Starry Unveils Holiday-Inspired Soda Flavor That Is Dividing Fans

We may still be in the thick of pumpkin spice season, but winter holidays are just around the corner and Starry is getting in on the action.

The soda company is debuting a new flavor just in time for the holidays and fans are conflicted on whether they’d love it or hate it.

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The lemon lime soda, which replaced Sierra Mist in PepsiCo’s lineup in early 2023, is launching a "Cranberry Blizz" flavor ahead of this year’s holiday season, reports food blogger Snackolator.

The blogger shared that the new soda, a lemon-lime cranberry offering, “will be available only in zero sugar in both 12 packs and 2L bottles.” The popular Instagram account continued, noting that packs of 12 have already been spotted in stores.

Fans chimed in, making their opinions heard in the comments, but they couldn’t seem to agree on the new flavor. “I am not fond of Starry soda, maybe this is the addition it needs to make me like it, lol. Willing to try it,” wrote one commenter.

Several commenters pointed out that Starry’s competitor, Sprite, has offered a similar flavor profile for years. “Sprite cranberry is really better,” said one fan, with another agreeing, writing that “Sprite did it better.”

Others noted that they liked Sprite’s original cranberry flavor, but that the new Winter Spiced Cranberry leaves something to be desired. “If it’s like the original sprite cranberry and not like the bad imposter winter spiced cranberry, I’ll finally get on board with starry,” said a fan.

Even the caloric content of the soda flavor seemed to cause contention, as some people wrote that they “Love that these brands are catering towards zero sugar soda drinkers 👏,” while others disagreed, writing that they were “so hyped until I saw zero sugar only.”

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