American and Japanese Sodas from Galco Soda Pop Stop

Galco’s Soda Pop Stop or Old World Grocery, is awesome!  I believe this is the second largest soda pop store in the country! Shane did a little bit of research on fun places to visit in Los Angeles and he came across Galco. When he found out that they had such a large and unusual inventory of bottled sodas, I was excited to check this place out!

We went a little soda crazy! Some of the sodas we bought were recommendations from the owner, John Nese, from an interview we watched on him on http://www.chow.com/food-news/55189/obsessives-soda-pop/.

We purchased eight sodas as well as a few old time candies and chips. As soon as we bought them, Shane and I quickly opened two of the sodas in the car before we headed off to our next destination.  The first soda we tasted was Plantation Style Mint Julep.

The color of the soda was this beautiful sea foam blue/green color which, by the way, is my favorite color! Shane picked this one out as he had tried similarly flavored sodas that he loved in the past.  Unfortunately, it didn’t taste quite as wonderful as he had remembered.  This soda tasted exactly like toothpaste.  I can’t say that I enjoy food that tastes like toothpaste so, sadly, we had to give thumbs down on this soda.

The next soda we tried was my pick called “Mr. Cola”.

I was drawn to the old  world graphics and I also love cola! If any of you have tried “Q cola” it is my absolute new favorite cola beverage! Let me tell you, if cola was a healthy beverage to drink, it would be my sole source of liquids! Fortunately, I try to limit my soda intake to once a week. “Mr. Cola” tastes very similar to Vanilla Coke.  It has a soft cola flavor that’s softened by that additional vanilla flavor.  Shane and I both liked this soda and gave thumbs up for this!

The next soda, I tasted was “Rock and Rye” by Faygo.

This was a recommendation by owner ,Nese, for a smooth cola.  I have to say, this didn’t taste much like cola. “Rock and Rye” just had the slightest hint of cola flavor but tasted predominantly like cream soda. If you love cream soda, this would be a good one to try.  I would give this product thumbs up, however, don’t purchase this if you are wanting a cola flavored beverage.  If you  are looking for a vanilla cola flavor, “Mr. Cola” is a much better option.

The fourth soda I tasted was Mr. Q Cumber soda.

I decided to try this because this was another recommendation from Nese.  I was a little skeptical about this soda because I was not sold on the idea of vegetable flavored soda.  Don’t get me wrong, I love vegetables, I’m just not sure about vegetables in soda form.  My first sip was fantastic! Wow, was I wrong! This cucumber soda was delicious and I have to say this was actually my favorite soda of all the sodas I tried from Galco! It does have a cucumber flavor, but paired with the sweetness and carbonation it is very refreshing! I highly recommend “Mr. Q’ Cumber” soda . Plus, it comes in such an adorable little green glass bottle!

Of course, we had to try some Japanese sodas! Even though I have tried Ramune many times, I have not tried this particular flavor: Melon.  I have tasted a Japanese melon cream soda in the past that I loved! It comes in an aluminum bottle and is also by Sangaria.

The great thing about Ramune is the unusual way in which the bottle opens.  There is a marble that is trapped in the opening of the bottle.  You take the plastic stopper that is included in the package and you use this to push the marble into bottle. This creates a nice, satisfying loud pop! I remember cutting the blue plastic at the top of the bottle as a kid just so I could get the marble out!  This melon Ramune just tasted like sugar soda. I couldn’t really detect much of a melon flavor. Upon tasting it multiple times, I had to change my rating from my video review to thumbs down on this soda. It doesn’t taste bad, but I don’t particularly like soda that has little to no flavor.

Next on the list is “Bubble Up” Lemon-Lime.

This was another recommendation by Nese. What intrigued me about this soda was that it was made with real lemon and lime oil and cane sugar.  I liked the idea of a natural 7-up and wanted to give this a go. This tastes just like 7-up.  In fact, I couldn’t really tell the difference between the two.  I think I would have to do a side-by-side comparison to identify subtle differences.  This was good especially if you are looking for a natural type of 7-up.

Soda number seven was River City’s Old Fashioned Blueberry and Lemonade Soda.

This sounded unusual and I loved the blue color, so I had to try this! The ingredient label states that it is flavored with quillaia which I found out is an extract from the stems and branches of soap bark. Quillaia is a common flavoring in cream soda and root beer. This tasted exactly like the soda described: the flavor is mostly blueberry but there were definitely citrus notes in the background. This was delicious and definitely in my top four favorites of all the sodas I tried from Galco.

The last soda I tried was the plum-flavored Ramune.

This was delicious! This soda had a nice, fruity flavor with floral notes! I definitely give this thumbs up putting this also in my top four favorites!

My top recommendations are:

1. Mr. Q Cumber

2. Plum-flavored Ramune

3. Mr. Cola

4. River City Old-Fashioned Blueberry Lemonade Soda

Galco is such a fun store to visit and I will definitely come back to try more unusual sodas! Anyone would be overwhelmed by all the soda varieties! The nice thing about Galco is that the owner makes an effort to find unusual sodas manufactured by small companies.  For example, you won’t find Pepsi-Cola products here. It is wonderful that Nese supports small businesses and also tries to find naturally sweetened sodas.

If you would like to check out our video review of Galco sodas, check it out here!

If you are interested in finding out where to purchase some of these interesting sodas check out the affiliate links below.
Mr Q Cumber Soda (Pack of 12)

Sangaria Ramune, Plum Flavor 6x 6.76z

Sangaria Ramune Marble Soft Drink Melon Flavor 6 Pack