by Andrew H Brown

Created on: January 01, 2011

I well remember the last time I snorted coke.
It was just a few weeks ago and someone told me a joke just as I was guzzling a bottle of 'the real thing'. Consequently, great globules of fizzy, sugar-laden guff exploded through my nose.
What? you surely didn't think I was referring to any illegal practices, did you? As if...

Actually, I just made that all up - it was Pepsi I was drinking at the time.

Ah yes, Coca-Cola. The Real Thing. Accept no imitations. You can always guarantee the flavour of Coca-Cola, unless of course you're drinking the lemon version. Or indeed, the one this review is about, Vanilla Diet Coke.

I had a bottle of this the other day. Not because I really wanted it, but because the shop I bought it from had nothing else I wanted...not even 'ordinary' coke. Still, I like the flavour of vanilla, so I wasn't too worried.

I can only assume that Vanilla Coke comes in the same type of packages as regular stuff, but I had the 500ml bottle. There's not much to differentiate between the two (package-wise), but the vanilla stuff has a yellow cap as opposed to a white one. It probably states the fact somewhere on the label as well, but I didn't pay that much attention.
I didn't pay any attention to the ingredients either, but I think it's safe to assume that, with the exception of the added vanilla flavouring, there's not much difference between this and regular diet coke. If you are interested in a full list of ingredients etc, you can probably find them on the company's website, or just pick up a bottle and have a deek...then go and get yourself a life.

As usual, on opening the bottle I was greeted by a poof - no 'hello sailor' remarks thank-you. Actually, it's more of a whoosh noise as the gas escapes...(make up your own punch-line for that one). Why this stuff needs to be quite so gassy is beyond me - perhaps it's to mask the god-awful flavour? Anyhoo, I always like to give mine a good shake (ooer) to make it at least slightly less explosive.

That done, I gave it a good sniff. Hmm, smells like...actually, what does Coca-Cola smell like? I would say it's a little like root vegetables. Vegetables freshly dug from moist soil. How very appetising. It also smells sweet - in a synthetic, chemical way. But what about the vanilla? Well, it's there in the aroma, but it's not very strong and you'd be forgiven for not realising what you were drinking if all you had to go on was the aroma. Of course, it'd be a funny drink that you consumed that way. Let's face

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