Bawls Root beer, Sprecher Strawberry

One of the sodas I'll review today is a "high caffeine guarana" soda. 

Bawls high caffeine guarana root beer (or geek beer): This one you may actually find at your local convenience store. Its marketed as an energy drink, and those seem to be in high supply with lots of variety at convenience stores. 
     Guarana comes from South America most prevalently Brazil. Its a climbing plant from the maple family. A guarana fruit has about twice as much caffeine as a coffee bean. 
     I really love part of the company's mission statement: "To provide fuel, refreshment and flavor while inspiring memorable moments to our existing fans, and everyday striving to reach the grip of new fans." First soda I've experienced with a mission statement. There are 5 different Bawls soda in 4 flavors (one's a diet soda). They also make mints. There are so many things about Bawls: Its the drink of choice for gamers. QuakeCon hosts Bawls guzzling contests. There are many accessories: tshirts, hats, posters golf "bawls" and so on. Comes in a weird knubby sort of bottle. Guess that's supposed to be a "Bawl-zy" bottle
     Oh last thing. The original first Bawls flavor comes in a cobalt blue bottle. Blue Bawls. 

     On to the review: Smaller than usual bottle. Most glass bottled sodas are 12 oz. Bawls is 10. There is extremely strong root beet smell right away when opening the bottle. Very strong root beer flavor initially. I wouldn't call it an after taste, but after a few mouthfuls, it became bitter. HFCS?  The guarana part separating from the rest? Maybe you're supposed to shake this soda. No, shaking+soda=bad news. I'm not sure what the cause of this is. But I can tell you, the more I consumed, the more bitter it became. 
     I'm not sure I'd drink one again. Between the caffeine and the bitterness, no, I can say I would not want to drink this again. Bottle is pretty awesome looking though. 

Sprecher Strawberry Soda: I'll be honest, I'm not a real fan of fruit flavored soda. I'll drink them, and it is a nice change sometimes, but I wouldn't want to consume a fruit soda all the time. Just me though. The bottle claims this is a fire brewed gourmet soda. Mild strawberry scent. Subtle at first and then builds. The taste is well, strawberry. I think its very true to the fruit, and makes me want to have some fresh strawberries. Bottle also states this is only a summer brew. Another not sure I'd buy again, but I would drink again.