Every Aldi Summit Soda, Ranked

Soda is one of those grocery categories that elicits strong brand loyalties. Consumers tend to be either firmly team Pepsi or team Coke. Some would never reach for Mr. Pibb over Dr Pepper, or 7UP over Sprite — the discourse goes on and on.

In a market as polarizing as this, store brand soft drinks play an interesting role. They're admittedly somewhat of a gamble. It's hard to draw people away from their longtime favorites with sneaky lookalikes such as Mountain Lightning or Dr Thunder — both Walmart Great Value creations. However, it's usually the budget price tag that catches a shopper's eye, and sometimes you'll find a bubbly gem that tastes just like the real thing, or in some cases, even better.

It's not surprising that Aldi also produces its own string of sodas under its Summit brand. The drinks don't have funny or clever names like some others. It actually seems like someone was in a rush or simply not in the mood for creativity when naming them, since they rely on such straightforward cola naming conventions. But the discount store covers all your standard bases with regular cola options, diet and sugar-free cans, a citrus pick, ginger ale, and even bottles of root beer. Today, we're trying all seven classic options to see whether any rival top brands or if they have a bargain taste to match their bargain price tag. Here's how they landed, from my least to my most favorite.

Aldi says this Summit choice is a "crisp" and "bubbly" naturally flavored. The imagery of bubbles on the can certainly matches that description, but the taste, unfortunately, does not. When I cracked the top of the can, I picked up on the faintest hint of ginger, and throughout the entire sipping experience, that was the strongest hit of it I picked up on. Ginger root is seemingly nowhere to be found in the taste itself. Instead, it comes off more like a cross between an off-brand Sprite and an off-brand Mountain Dew — where both drinks have lost some of their fizz. It leans more on citrus notes and doesn't have any of that bite or spice that you often find in other ginger ale brands.

I originally thought Summit's beverage might take after Canada Dry. The can bears some resemblance to it, yet the two couldn't taste more different. Summit's version doesn't even include ginger on the ingredient list, instead leaning on ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, and vague "natural flavors." I honestly stared at this product for a few minutes, trying to make sense of what happened here. It's not necessarily displeasing, but it's far from what you would expect from a classic ginger ale, and for that reason, it landed at the bottom of the list.

Diet is typically my favorite type of cola. When it comes to Coke, Pepsi, even Dr Pepper, I'm usually reaching for the diet version, not necessarily because of the low calorie count but because I genuinely prefer the flavor. This fact made it all the more heartbreaking that I didn't like Aldi's version of diet cola. I really wanted to, trust me, but that's not how it played out.

Summit's diet cola actually comes in a 12-pack with 12 fluid ounce cans and in a 6-pack of 7.5 fluid ounce mini cans. I purchased the latter, and even with miniature cuteness on its side, the soda still didn't impress. It feels like a very watered-down cola with a very noticeable artificial sweetness — likely the aspartame talking. The fact that even right out of the can, it wasn't very carbonated didn't help either. It seems like it had been sitting out for a while and got flat.

If you look closely, you'll see that it has nearly the same ingredients as both Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi, but it doesn't even come close to the flavor of these respected soda titans. The only silver lining is that it's better than the ginger ale. At least it's not missing its namesake and one flavor it's supposed to be built around.

If you couldn't tell, this is Summit's take on lemon lime soda. Aldi sells it in a 12-pack of cans and this two-liter bottle. I went the two-liter route since it's the more economical option — though I do hate that they start to lose their appeal within just a few days of opening it (you don't have to worry about that problem with individual cans).

I could tell this was going to be an extra bubbly one from the moment I first twisted it open. It absolutely delivers that same mouthfeel as a soda like Sprite or Starry and seems to carry all the same attributes. It's naturally flavored and has a similar caffeine-free status. Where it started to lose me was in the taste. It's extremely subtle and doesn't hit you over the head with fruity citrus. It's more comparable to a La Croix, where the flavor feels more washed out and hard to recognize. The aftertaste may have been the most flavorful part.

I would classify it as sitting just one step below mainstream lemon lime sodas — I've had better and worse renditions. It feels like corners were cut in the flavor department, so it lacks that boldness and zest that typically defines sodas in this category. Despite its faults, it's still sippable, and with a solid level of carbonation, it's far more enticing than the ginger ale or diet cola.

Ginger beer is a completely different beast from ginger ale. And luckily, Summit handles it so much better. For starters, you can actually taste the ginger. It's clear as day in every sip and carries the entire beverage. It also has a pronounced spicy boldness to it, and the fermentation process gives it a powerful burst of carbonation. Compounding on one another, this combination caused such a strong tingly sensation in my nose that it made me sneeze after that first taste.

It's a decent ginger beer rendition, and the bottle makes it that much better. I don't know why, but slugging something from a glass bottle always feels more nostalgic and authentic. Poured into a Moscow Mule or more nuanced dark and stormy with dark rum, I don't know if I would be able to tell the differences between this and a ginger beer from top brands like Fever-Tree or Goslings.

That said, my only note is that by itself, it does lean significantly sweeter than other drinks of its kind — the reason it doesn't make it further in the rankings. It tastes natural — it's actually sweetened by invert sugar, which is normal table sugar and water combined into a syrup — but it's definitely amplified. And that's made clear by the 48 grams of total sugar per bottle listed on the label.

Regular cola is a hard space to compete in, because people will inevitably compare it to either classic Coke or Pepsi. But Summit tries anyway, and it actually holds its own — a much better experience than I had with the diet cola, to be sure.

In terms of flavor, I actually think it tastes like a blend between Coke and Pepsi. I can see glimpses of both big-name sodas in the mix. You have some of those beloved vanilla notes of Coca-Cola fused with the brighter tastes that are typically associated with Pepsi. It's sugary enough without going overboard into saccharine territory, and manages not to leave a lingering aftertaste. As for fizz, it's not overly aggressive. It let out a soft spurt when I twisted it open, but it didn't bubble much — just enough to give it a pleasant crispness.

Personally, I think it's a better pickup than the ginger beer. It's more versatile, and I could see myself drinking it more regularly rather than on rarer occasions (and typically mixed into a cocktail). It's a good one to add to your weekly Aldi rotation, and you can often find it in a few different formats to fit your refreshment needs. It's available in a 12-pack of 12 fluid ounce cans, a 6-pack of mini cans (like the earlier diet cola), and this two-liter size.

Yes, Summit provides shoppers with both a diet and a zero-sugar cola option. And yes, they are slightly different when it comes to ingredients — and a lot different in taste. Although they're both sugar-free with no calories, the zero-sugar cola differs from diet because it drops citric acid and instead contains potassium citrate and the artificial sweetener acesulfame potassium (better known as Ace-K). Somehow, these swaps make for an astoundingly better taste. Unlike the diet cola, this one doesn't come across as washed out or flat. It has a bit more carbonation behind it and still feels like a smoother sip overall. The artificial taste also isn't nearly as prominent here, even with both aspartame and Ace-K on the ingredient list. Because of that, it winds up feeling much closer to a proper name-brand cola than the diet version ever did.

This may be a somewhat controversial take, but I ended up liking this more than the regular full-sugar cola as well. I found it just a touch sweeter and a tad less punchy, which I took to be a good thing. I think the softer profile tends to work better for soft drinks. So with a cleaner flavor, plus no calories or sugar weighing it down, this one was a no-brainer.

The Summit root beer was elusive. I didn't see it at all at the first Aldi location I visited. And at the second, I found one lone four-pack tucked behind a hearty supply of the ginger beer bottles. Obviously, I snagged it, and the hunt was well worth the effort because this turned out to be my favorite Summit soda of all.

The packaging itself is a large part of the appeal, seeing as the glass bottle again gives the beverage more personality and the wood barrel imagery creates a more vintage feel — a nod to traditional root beer fermentation and aging methods. The drink inside keeps this same classic energy. It's lightly carbonated with a rich sweetness from cane sugar that never feels heavy or syrupy. What I liked most, though, is that this formula isn't as spiced or herbaceous as other top brands on the market, such as Barq's. Instead, it shares more in common with a brand like A&W by placing greater emphasis on dessert-like flavors of creamy vanilla and caramel.

It's refreshing, nostalgic, and indulgent all at once. Honestly, drinking it just put a smile on my face, and no other Summit soda could really compete with that. It would make for the perfect old-fashioned root beer float when poured over a few scoops of quality vanilla ice cream.

I headed out to Aldi to pick up every type of Summit soda I could find. I purposely avoided the brand's energy drinks and line of prebiotic sodas to focus on classic soda renditions. I ended up finding seven different kinds that I had to visit three different Aldis to locate. The ginger ale and root beer were harder to get my hands on, while picks like the cola and citrus soda were readily available at each location. For the sodas sold in different formats (cans, mini cans, two-liters, etc.), I went with the most cost-effective option. I brought everything home and gave each soda a fair number of sips to get a solid read on the flavor.

I was predominantly looking for a good taste. I judged each soda based on how refreshing and flavorful it was, its resemblance to its name, and how it compared to other name brands or soda options on the market. I also briefly looked at ingredients to understand where those flavors were coming from, but didn't base my rankings on that or things like nutritional value. Basically, I didn't rank zero-sugar or low-calorie options higher just because of their nutritional status; I focused on flavor first and foremost. The amount of carbonation also came into play. I looked for something that had enough carbonation to keep things bubbly and interesting, but not so much that it overpowered the flavors. The best pick went beyond just a tasty, well-carbonated soda and felt like a sweet treat that I would gladly add to my weekly Aldi shopping list.