3 Colas with real sugar

Some years ago, soda companies began substituting sugar with High Fructose Corn Syrup; this changed the sweetness of the soda, and soda companies began a campaign introducing their "new formula". Currently, due to consumers becoming more aware of the abundance of HFCS in products, many soda companies are now reformulating their sodas to use sugar instead of HFCS. Jones Soda made the transition last year, switching over to using Pure Cane Sugar, and currently Pepsi is testing two products: Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback, which uses natural ingredients and sugar.

Mexican Coke, which uses real sugar, is available at some Costcos and mexican restaurants. The texture of the Coke with sugar is different than with HFCS -- it's less sticky and syrupy, and a lot less sweet than HFCS Pepsi.

While I'm not really a fan of Pepsi, their new Pepsi Throwback, which is made with sugar instead of HFCS is a good product that I hope will stick around; at my local Target, it was 2.50 +CRV for a box of 8 in 12 oz. cans. This product is currently available nationwide (and likely for a limited time only).

I also picked up a package of Red Bull Cola ($4.99 +CRV) for a box of 4. The production of these cans is a bit more involved than the standard cans of Red Bull in that each can features a red tab with a bull cutout. Taste-wise, the Red Bull Cola seemed very sweet, considering that Red Bull Cola uses sugar. Of the three colas, Red Bull Cola was the sweetest, and the foamiest.

It's interesting to see the differences and similarity in ingredients for these sodas:

Red Bull Cola: Water, Sugar, Carbon Dioxide, Caramel Color, Natural Flavors from Plant Extracts (Galangal, Vanilla, mustard seed, lime, kola nut, cacao, licorice, cinnamon, lemon, ginger, coca leaf, orfange, corn mint, pine, cardamom, mace clove), Lemon Juice Concentrate, Caffeine from Coffee Beans. Pepsi Throwback: Carbonated Water, Sugar, Caramel Color, Phosphoric Acid, Caffeine, Natural Flavors
Coca-Cola (Mexican): Carbonated Water, Sugar, Caramel Color, Phosphoric Acid, Natural Flavors, Caffeine

Notice that the Pepsi Throwback and the Coca-Cola from Mexico share nearly an identical ingredient list; this accounts for the flavor of the two being very similar -- Coca-Cola has a slight bitterness that the Throwback doesn't have, and the Throwback has a sweet aftertaste that the Coca-Cola doesn't have, but otherwise, these two are nearly indistinguishable.