I’m confused by this one. Coca-Cola releasing a vanilla flavored variant for the holidays sounds pretty reasonable, except they already have Vanilla Coke as a permanent flavor. It’s not always easy to find, but it’s a thing. When I saw this announcement I assumed that it would lean hard into the dairy element of “creamy” and taste similar to a Dirty Coke. It doesn’t. So, what do we have here?

Maybe it’s just vanilla coke? The can says that there’s no dairy in it, and the only cream I can taste is the equivalent of a cream soda. Which is just vanilla. Vanilla Coke is good, but it’s not different. To be extremely fair, I didn’t try the standard vanilla coke and this side-by-side and there might be a subtlety that I missed.

This is getting into the weeds, but I also didn’t think that the can was very festive. The color scheme is basically what they already use for the caffeine-free Coca-Cola. There’s a small mound of whipped cream under the logo. Beyond that, the only thing to indicate that this is a holiday flavor is literally the word “holiday” on the can. I didn’t dislike this, but I was expecting something more unique. If you want a deeper dive into actual Dirty Sodas (Dirty Coke, Dirty Dr Pepper, etc.), click here.

Would love to hear your thoughts about the flavor. Did I miss the mark? You can find it at your local grocery stores, but it’s also on Amazon. Available in both regular and zero-sugar varieties. The regular version is about 150 calories per can.