5 Awesomely Weird Japanese Soft Drinks

By Ben Mesirow Wed., Sep. 7 2011 at 8:01 AM

Categories: Soda, Top 5 Lists

Continued from page 1

B. Mesirow

Purun Purun Qoo and Bikkle

2. Suntory Bikkle: The weirdest drink of the bunch also turned out to be one of the most delicious. Bikkle is a creamy off-white liquid in a short glass bottle, and its smell most closely resembles cake batter or buttermilk. After reading the English sticker on the label, this makes a lot of sense - sweeteners and milk powder are the first three ingredients (though we assume the lack of water on the list was just a clerical error). The taste is somehow even stranger than the smell. It starts sweet but finishes with an unexpected yogurt tang, which is actually a pleasant surprise. The first couple sips caught us off guard, but once we were prepared we very much enjoyed the Bikkle experience.

B. Mesirow

Skal Premium Mango

1. Skal Premium Mango: Mango may be a comparatively uncommon soda flavor, but for candy it's fairly normal. Skal Premium Mango soda clearly takes its inspiration from gummy mango sweets, and we got a taste notably similar to the wonderful Mango Hi-Chew. The creamy texture and intense but not quite deadly sweetness combine to make this our favorite of the many soft drinks we tried. It's still probably not something we'd drink every day, but neither is Pepsi. For a soda change up, though, and a nice complement to some spicy miso ramen, for our money Skal Premium Mango can't be beat.