Which Regional Soda Is the Best Regional Soda? You Decide!

UPDATE: This round is closed, please vote in the finals.

If we’ve learned anything as professional taste testers and food journalists here at Sporked, it’s that people have very strong opinions about soda. They’re passionate about Dr Pepper. Mad about Mtn Dew. But loyalties run even deeper when it comes to regional sodas, those hometown favorites you grew up on that people in less fortunate regions of the U.S. might be wholly unfamiliar with. But what’s the best regional soda of them all? Well, we suspect you’ll have a lot of opinions about that. 

Welcome to the Burp Bracket, your chance to weigh in on the best regional sodas. The contenders: Boylan Black Cherry representing the Mid-Atlantic, Faygo Rock & Rye representing the Midwest, Cheerwine representing the Southeast, Shasta Tiki Punch representing the West, Big Red representing the Southwest, Dr. Brown’s Cream Soda representing the Northeast, Jones Cream Soda representing the Northwest, and, last but not least, Izze Sparkling Blackberry representing the Mountain region. 

To select a soda for each region, we put our heads together and picked the most iconic brands. If the brand makes sodas in more than one flavor, we asked our followers on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to help us pick the best flavor of them all. So if Faygo Rock & Rye is not the best flavor of Faygo in your opinion, take it up with them!

This week, it’s round one. Choose a winner of each match-up—based either on your regional loyalties or your honest opinions—and then come back next week to find out which sodas are moving on to the next round, and vote again. The round one match-ups are as follows:

Boylan Black Cherry vs. Faygo Rock & Rye

Cheerwine vs. Shasta Tiki Punch

Big Red vs. Dr. Brown’s Cream Soda

Jones Cream Soda vs. Izze Sparkling Blackberry

After four rounds, we’ll have a winner decided by you and one decided by the Sporked team, too. Rhett & Link already weighed in on Good Mythical MORE! Welcome to Sporked’s Burp Bracket. Let the soda-off commence! Voting for this round is open now and ends on Thursday, March 21 at 3 p.m. PST.

By submitting your email address to participate in the 2024 Burp Bracket, you are signing up to receive Sporked‘s bi-weekly email newsletter, as well as future emails regarding the Burp Bracket. Upon receiving your first email, you can unsubscribe by clicking “Unsubscribe” at the bottom.

By submitting your email address to participate in the 2024 Burp Bracket, you are signing up to receive Sporked‘s bi-weekly email newsletter, as well as future emails regarding the Burp Bracket. Upon receiving your first email, you can unsubscribe by clicking “Unsubscribe” at the bottom.


About the Author

Sporked Staff

The Sporked Staff tastes everything and anything. They are obsessive about groceries and finding the best of any type of food or drink, from frozen fried shrimp to Dijon mustard to gummy candy. And they're always on a hunt for the best new products. When they aren't eating professionally, they're eating recreationally. And often they're browsing grocery store aisles, just for fun.