Some Sodas

Just wanted to mention a few sodas that have been on my mind recently.

I'm not sure exactly what the deal is with Bundaberg, but it seems that they have a sarsaparilla made for Australian consumption as well as a root beer made for export. I haven't tasted the two side by side, but I'm pretty sure that they are quite distinct from one another. I have been told by many Australians how sweet everything non-Australian seems to them, and this lines up with my impression that the root beer was sweeter than the sarsaparilla. I also feel like the licorice and vanilla were more noticeable in the root beer than they were in the sarsaparilla, creating a really nice balance of flavors. Unfortunately, I failed to take the opportunity to taste the Aussie-market sarsaparilla side-by-side with the export root beer, and now I don't know how I'll be able to arrange it...

Anyway, assuming my impressions were accurate, neither of the two is a really great sarsaparilla - too much other stuff going on. The sarsaparilla is a pretty good beverage, though, and the root beer ranks right up there amongst my very favorite root beers. Not quite Virgil's, maybe, but I bet it'd make a damn good float.

The other soda I want to talk about is Cricket Cola. Twice now I've been stuck in Chicago Midway long enough to eat, twice I've decided that Potbelly's was probably my best bet, and twice I've gotten a Cricket Cola to wash down my roast beef sandwich. It really is a pretty hefty silver lining to being stuck in an airport. It's made with kola nut, sugar, and green tea, and while I don't necessarily agree with their neo-snake-oil "it's good for you" philosophy, it's a top notch beverage.

For those in Dallas, all of the beverages I mentioned in this post seem to be available at The Soda Gallery, which rose from the ashes of Ifs, Ands, and Buts. It seems like they should be available somewhere in New York, but until I track them down, I'll just have to go back to egg creams.