A&W Sparkling Vanilla Cream Soda

Though I rarely drink pop now, I have always enjoyed a good cream soda, (though the rest of my family aren't big fans). My favorite is probably "Big Red", as I enjoyed that particular brand as a child, when we went on long family vacations to visit my grandmother in Texas. And if my memory isn't too clouded by sentiment, "Big Red" was less cloyingly sweet than some other types of cream soda. (There was also an excellent cream soda flavored seltzer which I believe was made by New York Seltzer back in the Eighties when seltzers were trendy, but I think that one is long gone.)

When someone brought a bottle of "A&W Sparkling Vanilla Cream Soda" to our library's book discussion group, I was intrigued. I had never tried "A&W Sparkling Vanilla Cream Soda", though I enjoy A&W root beer, especially in ice cream floats. SO I decided to give it a try.

"A&W Sparkling Vanilla Cream Soda" may come in different shapes and sizes, but the kind I tried was in a two liter bottle. This bottle had a wrapper with white and caramel colored swirls, giving an impression of the "creamy" product inside. It also had a large A&W emblem bordered with "Sparkling Vanilla Cream Soda". The soda itself was a very light caramel color.

The flavor of "A&W Sparkling Vanilla Cream Soda" was very nice. I am not sure what makes a cream soda taste like cream soda. (The vanilla maybe?) But "A&W Sparkling Vanilla Cream Soda" captures that classic taste and made it it's own. The aftertaste of reminded me of those little Tootsie Roll shaped Brach's vanilla and caramel toffees (Royals) in the shiny wrappers. (Wow, A&W, Brach's and Tootsie Rolls, how's that for brand mixing? And a major sugar rush!) It could have gotten by with being a little less sweet, but I have had more syrupy cream sodas than "A&W Sparkling Vanilla Cream Soda".

The major drawback to "A&W Sparkling Vanilla Cream Soda" is the same as any pop. It's just not good for you. While there's no fat in "A&W Sparkling Vanilla Cream Soda", each one cup serving has 130 calories, and 11 percent of your daily recommended allowance of carbohydrates. There is no nutritional value listed, so, besides a bit of hydration, these are relatively "worthless" calories. It's even worse when you consider how rarely a person drinks just had ONE CUP of any pop. Fill and average sized glass and you are probably having at least two or three times that much. I was also a bit surprised to find out that this is a caffeinated beverage. I'm not bothered by that personally, but cream soda just didn't strike me as a pop that would have caffeine. So you don't want to make assumptions if you are giving pop to your kids and want to avoid giving them caffeine.

All in all, "A&W Sparkling Vanilla Cream Soda" was a pleasant tasting drink, that brought back some memories. It wasn't as good as "Big Red", but it wasn't bad. But like all pop, I would keep this for special occasions.

Enjoy!