Review: Sparkling Ice's Life Savers Flavors Don't Quite Hit That Nostalgic Candy Spot

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Kaleidoscopic seems a fitting word to describe the assemblage of drinks curated by Sparkling Ice. The brand has some serious range. Each vibrant flavor of sparkling water is denoted by its trademarked fruit-caught-in-an-ice-cube imagery, spanning from obligatory classics like fruit punch and lemonade to more creative combos like grape raspberry and ginger lime. It makes for a colorful grocery store display and happy customers who can always find a flavor that suits their taste buds.

Since early 2024, Sparkling Ice has additionally leaned into a partnership with Starburst to offer that unexplainably juicy taste in liquid form. And now, at the start of 2026, it seems the brand is doubling down on candy collabs with the help of Life Savers. That's right, the flavor of those mini life preservers (the fruity kind, not the original minty kind) is now being packaged up into a sparkling beverage, and all of our nostalgic candy senses are already tingling. If you're anything like me, your mind was immediately flooded with questions, like where can you actually find these? What gives them those vividly saturated colors? Are they better than Life Savers soda, which completely flopped? And do they really taste like the candy we all remember — those fruity little rings stacked neatly into a roll, much like quarters?

In this article, we're diving into answering all of these burning questions and more. It's sink or swim time for these Life Savers-inspired beverages.

I did my research before venturing out to purchase the new Life Savers Sparkling Ice flavors. I looked over the brand's press release about the product introduction and scoured its website to find out everything I needed to know, from specific flavors and formulas to price and availability. Only then did I set out to find them.

Locating them was admittedly trickier than I originally thought it would be. I traveled around to four different grocery stores here in my Columbus, Ohio area before finally tracking them down at a nearby Giant Eagle market. Once I got them home, I tried all four one at a time. I looked at their ingredients and dissected their flavors. I took note of their sweetness levels, sippability, if they had any degree of artificiality, and whether or not they really tasted like the Life Savers candies they were meant to imitate. Eventually, I ended up with a final verdict on how they stack up.

The Sparkling Ice beverages were released in four different Life Savers-inspired flavors, including strawberry, pineapple, green apple, and wild cherry. Aside from their candy connection, the drinks follow a similar makeup to the rest of the brand's sparkling water bottles. They consist primarily of carbonated water, sucralose, fruit and vegetable juices for color, and natural flavors. Plus, they come with all kinds of nutritional benefits: They're zero sugar, low in calories, and are loaded with added vitamins and antioxidants. Who knew candy could be both life-saving and nutritionally sound?

The maker of Sparkling Ice, the Talking Rain Beverage Company, noted in a press release that customers "love having their candy dreams transformed into a zero-sugar beverage reality," and that was a driving factor behind the drinks' creation. It also notes that the green apple flavor is something of a trailblazer in the world of naturally sourced sparkling waters. It's actually the very first green-colored Sparkling Ice flavor — finally putting the G in its Roy G. Biv rainbow of bottles. Evidently, it's difficult to create a bright green color from natural sources, especially on a large commercial scale. Next up, the company is looking to tackle the color blue in spring 2026.

According to the press release from Talking Rain Beverage Company, as of January 27, 2026, the new Life Savers flavors are at least somewhat available to consumers. They were initially rolled out to select stores like Kroger and Publix, as well as Amazon. However, they will become more widely available starting in the spring. This is when they will be introduced at all major national retailers and at select convenience stores.

In terms of cost, I've seen the Life Savers flavors priced anywhere from $1.27 to $1.50 for a 17-ounce tall, skinny bottle — a Sparkling Ice signature feature. These are the same prices you'll find at various retailers for the other Sparkling Ice flavors as well, so there's no markup. In addition, you can buy 12 packs of the Life Savers renditions on Amazon. They're listed from around $17.49 up to $18.55 per pack.

I was surprised at some of the flavor choices formulated by Life Savers and Sparkling Ice. I expected bottles that correlated with Life Savers' classic five flavors, including cherry, raspberry, watermelon, orange, and pineapple. However, the brands deviated from this, tossing fruits like strawberries into the mix.

The strawberry variation unsurprisingly comes in a vibrant bubblegum pink color. But as unnatural as it may look, Sparkling Ice claims it gets its coloring and flavors only from natural sources (aka fruit juices, vegetable juices, and beta carotene). I also have to call out the stripes painted on the label, which make the bottle look like a giant monochromatic roll of Life Savers — I, for one, appreciate these nostalgic details. It smells awfully sweet and juicy, and that sweetness bursts onto your taste buds as you take that first sip. It feels like it leaves you with a syrupy film coating your tongue, but one that the bubbles help to wash away and neutralize. I was actually very grateful for the heavy carbonation in this case. It's a true life saver (pun very much intended), though it couldn't fully mask the sucralose artificial sweetness that becomes more and more evident as you continue drinking.

I'm not sure it 100% mimics the one-of-a-kind flavor of Life Savers. But it definitely has that strawberry candy vibe — closer to a sour strawberry candy, just with a dialed-down tartness.

Sparkling Ice already has a coconut pineapple flavor on its books. And while I think it's more of a situational beverage, better suited for the beach than day-to-day sipping, I did find it to be rather enjoyable. Shifting gears to the Life Savers lineup, I feel the exact same way about this pineapple-inspired refreshment.

Its coloring is a cloudy yellow, thanks to stabilization from Indian gooseberries, and the aroma is full-tilt pineapple or even blended piña colada. The taste, however, is more relaxed. It starts with a clean, tropical sweetness before building into that distinct fruity taste. It's not terribly artificial, as I was expecting. There seem to be real glimpses of pineapple juice swirling around in there, just like the juices left at the bottom of a Dole can. The sucralose aftertaste is less prominent here than in the strawberry bottle, and the effervescence gives the entire drink a refreshing boost.

If I shut my eyes and really concentrate, I can see some parallels between drinking this and sucking on a real pineapple-flavored Life Saver. But despite the lax similarities, this still ended up being my favorite of the Life Savers flavors. A big shock to me, considering I usually gravitate towards anything and everything that's been touched by cherries.

The green apple flavor comes in a green striped bottle that couldn't help but remind me of Steve from "Blue's Clues." And just like Steve, it also has some serious personality. First off, it looks like something you would pour from a beaker during science class, in a light green shade that actually hints more at lime than green apple. Indian gooseberries are called upon again to achieve this hue, in addition to beta carotene and spirulina extract (apparently, that was the magic formula the brand has been searching for).

Based on these appearances and previous experience with products splashed with this flavor, I was admittedly nervous to take that first swig. Green apple seems like a flavor that's better left in the candy aisle rather than spun into a drinkable form; however, I wasn't completely turned off by the taste. It's not lip-puckering sour or excessively syrupy. I wouldn't lump it in the cloying category either. It's just about as smooth as it could be, while still delivering that tart green apple flavor. It's bright and sweet all the way through and then hits you with a light punch of sour right before you're about to swallow. It did remind me more of a green apple Jolly Rancher than a Life Savers, but the two are essentially one and the same. 

Note that according to the press release and the emblem on this bottle, the green apple is a limited-time flavor. This leads me to believe the others may become permanent fixtures after this one gets the axe.

If you're looking for the flavor that bears the most resemblance to a true-to-form Life Savers candy, look no further than the wild cherry. It recreates that bold and tangy cherry flavor that's instantly recognizable; however, I also found there to be something a bit off about it. Perhaps it doesn't sit on the taste buds quite the same way when it's in a liquid state instead of in the shape of a hard or soft edible ring.

The smell was the first red flag of this red beverage. That initial waft as I unscrewed the lid was riddled with notes of black licorice rather than fruit. After that, it settled into a cherry cough syrup scent, which is better, though not by much. The taste also has a slight medicinal edge to it — a shame because I've never felt that way about the Life Savers cherry confections. It's not all that different from the flavor of a black cherry hard seltzer, like a White Claw or Truly seltzer, and the fizziness makes it lean even further into that particular drink category.

I wouldn't say the flavor is outright unpleasant. It just doesn't fully translate to a beverage as well as one might hope. A decent nod to the candy is overshadowed by some artificiality, and it lacks that lightness you would want from something that's meant to be sipped.

As much as I wanted to love these nostalgic bottles, and as much as I appreciate the inventiveness, specifically of the green apple flavor, there's a giant hole in the middle of this product release. And that hole is a lack of genuine Life Savers flavors. If I had conducted a blind taste test of the Sparkling Ice beverages, I don't think I would have recognized that Life Savers was the candy brand they were trying to emulate — except for perhaps in the wild cherry flavor. Most are a bit of a stretch, and I felt they leaned closer to more generic fruit candy flavors.

That said, I did enjoy some of my sips. None were as saccharine as I thought they would be. I liked the fizzy juiciness of each flavor, and I even got some hints of real fruit — especially in the pineapple variety. Ultimately, I would say these are a must-try for candy lovers, sparkling water drinkers, or anyone who likes to be adventurous with their beverages. If nothing else, they'll give you at least a partial walk down memory lane. However, I think perhaps only the most die-hard of Life Savers fans would go back for seconds.