Hipster Soda
May. 9th, 2014 07:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bloodyrosemccoyI have discovered the Hipster Soda Section of my grocery store!
It's great. Most of the sodas there are trying to look old-timey, and some of the ones with better soda cred were established in the 19th Century. A few of the new upstarts are trying to establish themselves as pioneering artisans, too. All of it is very silly.
So of course, I'm trying it all. Every week I'm gonna pick up a few bottles to get some ideas for my own potions-making. Here's what I've tried so far:
Boylan's Shirley Temple - Damn I love Shirley Temples. They taste like vacations to me. And this was a damn good one.
Fentimans Dandelion Burdock Soda - Dear Optimus CHRIST this was gross. I dunno if it was the "pear juice" they add to it or the dandelions themselves, but something gave a really unpleasantly cloying aftertaste, like nasty tonic medicine. I'm hoping the culprit is somewhere in those unlisted "natural flavors," or in the specific combinationof the ingredients, for two reasons: first, there's a recipe for dandelion soda in my book that is completely different from the ingredients listed here, and I'd rather not have it turn out to be just as nasty. And second, I want to try out their Rose Lemonade, and it looks like that has pear juice in it as well.
Fentimans* also wins for the most hipstery web design. I think they're trying for irony or meta or something. It's hard to decide if it's charming or if I want to punch them in the face.
DRY Soda's Lavender - In contrast to the older soda companies' attempts to make their brands look like something that a dude with a very large mustache and either a cowboy hat or a a top hat might feel at home drinking, DRY is a new soda company that's trying to be all postmodern and streamlined and sophisticated. The soda's, well, pretty darn lavendery. Not bad, though.
Sioux City Birch Beer - Figured I'd see what an actual birch beer tastes like, since the one I tried turned into Ent-draught.** It tasted, as has been described, like root beer with wintergreen flavoring. Unfortunately the bottle only says they use "artificial flavors," so I'll have to try a few other brands to get a good bead on it. Fortunately, hipster sodas LOVE making birch beer, so I have options.
Anyway. Call me a hipster, but I'm having fun with this. Can't wait to go back and pick up some more!
*No, there is no apostrophe. Apparently there is simply more than one Fentiman.
**I STILL have no idea if I liked that one. But out of all the batches of my homemade soda, my friend ("This is my new favorite hobby of yours!") declared it was the best. I may have to make it again, if for no other reason than to try to figure out my own feelings about it.
It's great. Most of the sodas there are trying to look old-timey, and some of the ones with better soda cred were established in the 19th Century. A few of the new upstarts are trying to establish themselves as pioneering artisans, too. All of it is very silly.
So of course, I'm trying it all. Every week I'm gonna pick up a few bottles to get some ideas for my own potions-making. Here's what I've tried so far:
Boylan's Shirley Temple - Damn I love Shirley Temples. They taste like vacations to me. And this was a damn good one.
Fentimans Dandelion Burdock Soda - Dear Optimus CHRIST this was gross. I dunno if it was the "pear juice" they add to it or the dandelions themselves, but something gave a really unpleasantly cloying aftertaste, like nasty tonic medicine. I'm hoping the culprit is somewhere in those unlisted "natural flavors," or in the specific combinationof the ingredients, for two reasons: first, there's a recipe for dandelion soda in my book that is completely different from the ingredients listed here, and I'd rather not have it turn out to be just as nasty. And second, I want to try out their Rose Lemonade, and it looks like that has pear juice in it as well.
Fentimans* also wins for the most hipstery web design. I think they're trying for irony or meta or something. It's hard to decide if it's charming or if I want to punch them in the face.
DRY Soda's Lavender - In contrast to the older soda companies' attempts to make their brands look like something that a dude with a very large mustache and either a cowboy hat or a a top hat might feel at home drinking, DRY is a new soda company that's trying to be all postmodern and streamlined and sophisticated. The soda's, well, pretty darn lavendery. Not bad, though.
Sioux City Birch Beer - Figured I'd see what an actual birch beer tastes like, since the one I tried turned into Ent-draught.** It tasted, as has been described, like root beer with wintergreen flavoring. Unfortunately the bottle only says they use "artificial flavors," so I'll have to try a few other brands to get a good bead on it. Fortunately, hipster sodas LOVE making birch beer, so I have options.
Anyway. Call me a hipster, but I'm having fun with this. Can't wait to go back and pick up some more!
*No, there is no apostrophe. Apparently there is simply more than one Fentiman.
**I STILL have no idea if I liked that one. But out of all the batches of my homemade soda, my friend ("This is my new favorite hobby of yours!") declared it was the best. I may have to make it again, if for no other reason than to try to figure out my own feelings about it.
