Darren’s Favorite Drinks II: Diet Cheerwine

I haven't yet had the gumption to record a video version of my soft drink reviews.  If I did, I'd love to see the reactions of other people when tasting Cheerwine for the first time.

A confession: I've been very much watching what I eat lately and I'm afraid my days of indiscriminate consumption of food and drink are gone. However, that doesn't mean that diet sodas are off limits.  This is a good thing, because the other day I was craving a Cheerwine and would settle for nothing less.

This very distinctive drink began its life in 1917 and is still brewed by the same family today. It's big in the Carolinas and has a hint of cherry flavors inside every bottle.  This continues to this day. It is a very cherry soda in my opinion.  In the Carolinas where they eat barbecue, an ice cold Cheerwine is essential.  Kinda like a RC Cola and a moon pie in Georgia.

Some folks here in Texas claim that Dr Pepper is a cherry soda.  The doctor's chief competition, Pibb Xtra (formerly Mr. Pibb; the Xtra denotes extra caffeine)  now bills itself as an "artificially flavored spicy cherry soda".  I don't think either of these Texas soft drinks taste even remotely like cherry. In fact, there are already cherry flavored Dr. Pepper and Mr. Pibb options. If I were Mr. Pibb, I'd hire Neil Diamond and have them recorded commercial to "Cherry Cherry" for an ad campaign around Cherry Pibb, but I digress.

Truth is, Cheerwine has the cherry soda market cornered. Unfortunately, it's hard to find in this area.

Cracker Barrel old country store sells the fully leaded sugared version of Cheerwine. As mentioned above, I need the diet version to stay true to my new eating plan. So I went on the Cheerwine website to find a store which carries the diet version. Surprisingly, it's only available at Spec's!

As if we needed another reason to love the great Texas liquor retailer. It was in stock at the location in Killeen in both regular and diet.  I didn't mind the drive, because I knew what I was getting. At least I thought I did.  I realized that I've never tried the diet version  and wondered if it would be faithful to the original.

I need not have worried.  It had the same kind of black cherry soda taste without the artificial sweetener being overpowering. Of course after paying for a whole case of bottled diet cheer wine in the amount of $28, it better taste good!  Thankfully it did.

If you don't like Dr. Pepper  you probably won't like this. If you enjoy Black Cherry Fresca, you will find this heavier. If you love Dr. Pepper and Mr. Pibb as I do, you might think this flavor is not enough. I find it smooth and fruity with a hint of cola fullness.  If you're a Coca-Cola drinker, Cheerwine is a delightful change of pace.

My recommendation: try out a regular cheer wine at Cracker Barrel before plopping down 28 bucks for a case.