Sodas, Sodas, Everywhere

I've written in the past about a variety of sodas, and have a habit of collecting sodas that sound interesting. Unfortunately, I sometimes let them sit around awhile before I get to drinking them.

So on the last Saturday of February, in honor of "Open That Bottle Night," I opened a bunch of sodas that I have been meaning to try. I know, I know, that isn't what they meant, but I don't do very well in the "save this for a special occasion" department when it comes to wine and spirits - I seem to have no trouble finding special occasions to open the good stuff. Sodas, on the other hand...

Here are the sodas we tried, in no particular order, with some tasting notes and comments.

Zota Green Tea Sodas
My friend Daniel Sviland at Prairie Grass Cafe recommended these sodas to me awhile back, and even gave me some to try. We tried these varieties:

• Ginger - fresh ginger aroma and taste, not all the way to ginger beer, but more flavorful than most ginger ales. The tea aspects come through nicely and marry with the ginger, creating a spicy finish. My favorite of the three.
  
• Raspberry - very sweet, with the smell of berries; the raspberry flavor reminded me of lambic beers. The berry notes dominated; very little, if any, of the tea came through.
• Orange - great orange soda flavor, with hints of tea and spice; like a (somewhat) grown up version of the orange soda I loved as a kid. Yum.

As you might expect, the ginger plays well in cocktails. We found some ok, but not fantastic, uses for the other flavors. Here's a cocktail we came up with on the fly with the ginger:

Rye-o-Zota
2 oz Rye Whiskey (used Sazerac 6 yr)
1/2 oz Triple Sec (used Cointreau)
Dash of grapefruit bitters (used Scrappy's)
Zota Ginger Green Tea Soda
Combine first three ingredients in rocks glass with ice; top with Zota soda. Garnish with swath of orange peel.

Unfortunately, the company's website isn't working, and I can't find much about them - I'm not sure you can find these anymore. Apparently, the company went out of business in 2005, then was relaunched in 2007 (in the comments), so I don't know what the status is now. I've had these bottles since about mid-2009, I would guess, and they tasted just fine.

Dry Sodas
I tried some other varieties before, but hadn't yet tried the kumquat and rhubarb flavors of Dry Soda. Unfortunately, I think my bottle of rhubarb sat around too long, it was pretty blah, without any discernable rhubarb flavor. The kumquat, however, had very nice orange/kumquat flavors, and was a dry, light soda. Definitely could be used in place of soda in drinks if you want more orange notes. Gotta get another bottle of that rhubarb, and open it sooner, next time.

Cricket Pomegranate Raspberry Green Tea Soda
Cricket makes/made their colas using actual kola nuts, among other all-natural ingredients. This one had more pronounced tea notes than any of the Zota sodas, and nice fruit notes. It was not overly sweet, and was one of my favorite sodas for consuming on it's own. I tried mixing it a few ways, with light rum, dark rum, and gin as the base, and nothing really wowed me. I might just have to keep this one for drinking on it's own.

According to the all-knowing wikipedia, the company was sold, and the buyer no longer lists their products on the website. You might have trouble finding this one too, unfortunately.

Kristall Swedish Raspberry Soda
The Kristall beverage company actually makes a variety of fruit-flavored sodas, but I've only ever seen (and now tried) the raspberry version. It was light and fruity, with nice raspberry flavor. It is a bit on the sweeter side, but might make for a nice change of pace in a drink requiring soda that contains complementary flavors.


Well, there you have it. Now my collection of unopened sodas is much smaller, at least until I see some more new ones on my travels.

Fentimans Sodas

So I am (finally) getting back to taste-testing sodas. I've had to get a fresh supply of many of them, since I either didn't try them on a timely basis, or I tried them and didn't write anything down.

Fentiman's Sodas
I wrote about their ginger beer awhile back. Suffice to say, we liked it a lot - it was very different from all the others we tried. I found a few more of their sodas at one of my favorite gourmet food stores, so I picked them up. (Pic at right is from their site)
Dandelion Burdock
Unbeknownst to me, despite many trips to the UK, this is a traditional British soft drink. The Fentiman's website says: "Full strength infusions of Dandelion & Burdock create the unmistakable aroma and distinctive palate of this classic beverage."

We found this one fruity (pear), sweet and herbal, with under notes reminiscent of a good sarsaparilla. It was nice on its own. Apparently there is a drink called a DB&G which calls for the addition of gin, so we tried that as well - it was, well, interesting (in a good way). A bit of an acquired taste, but we'll be trying it again as soon as I get another bottle.

Victorian Lemonade
I think our bottle might have been bad, based on the descriptions on the Fentiman's site, but maybe not. It was quite sour, with a hint of ginger and then a light touch of sweetness on the finish. Not terribly pleasant to drink on its own, in fact we didn't finish it (and didn't mix with it).

Mandarin and Seville Orange Jigger
This was a lovely soda, with a fresh, true orange flavor balanced with a small amount of sweetness. It seems like it will mix well, and I look forward to experimenting with it soon. They also make a Curiosity Cola that sounds interesting, I'll have to try and find it.

A Plethora of Newfangled Sodas

Along my travels the last few months, I've managed to collect quite an array of fairly unusual and hard-to-find flavored sodas. Some of them have potential as cocktail ingredients, while some of them are really more just for drinking on their own. I figured I had better get started on writing about them (and drinking them) before they entirely take over my counter top & refrigerator.

I'm going to start with one of the first ones I acquired, which I really like. I haven't found a lot of cocktails for them yet, but they're fun to drink in place of juice or soda.

Fizzy Lizzy Sodas
I found these sodas in San Francisco at the Village Market in the Ferry Building originally, and I had a couple of them there. I wrote down the information, and researched them a bit online when I returned. Low and behold, they are available here in Chicago at one of my favorite gourmet grocery stores, Fox & Obel. So I bought all the flavors they had in stock, and brought them home to try.

What's cool about these is they're not like the mainstream sodas (or should I say pops), they are just fruit juice and seltzer water, that's pretty much it - no added sugars, no flavorings, etc. They're refreshing, bubbly, and not too sweet, kind of like a glass of juice cut with soda water, only its already cut for you in a nice proportion. Maybe folks with kids could convert their kids to these, they're definitely healthier than sugary sodas (although of course a piece of fruit would be even better).

Here are the flavors I tried, with some tasting notes & ingredient details:

• Northern Lights Cranberry - nice, fizzy with a fruity but tart & crisp flavor. It's made with more grape juice than cranberry juice, and you can taste that, but I enjoyed it. Very refreshing after a long day of walking all over SF. I think this has potential for light summertime cocktails, although you'd need to be careful not to overwhelm its flavor. I'm not sure why the bottle I bought here in Chicago has a different label than the other ones and than what's on the website, but it tasted OK, so I just went with it.
  

• Costa Rican Pineapple - Very pineapple, seems like it might be fun in cocktails in substitution for pineapple juice - its not as sweet, but still tastes like fresh pineapple. I wish this one had more carbonation, it seems a bit watered down.
  

• Yakima Valley Grape - Very reminiscent of grape soda, but not as sweet and with a more genuine grape flavor. I liked this one a lot, mostly because I drank a LOT of grape soda when I was kid, but don't think it has much potential for cocktails. No one else who tasted it liked it, but they didn't love grape soda back in the day, either. More for me.
  

If you find yourself out and about where you can find Fizzy Lizzy, check 'em out and let me know what you think! And let me know if you have any creative cocktail recipes using them.

Ginger Saga - Final Words (for Now)

Despite my recent (and somewhat extensive) posts about ginger beers, ginger liqueurs and such, I managed to stumble upon a few things to add after I posted them. Here's a brief addendum to those recent posts, covering some additional ginger beers/sodas and that elusive Canton ginger liqueur.

Ginger Beers Part III
No sooner did we complete our taste tests of ginger beers, than a few more potential contenders appeared. One of our mixologist friends, Tim Lacey, is making his own ginger beer at Custom House. It's fantastic, with rich ginger notes and a touch of heat. Unfortunately you have to go there to taste it. He is serving it as a non-alcoholic drink choice, but you can have his team whip up a cocktail with it if you like.

And I happened to visit my favorite store in Chicago for esoteric sodas (West Lakeview Liquors), and I found none other than cult-favorite Blenheim's ginger ale from South Carolina (both the #5 regular and #3 extra spicy, which are in the exact same packaging except for the color of the cap). According to BevNet, their ginger beer is actually less flavorful and spicy than these two ginger ales, so I got these two.

The #3 was indeed extra spicy (with the most heat of any of the beers we tried by far). It was nice in a Moscow Mule, I liked it better that way than on its own. The #5 was lighter in spice, but still had a nice spice note. It was lighter than the other ginger beers, but more flavorful than most ginger ales. We liked the #5 best on its own. Bundaberg is still my favorite ginger beer overall, but these were very fun to try.

And wouldn't you know it...
No sooner did I post about the Massenez ginger liqueur, than I spotted a bottle of the elusive Canton Ginger Liqueur at Nacional 27 in Chicago. Last Friday night, my friendly bartender Loronz (at right with the bottle) was kind enough to give me a little taste of this liqueur.

How was it?
It was pale straw color, with a rich, straightforward ginger flavor. It definitely has some nice heat, along with some subtle spices that complement the ginger. It wasn't as different from the Massenez as I expected it to be. The key difference was in the ginger heat, and it was slightly more complex/spicy. Since I can't buy it in Chicago anyway, I'll happily use up my Massenez and then see where I am.

Taste Tests: Ginger Beers, Part II

I know you've been waiting with bated breath for the results of our ginger beer taste comparisons, and I don't want to make you wait any longer. Here are our rankings, along with our tasting notes for all the products we tried (both alone and in Moscow Mules, it was interesting to see how our opinions changed!):

Our Overall Ratings:

Best: Bundaberg - all around, the best performer both on its own and in mixed drinks. Consistently ranked in the top two. Plus, we like that its actually fermented.
Second: Cock 'n Bull - the "original" for Moscow Mules was one that we preferred for mixing, even though we didn't like it as much on its own (but who drinks it that way anyway)
Third: Fentimans - the most unusual (in a good way) of the bunch, with less sweetness and more rich spice, with a genuine-tasting flavor

We did not care at all for the Reed's Original or the D&G's Old Jamaican. The Barritt's was certainly acceptable, but not our preferred choice if we have one, and the Ginger People version seemed somewhat limited in its application. Although we used it at our event, we probably wouldn't choose the Sioux City again, unless someone asked for it.

Tasting Notes on their Own:

• Cock 'n Bull - clear in color, sweet, relatively light, with a bit of ginger tang/spice. Very bubbly, like a soft drink ought to be.
• Ginger People - very gingery, not really spicy though, sweet and lightly carbonated, with caramel notes. It was a very light yellow/tan color.
• D&G Old Jamaican - Very bubbly, sweet, with ginger tang and heat. Dominant lemon/citrus notes, but with a less genuine flavor than the other two above.
• Reed's - Dominant honey smell and taste. Had ginger and spice notes, but the honey dominated the flavor. It was sweet, with medium carbonation.
• Bundaberg - Nice ginger flavor, with a bit of tang - more ginger than Cock 'n Bull. Sweet with medium carbonation.
• Fentimans - Spicy, a blend of ginger and other spices (we could smell the juniper). Left a bit of heat in the back of my throat. Less sweet, well carbonated.
• Barritt's - Gingery, with a tiny bit of tang. Sweet, with a bit more flavor overall than Cock 'n Bull, although very similar to the Cock 'n Bull.
• Sioux City - darkest in color (colorings are added). Spicy, in a nondescript kind of way, with a nice ginger nose. A hint of heat, but very soda-like.
  

Tasting Notes in a Moscow Mule:

• Cock 'n Bull - a light, refreshing version of the drink, with moderate sweetness and light ginger. Well balanced.
• Ginger People - I liked it better with the lime, and would use a lot of lime with this ginger beer. My other half did not like it and thought it conflicted with the lime. The ginger is a true ginger flavor, and it lingers on the finish.
• D&G Old Jamaican - Overbearing, overwhelmed the drink, with an artificial taste. The citrus notes dominated, with nondescript spice in the finish.
  
• Reed's - Neither of us liked this one for this drink. The honey flavors dominated, and it didn't really work in the drink at all.
• Bundaberg - Nice balance of ginger flavor, with a bit of tang - more character than Cock 'n Bull, but seemed a tad sweeter.
• Fentimans - Had the most character & spice, and was less sweet than the others. One of us loved that peppery spice, while the other of us merely liked it.
  
• Barritt's - Light ginger, very bubbly. It was well balanced and had ginger and spice flavors, but seemed rather average.
• Sioux City - One of us thought it was boring, and that the alcohol came through over the beer (despite my rigor in pouring it exactly the same way 8 times). One of us thought it was spicy in a nondescript way, but too much like cola.

So there you have it. I'm glad I got that 4-pack of Bundaberg, I might have go back for more!

Taste Tests: Ginger Beers, Part I

As I've mentioned periodically, I have accumulated quite a stash of ginger beers over the last few months. I've picked them up all over the place, and sweet talked a few bar managers out of bottles from their secret stashes.

I got the total up to 10, although 2 of them were technically ginger "ales" rather than ginger beers. Going into the taste tests, I thought those two had enough punch to hold up to the other ginger beers (as it turns out, one of them did, but one of them didn't).


Brief Background on Ginger Beer
As you probably know, ginger beer nowadays is typically just a soft drink with more ginger punch and spice than ginger ale. It was originally a fermented drink (using something called the ginger beer plant that isn't really what I think of as a plant). A few of the ones you can find on the market now are actually fermented, but most of them are a blend of water, sugar, real or artificial flavors and colors, carbonation and maybe some preservatives.

I don't really hear much about ginger beer, except when people are discussing the Dark 'N Stormy or the Moscow Mule. So you might wonder how I got started in collecting them. We had a party awhile back where we served classic cocktails from the 1930's and 40's, with live entertainment from that era, and we served the Moscow Mule. It has a fun story, and is a fairly accessible (and easy) drink if made with a decent ginger beer, so I was off on a search for one. The first one I bought, Stewarts, was simply too much. Way over the top on the spiciness, so much so that I couldn't bring myself to finish a drink, no matter what I made with it. So I ruled that one out.

I tried two others that were relatively easy to find in the Chicago area: Sioux City and Ginger People (check out their cute logo at right - the label explains it). At the time, we ruled out the Ginger People - it has a really nice, true ginger flavor, but it didn't mesh well in the cocktails. So we went with the Sioux City, which had some spicy bite, but not as much as the Stewarts, and worked pretty well in our Moscow Mule.


Here's the rundown on the ones we tried, in no particular order:

• Cock 'n Bull - the ginger beer that made the Moscow Mule famous. I'm not sure it's the same formula as the original, since it now includes "sugar and/or corn sweeteners," "caramel colors" and "natural flavors." Interestingly, the website on the bottle doesn't seem to work (www.cocknbull.com), and I found two different pictures of this brand on the web. The one linked above is the one I have, not this one. I got this bottle from Neyah at Nopa in San Francisco, its not sold in Chicago as far as I can tell.
• Bundaberg - Australian ginger beer, which it appears is at least partially fermented and flavored with real ginger root. It lists yeast as an ingredient, but also carbonated water. I found this one at my local Cost Plus World Market.
• Barritt's - This is the ginger beer that the folks at Gosling's Rum say you have to use to make a proper Dark 'N Stormy (and you have to use their rum too, at least according to them and a Bermuda trademark they were issued). My friend Adam at the Clark Street Ale House donated this one to my collection (thanks Adam!). I'd heard about it around town but never seen it in a store. It is made with high fructose corn syrup, "natural and artificial flavoring" and other equally exciting sounding ingredients.
• Ginger People - mentioned earlier, its made with ginger juice and ginger extract, cane sugar, and "natural flavors" among other ingredients.
  
• D&G Old Jamaican - the beverage gurus at Tavern on the Park sold me a bottle of this one for my collection. I'd never seen nor heard of this one, and the guys would only tell me that the "have a guy who gets it for them." I was excited about it, until I noticed that it proclaims on the front that it is a "naturally and artificially flavored carbonated beverage."
• Fentimans - This was the last addition to my collection, and I found it at Sam's Wine & Spirits in the South Loop store. I happened to notice it in a shopper's basket while I was roaming the store, and so I asked about it. My favorite cheesemonger, who happens to work at this store, highly recommended it and said its very hard to find. Their website says its at Cost Plus, but I haven't seen it there.
• Sioux City - mentioned above, and made by the folks at White Rock Beverages according to the cap, although its not listed on their website. Like some others, it contains HFCS, "natural flavor," "caramel color" and a few other ingredients, including, notably "brominated vegetable oil." What the heck is that doing in there?
• Reed's Original Ginger Brew - not technically a ginger beer, its labeled a ginger "ale." I understand they make an Extra Ginger that is labeled ginger beer, but I could not find it anywhere. This one has some unusual ingredients, including "fructose, pineapple juice from concentrate and honey," as well as "lemon and lime juices from concentrate" along with spices, ginger root and sparkling water. All natural ingredients at least!
• Fever-Tree Ginger Ale - also not a ginger beer. When I tried it previously, I thought it was spicier than most ginger ales, so I thought it might be able to compete in this category. I was wrong, it was totally overpowered by all of the other competitors. Its still a lovely ginger ale though.
  

In Part II, I'll post tasting notes and rankings of our favorites. Stay tuned!

Q Tonic - A Taste at Last

Since I didn't have to go to class today, we decided to conduct our taste test of Q Tonic. All of us were excited to try this new tonic, which we had heard and read about but not tasted. We decided to compare it to the other tonics we have on hand, Fever Tree, Stirrings and the ubiquitous Schweppes.

We have a special guest with us today, my father-in-law, so we had 4 people on our tasting panel this time. As before, we tried the tonics on their own, with our vodka and with our Distiller's Gin No. 6 (of course).

What did we think?
Our reviews of Q were mixed. We all liked it with the vodka, but most of us (3 out of 4) did not like it with the gin - it seemed to bury the gin too much and created some off notes on the palate. On its own, it is fresh tasting and light, with a moderate amount of quinine (Schweppes has more).

All of us still really liked the Fever Tree, and we found that when we adjusted the proportions, we could get a bit more of the gin to shine through. It was very fresh tasting, complex and not too sweet. It seems to have a bit more quinine than Q. Everyone ranked it 1st or 2nd with both the vodka and the gin.

With the Stirrings, one of us felt it was too sweet and therefore did not like it. However, two of us liked it best of all the tonics with the gin, loving its fresh citrus notes and its pairing with the gin. The Stirrings was the sweetest of the bunch, and was light on the quinine.

None of us picked the Schweppes as the best. We did like it better than other major market brands when we tried it before, but we like these new brands better.

Some conclusions:

• Tonic water is a matter of personal taste - they vary on quinine, sweetness and other flavors
• Tonics really do vary, they are not interchangeable
• Tonics perform differently with different spirits, so you have to try them out with what you want to mix with - we picked different tonics as best for different spirits

Please chime in if you have any tonic experiences to share!

Have you tried the new tonic waters?

Although for some, fall marks the end of G&T (or V&T) season, I occasionally whip out the tonic water in the fall and winter when I'm in the mood for a crisp, bubbly drink. For a long time, there haven't been many options for tonic water - mostly Schweppes, Canada Dry and some private label brands (and that's still what you'll find at most stores). This summer, we found two new tonic waters in Chicago - Fever Tree and Stirrings. We also heard rumors about Q Tonic coming here, but we've not seen it yet (their website says we can ask for it at our local Whole Foods). We had a staff meeting (all 3 of us) earlier this summer to taste these new tonics with the big brands, as well as another older one we found and hadn't seen before (White Rock).

So what were the results?
All 3 of us thought that the Fever Tree and the White Rock were better than Schweppes and Canada Dry. White Rock had more citrus notes, Fever Tree had more complexity and spices. The Stirrings tonic was love-it or leave-it. One of us loved it, one thought it was too sweet, and one thought it was good on its own but not good with our Distiller's Gin No. 6 (too overpowering). Here are a summary of our findings:

Brand: White Rock
Nose: Very light, almost non-existent
On its own: Light flavor, less quinine, with tart & sweetness in mid-palate
With North Shore Vodka (you knew we'd use our own!): Light flavor, perhaps too light, but refreshing
With Distiller's Gin No. 6: Best of the Bunch - balanced and light, the gin shines through

Brand: Fever Tree
Nose: Light, citrus, fresh
On its own: Fresh, with light quinine, citrus and herbs
With North Shore Vodka: Best of the Bunch - Fresh and refreshing, with complex flavors
With Distiller's Gin No. 6: More complex flavors, with fresh citrus notes and a variety of spices

Brand: Stirrings
Nose: Citrus, sweet
On its own: Fresh, sweet, with light quinine
With North Shore Vodka: Sweet and fresh tasting, citrusy
With Distiller's Gin No. 6: Fresh and sweet, No. 6 is less present in the taste

Brand: Schweppes
Nose: Citrus, a bit sweet
On its own: Light citrus with a touch of quinine
With North Shore Vodka: Quinine more pronounced when mixed, balanced tart & sweetness
With Distiller's Gin No. 6: Quinine more pronounced, nice tartness with a mid-palate sweet note

Brand: Canada Dry
Nose: Citrus, a bit sweet
On its own: Sweet and salty, with a touch of quinine
With North Shore Vodka: Quinine more pronounced when mixed, seems a bit salty but balanced

With Distiller's Gin No. 6: Quinine more pronounced, seems a bit salty but nice tart & sweet notes

Each of us had our favorites, but the White Rock and Fever Tree scored well with all of us. We’d definitely recommend conducting your own tonic experiments – you might be surprised by the results! Do you have a favorite tonic that I've not mentioned, or have you tried Fever Tree, White Rock or Q Tonic? If so, what did you think? It took me two months to get any info from the White Rock people, so I'm thinking it isn't very available out there.

If you're a fan of interesting tonic waters, one of our favorite restaurants (and beverage gurus) has started serving their own house-made tonic water. If you haven't been there already, you should go to Custom House and try Tim Lacey's tonic water (and the other amazing cocktails you'll find).

And for some other blogger comments on tonic waters from this summer, check these out