Globecord - McSars = McBad

In mid-2007, while on reconnaissance for the new Globecord Taxonomy sub-division, GC Marsupial Watch! I had occasion to sample many of the strange and wonderful foodstuffs that are consumed daily Down Under. Now Australian culture is not especially different than Canada, but again and again I ran into different and often refreshing takes on the standard fare I was used to. For example, Tim Tams; basically just a standard choco-biscuit but so extremely well executed that fellow agent riley was caught “loosing” GC property in order to make room for transport of a several week supply back to base. However, this report will detail a product no agent wanted to smuggle back – a sarsaparilla-based drink with the unfortunate name of McSars – which although my consumption of was likely less painful that a case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, left a bad taste in my mouth all the same.

Bottle of McSars and glass

On a more serious note I can report that our allies in Asia are still ever-vigilant guarding against a new outbreak of SARS. Both the airport and the ferry terminal in Hong Kong are outfitted with those Predator-esque thermal cameras to scan incoming passengers for fever, as well as at the border station with Mainland China. Further, none of the street vendors I talked with would sell me a civet cat, either still alive or in butchered form.

This agent has reviewed several soft drinks in the course of his duties. While not as bad as the abysmal Sprite Ice or the other “Mc” product I reviewed, the McLobster, this bad boy fell far short of my expectations. It tasted like a amateurish attempt at bad root beer – a corn syrup-filled bottle of diabetes. No finesse and lacking flavour, McSars is unrefined container of sugary badness. I am quite comfortable in knowing the closest bottle is always at least 15 000 km away as no intercontinental traveller in their right mind would bring a case of this stuff out of the former penal colony. In fact, it is much more likely for a jet-setter to bring a case of SARS across the ocean than a bottle of this trash – and that is something I think I’d almost rather have. McSars: two thumbs down.