An Honest Review of Starry, PepsiCo’s New Lemon-Lime Soda

Can a soda be cool? I’m asking you because I’m a 40-year-old woman and I have aged out of knowing or having to know what’s cool (this is what I tell myself, anyway). Let’s take a look back … Pepsi was cool when Britney Spears was its spokesperson, even though everyone in the world was like, girl, you don’t drink Pepsi. And Mtn Dew is sort of perpetually cool by virtue of being what kids guzzle at sleepovers to stay awake all night, at least until they can start buying drugs from a cousin or older sibling.

Okay, we all agree soda can be cool, and that’s good news for PepsiCo, because they released a new soda that’s ~ for the kids ~ called Starry. That’s right. Pepsi up and discontinued Sierra Mist—much to the chagrin of some people somewhere, I’m sure—and stocked shelves with this new lemon-lime soda, which the brand says is “built for Generation Z.” “With Starry, we were able to create a game-changing recipe with the perfect balance of lemon-lime flavor and sweetness compared to the competition,” PepsiCo R&D vice prez Danielle Barbaro told Food Business News (and, as you may have guessed, Sprite is the “competition” in question). Is it better than Sierra Mist? Is it Gen-Z-ier than Sprite? Who better than a Millennial who almost never drinks full-sugar soda to tell you?!

starry new product review

New Product!

Starry

As a person who is old and stodgy, I gotta say, Sierra Mist was pretty old and stodgy in a way Starry definitely is not. Sierra Mist sounds like moonshine for the Donner Party. Starry sounds like something you drink before you go get your septum pierced. It’s lemony. It’s limey (although, it’s slightly more limey than lemony). It’s got big ol’ bubbles and it goes down super smooth. It’s sweet but not too sweet—all in all, there’s not a lot to not like (besides the sugar content—dear lord, to be young again and not give a shit).

I can’t say that I’ve ever had a bad lemon-lime soda. More than anything, Starry feels like an exercise in good branding, and in that respect, it’s great.

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

starry zero

We Tried Starry Zero

Looking for a review of the zero-calorie version of Starry? We tasted Starry Zero, as well. Click for another honest review.


About the Author

Gwynedd Stuart

Gwynedd Stuart, Sporked’s managing editor, is an L.A.-based writer and editor who spends way, way too much time at the grocery store. She’s never met an Old El Paso taco or mozzarella stick she didn’t like.