I discovered Canfield's Diet Chocolate Fudge Soda while browsing another review site, this one dedicated to unique beverages.  The site's review heaped lavish praise upon this beverage.  So I thought it worth a gamble.

I found three of Canfield's unusual beverages at my local Kroger market.  I picked up a six-pack of the diet chocolate fudge variety.  After chilling the beverage overnight I set up for my review.

The can opened with a light "pop," indicating a light-to-moderate amount of carbonation.  Pouring the contents into a glass did liberate the bubbles; this gave the beverage a nice head.  However, the parcity of carbonation almost gave the impression of the soda's being on the flat side.  The color was dark, perhaps more reddish than a cola.  Yet it was clear -- not at all like the cloudy, milky Yoo-Hoo of my childhood.

I swished and sniffed.  Amazingly, there was a fairly true aroma of chocolate.  Could it be real?  I deliberately avoided checking the ingredients until after tasting -- which was all there was left to do.

The first sip confirmed that there was less carbonation than I might have liked.  The flavor, however, was remarkably chocolatey.  Was it high quality bean?  Of course not; this was a generic-chocolate-flavored carbonated beverage, not a creamy cocoa concoction.  It tasted rather like it could have been a root beer that had magically transmogrified into chocolate -- perhaps too sweet for my taste.  The finish betrayed the presence of artificial ingredients, most likely aspartame or saccharin.  And the chocolate flavor rapidly broke down into a chemical aftertaste.

Yet the overall impression was, shall I say, pleasant.  The beverage did provide a recognizable chocolate character, it was thirst-quenching, and it was relatively guilt-free.  Yet by its very nature, it could not avoid several drawbacks, such as the aftertaste of artificial sweetening.  Upon checking the ingredients, I noted that the beverage was indeed sweetened with aspartame -- and it was artificially flavored.  Ergo: not real chocolate.  A plus was that the beverage listed 0 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g carbohydrates, and 0 mg sodium in a 1-can serving.

Will Canfield's Diet Chocolate Fudge Soda be the chocolate lover's calorie-free dream?  Unfortunately not.  But, does it fill a niche in the market -- and can it satisfy the carbonated beverage drinker's thirst (and maybe cravings for chocolate as well)?  Perhaps -- well, yes.

While it certainly could not be listed amongst the finer things in life, Canfield's Diet Chocolate Fudge Soda is a refreshing and unusual alternative to today's run-of-the-mill diet beverages.  I declare it to be mildly recommended.