Gray Brewing Co. Orange Cream

Another Midwestern soda, today I have a bottle of Orange Cream from the folks at Gray Brewing Co. in Janesville, Wisconsin. Established back in 1856, Joshua Gray began by brewing beer using family recipes, but ceased brewing beer in the 1890's. They were originally known as Gray's Bottling Works, then Chas. C. Gray Beverage, later Gray's Beverage Company, before settling on Gray Brewing Co. The decision to move away from the beer business and get into soda's no doubt gave them an early advantage when prohibition came about and many beer brewers switched to sodas to stay afloat. Gray Brewing Co. is still in the hands of the same family, being run by the fifth generation of Joshua Gray's descendants, with the sixth generation already working there ready to take the hand off. Somewhere along the way they continued producing beer as well since there are several varieties from them currently available. They are supposedly the oldest family owned bottling company left in the U.S. That's quite a neat story. Sodas currently produced by the Grays include root beer, black cherry, strawberry, cream soda, and orange cream. I may have to take a detour through Janesville on my next trip north to hunt down the rest of their sodas to try.

This bottle has a great creamsicle aroma to it, quite strong. I like the taste right away. I find it has a soft orange flavor with a wonderful creaminess to it. No doubt the can sugar rounds out that flavor rather than making it sharp since I've mentioned in many previous posts that I find naturally sweetened sodas to have a softer, rounder sweetness than those with corn syrups. I think it's well balanced as the cream flavor does not hide the orange but compliments it well. The cream flavor is the forward dominant flavor but the orange gives it the robust creamsicle taste you want from an orange cream soda. This would make a lovely desert soda on a hot summer night on the porch. 

Pepsi Soda Shop Black Cherry Cola

Another of Pepsi's Soda Shop releases, this particular one is a Black Cherry Cola. The Soda Shop series is meant to invoke some of the flavor combinations old soda counters used to produce. Let's see how this one tastes. 

There's a deep cherry aroma like that from a cough syrup coming from this bottle, so I'm already delighted. It does taste reminiscent of many cough syrups or cherry cough drops. Thankfully they used real sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup. It helps the flavor a lot. It would be much sharper with corn syrup than sugar. It's pleasant, not too syrupy or overly sweet, so I definitely recommend picking up a bottle. 

Northwest Soda Works Ginger Ale

A soda so nice they named it twice? From Port Angeles, Washington, Ed Bedford, with the help of some investors, launched Northwest Soda Works in 1984; thus the secondary name of "Bedford's Sodas." Initially he bottled a "premium" creme soda, called Creme Beer. His investors later sold off the majority stake of the company to Unique Beverages in across Puget Sound in Everett. After several years Ed bought the control of the brand back from Unique. It was around this time Ed changed to the use of cane sugar and partnered with Orca Beverage, mentioned several times over the years on this blog, to create additional flavors. 

Opening this bottle I get a sharp sense of ginger from it. It was strong like ginger beer at first then mellowed and now smells like a pretty normal ginger ale. There's a fair amount of carbonation, not too little and not too much. The drink is refreshing and crisp. I think it has just a small touch more ginger bite than many main stream ginger ale brands, but not like many ginger beers. A nice overall soda. 

Original New York Seltzer Root Beer

Now truth be told, I'm not big on seltzers. I've always found them to be quite bitter. But Original New York Seltzer has something of a cult following. Interestingly, the drink did not begin in New York, but in California, where father and son team Alan and Randy Miller started producing the drinks in 1981. In the 1980's producing any kind of soda, seltzer or otherwise without coloring, preservatives, or caffeine was something of an oddity. Nevertheless, the brand grew quickly and the father and son team had a penchant for a large and flamboyant lifestyle, complete with exotic animals. The Original New York Seltzer beverages were discontinued in 1994. However, in 2015, the brand staged a comeback with new leadership featuring the same fist-sized glass bottles as the original. 

Firstly, before I even get to tasting this, I really miss these little bottles. I can no longer find any brand of ginger ale made in the tiny green glass bottles anymore. I found the smooth metal screw off cap a little difficult to remove, it needs a little more texture for easier grip. This bottle certainly smells of root beer. Well now that is surprising to taste. It doesn't taste bitter like I often find sparkling flavored waters and seltzers to taste, but it does taste like regular root beer. With only 120 calories and 5mg of sodium per 10oz bottle it might sound like a healthier option, but be aware it also has 31g of sugar in it. Overall though, I give it a thumbs up for a smooth root beer flavor, albeit not a very "creamy" tasting one. 

Boom Chugga Lugga Cherry Ginger Ale

This soda comes to us from Cherry Republic, which began in 1989. The area around Glen Arbor and Traverse City in Michigan grows a great deal of cherry groves, primarily known for tart cherries, some other varieties are also found as well. Cherry Republic sells a wide assortment of cherry flavored foods, condiments, candies and gifts, sodas just being one of them. 

This bottle has the color of a ginger ale rather than a typically pink or red hued cherry soda. Upon opening this bottle the smell actually seems more like a cream soda. It has plenty of carbonation, but I think the flavor is off for some reason. If I hold it in my mouth a while and focus I can pick up some cherry. Maybe this bottle was not stored in optimal conditions or something. I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. If I make it back up into that region of Michigan again I'll look to do a new tasting if I can find it.

Butter Soda

Continuing from yesterday's Sweet Corn, the State Fair theme goes on today with this Butter Soda from Rocket Fizz. Rocket Fizz has several candy and soda shops around the country and produces some of their own sodas for their shops. But I think you'll find that they mostly cater to lesser known brands and their own labels which are almost, but not all, novelty flavored. 

Firstly, there's very little scent coming from the bottle. It takes a good whiff before it smells something like butter. Oof. That is another flavor that just can't be stomached. It gives off a butter flavor in a very bold way and tastes quite "fatty." I prefer to not taste that again. 

Lester's Fixins Sweet Corn

With the State Fair season upon us in the Midwest, it seems like an appropriate time to try this novelty from the Lester's Fixins label. 

These novelty flavors often so terrible. A whiff off the top of this bottle smells almost exactly like a can of creamed corn, sickeningly so. The smell makes me nervous to even try a sip. A single swig of this is about all I can take. It does taste like corn, corn that has been cooked but not buttered or seasoned and with a dash of sugar on it. This is not a bottle I recommend unless you are curious for punishment. 

Cawston Press Elderflower Lemonade

Cawston Press is located in the UK and opened shop in 1986 with an apple orchard. This particular can is labeled as being made in the Netherlands, but I believe they have some other facilities in Europe as well. While listed as sparkling juice, I basically consider any beverage that is carbonated and non-alcoholic a soda. By definition, it's a soft drink, but I use the term soda. In any case, Cawston Press has several flavors of both regular juice as well as sparkling juices, such as this one. All of which are made by pressing real fruit and no added sugar or sweeteners. 

There is a fresh lemony scent upon opening. A sip comes across a bit sour, but that is owing to the fact that most beverages are so sugary that tasting naturally sweet flavors are duller in comparison. I taste the lemon quite strongly. I think the pressed apple juice in the ingredients does come through in the background. The sourness reminds me quite a bit of a hoppy beer. I can't really pick up the elderflower. Maybe its being masked by the lemon. All in all, it's a decent, naturally made sparkling lemonade. Since I had to purchase this in a pack, it will make a nice drink in the summer heat to mix things up every now and then. 

Mezzo Mix

What an interesting find at the World Market this was. This can of Mezzo Mix is made by Coca-Cola and is canned and sold in Germany. Back in May I posted about Schwip Schwap a German made cola and orange soda from PepsiCo. It would appear this is Coca-Cola's answer to that. Just like in America, Pepsi and Coca-Cola battle each other for market share often with their own takes on the same flavors. As I remarked before, it's a little weird though that us Americans get cola with lemon, cola with lime, but Germans get cola with orange. Since it is so difficult to find cola with orange here, it makes me wonder if it is equally as difficult to find cola with lemon or lime there. I certainly don't recall coming across lemon or lime variations in the UK on any my trips there, nor did I come across either such drinks in Austria. 

I'm a little off topic so let me return to talking about Mezzo Mix. Apparently, this brand from Coca-Cola was released back in 1973 in what was then West Germany. However both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are copying an earlier cola and orange soda, named Spezi, introduced in the 1950's. There are also generic or store-brand versions as well. The tagline pictured at the bottom of the can, "cola küsst orange," translates as "cola kisses orange." 

A crack of the can shows good carbonation, but there's very little scent. A tinge of orange in the air but hardly any cola scent. I've got to say that I personally favor this one over the Schwip Schwap option. Whereas Schwip Schwap gave me a more powerful orange flavor, the orange in this drink is more subtle. It's much more like a cola with an orange garnish rather than mixing equal parts cola and orange soda, so I'm giving the edge to Coca-Cola on this one. But if you favor stronger orange, opt for one of the other cola and orange brands.