6 Wildest Limited-Edition Soda Flavors To See The Light Of Day

When you taste something like strawberry soda or taco-flavored potato chips, you might look at the ingredients, see phrases like "natural and artificial flavors," and not really think about what goes into their creation. Believe it or not, these flavorings are courtesy of food scientists who create chemical copycats that companies can use without requiring mass amounts of the actual foods that they come from.

Soda companies are among the many that have employed scientists to create unique flavors to attract more customers. Sometimes they're delicious and taste just like the name on the bottle. But other times, the creativity seems to go off the rails. Even if it doesn't taste bad, the name or the food it's supposed to emulate tends to yield strange and unexpected soda flavors. However, when combined with an exclusive status, even the worst ones suddenly sound like must-haves. Here's a look at six of the wildest limited-edition sodas to end up in customers' hands. Some ended up being relatively good, but others will make you wonder what those companies were thinking when they created them.

Jones Soda, the king of strange flavors, released this limited-edition Thanksgiving drink in 2003. Turkey and Gravy became a runaway hit, with the company's online stock selling out in only a couple of hours. The company hadn't made many bottles because it wasn't expecting it to sell that well. In fact, the flavor was made up as a joke, and even the person who worked on creating the flavor itself didn't like it. The flavor was re-released over the next few years and then was gone for a while before finally returning in the early 2020s.

Reactions to the actual drink were middling. One person guessed that it would taste like a salty broth, and as it turned out, that wasn't entirely far off. (The soda is a light brown color that even looks like broth, so this wasn't surprising.) Others said there was barely any turkey flavor, but that the herbal elements stood out. A few reviews mentioned that it was oddly sweet in a way, with one even comparing it to candy corn. What started as a test to see if such out-of-the-box creations would fare well turned into a silly challenge one could partake in with their family and friends around the dinner table.

The following soda on this list had a name that was more wild than the flavor. In 2024, the Coca-Cola Creations department released an exclusive flavor that was available only on TikTok Shop. Happy Tears debuted on February 17, also known as Random Acts of Kindness Day. The purpose of the drink was to represent the tears of joy that you'd experience when giving or receiving a random act of kindness, such as buying someone's coffee or paying someone a compliment.

Happy Tears was relatively pricey for a drink, but you got more than sugar-free soda for your $9.99. Instead, you'd receive what they called a hype kit, which was a small silver case decorated with a teardrop, complete with two locks and two keys. Inside was a molded insert that held two tall cans of the soda (one for you and one to share), stickers, a long-sleeved shirt, and a pack of tissues.

As for the flavor, most described it as a peach or salty peach flavor. People really liked this drink, and one even wrote that it was unfortunate that the soda's release was limited.

In 2005, Jones Soda released another Thanksgiving pack that contained a flavor that no one who tried it will ever forget: Brussels Sprout. Technically, it was Brussels Sprout With Prosciutto, which really didn't help. This was part of the national pack that was released across the country and came with other Thanksgiving favorites like the classic Turkey and Gravy, Pumpkin Pie, Cranberry Sauce, and Wild Herb Stuffing. Each pack also came with sporks and a wine list.

Reactions to the Brussels Sprout flavor were as negative as you'd expect. The color of the soda was an unappetizing shade of green, and the smell was enough to warn people who were brave enough to try drinking the soda that they weren't in for a good time. Many customers couldn't tell the difference between the notes of Brussels sprouts vs cabbage, but it ultimately didn't matter. The taste was described as a combination of butter, bitter greens, and bad breath. One person noted that there was a whitish sediment at the bottom of the bottle, but they were also trying one that was seven years old. Whether the bottle was fresh or maybe even slightly expired, it sounds like it tasted exactly as it was meant to.

Starlight is actually a cool name for a soda flavor because who wouldn't want to be able to say they're drinking the cosmos? Starlight was one of Coca-Cola's many inventive flavors and was available in both regular and zero-sugar versions between February and August of 2022. The soda itself was a reddish brown, while the label color ranged from deep blue to hot pink.

Starlight received mixed reviews, though none as dramatic as the reactions to New Coke in the '80s. However, not everyone could identify the flavor of Starlight. It didn't help that the cans and bottles themselves were labeled as "space-flavored," which gave absolutely no hint. Some identified a baked-good undertone like graham crackers or cake, while others thought there was a fruity aftertaste. Some reviewers found the drink to be overly sweet and pointed out candylike notes that ranged from caramel to cotton candy.

In the summer of 2025, Coca-Cola brought back the Starlight flavor for a limited time through a partnership with Jack in the Box. You could buy a bottle as part of the Starlight Munchie Meal, which came with one huge entree and three sides. Unfortunately, the deal has since ended, and there's no word on whether or not the soda will reenter Earth's atmosphere. It ended up becoming sort of a cult favorite, so the demand is there if Coca-Cola decides to give it another run.

Jones Soda didn't stop at Brussels sprouts for holiday flavor inspiration. In 2007, the company's Christmas pack included a pinkish soda with another unexpected beverage: Christmas ham. The creators were even generous enough to make sure it was kosher. Of course, the soda didn't contain any actual meat, which was a welcome sign to the many people who abstain from eating pork who may have wanted to try this drink. The assortment was released in place of the Thanksgiving packs that the company had released in previous years, and some of the proceeds were donated to charity.

The holiday pack also contained flavors like Sugar Plum and Egg Nog, and it was released along with a Hanukkah pack that contained drinks inspired by the beloved fried latkes, sufganiyot (jelly donuts), and apple sauce. Reactions to Christmas Ham were mixed, with the name being a barrier for some; one person wrote online that their co-worker started drinking it and said it was good until they found out what the flavor was supposed to be.

One final Jones Soda flavor makes the list, and that's Perspiration. This was part of the Jones Seattle Seahawks Collector Pack, a limited-edition collaboration that was released in 2007. Other flavors in the pack were Sports Cream, Dirt, Sweet Victory, and Natural Field Turf. Mmmmm, who wouldn't want a refreshing bottle of field turf?

The pack of five sodas had to receive final approval from Seahawks officials, and thank goodness for that; a suggested flavor that was turned down was Jock Strap, and we don't even want to begin to imagine what that might have tasted like. The flavors and corresponding names were supposed to evoke what it was like to be a player with the Seahawks, from the hard work they put in during training to the dirt and turf they play on.

Most of the sodas, according to reviews, were either not that bad or even pretty good. One review described Sports Cream as wintergreen-flavored, for example. But Perspiration was widely considered to be the absolute worst; even Jones Soda acknowledged that it wasn't pleasant. Videos of people trying it include a lot of, well, very visceral reactions, which is to be expected from a sweaty soda. The advice was to drink from the worst (Perspiration) to the best, which was the aptly named, cotton candy-flavored Sweet Victory.