The day Pepsi Next showed up at my door

Once in a while, I get to experience some cool things in my flashy high visibility envious hum-drum role as Editor-in-Chief for The Father Life.  Last week I had one of those experiences: I was one of 100 people nationwide … <a href="http://www.thefatherlife.com/theride/2012/03/the-day-pepsi-next-showed-up-at-my-door/">Continue reading <span>→</span></a>
Pepsi Next

Pepsi Next

Once in a while, I get to experience some cool things in my flashy high visibility envious hum-drum role as Editor-in-Chief for The Father Life.  Last week I had one of those experiences: I was one of 100 people nationwide to receive an ice-cold six-pack of Pepsi Next before it was rolled out in stores. It even came in a neat little plastic box.

I passed around the cans of Pepsi to a number of people and conducted my own completely un-scientific poll. Everyone told me it tasted like a 50/50 blend of regular Pepsi and Diet Pepsi.  Whether or not that was a good thing depended on the person tasting.  For folks who don’t drink diet soda anyway, it wasn’t going to make them switch.  They’ll stick to the real stuff, thank you very much.

For people who were usually choose to drink a diet soda but prefer the taste of regular, the response was very favorable.  They expressed an interest in choosing Pepsi Next — and choosing it more frequently — next time they wanted to skip the diet for a treat.  So there you go.

For those of you who are wondering, “What is this Pepsi Next, anyway? Why hasn’t he defined it yet?” I have the details: Pepsi Next is a cola that uses both traditional corn syrup as well as artificial sweeteners, achieving a taste closer to regular Pepsi but having only 60 Calories per can.  Now you know.

And if anyone has a recommendations for what to do with my now-empty clear plastic Pepsi box, let me know.

Ben Martin