Pocari Sweat
Pocari sweat has to be the most famous weird drink on the internet. It's made almost every list of top 10 weird drinks that I've ever read. But the people who made these lists obviously didn't taste the drink. They just looked at the label and thought it had a weird name. Read More >
Nostalgia Drink: Soojeonggwa
This weird drink from Korea tastes like apple pie in a can. A spoonful of cinnamon in every sip. This flavor is really awesome at first, but gets a little overwhelming after a while. It has the after taste of cinnamon, tannin-y. It's smooth and slightly syrupy, and not carbonated.
If you get a chance, definitely try this drink. It's delicious, but one can will be enough. If you're thirsty for other Nostalgia drinks, also check out Shikhye.
Crushed Strawberry Drink
Crushed Strawberry Drink is another crushed-fruit drink from Korea. It smells like one of my favorite candies of all time - the hard candy with liquid filling where the wrapper is designed to look like a strawberry. I'm sure at least some readers know what candy I'm talking about.
The juice itself doesn't taste as good as it smells though - it's a really sweet, flat strawberry flavor. My first instinct was right, and it does taste like the liquid inside of that strawberry candy. The thing that makes this a weird drink though is that it has little chunks of strawberry floating around in it. Most people are used to orange juice having pulp, but not strawberry pulp. Read More >
Pabst Blue Ribbon Black Beer
Another rare find at the Chinese Grocery store - Pabst Blue Ribbon! But this isn't your normal PBR, this is Pabst Blue Ribbon Black Beer. Claiming to be "The Original Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer," it's in a black can with gold lettering and barely stands out from the other bright beer cans on the shelf.
I was excited to try out the newest (or oldest?) variety of PBR, but I had to put it in the fridge to chill first. It is indeed black, with a tan foam. Not very heavily carbonated, and not heavy at all. It's got a little bit of a darker flavor than regular PBR, but a little sour and nothing like a stout. It's not great as far as beers go, but it is drinkable if you're accustomed to drinking Chinese beers (a.k.a. you have lowered standards). It's got around 4.5% alcohol according to the label.
The can says 蓝带黑啤 (lan2 dai4 hei1 pi2), which means Blue Ribbon Black Beer. It also has at the bottom an official-looking long company name at the bottom of the can, and it does even say 蓝带啤酒 （lan2 dai4 pi2 jiu3) in the small print, but that's weird to have two different company names. I can't find it on the <a href="http://www.blueribbon-beer.com/bencandy.php?fid=26&id=62">Pabst China website</a> either, so it looks like we're dealing with a fake here.
It even has the Pabst seal on the can
Can any readers confirm or deny whether this is actually sold/endorsed by Pabst Blue Ribbon?
Lychee Beer
This stuff smells just like lychee candy. Since it came in a can I wanted to see what it looked like. Poured out in a glass, this lychee flavored beer is whitish-clear similar to the lychee fruit itself and very bubbly. Judging from the color alone, I would probably be more likely to call this a wine cooler than a beer. It does say 荔枝啤 "lychee beer" on the bottle, but it could just be a translation issue. Read More >
