If your idea of a balanced diet as a kid was a soda in one hand and Airheads in the other, you are gonna love what 7-Eleven has in store this summer (literally and metaphorically). Working with craft soda makers Jones Soda Co. (yes, that’s a thing), the company has created a drink that’s flavored to taste like Airheads, everyone’s favorite teeth-wrenching, fruit-flavored candy. Specifically, the flavor they’re going for is called Cherry Pineapple Blast, which sounds like exactly what we need in the heat.
This partnership is the latest sign that soda is having a retro moment this summer. In May, Coca-Cola announced that they were teaming up with the July 4th premiere of season three of Netflix series Stranger Things, by re-releasing notorious ’80s flop New Coke for a limited time. It went beyond commercials. Mild spoiler alert: the kids in the show even have a potentially ill-timed argument over whether the new (to them) formula is better than the classic version.
But while New Coke is now old news, this Airheads soda is a fresh update.
Even though one Twitter user sort of predicted it months ago…
It’s already earned its place in one Twitter user’s heart:
While this Instagram user has been on the hunt:
Unsurprisingly, Airheads agree that their soda is, you know, pretty good:
A previous collab with 7-Eleven went down so well that people are still thinking about it.
This isn’t the first time someone has thought Airheads might make a good drink (but don’t try this version at home…)
There’s something about alcohol that cries out for Airheads…
But all that sugar could be read as a cry for help.
Jones Soda Co. has had success in the candy/soda combining process before. In 2017, they put out a watermelon-flavored Sour Patch Kids drink. According to this reviewer, it lives up to its sour name:
It even briefly stole the spotlight (or at least one restaurant’s shelf space) from a major competitor:
But Jones Soda Co. may not have been the very first people to stumble across the killer combo.
People were well aware of the power that could come from the two teaming up:
And the concept of a candy-flavored drink been prophesied two years previously…
Although Jones Soda wasn’t the last to come to the idea:
You’re two years late, Braden.
The Sour Patch Kids soda nailed that very specific taste:
Which makes us even more excited to try the Airheads Cherry Pineapple Blast. It’s only available at 7-Eleven, for a limited time — so pop on down there before they run dry (or you’ll have to go back to a homemade version, and no one wants that.)
