On the late afternoon of August 13, 2025, I stopped by Mr. Beet to buy some cheap fruits and vegetables (I ended up only buying fruit, but that is neither here nor there). I featured Mr. Beet once in this pages when I covered a very good deal on carrots (provided you needed many carrots). It is situated in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Boerum Hill on 193 Smith Street between Warren and Baltic Streets.
I would describe it as a discount produce store (with not-so-discount grocery items). I offer you this brief description not to promote Mr. Beet (although I recommend it if you are within walking distance), but to highlight that it is a simple produce store. There are restaurants and shops on Smith and neighboring Court Street that may put up punny billboards or advertise their menus with sometimes-successful attempts at humor. Mr. Beet is not that kind of shop.
I was thirsty after having walked before reaching Mr. Beet. I knew that the store had refrigerated drinks in the back. I assumed that they would be reasonably priced, so I went to see what was available. To be sure, the drinks were reasonably priced, and I eventually settled on a $1.50 bottled diet Snapple (Aside: Snapple tasted better in the glass bottles). But before I decided to buy the Snapple, I had been compelled to take a picture of one shelf in the drink refrigerator.
As you can see, there is a sign that says “LIQUID DEATH $2.49TAX” under glass bottles of Coca Cola. I did a double take. While I am sure that some people would call Coke and/or Diet Coke liquid death, Mr. Beet is not the type of store that I would expect to add commentary to its wares. Only after first noting the sign did I see that to the left of the Coke were cans actually labeled Liquid Death. Had I been aware that there is a drink brand called Liquid Death, I may have passed by without thinking anything of it. But my ignorance coincided with the odd misplacement of the Liquid Death price sticker to make me investigate what was happening there.
(Come to think of it, I have no idea how much the glass bottles of Coke cost.)
I assumed that the Liquid Death was a hard seltzer. But a friend who I showed the picture to explained that it is regular seltzer. I consulted the Liquid Death website and confirmed that it appears to be a line of benign, lightly-sweetened, flavored seltzers with needlessly dramatic names. I had not expected to be tempted by anything called Liquid Death, but I will concede that the Killer Cola in particular looks intriguing (I am a fan of the cola-flavored Hal’s Seltzer). I would also sign up for the Rootbeer Wrath but count me as mildly concerned about the Cereal Criminal.
Will Mr. Beet’s humorously misplaced(?) price sticker lead me to try a can of Liquid Death? That, my fair reader, is to be determined.
