see me once again yeah look so sorry
there's nothing I'm not even trying to
force it's just I'm so sorry
[Music]
hey what's going on everybody for first
we feast I'm Sean Evans coming at you
from the set of the Chris Gethard show
where I'm joined by you can do the math
Chris Gethard hello you know from his
HBO comedy special career suicide as
well as shows like broad city and parks
and recreation of course if you catch
the Chris Gethard show on truTV and what
you might not know about Chris is when
he isn't hosting the weirdest and often
saddest show on television he's one of
the comedy world's foremost aficionados
when it comes to rare soda brands before
we get started Chris can you put your
passion your love for soda in words for
me well I think in my heart I am a very
fizzy boy you know I love fizzy drinks I
love fizzy sodas
I'm also an addict who doesn't drink
alcohol so I have to be addicted to
something right and for me it's soda
what makes the perfect soda for you can
it be too sweet can it be too fizzy
what's the balance I think it can be too
sweet it can be too fizzy it can't try
too hard
my favorite sodas are the ones that have
like stayed a long time and been beloved
in a certain region but if you go to
Kentucky they love a drink called a late
one if you aren't obsessed with soda you
probably haven't had LA one but it's so
good and they loved it so much where
it's from like to me it needs to also
have like laid down roots and withstood
the test of time oh I feel like a big
dork right I can feel the internet
judging me right now well Chris were
here for some very important business
we're gonna put your palate to the test
my palate to the test with some of these
rare hard-to-find crazy soda brands from
the US and for that taste test we have a
very special guest
[Music]
all right to help lead us through
today's taste test we welcome to the
table renowned Somali Ali Campbell for a
job she's entirely overqualified for
then I know that today we're not gonna
be swirling vintage Bordeaux but are
there any tasting techniques from the
wine world that you can apply to the
soda world so one of the things you want
to look at when you're tasting anything
first of all is the color also you want
to see how transparent it is a little
bit hard to see right now so I'm going
to just say that that's a dark
mysterious substance in our in our cup
and it looks brownish which is a
brownish I'd say brownish in there but
you know I've tasted a lot of things as
colored so I think we should just jump
it just bottoms up yeah oh I love the
nose on this the nose on this is really
earthy and herbaceous and actually
reminds me of certain fortified wines so
this is gonna I think it's gonna be
really interesting and it's unlike any
soda I've ever had in my life it has
that bitter aftertaste
mhm different from the nose almost
medicinal yes mmm it's got a kick
quality to it
I also love the idea of things that are
made from like herbs and barks that
might possibly give me some health
benefit that's mostly why I like soda -
[Music]
as soon as I smelled it I thought I knew
what it was but then I tasted it when I
smelled it I was like that's max that's
moxie is it moxie yeah I thought it as
soon as I smell it I was like that's
moxie yeah Moxie is nuts this is great
this out exploit Chris some people say
that the soda king and then some people
just walk the walk the walk the official
soft drink of named moxie was originally
patented as a medicine called the Moxie
nerve food legend has it that Moxie is
an aid to digestion and a cure for
nervousness insomnia and exhaustion I
can say having had a lot of moxie it
doesn't solve nervous there's no way in
which this solves her I'm a very nervous
and anxious person I can say that a
bottle of moxie has never put yes it
does it's no substitute for wellbutrin
in the mix all right so here's soda
number two Leah I'm a very fast learner
look at me 39 nose in right off the bat
good job I mean you know in the wine
world we can decipher so much about
where the grapes are grown but what the
color is I don't know what to tell you
about this here's my opinion I like the
bubbles you can tell right off the bat
that it's a good soda base we like to
say in the wine we're persistent
persistent bubbles vámanos lots of lime
I would say and then this flavor I'm
gonna pinpoint it or I'm not but either
way I'm gonna be mad at myself because
I've know I know I've had this the smell
is hitting me in a certain way I have to
tell you I think this is almost like a
perfect soda really yeah I do I think
this is what like soda pop should be
about it should just be sort of
ridiculous and fun and bright in your
mouth and makes you smile it's so sweet
that it feels like you're getting
punched right in the [ __ ] face the
bubbles on this one are so pronounced
that when they hit the back up my throat
I start coughing really yeah if I was
gonna guess based on the color in the
flavor I think it's that one from
Chicago called Green River yeah and I
know the history of this one - Green
River original used to be be number two
soda brand in the u.s. in the 1950s only
Coca Cola sold more to continue to space
us effects I happen as well they were a
beer brewery in the Prohibition hit so
then they switched over the soda
producing us ever since and management
that's gorgeous
look at that level yeah I was gonna stay
classic one thing that I really loved
about some of the small regional bottled
soda brands so that they do not care to
employ modern-day graphic designers all
right here we are with soda number three
just looking at it once again we have
bubble action turned up to 11 and then
Lee you are so excited when this hit the
table I love the color I really think
it's so pretty it actually looks a
little bit like wine so maybe that was
my initial reaction it actually tastes
like something connected to nature today
it does right yeah this doesn't taste
like sugar thrown into a big vat full of
chemicals in Chicago it has almost an
elegance to it I don't even think this
is the first one where someone who had
done a thought about what they were
making and how to do a crack and like
maybe how to bring kids and adults
together or you know a nice holiday
beverage that everyone would be happy to
have I'm gonna take a big swing because
I initially put this with somebody's
budget is this huckleberry Chris this is
Huckabee Chris you're so excited I feel
like nobody's flipping out I just nailed
okay so according to the company's
website huckleberries are the summer
ripe and volatile of raspberries and
blackberries with a rich juicy flavor
somewhere between the two Jackson whole
soda produces handcrafted old-fashioned
soft drinks at honor the pioneer spirit
of the Old West
I suggest pairing this drink with Rocky
Mountain rainbow trout and grilled
chicken I could see myself walking down
a nice cut a trout with it again I just
want to reiterate I said I think this
might be huckleberry I didn't cheat and
I know that and I'm really proud thank
you thank you all right so here we have
a purple drank it's definitely a grape
soda I would go if I'm if I you know if
I were to be so bold without even
tasting it I would guess this was new
grape and you
- great let's just you know for - great
oh wow that's amazing well there's no
soda that smells more like great gum
than new great it has if that it's like
that great that great flavor your life
is more than like Welch's more than well
well like it this is one of those ones
where it's like like that candy grape
flavor why is it great grapes don't
taste like that can you eat that grape
candy but this soda tastes like that so
it says new crate dates back to the
early 1920s and now it's bottled and
Austin Texas as a flavor you can't
forget that's true it's a smell you
can't forget either this is my least
favorite I would imagine as a wine
connoisseur mhm
drinking something that so offensively
calls itself great pass under your skin
there is at that Concord creepy aspect
but that's not what what you really use
to me fine wines
what about you delicious so good it's so
good I want to drink the whole bottle I
think it's really delicious
like a hot day of kid running around
okay I got a bottle this after that I'm
not gonna sit there I'm not gonna order
foie gras and a new grape I think this
is something that you know the
characters on the Wonder Years would it
drag me around alright well there you
have it for the soda taste test
Chris such a wealth of knowledge I I
learned so much about soda just from
being around you Lee thank you so much
for coming through and helping us lead
through the taste test and then catch
the Chris Gethard show on truTV or first
we feast you'll already know this is
Sean Evans I hope you have an amazing
Tuesday you also in the course of
shooting this video it's very clear why
I had to give up drinking alcohol yeah
passionate guy
[Music]
if you go yeah thank you so much I got
super oh thank you so much yeah I mean
that's that's Tommy's also right there
I'm gonna watch that get dumped in that
garbage can