Junk Food Nation, it’s THURSDAY, and I haven’t done a giveaway contest in a while, so I reached out to my friends at Q Drinks, and we have another great soda contest for you – WIN A CASE OF Q KOLA!  Review and details below 🙂

But first I just wanted to rant a little – today, Thursday August 8, also makes the start of the NFL Preseason.  Anyone familiar with the NFL knows the Preseason is pretty useless.  Week 1, barely anyone plays.  Week 2, starters might play one or two series.  Week 3 is usually the best week – you get to see how the teams are SUPPOSED to be, at least for a good half of the game, before coaches put their scrubs back in.  Then Week 4, the Preseason games become useless again – this is the week for rookies and other free agents to have one last chance to prove themselves.

But my beef is the scheduling.  Am I crazy, or was the NFL Preseason played/televised all on Sundays in the past, reflecting the typical NFL Regular Season? Am I wrong here? I can’t remember.  Because this year, the NFL Preseason is all OVER the place!  We have some games on Thursdays, a bunch on Fridays (what??), and then one game on Saturday and Sunday.  And then sometimes a game on Monday night.  And Week 4, ALL Preseason games are happening…on a Thursday evening.  WHAT!?

When did this change occur?  Because if I’m looking to get back into the feeling of the season, I WANT ALL GAMES ON SUNDAY.  None of this end of the week BS, it’s supposed to help CAP OFF a weekend.  Ugh, so stupid that the NFL just wants to spread out games to make media revenue dollars (I mean, I get it), but c’mon. “Oh but now you get to watch games on Friday night!”  Call me crazy, but I usually have plans on Friday night that don’t involve staying at home to watch TV.  Ugh.

But such is the reality of the NFL.  At least my Buffalo Bills play this Sunday. C’MON EJ MANUEL!

Today’s junk food: Q Drinks Kola!

Q Drinks is a company I first learned about at the Summer Fancy Food Show back in 2012. I reviewed their Q Ginger Ale a while back, and loved it.  Founder Jordan S. decided that generally, sodas were lousy, so he set out to make his own sodas and make them spectacular. Today, I’m reviewing Q’s answer to Coca-Cola: Q KOLA.

Q Drinks Kola: The Money Shot

According to Q Drinks, their goal with this Q Kola was to make a cola with balance and spice. To incorporate the natural flavors of the kola nut, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, lemon, lime, orange, and nutmeg, and create a cola that would knock your socks off. Let me take you on a quick photo tour:

Q Drinks Kola: Kola with a K!

Q Drinks Kola: Better than morphine

Q Drinks Kola: all natural ingredients, and low cal, comparatively

Q Drinks Kola: BALANCE is the KEY

Q Drinks Kola: Nice deep color

I twisted off the top, tipped my head back and gulped: this Q Drinks Kola REALLY packed a flavorful punch.  Sweet like other colas, the overall sweetness wasn’t too syrup-y, and it wasn’t as sweet as Pepsi or Coke.  Instead, I got a LOT of cinnamon and clove flavor – very tongue and lip smacking. VERY flavorful without being too sweet. I also got plenty of citrus-y taste, attributable to the orange and lime, although I couldn’t distinguish between the two, per se. As I swallowed, I definitely noticed the nutmeg spice.  Capped off the fizziness with a nice spicy taste.  I didn’t really notice the coriander…but then again, I’m not really sure how coriander tastes in sweet things.

Overall, this was a refreshing cola, for sure – the not-too-syrup flavor meant I could drink more without needing to rest my taste buds.  This was generally, IMO, sweeter than the Q Ginger Ale.

Carbonation – perfect.  Taste – top marks.  Aftertaste – not cloying.  

Q Kola is a VERY good cola for you soda drinkers, and you’ll appreciate the more natural flavors.  Two thumbs up.

Where to buy: Search here

Wanna try this for yourself? Well then, buy it OR ENTER MY CONTEST!

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*** TWITTER CONTEST DETAILS ***

Ok, so how can you get your hands on a 24-bottle case of Q Drinks Kola? HERE’S HOW TO ENTER ON TWITTER:

1. Join Twitter.  This is a Twitter contest, so man up and sign up. I keep telling you to do this. So do it.

2. Once you’re on Twitter, look for my tweets about Q Drinks Kola!  To best find these tweets, follow me on Twitter here – it’s not required, but it’ll make everything a whole lot easier when you’re looking for my Q Drinks tweets.

3. Re-Tweet the Q Drinks Tweets that I’ll post periodically through the next week.  AND THAT’S IT.  You’ll automatically be entered in a drawing for a case of Q Drinks Kola.

4. Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, August 14th, 2013.  Get all your Re-Tweets in before then!  I’ll announce the winner on either Thursday August 15th, or Friday August 16th.

5. US residents are the only ones eligible to participate, and no one with PO Boxes…AND no Hawaii or Alaska.  I don’t make the rules.  Wait, I kind of do.  But whatever – Q Drinks will only ship within the US and to no PO Boxes, and no Hawaii or Alaska.  SORRY!  So keep that in mind.

6. Friends can and SHOULD enter, since I’ve become friends with so many of you over Facebook, Twitter, comments, etc.  Family cannot enter, but is encouraged to re-tweet anyways and have THEIR friends enter.

7. The more times you Re-Tweet, the more times you’ll be entered!  The winners of the Candy Corn Oreos DELUGED THEIR TIMELINES with Junk Food Guy tweets.  You can do the same thing!

So that’s it, Junk Food Nation!  Enter my Twitter Contest and win a CASE of Q Drinks Kola, mailed directly to your door.  DO IT!

Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. Also, you can always email me at junkfoodguy@junkfoodguy.com. Let’s do this.

Sincerely, Junk Food Guy