NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Turkey and gravy through a straw? Carbonated? "Ewww." Nevertheless, it's a pretty popular "Ewww."

Yep, this is the second year that Jones Soda Co. has come out with a turkey and gravy flavored soda for Thanksgiving. Last year it sold out.

This year it's part of a "Holiday Pack" from the company that also includes mashed potato, green bean casserole, cranberry, and fruitcake flavors.

The pack also includes "free utensils." That'd be a straw.

Ewww-factor or not, the stuff's been flying off the shelves.

The company made 15,000 of the packs. The 1,000 to 2,000 it made available through its Web site were sold in the first hour. The rest, channeled through distributors like Target and Panera Bread, are selling briskly, the company reported. On eBay, packs are going for $20 to over $100.

"It's curiosity about the unknown," said a Jones Soda spokeswoman. "The flavors are actually quite accurate. People are curious about them."

That's good news for Toys for Tots. The charity is getting a $50,000 cut of the sales.

Packaged for publicity.

But it's good for Jones Soda too, a small player in the niche premium soda market.

Sure the company is making some money, but it's still teeny-tiny.

Figure 15,000 packs at $16 a pop draws in $240,000. The company has a gross margin on sales of about 35 percent. So it's clearing roughly $84,000. After the Toys for Tots donation, it has $34,000. Hmmm, maybe enough to cover somebody's salary at the Seattle-based company, but I doubt it.

Nah, this is a prime example of buzz-payoff. The company is getting all sorts of play among news outlets near and far -- newspapers, TV networks, radio and even news Web sites (ahem) all talking about their product.

Great publicity for a company with less than $30 million in annual sales. Also good timing.

The company just started getting into cans; a move that allows it to move from its current $15 billion sector (the so-called "new age premium soda market") and into the wider $50 billion carbonated soda market. Bigger markets, though, mean bigger competition. So a little buzz can't hurt, especially if the company wants to get its stock (Research) out of the over-the-counter arena and onto a formal exchange.

As for the soda itself well ... we tried some here at CNNMoney.com. In keeping with the company's "new age" image, the stuff was no-cal, kosher and vegan (yeah, even with the turkey flavor). The turkey and gravy, well chilled, wasn't as bad as you'd think. But the mashed potatoes and butter, as well as the green bean casserole, well ... ewww. Fruitcake was okay.

Use the cranberry as the chaser.  

Allen Wastler is managing editor of CNN/Money and appears on CNN's "In the Money" on weekends. He can be emailed at wastlerswanderings@cnn.com.