I’ve been a fan of the flavor of cherries since I was a wee lad. It’s one of my favorites, and I pride myself—in the way that human beings pride themselves on miniscule, ridiculous achievements— that I could tell Cherry Coke and Wild Cherry Pepsi apart purely on taste alone. I’m also a big fan of carbonated sodas, and drink more than I should. I still take in more than most folks my age, but far less than the heydays of my 6 cans of Mountain Dew per day habit when I worked 8 hours a day at the game store.

I had some Cherry RC on hand which I like, and picked up a twelve-pack of Cherry Dr. Pepper in cans just to try it out. This got me thinking, so I picked up a few smaller multi-packs of several other cherry-flavored sodas and decided to perform a taste test to see which I preferred. My lovely assistant Tracy agreed to help me, and on the appointed day and hour, she filled six small glasses with a small amount of each of the six sodas I had chosen: Cherry Dr. Pepper, Cherry RC, Cherry Coke, Wild Cherry Pepsi, IBC Cherry Soda, and Sprecher Cherry Cola. With the exception of the Sprecher, all are nationally-recognized brands and relatively easy to sample on one’s own, should one choose to do so. This was a blind taste test. Tracy labeled each glass A through F, with matching labels for each of the sodas out of my sight in our kitchen.

I found the results surprising. Not only could I not tell Cherry Coke from Wild Cherry Pepsi, but also not one of my guesses as to the brand were correct. I noted that a number of the sodas had a subtle cherry flavor; the cola taste can be overwhelming, so I guess that’s maybe not so surprising.

Of the six, Sprecher Cherry Cola was my favorite. The cherry flavor doesn’t have to fight for supremacy in this one, unlike most of those I tried. It is pricey, however, at $6 for a four-pack. Among the less expensive colas, I think either Cherry RC or Cherry Coke takes the crown. The IBC was more like Sweet Tarts; the cherry and the cola flavors was subsumed by the pure sugar taste. Wild Cherry Pepsi, formerly a favorite drink when regular Dr. Pepper wasn’t available, seemed dull and unimpressive compared to the rest of the samples. My least favorite was Cherry Dr. Pepper; it was far and away the fizziest, and the taste reminded me of cough syrup – not a glowing endorsement. Normally, Dr. Pepper is my favorite soda, so that surprised me.

This was a fun exercise, and I have to thank Tracy for helping me out on this. Being able to taste them blind was quite a revelation.