Goose Island Concord Grape

I really wanted to like the Goose Island Spicy Ginger soda I had a few days back, but sadly it was boring and a shell of what it could have been.  Today I give another one of their sodas a gander.  Get it?  Goose Island… gander?  What would a soda review be without a little ornithologist humor?  Today’s serving from the Island of Goose is Concord Grape flavored soda.  Once again I look at the label in hopes of seeing “grape” anything… no luck.  Honestly that doesn’t bother me as much with this grape flavored beverage as my palate seems to enjoy grape sodas with a high amount of artificiality.  I will say that their bottle art looks very classy and I would happily display it at a variety of functions.  The previous sentence is only a truth if the soda inside tastes as good as it looks.  Onward!

With the flavor listed as Concord Grape I thought this might have more of a wine scent than that of your standard grape soda.  Honestly it seems to be about an 80/20 mix with the grape soda aroma being the stronger of the two.  A good smelling grape soda sweetened with cane sugar.  You might be onto something here Goose.  Drink on!

This tastes like an upscale store brand grape soda and I like it.  With my initial sip I was greeted by a quick carbonation burn (something that should accompany any good grape soda) which was whisked away by the titular flavor.  Once the grape flavoring made its appearance it was impossible to not compare it to grape flavored Jolly Ranchers.  Just to keep up appearances the aftertaste is also that of grape Jolly Ranchers; this is certainly a theme I can get behind. 

Here’s why this “grape flavored” soda works better than their “ginger flavored” soda.  That quick carbonation burn that greets you at the beginning of your sip never fully goes away.  Sure it may sneak off behind the ol’ barn to take a gander at a dirty magazine his older cousin left under some hay, but he’s always within calling distance.  For those of you that skipped that pointless analogy, what I’m saying is that the fizz gives the drink life.  The entire time Goose Island Grape Soda sits upon your tongue it’s alive.  It takes a very long time before it begins to fall flat and bore my taste-buds and that’s where Spicy Ginger failed.  So I tip my hat ever so slightly to you Goose Island, you make a good grape soda.  It’s not amazing and life changing, but it’s tasty nonetheless. 

~A

Twist has the power to turn red grapes green.