Author: Alex

REVIEW: Sprite Zero Sugar Winter Spiced Cranberry

Alex 19 Comments

Sprite Zero Sugar Winter Spiced Cranberry Bottle

What is Sprite Zero Sugar Winter Spiced Cranberry?

To the delight of those who are already sweet enough on their own, Sprite has released a zero-sugar version of its Winter Spiced Cranberry soda! An admirable effort, considering the original contains 109% of your daily added sugars in one 20 oz bottle.

How is it?

I should let you all know that while I’ll chow or gulp down any food or beverage in the eggnog, gingerbread, or even Christmas tree (if you haven’t tried spruce beer, try spruce beer) family come holiday time, the combination of fruit and spice has my heart.

This Sprite does not have my heart.

Sprite Zero Sugar Winter Spiced Cranberry Clear Side

Upon first pour, I smelled a burst of sweetness that was not easily identifiable as lemon, lime, cranberry, or spice. The scent was more like an orange or melon soda than something you’d reach for as you’re hanging up the holly.

The taste is equally indistinguishable. If you handed a mug of it to Santa, no explanation, well, he’d be cranky it’s not milk, but he also wouldn’t be able to tell you what flavor it’s supposed to be. Where the original Sprite Winter Spiced Cranberry has defined flavors of fruit and spice, the notes feel muddled and thin in the zero-sugar version.

Also, I know you can’t make a sugar-free soda taste like it’s corn syrupy brother, but Sprite Zero Sugar Winter Spiced Cranberry really tastes like a diet soda. The cranberry flavoring that is so pleasant in the original version only heightens the unnatural sweetness of aspartame.

Anything else you need to know?

Sprite Zero Sugar Winter Spiced Cranberry Decoration

This soda was the pine needle in the haystack of holiday flavors, and it took me a very long time to hunt it down. I finally found it in a liquor superstore, which may be because the only way to enjoy this Sprite is to mix it with something else. If you’ve figured out the best beverage to add, please let me know in the comments; I was only able to find a 2-liter bottle and want to find a good use for the rest.

Conclusion:

Sprite Zero Sugar Winter Spiced Cranberry Clear Top

As a two-time maker of a mulled wine pecan pie, I can’t sign off on this supposed spiced fruit item. If you want to try a Sprite winter soda, I can only recommend buying the original sugar-full (seriously, it has almost a quarter more added sugar than regular Sprite) version. Otherwise, let’s all hope Mtn Dew figures out a sugar-free version of Gingerbread Snap’d soon.

Purchased Price: $1.89
Size: 2 liter bottle
Purchased at: Total Wine & More
Rating: 3 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (12 fl oz) 0 calories, 0 grams of fat, 35 milligrams of sodium, 0 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of sugar, and 0 grams of protein.

ANNOUNCEMENT: New Impulsive Buy Reviewer Alex

Alex 9 Comments

Hello everyone! I am incredibly excited to meet you all. My name is Alex. I like to eat.

As someone who has been reading The Impulsive Buy for years and has spent much time in grocery store aisles using the reviews to decide if I should buy the newest Pop-Tarts flavor, I take my responsibility to you all seriously. I will do my best to never steer you wrong. As my training in my first retail job at 18 taught me, the way to build trust is to share knowledge. Kind of an intense business lesson to throw at a teen folding shirts, but anyways, here’s some things to know about me:

I grew up just outside of Boston, raised by a family of food lovers to have a healthy respect and equal appreciation for both Michelin-starred fine dining and gas station tuna sandwiches. I will eat anything and want to try everything. At the cafeteria table in elementary school, there was never a need for a dare or bribery to get me to try concoctions like leftover mashed potatoes and orange soda my friend mixed on their tray with a spork.

Now that I live in Southern California, I am particularly aware of and value the foods of my youth that I was surprised to learn don’t exist here: Fluff, split-top hot dog buns, “kiddie” servings of ice cream that would fill the Stanley Cup (now that I think about it, watching hockey doesn’t really exist here either). That awareness not only strengthened my resolve to try the weirdest, most interesting, or most culturally unique items on menus or in stores but made me more passionate about the foods that one can get in every state, foods we all eat across the country.

I hope to share this love and curiosity for food with you all and will always welcome your thoughts and insight in the comment section. I will also definitely welcome any pairing recommendations for any food I review; I am from the land of innovation, where someone figured out marshmallow and peanut butter belong together, after all.