Exploring the World One Drink at a Time since 2005
Moxie is the official state drink of Maine and is said to be a somewhat acquired taste. Still, for most modern bartenders and cocktail enthusiasts the bitterness of the drink is pleasant and makes for a more interesting soda. If you like Negroni’s, amari, shots of Fernet or dashing cocktail bitters into your drinks, you’ll like Moxie. Moxie was originally […]
Every year as winter cedes into the past, the maple tree sap starts to run. A time-honoured tradition in the north is to tap a spile into these maples and siphon off a few buckets of sap, then boil it down into a syrupy brown liquid and drizzle it on everything. That is the taste of spring. Since I’m in […]
As ice cream became the mainstay of the soda fountain, malt milkshakes became so popular that they started to change the name of the establishments to Malt Shops.
The milkshake was a simple drink, but unique and there are a few drinks that resemble it today.
Cream soda has a long history and was the soda fountain drink that influenced the ice cream float and the milkshake.
When flavoured soda water became a thing, lemon was the preferred choice. In fact, it was the most popular flavour for 30 years. Modern variations of this classic flavour include Sprite and 7-Up.
These old newspaper articles about soda fountain provide a glimpse into the period and city they were written. This article comes from the Rocky Mountain News in Denver circa 1886. Reporters would just report on the happening of the local soda fountain and the new drinks being served. Cocaine, again, makes an entrance to a new city via the soda fountain, […]
This is a great article from the June 7th, 1885 Atlanta Constitution detailed the state of affairs at the local soda fountains. The reporter interviews a local soda proprietor and gets all the goods. One of the great things about this article is that it mentions Coca-Cola for the first time, though the reporter spells it “coco cola”. If you […]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6cs6at18QQ The most popular drink in the world was once made using Acid Phosphate. Today, Coca-Cola no longer uses this unique ingredient, instead, they have simplified their formulation by using phosphoric acid, which still makes it a phosphated soda, but not the classic version. The “phosphate drink” was the most popular drink at soda fountains for over 70 years, but […]
Though not known as a classic, this drink has been around for almost 120 years.
Naturally carbonated waters, from volcanic springs, were well known throughout history and prized for their unique properties. The effervescing nature of the water was an attractive quality and was thought to be a natural tonic. The problem was that capturing and transporting these mineral waters was costly. Only a few places stocked mineral waters, with pharmacies being the most common. […]
A few years ago I wrote a piece on the Secret of Cola and the ingredients used to make cola flavoured beverages. Obviously, Coca-Cola is the king, but Pepsi isn’t doing too bad. The fact is cola flavoured products are tremendously popular, but very few people know what makes that flavour so unique. I’m not going to rehash that part; […]