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11/11/2006: Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash!


The other night, I saw a commercial starring Michael Ian Black and a singing hawk, introducing me to “Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash,” a special variation on the original formula (which I don’t believe I’ve ever drank) that’s only available from now until the end of the Christmas season. The commercial played it like this was already a holiday tradition, but 2006 is indeed the drink’s debut year. With Pepsi Holiday Spice presumably gone forever, this may be as close to a Christmas cola as we’ll get this year, discounting everything Jones Soda sends our way.

Though intended to be a “holiday edition” of Sierra Mist, there was a concerted effort to not alienate anyone who hates Christmas, the holidays or even just random snowflake graphics. I can take the green label and the red color of the beverage as just enough to give it a passing grade, and after all, cranberries belong to the colder holidays. More importantly, as someone who can be given a Ziploc bag full of raw limes and cranberries and call it dinner, I had high hopes that “Cranberry Splash” would put me on the Sierra Mist bandwagon for now and forever.


It’s good stuff — kind of like carbonated Cherry Kool-Aid. Its hue makes glasses full of Cranberry Splash a-okay on the holiday table; plus, it’s always fun to drink things that are supposed to taste like two different things entirely. On every sip, your head will try to separate the flavors of lemon-lime and cranberry, never quite succeeding but always believing that you “almost had it.” Factor in the “limited time” aspect of the drink, and we’ve got a winner. Personally, I’ll drink fizzified dog shit if a soda company tells me it won’t be around in two months. It’s always nice when a comer-and-goer actually tastes good.


While hunting for lime Mist, we also stumbled upon several bottles of Febreze air spray in holiday scents. Regular Febreze is a lifesaver in this house, as I’m sure it is in many homes filled with cats or smoke or both. These “Air Effects” editions don’t pack the same “clean punch” as normal Febby, but they do smell like Christmas, so hooray.

There were three — “Apple Spice & Delight,” “Vanilla & Baking” and “Fresh Evergreen & Snow.” And that’s pretty much the order of desirability, too. “Apple Spice” is a nice apple cinnamon blend, of the same smelly genre as all of those red candles people can’t stop buying until 12/26. The vanilla one is supposed to make your house smell like you just baked cookies, but it’s just plain old vanilla. Not bad, but not entirely Christmassy. “Fresh Evergreen & Snow” just smells like regular room spray, and not a particularly good regular room spray. With correspondingly colored can tops, I couldn’t resist buying all three. And now I will go huff them until the walls melt.

This here post is also an SNT.


Posted by Matt. E-mail me!

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Discussion Thread: 96 comments

woot. Definitly tied one or two on tonight with Sierra cran coolness and vodka. Since it is a cosmo likeness I am drinking it in a beer mug. It makes me feel better. And I think the mug is dirty too. tough. growl…

Ghosted by Bill @ 11/12/2006 2:08 AM EST


I watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas tonight. Seems so early for a christmas special to be on tv…it made me feel warm and fuzzy regardless.

Ghosted by MissJess @ 11/12/2006 2:19 AM EST


I can’t believe I am still awake but my recent melancholy (see a post from last and half ago) prompted me to escape into a nap this afternoon that was TOO GOOD.

Hello to everyone who said hello.
It’s nice to be back. One more week of work and then A WEEK OFF FOR THANKSGIVING!!

Ghosted by The Manimal @ 11/12/2006 2:22 AM EST


About Shyguys: I’ve often wondered what Mario games would be like if SMB2 had NOT been a re-hashed version of Doki Doki Panic…There would be no Shyguys! What weird creature would be in its place?

We wouldn’t have Bob-ombs either.

And IHOP…mmm…I love IHOP and I haven’t been to one in forever, and one just opened up 3 minutes away from me!

And following up on the Pledging thing, the guy got in! (well, he made it to the last day, of course he’s getting in) His nickname is Patch (long story, and about 3 different origins), and we’re very happy to have him. But I missed SNL because of it! Please tell me it was good…

Ghosted by Invader Norbert @ 11/12/2006 2:43 AM EST


Speaking of the weather…it was 90 degrees out here in california this week…90…thats so ridiculous. Its getting colder though.

And i agree that vanilla bean noel smells sooooooooo great!

Happy SNT everyone, yay I’m home for it! I cant wait for the christmas season!

Ghosted by Katella @ 11/12/2006 3:13 AM EST


Matt I remember reading the Pepsi Jazz review, but forgot whether you liked it or not!

I’ve never had Sierra Mist either, but if Jim Gaffigan endorses it, it must be good. But I like cranberry juice, so I gotsta give it a try.

K-You can’t beat an ice cold can of Dew! I used to live on that stuff.

Ghosted by Justin @ 11/12/2006 3:17 AM EST


Does anyone else miss greymatter?…No? Didn’t think so.
Matt Have fun being drunk! I was there last night.

I just got my new copy of ToyFare in the mail today! Yay!

Ghosted by Justin @ 11/12/2006 3:19 AM EST


You guys ever look around this site for little secret pages and oddities? This is a yes or no question, I don’t want anyone to share the secrets they’ve found because then it would be not so secret. I for one have found all kinds of crazy stuff.

Ghosted by dohopoki @ 11/12/2006 3:23 AM EST


I really, really, really, really miss Pepsi Holiday Spice. For the love of Orko, would someone bring this back?

Ghosted by jeremiah @ 11/12/2006 3:47 AM EST


Dooooooood.. it’s midnight in Washington. I want a DRINK!

Ghosted by LemonWitch @ 11/12/2006 4:02 AM EST


To Matt, regarding his willful mistake that I should just shut up about already:

I respect that. I can dig it, and I will allow it to continue without further complaint. Have you heard others use the word in such a way? Is this a family or regional thing of which I’m unaware? If you’re standing tall againt a whole world of jerks like me (the former me – I’ve changed for the better now, I swear), I support you even more. It a very Linus/Great Pumpkin issue if those are the circumstances.

Well, almost. Linus believed he was right about the Pumpkin despite all arguement to the contrary.

Which is not to say that I don’t believe in the Great Pumpkin.

Ghosted by Tougi @ 11/12/2006 4:03 AM EST


matt, i read your mini-writeup of the coconut wreaths and went to walgreens to buy one. when i got there, i couldn’t decide whether to get chocolate santas or what… then it hit me for the first time that i’m an adult now so i can just buy as much christmas candy as i want. i don’t have to take what i can get in my stocking (which has been empty for 15+ years anyhow) so, i bought a whole bag full of stuff. you get an extra star in your crown in heaven.

Ghosted by consulatsunset @ 11/12/2006 1:20 PM EST


oh yeah, i’ve been mixing sprite or soda water with cranberry juice forever- i bet this sierra mist tastes just like that.

Ghosted by consulatsunset @ 11/12/2006 1:22 PM EST


I’ve got a question. What is an SNT? The question may sound stupid, but I’m from Germany and I’ve never heard of it. I’d be happy about an answer.

Greetz from Idar-Oberstein, Germany

Ghosted by Oli @ 11/12/2006 2:49 PM EST


On first instinct, this stuff seemed like it would be gross. But I’m gonna give it a try- Matt, these brands should pay you to promote thier wares on this site, I would have never gone to Target hadn’t you reviewed the Slushydrink.

Ghosted by Joker @ 11/12/2006 3:10 PM EST


SNT- Saturday Night Thread. Just a tradition for this website Oli. We just sit around Saturday night and post what we’re doing.

Wow. It never sounded so lame before. But it’s fun I swear.

Ghosted by Terror Claws Cole @ 11/12/2006 3:11 PM EST


Guten-tag!

SNT is short for Saturday Night Thread..as in Matt makes a special topic and thread just for saturday night..and everyone posts all night and catches up with eachother about stuff that happened during the week….thats how i think of it anyhow….and YAY for me! I had a huge carwreck on tuesday, and my dad came to NJ from Maine to give me his 95 jeep cherokee laredo. IT. IS. SWEET!!!! All leather and power everything…a luxury top of the line cd and cassette stereo…the best ones that Daimler Chrysler puts in thier cars. Sure its got 248,000 miles on it, and some very minor paint damage but hey it runs and its sooo beautiful. You really wouldnt be able to tell its that old.

Ghosted by mandy_Reeves @ 11/12/2006 3:16 PM EST


Terror Claws Cole -
mandy-Reeves -

Thanks a lot guys, or to say it in German “Danke Leute!” That’s a tradition I could get used to. So next saturday night it’s gonna be my first time ;) . The sad thing is that my post will be rather short because my life so terribly BORING.

Ghosted by Oli @ 11/12/2006 3:26 PM EST


Mandy- Glad you are not hurt. that’s the important thing.

Ghosted by Bill @ 11/12/2006 4:16 PM EST


A HAWK LANDED ON MY DECK RAIL TODAY FOR 30 WHOLE SECONDS. Sorry, I know that only has the weakest connection to the topic, but I’ve only ever seen hawks at the zoo or as tiny sky dots. It had yellow eyes. I like pie.

Toqui- When I was in Ireland this summer I saw a little candy store that had a sign reading “COKE-A-COLA” over the door. My boyfriend and I wondered if they sell some kind of homemade, bootleg cola. You can’t sue them, because they have that genius loophole. Like my plan to start selling repurposed toasters as Blaystation 3 systems on eBay. I’m bulletproof!

Ghosted by Welsh Rabbit @ 11/12/2006 4:49 PM EST


Welcome, Oli and Jason L!
I could be wrong, but I think this is the first SNT I’ve missed in awhile. This whole “not having X-E in my pocket at a touch of a button” thing is going to be harder than I thought. You mean I have to find a computer?
Sierra Mist is pretty gross, but the commercials go a long way to redeem. I still go for the Pepsi when I hit KFC, though.
Does anyone even bother with the non-AIR effects variety of the Feb? I got no time to be waiting on a wet couch.

Ghosted by squee4242 @ 11/12/2006 5:03 PM EST


The regular Febreze is good if you have pets that like to smell up your furniture with their smelly dog smell that smells smelly.

Ghosted by jazzy @ 11/12/2006 5:06 PM EST


I tried the cranberry sierra mist and i must say it didn’t live up to my xpectations. It actually reminded me of cotton candy and cherry kool-aid. Weird, huh?

Ghosted by jennie london @ 11/12/2006 5:13 PM EST


Febreze is good for when you can’t wash your clothes…or so I’ve heard.

I can’t think of Febreze w/o thinking of Fletcher from Flickerstick. Say that three times fast. Bands on the Run: Single greatest reality show ever. Seen by one person and one person only. Me. I’d like to know I wasn’t alone though, anyone?

Ghosted by K- @ 11/12/2006 5:27 PM EST


I am drinking it now!
It’s even better than the Jones soda cranberry stuff.

Ghosted by Somethin' Funny @ 11/12/2006 5:34 PM EST


They rewrote Christmas standards using Cranberry in the lyrics. http://www.sierramist.com

God save us all.

Ghosted by K- @ 11/12/2006 6:56 PM EST


Wow, I haven’t posted in forever. I’ve been working tons of overtime, and I just haven’t had the time to spend on X-E. God I wish I had outside internet access at work.

Cameron T., you are not the only one who has breakfast for dinner. I love a good omlette, and I just don’t have time in the mornings to make them. However, you might be the only one who turns breakfast for dinner into a dinner party. Sounds like fun.

My favorite air fresheners appear to have been discontinued. Renuzit used to sell a warmer that plugs into your electrical outlet that looks just like another outlet. It only lacked the third hole for the ground prong, and who needs electrical safety anyway? They were totally unobtrusive- no one even really notcied they were there. They had several nice smells too- apple cinammon and vanilla were my favorites. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to sell the refills any more. Dang.

We got our first real snow here in Idaho Falls last night. It started just as I was coming out of my poker game. I lost, but my alma mater (Kansas State) had just squeaked out a victory against Texas, and I was feeling grand. I’ve never encountered a humble or courteous Texas fan (I’m sure there are some, I’ve just never met any), and I was wishing I was back in the Midwest so I could gloat. Then it started to snow, and I just started feeling good about the coming holidays. It all melted today, but it still looked nice. I’ll probably be changing my tune by February and bitching about all the snow.

Finally, I noticed an advert on the main page for Magic: The Gathering. Man, I hadn’t thought about Magic in a long time, other than to speculate on whether my cards are worth anything. Playing Magic was completely geeky, but it was one of my favorite past times in high school and while I was flunked out of college. I haven’t played since I returned to school in ‘99, and I miss it. The card shop where I played after school (when I wasn’t working) was one of the few places no one made fun of how I looked or acted. It was a great feeling when someone “got” what I was doing with a theme deck. My two favorites were “Jolly Green Giant” (a green deck with creature offense based on summons that took 6 or more to cast) and “CoP Deck” (a Circle of Protection/Island Sanctuary/Counterspell deck that forced the other guy to run out of cards). Welcome to X-E, where even the legitimate advertisements can bring on waves of nostalgia.

Ghosted by spaz307 @ 11/12/2006 7:13 PM EST


In Xenocard, the Attrition deck is usally called the Waste Money or Big Spender deck. It worked really well for me. I honestly much prefer simpler war-based card games like Triple Triad and Tetra Master, though.

I think they’ve become really creative at integrating cards into tradtionally action/stealth based games like Metal Gear Acid and Chain of Memories, too.

Ghosted by K- @ 11/12/2006 7:46 PM EST


Breakfast for dinner is a great idea and it’s never weird or unsual. I make it at home and Shari’s and Denny’s I go to have that. Good stuff.

And Guten Tag to our newer german reader!! I actually took german class for 1 and a half semesters so I know basic german, like barely any. Colors, numbers, letters, general conversation, and how to ask where the toilet is. Don’t ask me to say it here, I would probably spell it brutally. I eventually got flunked out. I just didn’t pay attention, like all of the classes I actually found challenging. I was like that until they said I wasn’t going to graduate and then I straightened up because they scared me into doing it. But that’s enough down that road.

I just found some jack o lantern peeps. Score!!
And I watched this show Friday night on the food network and Paula Deen (an old fashioned cook that has a number of shows on the food network) she was raving about how great canned biscuits are. And she said her mom used to make a hole in the middle (while stretching it out to make it look donuty) and then she would fry it in a pan and make donuts out of them! Then she would toss them in a brown paper bag with powdered sugar and her and her brother would eat a whole can (my can was 8) of biscuit donuts.

Well I showed my best friend that and I felt inspired to try that. I highly recemmend it! You have to be careful with the oil, and you need to cook it until it’s a darkish brown to make sure the inside is not doughy (one of mine turned out that way, I didn’t mind, but I wanted to do it right, even though it wasn’t bad that way) and then I rolled it around with sugar and cinnamon. We were in homemade donut heaven. Yum! For 4 donuts a piece and then it was quickly over boo :(

She also made these pienapple upside down cake bisuits, she put crushed pienapple and brown sugar on the bottom of cupcake tins with one cherry and then she put a bisuit on top. I have to try that.

Ghosted by Goob @ 11/12/2006 8:55 PM EST


My wife came home with some of the Vanilla & Baking stuff today. I’m sitting on my couch taking a billion twist-ties off some new toys, and she just starts spraying it around like mad. “It smells like baking!!” she says.
She was quite amused when i told her about this review of the stuff not two hours later.

Ghosted by Scumdogg @ 11/12/2006 9:51 PM EST


holy crap i am going to have to buy soda. lemme guess…target?

and why DOESNT kool-aid go ahead and make soda? that would sell so well.

i like febreeze and all. but come november i like Yankee Candle candles. Butter Rum and Jack Frost and Vanilla Cookie and such are awesome for lighting and hovering your face over an open flame.

shut up…boys can like candles too.

Ghosted by brian @ 11/12/2006 9:53 PM EST


and HURRAH! for viking-like turkey legs and “basting” replacing ghosting.

who’s gonna be the master baster?

ahaaahahahahahawkward.

Ghosted by brian @ 11/12/2006 9:55 PM EST


Hey Brian, you gonna be at the Norva on 12/1 ??

Ghosted by K- @ 11/12/2006 10:14 PM EST


Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t stand room spray of -any- kind. It makes me choke. I’d rather smell the cigs and cats. =p

Ghosted by Ariel @ 11/12/2006 10:40 PM EST


Ariel:

I’m with you, mostly…a spray that neutralizes odors without using one of it’s own is fine, but I HATE sprays that smell like stuff…they make me sick..

Ghosted by Cameron T. @ 11/13/2006 12:09 AM EST


Just got some starburst candy canes. They are good. I mean really good. I ate them with such intensity I bit my finger.

Ghosted by Bill @ 11/13/2006 12:17 AM EST


I once had a Feng Shui book that said artificial scents are bad for a room’s energy. I didn’t believe it, but I thought I’d try out the theory, and I bought all new candles that only had natural oils and fragrances. Whether negative energy is real or not, I don’t get sick of them and they don’t give me headaches like the other candles.

Ghosted by Welsh Rabbit @ 11/13/2006 12:52 AM EST


Woah, the website just told me I can’t post more than once every 15 seconds… I last posted 7 hours ago. Is Grey Matter ruining my fun from beyond the grave?

Ghosted by Welsh Rabbit @ 11/13/2006 12:54 AM EST


K-
I was actually at the Norva on Thursday for my boys in The Early November.

December 1st is My Chemical Romance. But I’m seeing them on Nov 30 in Richmond. Which is closer. And I’m working on getting a press pass for the show so I can get up close and take a bajillion photos. Wanna come up to Richmond and party with me?

Ghosted by brian @ 11/13/2006 2:15 AM EST


Welsh Rabbit: I can’t find my copy of Jack Mingo’s excellent book “How the Cadillac Got Its Fins”, so I won’t be able to give you a direct quote, but if I recall the book’s chapter on the origin of Coke, Coca-Cola has sued numerous imitators with names as similar and dissimilar as Coca-Coca, Cola-Nola, and Dope.

As for your BS3, I like the idea. You’re gonna need some enormous toasters, but if what I’ve heard about the system freezing is true, I imagine that your system should be about equally functional. Does Sony’s lastest mess of a console remind anyone else of the 3DO?

Oh, and before anyone asks any questions or sends me any hate messages, I really have heard reports of faulty PS3s, but I do not have any definitive proof and I have enough bias against the PlayStation line that I’m more willing to believe it than perhaps I should be. In all honesty, I will admit that it is a powerful machine and it may have some very cool games. The new Metal Gear and Alone in the Dark games are looking pretty cool so far. Not nearly cool enough to justify the price, but still better than just about everything that has been released or announced on the 360. I think the new console race is going to get very, very interesting.

Ghosted by Tougi @ 11/13/2006 2:33 AM EST


My impression of Febreeze was that it needs to sprayed “on” something in order to work? Or can you just do a general spray of the room, like other air fresheners?

Plug it in, Plug it in,
the burro

Ghosted by the burro @ 11/13/2006 10:14 PM EST


You forgot the best part of Cranberry Sierra Mist: The aftertaste is EVEN better than the soda itself! It tastes JUST like those red, white, and blue “firecracker” popsicles!

Ghosted by Magic Flyin Lemur @ 11/15/2006 3:07 AM EST


I work for Pepsi on the east coast and our facility is already out of the Sierra-Mist Cranberry (IN ALL PACKAGES). I was told that we will not be getting anymore in. So whatever is already in the stores is it and there will be no more.

Ghosted by \ @ 11/29/2006 10:44 PM EST


I am hooked on the new cranberry splash too. Too bad its just for the holidays. Hopefully they will decide to make it a permanent flavor.

Ghosted by ccsbinky @ 12/13/2006 7:42 PM EST


I Agree, THis cranberry spalsh by sierra mist is amazing! My friend had a 12 pack of cans of it, i tryed one and I wanted moree. I went to walmart, they dont have it, the gas station.No one has it!

Ghosted by kdubbz @ 01/10/2007 2:35 PM EST


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