just tried the stuff today. It wasn’t nearly as noticeable a change from the normal Pepsi as I expected. To my tastebuds, it was Pepsi with a little cinnamon flavor. Like the color, though.

Actually, if you count that weird ass blue mountain dew they sell (or at least were selling) exclusively at Taco Bell then that would be 4 new Pepsi drinks. I can’t remmeber the name of it, swamp splash or something, but god that stuff was awful. Tasted like mountain dew and pepsi blue mixed together in totally the wrong way.

Pitch Black tasted like gummy bear soda to me. It was an okay halloween gimmick. :p

It reminded me a little bit of "OK Soda" as well-maybe "OK Soda" mixed with 5W-30.

Incidentally "OK" was the best soda ever. The marketing geniuses at Coca-Cola actually bottled the suicide drinks us kids had been making for years (Coke, Diet Coke, Root Beer, Orange soda, Dr.Pepper,whatever else is on the counter during a party). I think "OK" deserves a full X-entertainment writeup.

My first three sips and I said, "This just tastes like Pepsi." Then after a few minutes a had a sort of fruity aftertaste. I drank more and noticed the very slight difference from Pepsi, but essentially it’s Pepsi. Not bad at all. Not spectacular, but it’s certainly not awful.

Dude, Baja Mountain Dew was awesome. Then again, all Mountain Dew is awesome as long as you convince your brain that no matter how much your taste buds are squealing it’s good because you’ll be able to stay up and write a 30 page paper that’s due in 8 hours.

Pepsi spice was awful. The first half of the bottle tasted mostly like Pepsi, and the second half tasted like somebody hitting me in the mouth with an end table. The slightly red color was cool, though. I have yet to do the Rum test, though, so maybe my opinion will change.

I think it tastes like Coke with a couple teaspoons of ginger ale mixed in. It’s definitely not a taste I would immediately identify with Christmas.

Okay, I’ve had some of this Spice Pepsi.
WTF? Did I get a bad bottle? It just tastes like Pepsi! I can’t taste any spice!

Why did I pick up more of this stuff? I was just standing there in the store, next to the cartons of Pepsi and I don’t remember much after that. Everything went black and now here I am drinking Holiday Spice.

it started by opening the bottle, which i had picked up off the shelf, carried upright, and hardly disturbed at all, only to have it angrily erupt and foam for a good minute and a half. RIDICULOUSLY carbonated. the taste is almost unpleasant, but palatable i suppose. i didnt even finish half of the 20oz. bottle before i was hit with a killer headache. i want my ok soda back.

Just in time for the holidays, Pepsi will launch Pepsi Holiday Spice - Pepsi-Cola with a spicy finish of ginger and cinnamon - to give consumers a new seasonal treat during a time of celebration.

Avoid this crap like the plague. It tastes alright, but it gave me one helluva bladder infection. Yeesh.

It tasted normal at first, then came the aftertaste: nutmeg! Not the worst thing I’ve drank, but I don’t know if it’s worth having again. Like some of the other posters here, when I saw it I thought "Matt’s got to review this!". Thanks to Matt I’ve been inspired to try all these odd new sodas, except for that Jones stuff.

Anyboday ever have Harpoon Winter Warmer? Does this Pepsi stuff taste anything like that, except for the getting drunk part?

Holy crap, we actually have something the Americans have! I saw it yesterday while I was hunting down something to quell my caffeine withdrawl . . . and there it was! Seeing as I hate cinnamon / spice, I didn’t buy it. Good choice?

maybe its just due to my love of all things christmassy, but i rather like this incarnation of the lesser of two colas.

Not great, not terrible, but very Christmassy. I would by it again, but not for sustinence. Only because it reminds me of Christmas 1983…..the year of the ROTJ Christmas.

I kinda liked it. Oh, did you know that this page is now featured on the MSN Entertainment page Test Pattern? Just scroll down to "Wierd new foods."
And yes, I do believe they needed more "spice," whatever that means to Pepsi & Co.

Bought it for the purpose of mix, was rather disapointed by the lack of spicyness, was hoping for Nutmeg assault soda or something. Was acceptable with Bacardi Gold, anything more flavourful would have knocked out the minor cinnamon tinge alltogether.

I tried it and liked it. Couldnt tell much of a difference between normal pepsi, but it was not bad. Couldnt exactly identify the change, "pungent" is the word I will employ to help describe it. It has more flavor. It is good a couple times, but not year-round, kind of like shamrock shake from McDonalds, but that is much better than "Holiday Spice". Interestingly, there is no indicator on what to expect when you drink it. Spiced eggnog? Ginger bread? Chemicals? Thats it, chemicals with long names like monomaltobiodehidradextrinose

So, the recipes for PHS are up now. I’m having a hard time believing that Cat Cora is any sort of celebrity chef. Rather, if she is, I’m betting she doesn’t get a ton o’ work after "Pepsi Holiday Spice Baked Yams".

I think I heard from the Food Network that Coca-Cola is responsible for the cliche image of Sandy-Clause. That’s pretty cool, no?
To be honest, I think Pepsi tastes better than coke… stone me if you want. I mean, I am Hebrew afterall.
But still, I’m pretty sure I invented Pepsi Spice… in my own home obviously. When I was 14, me and a couple of people put chili-peppers inside our Pepsis and drank up… Look, I’m an idiot ok?! In the words of my good from Napoleon… GOSH!

I like the Pepsi spice. It tastes like the spices they put in Dunkin Donuts Vanilla Chai, or just about any chai tea for that matter. It’s cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and pepper at least. It’s all the spices that House Atreides and House Harkonnen were fighting about in "Dune."

What the hell, this stuff gave me a killer headache too. I kinda expected (or hoped) it would taste like Captain Morgans and Pepsi, but no such luck. Blleeaachh, I hate ginger.

I just bought a bottle today, and it actually reminded me of "Red Fusion," the unsuccessful Dr. Pepper drink that came out around the same time as Pepsi Blue. I wouldn’t put this at the top of my must drink list but it has a Christmassy vibe so I can see myself getting some more before the holidays are done.

I just drank some today and I find it delecably ambrosial. Not a replacement for egg nog and not something I’d have with every meal, but it’s something I’d voluntarily drink again even if it wasn’t a novelty drink.

Indeed, christmas has become synonomous with coke, because the new Polar Express movie has me thinking of a big Coca Cola rally complete with animated xmas stormtroopers. I see that movie and keep hummming the "holidays ‘r’ comin" song, over and over.

A co-worker of mine described this crap pretty aptly when we collectively bought a 2-liter to try:

"It tastes like the bastard offspring of a Pepsi, a pumpkin pie, and the dead pine needles you have to vaccum out of your carpet until April or so."

i think that holiday spice is really good and i love that egg nog song that you sing on the radio it is really funny i always wait for this song to come on lol

go to http://www.linkswarm.com and scroll down a little and you’ll find a link to a guys site who’s accepted a dare to drink nothing but pepsi spice for 45 day straight. he started on the 15th of november.

If you took Pepsi, added Hot Damn and removed the alcohol, this is what you’d get.

Definitely gives the great idea of mixing the two *after* the holidays, or anytime

I love Holiday Spice Pepsi it is so,so, delicous! Bring back Crystal Pepsi its awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is the worst soda i have ever tasted in my entire life. It leaves a rotton taste in my mouth. I LOATH pepsi holiday spice.

i got a bottle of this great soda at home its old tho….i bought it in june of 05

I was totally bummed this year when I didn’t see any holiday spice. So what did I do? I cracked open the bottle I’d been saving…and promptly discovered why you don’t drink two year old pop. Ugh.

I remember buying a bottle of this stuff. I am more of a Coca Cola product fan, but when I saw this in the cooler of a family owned gas station I had to try it. The taste was quite holiday-ish, but I could not finish the entire bottle. The taste of Pepsi and mixed with Red Hots do not bode well with me.

just stumbled on this site after looking for Crystal Pepsi….. Oh Gawd, the memories of Crystal Pepsi….. I was like 16ish ….. I remember it, kind of….. Would LOVE LOVE LOVE to find some to buy…. Hell, do any of you recall or remember HOW AWESOME ANY soda was IN the LARGE like 16oz glass bottles? YOU CANNOT BEAT ANY KIND OF SODA THAT WAS BOTTLED IN GLASS, IT TASTED BETTER AND WAS COLDER. I SHIT YOU NOT. You cannot buy it at all -except that Mexican shit and that is like ass, really - oh, how they have F*cked up everything…….

I was smart enough to buy a couple Holiday Spice Pepsi’s….. Never tried them though….. Can you drink “pop” three years later (unopened)? ten years later?

*Coke Classic is NOT the same as pre 1985 Coke. Neither is Pepsi. It once had CANE sugar: VASTLY better product. Taste 1,000 times better.
*Pop tates better in glass bottles. Which, thank you corporate jerks, it is no longer available.

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