Unwanted Brand “Extensions”

Coke Zero Cherry or Coke Zero Lime

Considering they think grenadine makes it a cherry coke, that’s not a surprise. Grenadine is pomegranate flavoring.

Sometimes the “Light” version of a beer will become so popular that it gets difficult to find, or at least overshadows, the regular stuff.

And don’t get me started on the lime or clamato beers.

My favorite Coke variant was Vanilla Coke Zero but that went away during COVID and never came back.

My wife was trying to find a milk alternative a few years ago and eventually settled on something called Silk Next. Naturally they discontinued it about six months later. So now she has found something called “Ripple” (a name I always associate with winos and brown paper bags) but it is also difficult to find. One store only has the Ripple for kids, another store sometimes has the original but frequently does not, and they are way down on the bottom shelf of the cooler. Meanwhile both stores have about twenty different versions of something called Califia Farms taking up all kinds of space. Grr…

The bizarre product I saw recently was chocolate-covered strawberry flavoured International Delight coffee creamer as a tie-in with the Netflix dating show Love is Blind. Who wants their coffee to taste like strawberries?

(Also available in “Wedding Cake”.)

I don’t know about strawberries, but my favorite coffee creamer was an Oreo flavored variety they put out a few years ago. It was so good but then went away and I never saw it again. :frowning:

I have found that a few drops of vanilla extract will achieve pretty much the same flavor, but I miss Vanilla Coke Zero too. The Coke special flavors (Starlight, Dreamworld, Move, and many others in targeted markets) have mostly been a big “meh” from me. Except for Oreo, that was divine.

Me, for one. If I ever order a coke in a restaurant, I’ll always get Diet Coke with a wedge or two of lemon. Really improves it for me.

I also sometimes have to hunt and hunt to find the regular flavor Wheat Thins and not in a family sized box.

I miss Wasabi Funyuns…

That? Sounds awesome.

Re: Dr. Pepper. I participated in a focus group on sodas back when I was in high school. We basically sat around and chatted about soft drinks and advertising – what we liked and what didn’t work. We all crapped on Dr. Pepper and called it “carbonated prune juice.” This was in 1968 or '69, so that has been around forever. At the end, they gave us samples of the client’s product. Dr. Pepper, of course.

I keep lime, lemon, grapefruit, orange and Angostura bitters around for mixing in Coke or fruit juices.

During the summer months, I also keep lime (and rum) around for mixing in Coke.

Cheez-Its. They have white cheddar Cheez-Its, extra large Cheez-Its, extra cheese Cheez-Its, extra toasted Cheez-Its, hot and spicy Cheez-Its, low sodium Cheez-Its, and probably several others I’m not thinking of. I just want the original.

I’m not against novelty. If something sounds interesting or crazy, I occasionally buy. But at Costco you buy three pound bags. Spending $1.50 at Buck or Two (yes to Reese’s with M&Ms. Reese’s with potato chips, beloved by @pulykamell ?, is an odd mix of sweet and salty I also dislike with chocolatey pretzels or bacon - adding two delicious things to get meh). A small sample isn’t the same as spending $15 for the Costco Stomach Buster Size and eating the same thing for a month.

Reese’s peanut butter is the #1 selling candy for a reason, and that reason is not “let’s add strawberry or caramel and get three pounds worth” to try it out. (They also had Reese’s covered animal crackers). Rosemary triscuits are the best of many tries but all of them taste more of chemicals than fresh spice, and the originals are very often sold out, the me-toos rarely are. Flavoured soda variations can be okay, but none are as good as adding fresh lemon or lime or cherry or real vanilla.

As a grumpy old man yelling at clouds, there are (obviously) bigger things to be upset about than this. It is almost a law that if I try something new and novel at Costco I really like enough to tell other people about, it will be gone the following month and often never comes back.

“Limited Edition” is another hook, presumably to get you to buy lots of something so you don’t run out.

Absolut Boston vodka was one I liked (it was tea flavored) but you can’t get it now. Surely someone else does a version I could try.

Firefly, the sweet tea vodka? A couple friends used to love it

Wait, what…

You telling me you’ve never enjoyed a Bud Light Chelada Extra Lime Made with Clamato?

:face_vomiting:

It’s a mixed bag. I’ve had some absolutely horrid Dorito flavors, and I still don’t understand why there’s a market for both Diet and Zero colas. But most of the Triscuit flavors are very good, and the rosemary especially is great. And if the snack companies never experimented, we wouldn’t have such wonderful treats as the Jalapeno Cheddar Cheetos.

Because Diet Coke tastes gross while Coke Zero actually tastes like regular Coke.