Cuisinart Classic Artisan Soda Syrup, 750ml, Ginger Ale

I don't drink much soda, I find almost all of them disgustingly sweet, but I do drink the occasional Boylan's Root Beer in the winter. It is pricey though and since I have a SodaStream , I wanted to try making my own. I also wanted to get the sugar calories down much lower and I like to see how little sugar I can add before it really impacts the taste. (FYI: I use filtered water, the tap water is dreadful, tastes like chlorine.)The Cuisinart Artisan Root Beer Soda Syrup is so far the best of the syrups, but I only tried this one and SodaStream Natural Root Beer, which was so gross, I mean 'cough syrup wintergreen' gross, that I threw it in the trash after one sip.Here is the deal if you use a SodaStream: Carbonate five times for each bottle or the soda will be flat, then add 1.5 ounces of syrup. I fill a measuring shot glass I bought on Amazon (very useful, btw). Then gently roll the bottle back and forth 4-5x and leave the bottle sitting upside down for a minute or two, then roll it gently 2-3x before pouring a glass. I leave the bottle upside down until 1/2 the soda is gone, as the syrup settles.The 1.5 ounces of syrup is about 150 calories for the entire one liter SodaStream bottle. Not bad! I get about five large glasses out of it, so 30 calories a glass and no HFCS! I still love Boylan's, but that will be the occasional treat, as it has too many calories and there is too much waste and recycling.I have not tried the other flavors, as I don't like any other kind of soda, but in the summer I will try my own homemade lemonade (1/2 cup of sugar in 1/2 gallon!) with carbonated water, as I find most store bought lemonade way too sweet, but I had 'lemonade' in London and it turned out to be lightly carbonated and it was very good on a hot day.

the flavor is reminiscent of cough medicine and the soda comes out looking like dirty water because it has no artificial colors in the syrup... I will stick with the other flavors from now on.

I haven't seen a comparison of the various SodaStream mixes. Having tried a fair amount (and also making my own), I thought I'd write one up.The regular SodaSteam line tends to have a very "diet" taste to it. It's much more affordable than the natural line, but to me it's not worth it.In no particular order:Naturally Sweetened Cola (5 out of 5 stars)This is one of our favorites. We've always loved the Mexican bottled coke, and this is very similar in taste. Highly recommend this one.Natural Black Currant and Pear (4 out of 5 stars)Very flavorful, but has a slight bitter taste to it. We regularly order this one. It's about halfway between a sparkling water and a soda, as far as how much flavor you get.Natural Orange and Pineapple Syrup (4 out of 5 stars)This is more of a sparkling water than a soda. I wish it was more flavorful, it's a bit on the weak side (though still very good).Natural Lemon and Lime Syrup (5 out of 5 stars)A pretty typical lemon/lime soda. This would be excellent as a starting point to making various flavored sodas. (I used it as the base with some hibuscus syrup to make an excellent hibuscus flavored soda.)Naturally Sweetened Country Time LemonadeThis one is strange, and I'm not sure how to review it. The bottle I got was streaked with white wisps, and very "gloopy" when being poured. When I made a bottle, there were small chunks in it. Pretty sure this syrup had bacteria growing in it, and was unusable. Didn't taste it, so can't comment on that. SodaStream recommends refrigerating their natural line (the regular line has no such recommendation on it), which makes sense as bacteria *LOVE* simple sugar rich environments (they can't break down complex sugars/sweeteners such as Splenda). If we order this again and try it, I'll update the review.Natural Root Beer Syrup (1 out of 5 stars)A huge disappointment. This is extremely weak, falling between a soda and flavored water in terms of strength and flavor. It was a little strange to have a root beer that you could easily see through (not dark at all). I've experimented with adding Zatarain's Root Beer Extract (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008GVQ1AS/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1) which helps. I'd recommend making your own on this one.Cuisinart Artisan Soda (5 out of 5 stars)While this isn't SodaStream, it's a good comparison. If the SodaStream Naturally Sweetened Cola is the equivalent of Mexican bottled Coke, then this would be Mexican bottled Pepsi. I'm not a huge Pepsi fan, but it was still quite good, so if you're looking for the Pepsi flavor, try this one.

I have a SodaStream and occasionally make my own ginger syrup: basically a cut-up ginger root simmered in simple syrup. Sugar, water, ginger. It takes a while to do, so I thought I'd try a commercial syrup. I regret that decision.This does not taste like ginger. I'm sitting here trying to figure out what it does taste like and I'm having trouble placing it. It's got a harsh smell that I can best describe as that fake dry "citrus" flavor you get in Emergen-C. I've tried this stuff at a couple different syrup/water ratios and still, all I get is that nasty fake flavor, no ginger.Their shouts of "Pure cane sugar" and "Naturally flavored with no artificial colors" made me think this might actually taste like the stuff I make. Save yourself the hassle and go buy 2L bottles of your favorite name-brand Ginger Ale: this fancy, expensive syrup doesn't even rise to -that- level of flavor, let alone come close to anything you could make at home.

This wasn't bad at all, but it was just a tiny bit too sweet for me. I suppose for people that lean toward liking Pepsi more then Coke (for me, Pepsi is sweeter then Coca-Cola) this might be more toward five stars. I do very much like that it's sweetened with just cane sugar, most of the sodastream flavors contains sucralose (even the non-diet ones). Having said that, Sodastream does have a small line of "Sparkling Natural" flavors that are also sweetened with just cane sugar, I do buy their cola in that line and like it just a bit more.This is still worth trying though, and I'd call it a good second choice if for some reason I can't get the naturally sweetened sodastream cola.One small minus, unlike the sodastream bottles, this has no measuring cup. The ratio of water to syrup is the same as the one used by the naturally sweetened sodastream though, call it roughly four ounces of syrup to a liter of water, give or take a tiny bit.