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Coca Cola, Pepsi, 7UP, Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Cream Soda, Orange Crush and other tasty beverages. What's unique?

There are more regional and local varieties than one might think. For more widely available ones?

Sprechter's root beer, made with honey. Darned good. The honey adds to the creaminess.

Ginger beer, I usually go with Reed's (medium), mostly for a mixer, but occasionally just as a drink.

For fruit, I find that ingredients lists with juice and cane sugar usually means it will be ok to better than ok.

Other than mixed drinks (a couple times a month), I rarely have sugared soda. So maybe 4 times a year? When I do, I want it to be good.
 

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mhardy6647 said:
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cheerwine.com

Cheerwine Soft Drink – Uniquely Southern Since 1917

Cheerwine has a unique & fizzy wild cherry taste. Made in Salisbury, North Carolina for over a century–this soft drink is an icon of Southern food and culture.
cheerwine.com
not wine (not even close) -- it's a soft drink. It's actually very Dr. Pepper-esque, but it's a thing down south, and we always have some when we're visiting friends and relatives in NC or SC.

Our daughter-in-law hails from the environs of Detroit. She's quite enamored of this:

View attachment 428506

Vernor's Ginger Ale | Detroit Historical Society

One of the nation’s oldest soft drinks, Vernor’s Ginger Ale was first served to the public in 1866. The drink was created by Detroiter James Vernor, a well-respected pharmacist with a reputation for meticulous care with his prescriptions.James Vernor began his career as an errand boy at Higby &...
detroithistorical.org detroithistorical.org
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Vernors was my favorite as a kid, but I can't find it very often now. And Cheerwine I used to get while driving thru the Carolinas on jobs in the area.
 
mhardy6647 said:
Our daughter-in-law hails from the environs of Detroit. She's quite enamored of this:
Click to expand...
People do love Vernor's. This reminds me to find some before we visit the inlaws again, since they can't get it where they live.
 
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lemon drink
 
I mostly drink water, but when I want a sugary tasting drink of various flavours, I drink Zevia.

My favourites are:

image.pngimage.pngimage.png

Zevia.jpg
 
I make my own ginger ale from fresh ginger, and make the fizzie with a SodaStream.

Sometimes I make variations using blackberry syrup, or elderflower, or bergamot. You can buy these, but ginger loses its bite in a couple of weeks, and adding citric acid is not the same.

Sometimes I add vodka.
 
Having spent most of my career working in software development it will come as no surprise that I am a fan of Mountain Dew, diet in my case. I found out quite a while ago that Krogers Diet Citrus Drop taste the same to me, so that's what I buy for home consumption. I also like their Grapefruit Citrus soda.
 
Pelligrino, in addition to their soda water, makes a variety of fruit sodas. What sets them apart from the rest is that they have a much higher than average amount of fruit juice. Right now, I'm drinking the Blood Orange flavor - 10% orange juice, 5% Blood Orange juice. My favorite flavors are the Lemon and the Orange/Pomegranate. Haven't tried the grapefruit. The lemon flavor is singularly intense:

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pjug said:
Speaking for myself and my own beverage habits, I am sure the beer drinking is a much bigger issue.
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When I stopped drinking beer, I dropped 25 lbs.
 
I’m weird (so I’m told) as I only drink tap water, not had a fizzy drink for at least 20years as I stopped all consumption of sugar back in early 2000’s, the only sugars I consume come from fruit/natural sources of food and I’m double’y weird as I don’t buy/consume mass prepared foods either.
 
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This is a Malaysian classic, "Air Mata Kucing" ("Cats Eye Drink"). Don't worry, there is no cats eye in it. You make it with dried longans and monkfruit. Some variations have winter melon in it.

The dried monkfruit is the real star, it gives this drink an indescribable fragance. It is a tiny bit bitter and has a hint of cough syrup - it tastes a bit medicinal. I always add winter melon when I make it. The winter melon has no flavour of its own, but it adds a nice texture. Recipe here. The ingredients should be available in an Asian grocery store. BTW I disagree with that recipe, I add the winter melon at the end of boiling to preserve the texture and I use 1/2 as much sugar as they recommend. But the rest of it sounds OK.

I am glad to see that Bundaberg ginger beer made it to this list.
 
Keith_W said:
View attachment 428644

This is a Malaysian classic, "Air Mata Kucing" ("Cats Eye Drink"). Don't worry, there is no cats eye in it. You make it with dried longans and monkfruit. Some variations have winter melon in it.

The dried monkfruit is the real star, it gives this drink an indescribable fragance. It is a tiny bit bitter and has a hint of cough syrup - it tastes a bit medicinal. I always add winter melon when I make it. The winter melon has no flavour of its own, but it adds a nice texture. Recipe here. The ingredients should be available in an Asian grocery store. BTW I disagree with that recipe, I add the winter melon at the end of boiling to preserve the texture and I use 1/2 as much sugar as they recommend. But the rest of it sounds OK.

I am glad to see that Bundaberg ginger beer made it to this list.
Click to expand...
You win the award for the best suggestion so far. LoL... :D
 
I have another suggestion - home-made Chinotto.

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The traditional way to do it is to cut up a selection of citrus and roast it together with cinnamon, coriander seeds, and rosemary until blackened. The blackening caramelizes the sugars and gives the bitter taste. Then pack it into a jar, add a syrup you made with 1:1 sugar and water, and infuse for a month. Strain the liquid out and use it like a cordial. The Italians add it to carbonated water.

My variation is to save the peels of whatever citrus I eat. Leave it to dry on a tray, and when you have collected enough - roast it. It should roast much faster than fresh citrus. Then leave it to infuse. This is a mixture between Italian and Chinese methods and it is great for reducing food waste. There is plenty of flavour in those citrus skins and it is a shame to throw it out.

FYI, Chinese people dry citrus skins and use it in drinks, desserts, and some stews or braises. It is really intense so not much is required. You would be really surprised how much 1/4 of a dried mandarin peel can add.

I don't like drinking any of those commercially available sodas. I make my own. It is so much better - less sugar, more flavour.

(Edit) forgot to include the link. I stole the image from this recipe.

Also, you can consider making your own Limoncello. It is really easy - lemon, sugar, and vodka.

For Christmas I sometimes make a cherry infused vodka. Also really easy - cherries, sugar, and vodka. You get two products - vodka infused cherries, and cherry infused vodka. Both are amazing.
 
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