Pepsi Holiday Spice

[jhlurie]

Went to the store today and spotted this:

I hadn't heard anything about this and was pretty surprised. And the thing is? It's very good. The idea of cola and "holiday spices" may sound a bit odd (and you may be asking, as we did what exactly MAKES them "Holiday Spices"), but it works. I'm not sure I can really describe it, but it's sort of a similar taste to the spice-mix which might be added to apple cider. Without the apple taste in the background, of course. And please note that they are "spices", but not "spicy".

They've also recolored the soda from brown to red. Maybe to make it more festive.

[spaghetttti]

Cinnamon-y? Cloves?

You know how Dr. Pepper is sometimes served hot, can you envision the Holiday Spice Pepsi as a hot beverage, Jon?

Edited November 7, 2004 by spaghetttti (log)

[Jason Perlow]

I tried some of these today with Jon's family and I must say, they are surprisingly good. For some reason I think that the mulled wine spices (Nutmeg, Cloves, Cinnamon, and perhaps some Orange oils) seem to go really well with cola, and I'm not even a particular fan of mulled wine. Imagine Pumpkin Pie spices mixed with Pepsi. It makes me feel American and warm and Gentile-like to drink it, its a pleasant sensation. Its festive. The only thing I am missing is one of those red sweaters with the embroidered copulating reindeers on it.

If it were marketed 60 years ago and they had product placements in movies back then I could see it being used in Its A Wonderful Life and Jimmy Stewart promoting it on the radio. Maybe Pepsi will get Patrick Stewart to endorse it in character as Scrooge shortly.

By the way, here is the website for the product:

http://holidayspice.pepsiworld.com/home.php

EDIT: According to the web site, the "Spice" is Cinnamon and Ginger, but I detect cloves and nutmeg as well.

[jhlurie]

Those crazy guys at BevNet give it a crappy rating, but this is somewhat explained by them being down on Pepsi in general. They do state, straight out, that it's "a definite improvement over regular Pepsi cola".

Please note that they give Pepsi Vanilla a better rating than this though, and that's just not true (although P.V. is definitely much better than its Coke counterpart).

[melonpan]

You know how Dr. Pepper is sometimes served hot, can you envision the Holiday Spice Pepsi as a hot beverage, Jon?

we drink hot coke and lemon juice at our house...

[melonpan]

but i do ook forward to finding that holiday pepsi near us...

[Jason Perlow]

Actually Jon, I notice TheBevNET doesn't have a review of Pepsi Twist and Diet Pepsi Twist, which I think are the strongest products they've come out with in the last 3 years. I do think Pepsi Spice is better than Pepsi Vanilla, but I think Pepsi Vanilla isn't bad.

[jhlurie]

Actually Jon, I notice TheBevNET doesn't have a review of Pepsi Twist and Diet Pepsi Twist, which I think are the strongest products they've come out with in the last 3 years. I do think Pepsi Spice is better than Pepsi Vanilla, but I think Pepsi Vanilla isn't bad.

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Well we never got to try the Pepsi Kona, did we? They test marketed and rejected that one without ever fully releasing it.

[...tm...]

Ah yes, Pepsi sent me many emails about this product and this time the spam payed off and I tried it. I'm not a regular Pepsi drinker, but I found the spices to be very subtle and overall it was just like drinking a Pepsi. I suppose this is good, since the other flavored cola beverages (lime, lemon, vanilla) I have tried have some sort of overly aggressive chemical flavor. Did anyone else notice the hilarious promise of recipes by "Celebrity Chef Cat Cora" coming soon. I imagine a holiday spice pepsi brine would be pretty good, since it would be just about the same as the traditional Coke brine.

[Jason Perlow]

A Holiday Spice Pepsi reduction as a glaze for a ham might be good. Or make a Coca-Cola cake with it.

[NulloModo]

Looking at Pepsi's site I don't see any plans or mention of a 'diet' version of this soda, which is a total shame. Maybe if it really catches on they will release one, or Coke will do it to one-up them...

Along the lines of this and the recently announced Jones' Holiday Sodas, does anyone know of any festive Holiday beverages which clock in sugar-free?

[bloviatrix]

It makes me feel American and warm and Gentile-like to drink it, its a pleasant sensation. Its festive.

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I almost picked up a bottle of this to try last night night and was told not to bother. Perhaps they could tell this yid wouldn't get it?

Now, my curiosity is peeked. I'll have to search it out.

[Jason Perlow]

I actually think its a nice improvment over Pepsi, yid or not.

[Toliver]

Let me preface my remarks by stating that I am a Diet Pepsi drinker and have been for years. Before I switched to diet, I drank the regular stuff.

I spent the evening with friends last night and brought along a 2-liter bottle of the new flavor.

Including me, five people tried it and the most common remark was that it tasted a lot less sweeter than regular Pepsi. It's also a deep reddish color, which I thought was cool.

The spice undertones were all there. One person thought there might even be a "Sprite-like ('uncola')" flavor. Everyone thought the spice flavorings were subtle but good.

I really couldn't decide what I thought it tasted like. At one point I thought there was an RC Cola-like taste to it, the next moment I thought it was reminiscent of Pepsi One. Finally, I figured it was almost like they blended Pepsi and Coke together. IMHO, Coke has always had a cinnamon-y flavor to it and I thought that was very present in the Holiday Spice flavor.

I give it a thumbs up and would hope next year they will have the forethought and consideration to put out a diet version.

[JennotJenn]

picked up a bottle of this the other night, despite the fact that we never drink "real" soda. But no diet, and I was curious.

I think it does taste a whole hell of a lot like Coke, but a *touch* spicier. DH said it smelled like bitters mixed with Pepsi. My only complaint with it was that it had an odd aftertaste/weird mouthfeel after swallowing. Syrupy, but even more so than most hfcs based sodas. I had to eat something to get the sensation out of my mouth. Which leads me to my next thought, which is that it IS really good with food. Excellent with an all-the-way hot dog.

We had a Pepsi PD&R guy come talk to us the other day...shoulda asked him if he knew if they were going to launch this in diet.

[saskanuck]

I'm trying a bottle of this right now. It's not too bad, actually, and it does seem to be less sweet than the regular Pepsi. I don't mind vanilla Pepsi, either, and I think the spiced Pepsi might go well with rum for a holiday drink. The spices are subtle and interesting.

It is strange to see red Pepsi, however.

I think we'll be buying some of this over the holidays just for something different. I was expecting it to be sweet and cough-syrup like from some of the reviews I've seen, but it's pretty damned good.

[tryska]

A Holiday Spice Pepsi reduction as a glaze for a ham might be good.

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brilliant idea. i shall try this next week. (i've been having a heck of a time trying to decide between cheerwine and coke)

Edited November 18, 2004 by tryska (log)

[K8memphis]

Wull, I'm a dissenter - It seems like they left something out rather than made a spice drink. I mean rather than taking a Pepsi & making it holiday spicy - they reconfigured from some abstract point completely - therefore a holiday drink by Pepsi - not a spiced Pepsi - plus plus even though I was disappointed because I did expect syrupy spicy decadence - it is a soft drink after all - but every time I drank one - I got a banging head ache - wham wham wham.

But but but the commercial is still the cutest!!

[Toliver]

I was expecting it to be sweet and cough-syrup like from some of the reviews I've seen, but it's pretty damned good.

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I think the "cough syrup" comment was actually directed towards the Mountain Dew Pitch Black that debuted around Halloween. Some people posted similar comments about its taste in the eGullet discussion about Pitch Black.

[saskanuck]

My mistake, Toliver. I should have mentioned that the likeness to cough syrup was mentioned on another internet forum that I frequent, not this one. I was expecting more of a wham! cinnamon flavour, and I'm glad that the spicy flavor is subtle.

Black Mountain Dew does not appeal to me at all, but I don't like any of the incarnations of Mountain Dew anyway, not even the original.

[Puck Confit]

I'm gonna have to join the chorus of anti-spiced Pepsi, I'm sorry to say. I gave it a chance, I really did. Especially since Jason liked it so much, and I find my tastes to be very much in line with his own.

I'm still very fond of his idea to use it as a glaze for ham, though. Especially being that regular ole' Coke-glazed him is some pretty tasty stuff.

[Taboni]

Definitely less sweet than regular pepsi, but I personally didn't taste much "spice" to it at all. Kinda boring really.

[elswinger]

The Seattle P-I recommends it as a marinade or a brine for meat or fish.

[MarketStEl]

A Holiday Spice Pepsi reduction as a glaze for a ham might be good. Or make a Coca-Cola cake with it.

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Well, I didn't bother with the reduction--I just poured it right into the pan, to a depth of about 1/4 inch, and basted the ham frequently with it.

I probably should have made a glaze with brown sugar thrown in and coated the ham with it for about the last half hour or so, because the ham came out a bit salty, but I'd do this again--it added a nice cinnamonny/sweet flavor to the ham. (I probably could have made a nice glaze or sauce from the caramelized cola in the bottom of the pan, come to think of it.)

[MarketStEl]

I'm trying a bottle of this right now.  It's not too bad, actually, and it does seem to be less sweet than the regular Pepsi.  I don't mind vanilla Pepsi, either, and I think the spiced Pepsi  might go well with rum for a holiday drink.  The spices are subtle and interesting.

It is strange to see red Pepsi, however.

I think we'll be buying some of this over the holidays just for something different.  I was expecting it to be sweet and cough-syrup like from some of the reviews I've seen, but it's pretty damned good.

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I don't understand where people would get the idea that a drink labeled "Holiday Spice" would taste syrupy-sweet. Spices usually add a bit of bite or bitterness to sweet foods.

As the spices did to this Pepsi, IMO. I went out and bought a 12-pack after glazing the ham with about 1/3 of a 2-liter bottle (I drank the remainder).

And yes, the cinnamon/ginger/nutmeg flavor is subtle, but it's there.