Sinalco Bitter Orange

This bottle was something of a mystery when I found it. Located in a nearby market for middle eastern foods, it has arabic labeling on the cap and on one side, but said it was bottled in Germany. I had to turn to the internet and their own website claims they are a popular global brand and the oldest soft drink in Europe, yet I had never heard of them before. 

The story goes that Friedrich Eduard Bilz, who had an interest in natural healing methods, opened a sanitarium in 1895. In 1902, Bilz created a drink called Bilz-Brause to serve to his sanitarium patients. The drink consisted of mineral water and citrus juice. Brause translating as "lemonade" or "fizz." It sounds as if he and John Harvey Kellogg, creator of corn flakes, would have been buddies had they lived closer to each other. In 1905, Bilz and Franz Hartmann joined together and renamed the drink to Sinalco. This name is a mash up of the Latin for "without alcohol." As the oldest soft drink company in Europe, they've released other flavors of Sinalco, and grown to include a stable of drink brands, much like a PepsiCo or Coca-Cola Company.

I find there's very little scent from the bottle. It takes a very deep whiff to get a hint of something more akin to the smell of grapefruit. There's a good level of carbonation from the bottle and even though it's a single use bottle it has the feel of the old reusable, returnable bottles. I do like this and think the citrus nature of it makes it a nice choice for a morning soda. It finishes clean with no aftertaste and is refreshing.