Jones Soda Diet Black Cherry: Dessert in a Bottle

My newest favorite guilty pleasure is the Diet Black Cherry Soda from the Jones Soda Company. Unfortunately, I never had the chance to try their regular version before being diagnosed as a diabetic, so I can't say if the diet version is inferior. I can say that the Diet Black Cherry is easily my favorite of the diet offerings by the company.

Most of us know Jones Soda as the company behind the crisp black and white labels. Pictures are submitted by regular people, and the company decides which pictures to use. At certain times of the year they run special promotions with their labels to raise money for various charities.

The Diet Black Cherry version is available in two styles; a 12-pack of 12 ounce aluminum cans for $4.99, or a 4-pack of 12 ounce glass bottles for $3.99. While it might seem like the cans are a better deal, I actually prefer the bottles.

Jones Soda bottles feature a twist off cap, with little phrases and trivia listed on the bottle cap. The soda smells lightly of artificial cherry, but in a pleasing way. I drink a lot of Diet Dr. Pepper, and I think this tastes like a thicker version of that. Try tilting the bottle to one side, and it even looks like it's a thicker liquid.

The taste instantly fills your mouth and assaults your taste buds. Though its made with Splenda, it tastes exactly like the full sugar black cherry sodas I drank as a child in Kentucky. It is actually so sweet that one bottle a day is all I could ever drink, and sometimes I can't even finish an entire bottle in one sitting. Luckily the cap twists right back on to store an unfinished bottle in the refrigerator.

As for the cans? I like it, but not nearly as much as I like it in a bottle. The liquid doesn't taste as thick, and there's a metallic like aftertaste. I have gone through four of the 4-packs in the last month, but there are still six cans left from a carton purchased over three weeks ago.

Each bottle/can contains carbonated water, natural and artificial flavors, citric acid, Splenda, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, red 40, and blue 1. They contain no carbs, no sugar, and zero calories per serving.