# What's your favorite Soda Pop?



## mudbug (Dec 30, 1999)

Vernors?
Shasta?
Diet Coke?
Cream?

I know there's some opinions out there!

Mine is Dr. Pepper. Always has been always will be. LOL!



[ June 25, 2001: Message edited by: cchiu ]


----------



## mofo1 (Oct 15, 2000)

IBC Root Beer. If there is better root beer on the planet, I ain't found it. I also like vernors and most kinds of creme soda.


----------



## mezzaluna (Aug 29, 2000)

A & W Draft Root Beer is my current favorite. But I truly love sirop de cassis mixed in plain soda when I'm in Europe.


----------



## momoreg (Mar 4, 2000)

Spicy ginger ale!


----------



## nancya (Apr 30, 2001)

Vernor's Ginger Ale - tho' I don't think it is as good as it used to be. I can only get Vernor's once in a while, so I'll vote for Fresca!


----------



## coolj (Dec 12, 2000)

My favorite is gingerale, but I also like A&W rootbeer and all the pepsi products. 

Here's a recipe for homemade gingerale :

2 cups water 
2 cups sugar
2 cups sliced ginger

bring to a boil, turn heat down to a simmer and reduce to a syrupy consitsency. strain.

mix 1 oz syrup to 7 oz soda water and garnish with a lime wedge.

then with the ginger pieces that you strained out of the syrup, you can dust them with sugar and place in a 225 F oven (can't remember how long, think it's like 2-3 hours) and then you'll also wind up with ginger candy.


----------



## marzoli (Nov 17, 2000)

Diet Rite--NO aspartame! among other things!


----------



## kimmie (Mar 13, 2001)

A Coke "Classique" for me please.


----------



## pete (Oct 7, 2001)

Green River-they actually now bottle it

Sprecher's Root Beer-Hands down, the BEST!!!!

Vernor's-the old recipe. I agree, the stuff now tastes different.

Nehi Grape Soda

and finally, Cream Soda


----------



## linda smith (Mar 30, 2001)

Soda...with scotch.


----------



## bevreview steve (Jan 11, 2000)

"Soda Pop" - what's that? I know what pop is, but soda pop?


----------



## kimmie (Mar 13, 2001)

It's just another expression for soft drink, Chiliboy!

So, what's your favorite?


----------



## kimmie (Mar 13, 2001)

Make your own Cola

It's the real thing. Well, almost.

Simple syrup: 1 cup sugar + 1 cup water

1/2 cup seltzer or club soda
2 tablespoons simple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon juice
pinch of cinnamon
baker's caramel (like Kitchen Bouquet) as required
ice cubes

Bring sugar and water to a boil, simmer, then cool. That is your simple syrup. In a glass tumbler, stir simple syrup, with vanilla, lemon juice, and cinnamon. Add club soda (carbonated spring water is fine too) then baker's caramel to produce the correct shade.

Blindfold someone and have fun.


----------



## jill reichow (Mar 12, 2001)

Old Dominion Rootbeer brewed locally in northern VA. Hands down the best. Also fresca, both the old formula and the new. Hey ChiliBoy, you can't be a midwest native if you don't drink pop!


----------



## papa (Oct 5, 2001)

Dear Friends:

Now that I think of it, I have not tasted a soda pop for at least twenty five years!

I love water with two slices of lemon and two ice cubes. I might go as far out sometimes as a Perrier.

I guess that If can not water my garden with it, I don't drink it!


----------



## jill reichow (Mar 12, 2001)

oh Papa, you make me feel guilty for not drinking more water! I prefer lime in my water instead of lemon, and I do like it chilled. My oldest son is a trumpet player and consumes vast quantities of water to keep his lips in shape...I need to learn from my young 'uns I guess.


----------



## holydiver (Aug 9, 2000)

I used to like squirt and mister pibb(like dr.pepper). I laughed at the pop thing I'm from out West when I moved East and said pop people looked at me like I was on crack lol.


----------



## thebighat (Feb 21, 2001)

Whatever carbonated caffeinated beverage I happen to be swilling at the moment is my favorite. Actually I just came home from Bread and Circus with a 4 pack of Reeds Extra Ginger Brew. I went there to buy malted barley to make Craig Ponsford's Beer Bread, but all they had was I guess regular barley. Anyone know what's the deal with malted barley. And has anyone mentioned Moxie?


----------



## momoreg (Mar 4, 2000)

Is that still made?


----------



## thebighat (Feb 21, 2001)

Yes, it is. but I don't know if it's marketed as far south as Norwalk.


----------



## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

My favourite carbonated drink is champagne.


----------



## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

Rooteer again and again


----------



## pooh (Mar 13, 2001)

Spruce beer, the artisan way.

Champagne, Sisi


----------



## mudbug (Dec 30, 1999)

For all of you who like lime and lemon in your sodas, consider trying this...

Slice your preference of fruit, lime, lemon, strawberries, cherries, *anything* you want, place 1 or 2 small pieces in each slot of an ice cube tray. Fill with water and freeze. The water becomes infused with the essence of what's in it and the cubes looks gorgeous when added to seltzer, club soda, water, anything you can see thru. And it tastes amazingly pleasant and refreshing.


----------



## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

Yes Pooh Champagne. It has bubbles...


----------



## mudbug (Dec 30, 1999)

Pooh, Iza went on a tangent. Here is the definition of soda pop:


----------



## dlee (Sep 22, 2000)

Fav. pop - I am with Papa, but for me saratoga lemon lime. Or when I am busy sprite with a lime twist, the sugar keeps me going. 

D.Lee


----------



## greg (Dec 8, 1999)

Pete is right-Sprecher's Root Beer! Mofo, Nicko and Luv2bake, you've got to try it; you'll never look back! (they make a darn good hefe weizen, too)


----------



## mudbug (Dec 30, 1999)

Have to check that one out Greg. For all you ginger ale lovers out there... besides those of you who make your own ... have any of you ever tried the Mexican or Jamacian versions? 

They are MUCH more spicy and extremely gingery. I've drink Vernors as well and it definitely tastes "American" in terms of sugar and strength. I would highly recommend you seek out other versions of ginger ale usually found at ethnic groceries and health food stores.


----------



## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

Oh well what can I say Cchiu


----------



## mudbug (Dec 30, 1999)

No problem Iza, what's your favorite Champagne?


----------



## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

Usually it's rootbeer. Pepsi in second place.

However, as I recall, I really liked the Coca Cola served at Disneyland and in Europe. It seemed to "bite" more; it tasted "crisper" like back in the early 60's. Long about '69 or '70, coke's taste seemed to weaken, resembling barely carbonated brown water.

I understand that businesses can purchase customized formulations of Coca Cola. Correct me if I'm wrong, here. 

[ June 29, 2001: Message edited by: kokopuffs ]


----------



## seattledeb (Nov 5, 2000)

Bar none...anything from Thomas Kemper.

Root Beer, Cream Soda, Orange Cream Soda (tastes like a creamsicle), Black Cherry Soda.

When I want a calorie soda pop splurge...I have one of these sodas.

We had a houseful of guests last week and hubby brought home some real different ones. Can't remember the maker but they were green apple, and blue bubblegum. The kids loved them.

http://www.thomaskempersoda.com/


----------



## thebighat (Feb 21, 2001)

Ever try making your own soda? What a drill. I've made root beer, Dragongas the label called it, and haven't had a lot of luck. Last year I tried again, and thinking that if some yeast was good, more was better, I put in a leeetle toooo much. 15 out of 16 bottles exploded. I tried drinking the last one, but it was really not wonderful. I may try some of the posts with the flavored syrup.


----------



## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

If I have to name only one it will be Perrier-Jouet.


----------



## mezzaluna (Aug 29, 2000)

Sprecher: a Milwaukee product, both the beer and the sodas (they make several flavors, including orange). I do like it as well, but A&W is cheaper. I also found that the French despise root beer; I'm told it tastes like a medicine of some type. At home I drink our filtered water mostly- we have a reverse osmosis system. The water tastes truly sweet and is very refreshing. We use it to make ice as well. In restaurants I drink sparkling water or club soda with several wedges of lime.


----------



## momoreg (Mar 4, 2000)

15 bottles exploded, Thebighat?

That sounds messy  !

Did the bottles shatter, or did the tops fly off?


----------



## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

BigHat:

It's not the extra yeast that caused the explosion; it's additional sugar that was fermented into extra carbon dioxide. Increased pressure from the latter caused the explosion.

Making carbonated beverages is not something to be taken lightly, especially where pressure is concerned. Next time you undertake making pressurized beverages, get:

1) a specific gravity tester for determining initial and final sugar content;

2) the appropriate chemicals or devices for testing residual (unfermented) sugar.

That stuff can be procured at beer/winemaking supply shops.

[ July 02, 2001: Message edited by: kokopuffs ]


----------



## thebighat (Feb 21, 2001)

That gets way too technical for me. The bottles actually detonated into shards. I was in a beermaking supply store the other day and they had all kinds of syrups to make soda.


----------



## thebighat (Feb 21, 2001)

Oh yeah...the guy in the store said that when fermentation reaches it's peak, you have to refrigerate the stuff or it will blow up.


----------



## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

BigHat:

You're treading thin ice when it comes to homemade carbonation. Fermentation in the fridge only slows the process and reduces pressure a minor amount. I approached my first batch of sparkling cider as you did. I was aware that final pressure would reach about 10 atmospheres (7 is usually max). The bottle exploded two hours after closely examining it without wearing eye protection. And if you know how thick a champagne bottle is...

The next batch I wanted the final pressure at 7 atmospheres. 0.4 % of sugar by weight (4 grams of sugar per 1000 grams of liquid) raises the pressure by 1 atm. Using, for simplicity's sake, 1 liter champagne bottles, I added 28 g sugar to each 1 liter bottle to achieve 7 atm of pressure.

A triple beam balance was used to measure the sugar. Results were satisfying and without any exploded bottles. My intact eyeballs are, indeed, a testimony to following procedure carefully.

As I say, pressurization is not to be taken haphazardly. I mean it.


----------



## leo_ora (Jan 7, 2005)

Back in the 60's in Washington state, we used to get what I thought was a carbonated apple beverage in a green and black colored can. I was to little to recall the name. Anybody know?


----------



## leo_ora (Jan 7, 2005)

When we made home beer in high school (come on it was the 70's) we put ballons over the tops of the bottles instead of the lids so the gases could expand no problems. Learned all this from my freind Craig's dad the town Pharmicist! He didn't know us teenages were using his system. I swear...


----------



## deltadoc (Aug 15, 2004)

Wow! What a thread!!

I remember in the '50's my dad holding up a glass bottle of Coca-Cola and impressively informing me that you could buy a bottle of this anywhere in the world, and it would always taste exactly the same. In those days I loved Coca-Cola. Sometimes we'd drink Pepsi, and it was pretty good, but nothing could beat the flavor of Coca-Cola. About that time Shasta came along with their "cheap" pops, and their cola flavor was despicable.

As time went on, Coke started not tasting the same as it did. I sometimes suspicion that "New Coke" was brought out just to deplete any supplies of "real" Coke, so that when "New Coke" went bust, they could introduce "real" Coke again which really was not the same anymore. Drinking Coke after eating certain foods used to taste a certain way drinking it after eating, but no longer had the same after taste. I suspect they used some sort of herbal flavoring rather than the expensive extract from coca leaves. I still laugh these days when I see "Original Formula" on a Coke can, since the first coke was sold in a syrupy form (that people discovered tasted pretty good if they mixed in seltzer water with it) and originally contained caffeine, cocaine and codeine (the codeine being there to take the "edge" off the cocaine part).

The story I heard was that cocaine leaves were imported by the Federal Government, were reduced down to a baser molecule called ecgonine to be then syntesized back into pharmaceutical cocaine. The Coca-cola company was then allowed to have the coca leaves from which they extracted the flavor to mix with flavor from cola nuts. Naturally, there are many variants of the cocaine molecule in the coca leaves, such as cinnamyl cocaine, isopropyl cocaine (i think it was) and others. By reducing them all to ecgonine, the base molecule, it could then be synthesized into pure Cocaine (either the hydrochloride used in Europe, or the sulphate used in America).

So these days, I think Pepsi totally sucks, as does Coca Cola. They both have little if any resemblance to what I distinctly remember back in the '50's. Actually, they now remind me of what Shasta cola used to taste like in the '50's or early '60's.

With that said, we have tried carbonizing Kool aid a few times using a CO2 cartridge in one of those seltzer bottles (which also could be used with N20 for whipping cream). Back in the '60's, we sometimes discharged the N20 cartridge into an empty seltzer bottle, and then sucked out the contents through the seltzer bottle nozzle! 

Anyway, the only pop I drink now is Virgil's micro brewed Root Beer. Hard to find, comes in 4-packs and is very expensive but is made with real sugar instead of corn syrup and tastes absolutely refreshing.

doc


----------



## gonefishin (Nov 6, 2004)

interesting thread 


My favorite day to day soda is Dr. Pepper. My favorite rootbeer is Goose Island RootBeer.

dan


----------



## thetincook (Jun 14, 2002)

I like to mx 1/2 Coke or RC Cola to 1/2 Cranberry juice.


----------



## headless chicken (Apr 28, 2003)

I like sprite as pop goes but I'm more of a fruit juice person...Fruitopia all the way.


----------

