Reading Draft Black Cherry

Reading Draft began in 1921, this was just after national prohibition on alcohol began in the United States. Reading lies in the southeast corner of Pennsylvania, a little more than an hour's drive from Philadelphia. The company produces several flavors, but they say they have the "Pennsylvania Dutch taste." I'm not exactly sure what that means or how it can taste Pennsylvania Dutch no matter what the flavor of the soda is. Supposedly they utilize a slower technique to carbonation. Aside from their soda production they also sell beer and wine making supplies, but do not make any themselves.

It smells deliciously deep. It is well carbonated, but doesn't tingle at the tongue. The cherry flavor is very well balanced. It's not overpowering. This is a good dessert soda, it has nice staying power on the tongue. I think what balances it so well is there is a touch of saltiness at the finish which keeps it balanced and as I've mentioned before, cane sugar has a more rounded flavor than high fructose corn sugar. Overall this is a nice drink.

Barr's Originals Dandelion & Burdock

Barr's Originals is a lineup of old fashioned recipes from the A.G. Barr company. Although a large company today, it was started by Robert Barr in 1875. The company began in Falkirk, Scotland, a town a little north and halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh. They soon grew to have a position in Glasgow as well. Barr's started selling Irn-Bru in 1901 and is still a Scotland original available in the UK. In 1959, the Glasgow and Falkirk divisions merged. In 2012 there were plans for the company to merge with Britvic, but those plans later fell through.

This is only the second dandelion and burdock soda I've found and the last one I had was long enough ago that I don't really recall the taste. For those who haven't read my previous post about this flavor... yes, dandelion as in the weed. Burdock is a type of thistle. Dandelion and burdock is one of the oldest flavors of soda so just getting to taste it should be considered a bit of a rite of passage. 

The smell is light and airy with a tiny bit of anise. The carbonation is moderate, but the flavor is like that of a chicory. The tongue has a different concentration of taste receptors in different areas, so I sometimes taste a soda by holding it in my mouth in different areas. With the front of my tongue I taste virtually nothing. The front of the tongue is strongly associated with sweetness. When I move the liquid to the the back of my mouth the areas associated with bitterness and sour come alive. The odd root-like taste of this makes the mouth water though. I personally don't care for the flavor, but I do recommend that fans of soda at least try it.

Fentimans Cherry Tree Cola

Fentimans has been featured on my blog many times as I work my way through their catalog. Read more about their history in one of my earliest posts here.

This bottle has a delicious ginger aroma when I pop the cap off. If I closed my eyes I would think I was in a Christmas shop. The flavor is less cherry than potpourri in a bottle. The flavor isn't amazing, but the scents sure are. The drink looks positively flat until it's tipped, but has just enough carbonation to make it alluring. Thankfully, they've balanced the ginger to keep it from overpowering the rest of the herbs and not to burn like a ginger beer. Again, I think the best think about it may be the smell. I'd like to get some more of this around the holidays. Definitely try a bottle of this for yourself if you can. 

Ginseng UP Cola

While this isn't the only soda infused with ginseng extract, they have been around a little while and have several flavors to choose from. Ginseng UP began in 1981, in Worcester, Massachusetts, and focuses on imbuing its products with the "healthful" benefits of ginseng and all natural ingredients, with little sugar.

While the bottle looks nice... I wish the cap was a crown top instead of a screw top since those don't make it into my collection. It has cinnamon-like notes to it's cola scent. It could use more carbonation but the taste of kola nut is a bit over powered by the flavor of tea. I'm not a tea drinker, but I've found that when cola is mixed with it, it's not terrible. In my opinion however, caffeine-free cola partly defeats the point of cola. It's a decent drink but nothing I'm going to go crazy about.