Cucumber Pepsi, Bubbleman, Bilk and other weird drinks in Japan

I finally tried the limited edition Cucumber Pepsi a few weeks ago and it's actually not as bad as it looks or sounds. It doesn't come close to the classic regular old-time Pepsi taste we all love and know, but it's got a pretty interesting flavor and aftertaste.

Recently Coke and Pepsi has put out zero calorie versions of their soft drinks, Coke Zero and Pepsi Nex respectively, and they both suck. I hate Nutrasweet or whatever that fake sugar shit is they put in it. Face it, real sugar tastes good, it's fattening, but it tastes good and can't be replaced with some crummy substitute.

I don't drink soft drinks as much as I use to, I just don't care for them anymore, but one drink I fucking love is Bubbleman. Bubbleman has made somewhat of a comeback in the last couple of years. It's so funny because the fact that there's not just BUBBLEMAN, there's fucking sequels to this drink, BUBBLEMAN II., etc etc. I think there's like 8 or 9 different kinds. (See the pics) I know there was Coke and then the New Coke, then Diet Coke, etc. but this has got to be the first time that a beverage has gotten a sequel. I've never seen Coke II or Pepsi III, that's why this drink is so awesome.

There's a whole culture surrounding Bubbleman, it's not just a mere soft drink. The soda itself is extremely sweet, but the can and bottle designs are pretty crazy. Check out the pics. The basic story is that Bubble Man is from "Soda Planet." There's an interior view of their rocket, and the guy labeled "Captain Pilot" is sitting on the shoulders of a guy labeled "Assistant." There's another shot of the two guys in a spaceship with their legs and feet hanging out through the holes. Just check out the website and you can even read a monthly online magazine called B-STYLE dedicated to the soda loving space man. It's all in Japanese, but you can still see how ridiculously crazy the whole concept is. Bubbleman just kills the competition.

Also, recently Suntory has put out another retardedly sweet soft drink called BINGO BONGO which I just tried the other day when I was camping in Wakayama. It's really good too, maybe even better than Bubbleman, again their is beginning to be a whole subculture arising from the release of this soft drink.

The next weird drink I'll talk about is BILK, which has been successfully produced at a Hokkaido based brewery. It's a low-malt beer with milk, after the drink was suggested as a product that would help use up surplus milk. It reportedly has a fruity flavor that its brewers hope will be popular among women. The idea for the drink was conceived after dairy firms threw out a huge amount of surplus milk in March last year. The son of the manager of a liquor store in Nakashibetsu, whose main industry is dairy farming, suggested the idea of producing the milk beer to local brewery Abashiri Beer. Since one-third of the drink is milk, the drink has been viewed as a good way to use up milk in the town. Each 330 ml bottle goes for 380 yen. As far as I know, it's still only sold in Nakashibetsu, with six liquor stores selling the drink. I don't really know if I want to try it anyway, it sounds pretty gross.

Now, the last drink I'm going to mention just looks completely disgusting, it's a fucking kimchi drink from a company called Coolpis, not exactly a great name for a beverage. This stuff is made in... you guessed it... Korea. If you have the balls to try this, I'll drink my own urine to prove my worth.