Barring the complete outlawing of fizzy drinks, the Coke vs. Pepsi fight will continue to be the main event in pop pugilism. But what about the albino step-siblings of these cola titans — the lemon-lime drinks? These lesser libations — Sprite, Sierra Mist, 7Up — have seen their ad budgets butchered and their sales sink in recent years. But none of them are willing to go down for the count without at least one last left hook.
In an effort to differentiate itself from the other beverages in the category, PepsiCo’s Sierra Mist has decided to tap into the growing market for real sugar sodas by phasing out its existing formula, which uses High Fructose Corn Syrup, in favor of the real sugar recipe of Sierra Mist Natural.
Says the VP of natural and flavored sodas at PepsiCo:
There’s not a strong reason to choose one [lemon-lime] brand over another…. And when we asked consumers what would re-engage them in soda, ‘natural’ was the No. 1 concept.
Meanwhile, AdAge reports that 7Up is reformulating its recipe and reworking its graphics in hopes of staying competitive in a category dominated by Sprite. In addition to the formulation redo, 7Up says they plan on spending the equivalent of a whole year’s ad budget on in just the last four months of 2010.
So, would the fact that Sierra Mist will soon be HFCS free make it any more appealing to you?
Lemon-Lime Gets Boost After Years of Neglect [AdAge.com]
More From Consumerist
-
Why The Math On Your Soda Bottles & Cans Doesn’t Always Add Up
-
Hunt’s Manages To Sneak High-Fructose Corn Syrup Back Into Its Ketchup After 2 Years Without
-
FDA: High Fructose Corn Syrup Isn't "Corn Sugar"
-
Big Corn Still Believes We Are All So Very Confused About HFCS
-
Why Is Big Corn Continuing To Run ‘Corn Sugar’ Ads Even After FDA Denial
I would drink more soda if it weren’t full of HFCS. I am definitely going to give this one a try!
Do it, it’s actually a lot better.
Sugar or no, you’re better off with less soda. Switch to sugar over HFCS, but don’t drink more because of it.
I have to say, you likely won’t be disappointed. Old Sierra Mist was just undrinkable to me. The stuff was horrid. I tried some of the new stuff and it is amazingly good. It’s actually ahead of Sprite, IMHO. Now, I’m a big fan of sugar over HFCS, but as much as the flavor here has changed, I can only assume they changed more about the formula than just the sugar aspect…
HFCS has a nasty after-taste and it’s sticky with an unnatural sweet flavor. To me sugar has a clean, sharp flavor and it does not make me more thirsty.
You haven’t lived until you’ve had a rum and cola made with Pepsi Throwback. It pops – it’s not heavy at all. I’ll definitely be buying Sierra Mist to mix with my Maker’s Mark.
Yep, count me in also. I bought two 2-litres of Pepsi made with sugar last week and we loved it; no headaches, no cloudy heads, and no sleepless nights. I will definitely buy Sierra Mist made with sugar because I have always liked this soda and its caffeine free. Now days, our refrigerator has no soda made with HFCS because it’s outlawed in our home.
I just did yesterday; it honestly doesn’t taste any different. I am particular about HFCS most of the time, maybe the fizz diminishes the difference. Sugar is sugar, and it’s not great for you, no matter what form it is in, especially refined sugar (which, hello! The substitution is going from one refined sweetener to another!). But hey, I bet cane sugar refineries are counting their blessings-now real sugar is ok again!
“Sugar is sugar…” — except I can buy a bag of one in the supermarket and the other is restricted to industrial use. I don’t know why that doesn’t raise a red flag for more people.
i would too. i mainly avoid soda but there is nothing like a sprite and vodka, i would love to switch out sprite for something free of HFCS!!
My daughter bought one the other day and I had some. I thought it tasted pretty good, and it is pretty filling.
Now let’s hope Sprite does the same thing and blow these two inferior drinks out of the water.
Grant Hill drinks sprite??
I like SM, so I will give this a shot for sure.
Sierra Mist used to be palatable – a lot cleaner and crisper than the other two, and then it fell into the dark nether regions of diabetes hell.
7-Up…that will have to be a goddamn GREAT reformulation to get me back on board.
I am confused by the “diabetes hell” comment. Do you mean it was too sweet?
Being a diabetic myself I find all these regular sodas too sweet anyways, so maybe that’s why I don’t get it.
What if they bring back spot?
Soda without HFCS tastes so much better. Mt. Dew and Dr. Pepper with real sugar are amazing!
Back in May I had to visit Virginia for my job and I bought a Mt Dew made with sugar. Being a person that has only had maybe 5 Mt Dews in 20 years, I was hesitant not because of the sugar but because I just never liked Dew. Well last Friday I opened it and it was amazingly good and tasty. I put it on ice and had it with dinner and it very good. Coincedentally about three weeks ago I was given a Mt Dew at a camp site that I was staying and it was the only thing to drink at the time. It was awful, nasty, and like drinking pure sweetened water because it was the type made with HFCS. The differences between the two were amazing.
I love Pepsi Throwback and I think Heritage Dr Pepper is hands-down the greatest (mass-produced) soft drink I’ve ever ingested. Mountain Dew TB just doesn’t cut it for me, though. The Dew is one of my favorite sodas, but I guess it just doesn’t taste right without all the artificial crap in it. However, my grocery store just got in another shipment of Heritage Dr P so I bought 3 cases and will probably buy a few more to stock up.
I am definitely in support of an HFCS-free Sierra Mist.
“There’s not a strong reason to choose one [lemon-lime] brand over another…”
Wow! A VP at PepsiCo said that!
I was thinking the same thing. Def shouldn’t have said that out loud!
That’s exactly the play you make when you’re not #1. If differentiation got you to third place, claim there’s no difference and try to break off some of the other guy’s brand loyalty.
What, you mean an exec that “gets” it?
I think everyone who lives with the array of coke and pepsi products knows there isn’t much difference between them. People have individual tastes, and taste differences are subtle, but there isn’t any true difference between.
There’s definitely (as in, objectively) a bigger difference between the cola products than between the different lemon-lime products, but I get your point. Different chugs for different mugs.
So… now… to get rid of the salt and break their scheme of keeping the thirst cycle going so people will drink and buy more of it…..
For their next project, can they please make more diet drinks with Splenda instead of aspartame? Then I would actually be able to drink them. (I know they do make a few but they’re hard to come by, at least where I live.)
THIS.
There are a few out there, and they’re awesome. I honestly think beverage manufacturers are scared people will like it, and they’ll have to switch everything (and it might cost them more).
I found Diet Coke with Splenda in a local Fry’s over the weekend after not seeing it for over a year. Hoping they’ll continue to stock it this time around.
Wow, even better! I just Googled ‘Sierra Mist Natural’ and they’re also coming out with a diet version sweetened with stevia. A truly natural DIET soda… how refreshing!
Very cool, will have to look for it.
Btw, check for Coke in the Latin foods section of your grocery store (our Wal-Mart carries it). It’s made with real sugar. Or check for Kosher Coke during certain times of the year. Both are made with sugar instead of HFCS.
FWIW, you can buy a carbonator and syrups that are sweetened either entirely with Splenda or with a Splenda-sugar blend. (Personally, I’m more than happy with sugar, so I use freshly squeezed juices and simple syrups to make my soda.)
Are you suggesting making your own soda at home?
I don’t understand why they can’t make a near-diet soda. I mean, 12 oz of Pepsi is 150 calories. Diet Pepsi is 0. How much better would a 12 oz can with 60 calories taste? When given the chance, I make my own at fountains by mixing soda and the diet. Tastes better than the diet, and much healthier than (and usually indistinguishable from) the full-on 150 calorie soda. Whose taste buds are so bad that they need nearly 12 cal in an oz of drink?
And the sooner they dump Aspartame for Stevia/Sucralose/acesulfame potassium the better!
Many moons ago, and several of your “earth years,” Pepsi sold something called “Pepsi Light” which had more than zero calories, but less than a regular cola. It was also lightly flavored with lemon. I liked it, therefore they stopped selling it. (The almighty Wikipedia also tells me that Diet Pepsi is sold by that name “outside the English-speaking countries.”)
In France, there’s no Diet Coke, just Coca-Cola Light, which is probably pretty similar. It tasted like ASS (or Coke Zero…pretty much the same thing).
I LIKE aspartame. Splenda grosses me out. If I wanted the “taste” of sugar, I would just get ACTUAL sugar.
So, please, bars and restaurants, when I ask for DIET, don’t give me Coke Zero and assume I won’t be really pissed off.
All that being said, there’s definitely a place in the market for more Splenda-sweetened drinks.
You can get Stevia flavored sodas at most health food stores, FYI. Not that they’re all that great, but they’re there…
See Pepsi One, Coke Zero.
where I live Coke Zero is made with aspertame
do you have Diet Rite soda available? in the Midwest they are in Walmarts and HyVees. Made with Splenda and have several good flavors! My friends and I prefer the non-cola ones, like black cherry or tangerine.
Real sugar? I think I’ve found my new mixer….
Squirt FTW
Squirt is at the top of the soda food chain! Gr8 comment !
Jarritos for life! Postobon makes a great orange soda, & a even better apple soda, YES! AppLe! INCA soda was yum before the takeover too !
This is great except that the Citric Acid they use is still derived from corn. If they would get a source of real citric acid, they might have a better hold on the ‘Natural’ claim. Still undrinkable for the corn-allergic, though moving away from HFCS is a step in the right direction.
How could deriving citric acid from corn trigger a “corn allergy”? Citric acid is citric acid is citric acid….it’s a specific chemical with a specific structure and composition. If you’re not allergic to citric acid from lemons, you’re not allergic to it from any other source.
Now, issues with the corn industry, concerns about environmental or socio-political implications of corn fractionation, absolutely still have a place in the conversation. Allergies do not.
Well, my corn allergy is the difference in whether this soda is drinkable for me or not. With the backlash against HFCS starting to gain momentum, I can only hope that it continues to steamroll against corn-based additives.
And believe me, my body knows the difference between naturally-derived citric acid and the corny kind. I had half a can and felt awful.
Your body is then, pardon my french, retarded. As someone said above, Citric Acid is Citric Acid. Your body cannot tell the difference because there is no difference. If the stuff that was corn-derived was any different than say, the lemon-derived stuff, it would not be citric acid. The chemical arrangement would be different and it would therefore be something completely different. Hell, it might be a base instead of an acid.
Don’t argue this further because what you say cannot be true. As in, it would break the the universe if it were true.
My body is, rather, quite sensitive to corn-derived ingredients as they trigger an allergic response. To assume that a chemical process is 100% effective and leaves no traces of the source is indeed, retarded.
I think your brain might be sensitive to the placebo effect for foods you suspect might be corn-derived…
Seriously, though, I’m wondering – what allergens, specifically, are left behind in the process of deriving citric acid from corn? Because I was unable to find any physical mechanism that might explain your reaction. I was only able to find anecdotal reports that took the stance of “if it’s derived from corn, it’s automatically bad!”, without any evidence that the refining process actually left traces of corn, or even what those traces might be. Hence my skepticism.
It’s an interesting question, whether it’s enough of the corn proteins, or even the mold (aspergillus niger) that’s grown on corn sugars to create the Citric Acid. Either way, it’s toxic to those of us who react to other corn-derived ingredients.
citric acid is C6H8O7 no matter where it comes from, changing the source does not change the substance it would still be C6H8O7 if it was taken from oranges, lemons or a lab bottle.
Everyone knows that Corn is really a Citrus fruit.
gosh.
I mostly drink soda for the caffeine, but I’ll have to try this. If it tastes good enough, it might be my new late-night drink.
The new Sierra Mist Natural packaging is the 3rd package redesign they’ve had in about a year. The original Sierra Mist logo wasn’t bad, but the first new look was straight out of a cheap horror film. I actually tried Sierra Mist Natural for the first time yesterday and I have a full 2-liter of it at home now.
The glass I had actually tasted flat and very sweet, with little of the classic lemon lime taste. Hopefully that was just a mistake, though I wonder sometimes if these companies spend all their money on consumer-testing new ideas, but never go back and ask if they’ve implemented the idea correctly.
You struck a nerve with me – I’m not sure why, but it drives me crazy to see companies redesign their logo every few years instead of choosing one good logo and keeping it forever. Kudos to GE…incredibly dated logo, but you have to admire their sticking with it all these years.
I really shouldn’t complain. Logo design keeps graphics artists like myself busy. But then any hack with a computer can attempt to do graphic art these days. Ooh, there’s another hot button…I better stop now…
I would rather have a non-carbonated lemonade drink made with real lemons, sugar, and filtered water. A true “citron presse”.
Did someone break your arms? Why not get some lemons, sugar, and water, and set to?
+1
Try lemonade made with sparkling water. It’s insanely good.
Especially if you use the sicilian lemon juice from Costco, that’s grown organically in volcanic soils around Mt. Etna. Life-changing.
The ones hand picked by nuns and aged for 350 years in a specially-designed chamber at the bottom of the sea?
Sold. I’ll get a case as soon as I see it at the local grocery store.
Nothing like eight to twelve teaspoons of refined sugar in your 12-oz can of soda to quench that thirst and help keep those pounds off.
Mmmmmm…..
All sugars are bad for you but HFCS has been proven to be worse for you from a gaining weight standpoint than real sugar. But that’s ok, be against it because it’s not a perfect solution right?
I agree that most of these clear sodas pretty much taste the same. I could pick 7Up and Sprite out of a blind taste test easily, but SM and Sprite are nearly identical to me. I can’t wait to taste it with real sugar. The Throwback Pepsi and Moutain Dew are a little too sticky tasting, but I’m sure that’s just because I’ve destroyed my taste buds with HFCS all these years.
Yes yes yes
Real sugar FTW
Soft drinks make my head hurt, but I’ll try it at least once. HCFS has never affected my purchasing/drinking decision though.
Absolutely! I recently did a taste test of Pepsi vs Pepsi Throwback and real sugar tastes SO much better. Sorry corn industry, HFCS sucks.
Oh, and your new barrage of commercials trying to convince us that HFCS, which you call “corn sugar”, is exactly the same as real sugar and our bodies can’t tell the difference is UTTER BULLSHIT.
Seriously, where is the FTC when these huge corporation outright LIE on national television?
Same place they have always been. In the back pocket of the corporations.
My background is in biochemistry. There is no difference in the way that HFCS and sugar are metabolized.
Researchers at Princeton would disagree with you
http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/
Yeah, that’s an incredibly important and probative finding for all the people who are wondering which sodas to feed to their rats.
It’s about time one of the major sodas was reforumulated with a permanent change to sugar. These “limited time” drinks like Throwback and Dr. Pepper Heritage are only a stopgap.
I just bought some of the Dr. Pepper “throwback” made with sugar, and it does taste better. I also found that the Hansen’s natural tonic water, with real sugar, is miles better than any other tonic I’ve tried with my gin… so yeah, I’d probably go for the “real” sugar versus HFCS most other things being equal (like price).
i typically like sierra mist, but ill get it more often without the hfcs.
also 7up tastes like lemon dish soap.
Wanna know how 7Up can stay competitive? Bring back DnL with real sugar.
I think all 7Up needs to do is bring back Cool Spot.
+1 As an avid collector of cool spot merchandise (key chains, flush toys, playing cards, video games) I would whole-heartedly drink more 7up if they brought him back.
….and if they added cane sugar into their reformulated recipe.
If it ain’t Crystal Pepsi, I ain’t interested.
I’ll tell you what’ll re-engage me in soda – rename Pepsi Throwback to just Pepsi and get it on store shelves in such quantities that current Pepsi gets, then rename what you now call Pepsi to Pepsi Cancer and give it the same piddly shelf space that Pepsi Throwback gets now.
You’ll have to stop the corn lobbiests and you’ll have to find a way for America to have real sugar on hand in the quantities that it can create HFCS. We don’t have much land that’s good for growing sugar but we can grow the hell out of some corn.
Not that I like that, just saying that’s the problem.
I really like the Izze brand, which has no “added” sugars … but even then, the juice used is naturally sugary enough as to make no nevermind, I suppose.
Absolutely. They are now going to be my #1 choice for lemon lime soda.
Now if someone could make a sugar based cola, I am good.
Jones Soda makes Pure Cane Cola, which is a cola sweetened with pure cane sugar. That’s what I buy when I get pop.
Boylan’s Sugar Cane Cola. Also, Virgil’s Real Cola. Both are fantastic.
I’d definitely reach for the HFCS-free can.
I liked the Un-cola before they added the lemon-lime – after that there was no reason to choose it over Sprite.
7-up has always been a holiday favorite at our house because it is lighter to drink and easier on the stomach. I hope that they inhance the taste but don’t do a New Coke to it. Even though I’m a Coke guy I really wish they would reformulate the Sprite taste, I think it’s the weakest of the “clear” drinks.
Well I’d say it’s working since now I will buy this instead of Sprite and stop being dissapointed when a restaurant has Pepsi Products instead of Coke.
My wife gave me a sip of Dr. Pepper with real sugar in it on Saturday. I thought it was a new flavor. It was *good*.
Can we get some real lemon and lime juice in there too? I mean juice, not just the natural flavor. I always loved squeezing a lemon and lime into my soda, but it it was already there, that would be AWESOME.
I could care less about the HFCS. The real sugar recipes of any soda are far better tasting than the HFCS versions. It’s just that simple.
I tried this the other day and it is pretty good. Glad to see that it will be staying….now if they could make the throwback variations of Pepsi and Mt. Dew stick we’ll be golden.
I don’t drink soda very often but I will buying Sierra Mist now over the other brands.
I ♥ Mexican Coca-Cola. I’m on my 3rd bottle and I just love it (never had it before last week). I don’t know if it’s the cane sugar or the glass bottle, but damn it’s good!
I hope 7-Up reformulating means they’re going to use sugar, too. If not, I guess Sierra Mist Sugar will have to do for now.
I had one last night, and I didn’t like it at all compared to regular SM.
It looks like Pepsi gets it. I only buy soda with real sugar. HFCS may or may not be worse health wise, but it sure tastes like shit. I buy either Dublin Dr. Pepper or the very similar HEB Dr. B cane sodas for my cola drink, Mountain Dew throwback occasionally, and I round it out with different types of Mexican sodas for my other flavors. Coke is starting to look pretty bad. They actively seem to want to sweep Mexican coke under the rug and seem to be ignoring the whole sugar trend completely.
I regularly pay 50-100% more for real sugar over HFCS, and it is WORTH EVERY PENNY. Bonus for these companies – I’m pretty sugar doesn’t cost THAT much more over HFCS, so their margins are probably greater. I think it is absolutely nifty too that HEB is introducing many of their generic brand sodas with pure cane sugar. I hope they expand it to cover all of their store brand flavors.
Quoted: “And when we asked consumers what would re-engage them in soda, ‘natural’ was the No. 1 concept.”
Uh, everyone is aware … I hope … that poison ivy and hemlock are also both quite “natural.” But I also would think it a good idea to stay away from both.
The moral of the story? “Natural” does not mean “good for you.” Not by any stretch of the imagination.
so…. table sugar, sucrose, is a mixture of 50% glucose and 50% fructose. HFCS is made of the same basic ingredients… glucose and fructose, but the ratios are different. I read that the most commonly used ratio is 45% glucose and 55% fructose. Another commonly used ratio is 35% glucose and 65% fructose.
All in all, it’s not that much different than sucrose. Granted taste of the chemical structures might differ a little. Anyone ever tasted pure glucose tablets that hypoglycemics use? (yuck) Point is, HFCS shouldn’t be villified. Our super high consumption of sugar in general, on the other hand should be the real target.
Hell, yeah! One of the reasons I don’t drink as much soda as I used to is because of the HFCS. Totally going to pick some up when I see it.
Sugar is expensive in the US- more than HFCS and more than the rest of the world – because of US tariffs and quotas.
Since the only soft drink I like is club soda (is that even considered a soft drink?), this information is moot for me.
Yes.
I’m a major Pepsi drinker. I prefer Pepsi products over others. Pepsi and Mountain Dew are my go too sodas. But I’ve always preferred Sprite or 7up to Sierra Mist. But this changes things. Soda made with real sugar tastes a lot better then HFCS. I’m certainly gonna be drinking it more often.
Now if only they’d make Pepsi Throwback and Mt.Dew Throwback permanent.
I stopped drinking soda years ago, but I weaned myself off with 7UP, so I may try the HFCS-free version when it comes out. Main reason: the current formula in 7UP does not use Sodium Benzoate or Potassium Benzoate. They are chemical preservatives, which mixed with the citric acid flavoring in the soda, become a carcinogen, Benzene. The process is triggered by exposure to sunlight for long duration, such as in a shop window or a palette . Plenty of links to share, but there is one local piece in particular…
http://consumerist.com/2006/03/benzene-in-soda-is-cancerous.html
Whee. It’s still going to kill you, only maybe less slowly than HFCS will.
Any sugars spike your insulin levels. Insulin is a master hormone and wide swings are really bad for you. This is why you’re fat, diabetic, and sick.
I cut all sugar and starches from my diet a long time ago and my bloodwork gives my MD a woody. I haven’t been sick since 2006. I eat fatty meat, butter, bacon, eggs, and non-starchy vegetables. Instead of sugar water I drink plain filtered water, black coffee, and red wine. HDL 75 LDL 68 negligible triglycerides. I’m 48.
Keep guzzling the poison, y’all, as ignorance is bliss.
I stopped drinking 7up when they stopped making the original Cherry 7up. That antioxidant crap is disgusting. If that’s their idea of ‘reformulating’, I’m scared to even try the new version.