Sparkling Everything….Even Juicy Juice

A few weeks ago, my parents came to stay with our son, and my husband and I headed off to a lovely bed and breakfast in Virginia, because sometimes, when you have small children, that’s what you’ve got to do.  As expected, it was awesome, particularly the breakfast portion of the whole bed-and-breakfast gimmick.  On Saturday, we were also given a picnic lunch which we enjoyed from the comfort of our king-sized bed.  Included with the lunch were two cans of…wait for it…sparkling Juicy Juice.  Yes, that’s right.  Sparkling juice beverages have now officially hit the mainstream.  One of them even came in a blue can.

Some might turn their noses up at such a commercial hijacking of a formerly high-brow concept, but not me.  As a child of parents who missed the hippie movement by ten years but refused to let that stop them, I grew up drinking R.W. Knudsen’s Spritzers.  I am particularly partial to peach.   Since then, I have sampled any sparkling juice I can get my hands on.  If Juicy Juice wants to jump on that train, I say welcome aboard.

I feel like every time I hit the food co-op, a new brand of sparkling juice presents itself and I find myself unable to resist trying a bottle.   I’ve tried G.U.S. (Grown-up Soda) — too watery.  I recently sampled various flavors of Spindrift, which were not bad, but the pretension was so thick that I practically gagged.  I really don’t need to know how many raspberries were hand-squeezed into my soda.  Also, why are there 1.5 servings in a 12-oz. bottle?

It seems like Izze was one of the first of this new wave of sodas, and they are still basically my favorite, especially since a few years ago the Spritzers somehow got smaller while still costing the same amount.

But enough about me.  What’s your take on the juice-soda trend?  Any other brands I should try? And, more importantly, if I want to drink sparkling Juicy Juice, should I pretend to do it ironically in order to save face?