The name is Rockstar Roasted ‘Light Vanilla.’ I appreciate the simpler names; Java Monsters (Monster’s brand of coffees)  ‘Loca Moca,’ ‘Mean Bean,’and ‘Big Black’ all had names that made me want to laugh out loud, not take them seriously. All of those were great products though; just loaded with calories. How does Rockstar Roasted Light Vanilla compare?

‘Light Vanilla’ is a half calorie, half fat beverage. Without the fat, it does not have the rich creamy texture that I’ve come to associate with these coffee/energy hybrids. Certainly more than a few of you would consider that a good thing, but I’m a little bit indifferent. It really did taste good, but I just felt like it was missing something, and that ‘something’ was probably the other half of the fat and calories. Too bad they can’t produce artificial ‘cream’ like they do artificial sweeteners.

The flavor leans heavily on the shoulder of coffee, and very light on the vanilla. I didn’t notice any ‘energy drink’ aftertaste at all, the coffee masked it fairly well. It’s not bitter (from either the coffee, or sweeteners), and probably tastes way too sweet for the majority of coffee drinkers, but should taste pretty good to the average consumer.

You get 2 serving in each can. Each can contains 100 calories, 3 grams of fat, 200% DRV of vitamins B3-B6-B5-B12, and the usual assortment of energy enhancers that work fairly well. This is a well rounded product that many will enjoy.

I’ll recommend this to folks who are missing their super fattening, high calorie coffee drinks, and are looking for something that is a little lighter. Rockstar Roasted Light Vanilla certainly fills a void. It wont be a product that I’ll be picking up all that often, but it was good enough that I’m really hoping that Rockstar decides to produce some more ‘Light’ flavors.

–Jeremy Hobbs 

Well, some fellow (or a lady) hidden deep in the underground Dr. Pepper laboratories just got tired of wondering one day. That person eliminated the sucker all together, and melted down a Cherry Tootsie Roll Pop, and mixed it into a bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper. Thus, Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr. Pepper was born. No more licking necessary. Just twist the top off and drink.

Let's make this very clear from the get go, this product is a simple novelty in the sea of low calorie beverages. Just another 'hear today, gone tomorrow' ‘Limited Edition’ soft drink. My thinking is, as the carbonated soft drink industry continues to lose ground to teas, coffees, energy drinks, and juice products, they’re getting just a little desperate. This starts the process of throwing a bunch of ideas against the wall, and praying that something sticks. Good news for them, by slapping ‘Limited Edition’ on the label, should it fail miserably, they can yank any given product and say ‘Oh well.’ Should one actually be a success, I'd wager that the 'Limited' label would fall fall off pretty quickly.

Will Cherry Chocolate Dr. Pepper be one of those successes? I have my doubts. That doesn’t mean that it’s a bad product, it’s not. It's smack dab in the middle of mediocre. Far too much of a ‘niche’ product to justify keeping it in full production for very long. What do I mean by ‘niche?’ First of all, it only appeals to consumers of diet soda, and maybe a few die hard chocoholics. Second, and this point is way bigger than you might imagine, it must appeal to diet soda consumers who will drink something besides Diet Coke. Third, it requires a very courageous soul to even sample a diet beverage flavored with cherries and chocolate. Lastly, with it being such a ‘unique’ flavor, only a certain (i.e. 'low') percentage of those people will ever purchase it again. Out of those that would purchase it again, how many are going to make it a part of their regular beverage rotation? See where I’m going?

For those of you out there that think Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr. Pepper would be disgusting, it’s not. I feel comfortable recommending it for a sampling. This is destined to be one of those ‘love it or hate it’ products. If you happen to be in the ‘Love it!’ category, I suggest you start stock piling immediately. If you're not so fond, it shouldn’t be in your way for very long. $1.25ish (20oz) wherever Dr. Pepper products are sold.

–Jeremy Hobbs