Lilt

I hadn't heard of Lilt at all until my last excursion to the UK, despite having been there twice before. Lilt was introduced in 1975, but it's another drink you'll find only in the UK and Ireland. Lilt falls under the umbrella of Coca-Cola. There isn't a long colorful story on the history of drinks introduced by corporate conglomerates like this one, so I can't provide much more information than that. 

What I can tell you is that I liked this soda. I'd venture to call it the UK version of Ski. It has a blend of citrus fruits, including Grapefruit and Pineapple and something called "fruit crush"... which is more information than you'll usually find about what Ski contains. Though for the Ski faithful, you'll note that Lilt is sans fruit pulp. It's a refreshing drink that revitalized me after walking around for a while. The bottle pictured here was purchased and consumed at the Cliffs of Moher. I'd pair this with breakfast foods or drink solo on a hot day. 

Wild Harvest Natural Cola

Wild Harvest is a company founded in 2008 to produce a wide range of organic and natural foods. Their cola is made with cane sugar, but not available in bottles. You'll usually find these drinks in natural food stores or the health food section of your supermarket instead of the soda aisle. 

The first thing I've noticed about this drink is that the website lists it as caffeine free, while the can's ingredient's list natural caffeine. It doesn't carry much of an aroma, but has a better level of carbonation than expected... albeit pretty average for a canned drink. I've found that canned sodas usually contain more carbonation than their bottled counterparts even when it is the same drink. This is a very mellow cola. It isn't nearly as cola rich in flavor as I was expecting from a 'natural' soda. For some reason I suppose the term natural made me think of richer taste as in other natural foods that have less processing between the source materials and the end product. However with this cola I might as well be drinking a strong ginger ale because it's just too weak for me. 

If you are for supporting smaller companies or organic/natural goods then by all means this is a viable choice but it doesn't do it for me. I'll look forward to trying some of their other flavors in the future and hope for better results. 

Cidona

In an effort to get all those tastings I did on my trip posted on here, I'm still working on a small back catalog. 

Here's a tasty little drink called Cidona. Although I picked up the bottle seen here in Glasgow, there is a larger fan base in Ireland, which lies on the other side of the Irish Sea from Scotland, in case you are geographically challenged. I suppose the reason it's more popular there is because it was born there. Cidona was introduced in 1955 by Bulmers, Ltd., who had already been making Bulmers Irish Cider. Now I'm not much for alcohol but I do enjoy Irish Cider... and fittingly I enjoyed Cidona too. 

Cidona is thin like a soft drink, but also vastly more translucent than any apple cider you'll find pressed at a fall festival in America. It's nearly clear, but with a slightly yellowish hint of color. The aroma was not all that strong, but what it lacks in smell it makes up for in flavor. It has a deep apple taste with only a small amount of that acidity that gives apples their "bite". Which is a little ironic given that their tag line is "Bites into thirst". But that's okay with me, because I found it to be just right. 

If you aren't big on orange flavor in the morning this good with a breakfast, but perfect for any fall day. 

Sangaria Gettin' Cool Strawberry

I found some of these japanese sodas produced by Sangaria in aluminum bottles at a local asian market. It's difficult to learn much about this brand because their official website and most others referring to it are in Japanese. Sangaria focuses mainly on tea flavored drinks, but also makes a few sodas some of which are Ramune drinks.

There is something to be said again, for the way japanese drinks stay true to their flavor roots. A quick waft of this smells like fresh cut strawberries, not sugar. The japanese have figured out a way to pick up this natural flavor better than any american strawberry drink I've ever had. They are either making their sodas with a different process or their consumers have a more critical palate. And it's not overly sugary and sweet, it maintains that slight tartness that real berries have.

Either way, they're dead on when they call their drinks refreshing. I can understand why they would devour these fruity drinks in the summer. Next summer I may go stock up on some more myself.

Old Town Root Beer Sarsparilla

This is a bottle I picked up merely because the folks at World Market sell several sodas and beers in single bottles. There is nothing memorable about this drink other than the fact that they mis-spelled 'sarsaparilla'.

The drink itself has a creamy aroma. They use cane sugar rather than high-fructose corn syrup, but it has very light carbonation. I found it that it had a more "root" flavoring to it than some, but again... not a memorable beverage. You'd be better off buying a pack of IBC or A&W found in most supermarkets.

Fentimans Curiosity Cola

This is the second variety of Fentimans to grace the blog. Fentimans fills a niche of old world sodas, owing to its historical beginnings and old world brewing recipes.

Due to their trend towards more ancestral flavors I'm half expecting this to taste more like the early cola beverages of the late 1800's. But with a qualifier like 'Curious' anything is up for grabs.

The aroma from this bottle is very rich. This is the type of smell I'd expect from a turn of the century soda counter in an old pharmacy to smell like. Likewise the taste owes much more to a kola nut than modern colas. It's commonly known that the sense of smell and taste are closely linked, which is why people commonly make analogies of tastes to things they would never touch their tongue to, but I can say that the taste transports me to any number of antique stores I've walked through with their stale air and aging wood, paper and metal items. Because most brewed beverages obtain their carbonation from natural processes I'd venture to guess that's why it has a light carbonation with small bubbles. I think this would be a great cola to drink while also enjoying an old world meal like a dinner of haggis in Scotland. Perhaps the next time I'm in Glasgow I'll make my way back to the Drum & Monkey with a bottle of this to give it a go.

Fanta Icy Lemon

Canned Icy Lemon at Dublin Castle.

So admittedly, this post has been quite belated. I intended to post the remaining sodas as soon as I returned, but things got busy and lasted through the holidays.

I've discussed Fanta's history in some length in prior postings. So, getting to the point... I was able to find the Icy Lemon flavor in Ireland. This was a tart little soda, with the refreshing flavor of fresh lemonade but with the added frostiness you would expect from foods labeled icy. The frost-flavoring doesn't overwhelm the lemon and unlike some drinks didn't make me sick to my stomach by the end. Great refresher on a nice day outside.

Bottled Icy Lemon in a Belfast bar.

Fanta Fruit Twist

Here's another Fanta flavor that isn't offered in the states so far as I can tell. I assumed that this would be fruit punch flavored but was surprised to find that this lightly carbonated drink tastes strongly of pink grapefruit. It is tart and besides the grapefruit taste I sense something along the line of mango or tangerine as in a subtle background flavor. If you like citrus sodas you'll probably enjoy this and it's another good breakfast soda.

Red Kola

Barr, which also makes Irn-Bru, produces this beverage typically found in the British Isles like their other drinks. I was expecting a cola flavored drink with a touch of cream soda taste added. Rather this is a pink/red colored liquid closer to the red cream taste of Big Red. But it's cheap and found in manly places around Scotland so of course I had to give it a go.

Irn-Bru

Because I'm traveling I've decided to make some entries as I go and input pictures and info later. At the moment I am riding the Stena Ferry from Belfast to Straener. I've been able to locate a bottle of Irn-Bru in the ferry's shop for the purposes of this blog.

Irn-Bru has been produced since 1901 and since that time has always contained actual iron in the beverage. This is a taste you will notice when drinking it. The distinct flavor of this drink can be best described as a metallic cream soda. It is bright orange in color with a decent level of carbonation. The drink has a secret recipe stored in Switzerland. This isn't a favorite drink of mine and I would probably prefer it mixed with vodka.