Pop/Soda Connoisseurs? [General]

2012 May 1
Hey Folks,

Any carbonated beverage fanatics out there? On most occasions I will choose a nice heavily carbonated pop over almost any other beverage, beer included.

My favourites are: Root Beer (in order of my favourite- Stewart’s, IBC, Barques). Dad’s, Mug and A&W are bottom tier root beers imo.
Dr. Pepper
Cream Soda
Black Cherry Cola

I recently had a wonderful Sarsaparilla at a Saloon in Arizona!

Any recommendations on Micro/artisan pops?

For my money, the best pop company -hands down - is Stewarts. Their root beer and black cherry pop are perfect.

I am also a huge fan of a few flavours made by Jones Cola (their cream soda is fantastic), but that blue bubble gum stuff is poison.

I usually make a twice a year trip to Ogdensburg to stock up on about 100$ worth of American pop (ei: sunkist, dr. pepper cherry, vanilla coke, A&W cream soda, IBC rootbeer, Squirt etc.), but my HFCS supply has unfortunately run out.

I guess my question is: do any of you fine people know where one can pick up a case (12+) of stewarts, jones, IBC (or something similar), at a reasonable price?

Also, please share any artisan pops you may know about, and where we can find them.

I'm not a fan of the Pop Shoppe brand, as they are overly syrupy and on the flat side, but any other weird carbonated beverage is up my alley.

Cheers!

2012 May 1
I miss Wink. That was my favorite.

2012 May 1
Stewart's and Dad's get my votes. Art-is-in has some French soft drinks, these clear slender bottles, I forget the name. Lemonade and pink lemonade, and maybe 1-2 other flavours. I thought they were decent (better with my pulled pork than a coffee).

I remember as kids in Mtl, my dad would buy cases of Pop Shoppe goodies. When we'd go to restaurants, my big brother would always have Teem on fountain, he swore it was better than 7-up or Sprite. I had Fanta, and then it disappeared and I didn't see it again till my trip to Greece in '90, albeit in bottles. Anybody like that Brio Chinotto, I never cared for it.

Occasionally Pepsi trots out old style product with real sugar, ie. non-HFCS, complete with the retro logo. Not as good as I remembered it. Perhaps the taste takes reacquiring.

2012 May 1
Every time I come back from Detroit I bring back a case of Vernor's ginger ale. I love the spice in it. Also from Detroit is a local pop called Faygo and my favorite flavors are Rock n' Rye and Redpop.

I agree that Stewart's is good, and I love that A&W is serving their root beer in glass mugs again. Often when travelling in the states I'll pass a diner or ice cream shop that advertises house made root beer and I always stop and have never been disappointed.

When I was a kid I used to like Nehi grape soda, but haven't seen it in so long I'm not sure if they even make it any more.

2012 May 1
Refashionista, Wink was awesome!

I think the US soft drink "squirt" is pretty close to wink. It was developed in Arizona, but can be found all over the US. I would say it is like fresca but with sugar instead of artificial sweetener.

A note on where to buy good pop The Hasty Market on Metcalf and glauster sells the full line of Stewarts. Zesty on Bank and Elgin as well as Sugar mountain sell the in-house pop Shoppe brand. Boushy's on Elgin and Cosmomart on Lees carries a few flavors of Jones.

As for Feygo, these can certainly be found in Ottawa. Boushey's on Elgin carries them. Didn't the insane clown posse promote faygo? I'm personally not a big fan, I find them a bit on the sweet side, and not even close to carbonated enough. But, they can be found here.

Oh, 700ml, Dr. Pepper Cherry can be found at shoppers drug marts all over town.

The bulk barn also carries a nice selection of pops. They have the full selection of Stewarts (@ 1.69 a bottle, not bad), "real brew" (which is a horrible, hippy/healthy root beer, yukk), and the overly sweet Blue Sky Soda company - which also claim to make "healthy pop" using cane sugar. But yuk, medicinal flavors that are way to sweet. And this is coming from a guy who loves his root beers and herbal teas, which can arguably be described as having a medicinal taste.

Hey anybody out there ever try Moxie? It's kind of like a root beer, or birch beer, but it's definitely distinct and different, more on the medicinal side. Its flavor is a derivative of a root (not sassafras), but something similar.

I ‘can’ drink it, but I do not enjoy it very much. Apparently you either love it or it makes you gag. I must be an anomaly since, I’m neutral on Moxie. I have definitely never seen it Canada, it’s more of an eastern US seaboard, grandma pop.

Any tips on where to buy these goodies by the case? Stewarts and/or Jones specifically?

2012 May 1
Giant Tiger almost always has Stewarts and Dads for $1/bottle. I don't know if that's a good price or not. My favorite cola is RC. ;)

2012 May 1
Jones soda is available in cases at Loblaws and Walmart... at least I've seen them there before. But I think it's only the assorted pack, some flavours you may not care for.

2012 May 1
Giant Tiger is the cheapest place I've seen Stewart's.

I miss Sussex ginger ale and Wink.

2012 May 1
I've seen assorted cases of Jones soda at IGA or Metro too on the Gatineau side.

My favorite "weird sodas" are raspberry ginger ale and Golden Cockerel ginger beer...easy to find in Montreal, but not here. Anyone has seen those in the Ottawa/Gatineau area? Now I want some ;-p

2012 May 1
Rasberry Ginger Ale pops up (hehe) in Ottawa all the time. I couldn't tell you exactally where to find it, but I have seen it and I enjoyed a can last week.


2012 May 1
Rainbow Foods (beside the Farm Boy @ Britannia) has a large selection of unique pop.

I pick up Wild Cherry Diet Pepsi, Cherry Coke Zero and Dr. Pepper Ten when I'm in the US, because it's not sold here. I'm also a fan of Pineapple Crush which is only sold in the east coast provinces.

Apparently Diet Barq's rootbeer exists, but I haven't seen it anywhere. A&W's Diet Rootbeer is decent.

2012 May 1
Whenever I see Lime Crush I buy it. SO Good!

Anyone from Cape Breton know of Iron Brew or Cape Breton Bru? What happened to that stuff!!!?

2012 May 1
this root beer, from NIckel Brook brewery is pretty tasty...

www.nickelbrook.com
it is not for the faint of root beer hearts....it's packed w/ flavour.
i know D & S BBQ carry it, as well as The Wellington Gastropub.
Not sure what retail places have it...

2012 May 1
You can find Iron Brew in most super markets, next to the caribbian pops, made by Grace and Mr. Goodas and Chubby

2012 May 1
Radar O'Reilly was the only person I know who drank grape nehi.

2012 May 1
Does anyone remember Razcal? Was in a silver can with a bunny and cabbage leaves on the label, IIRC. Was a crazy shade of pink.. I loved that stuff. Haven't seen it in over 25 years!

2012 May 1
Wow, have never heard of that!

This is more of a younger generation thing, but does anybody remember back in the nineties, they had those mini cans of pop branded as Super Mario Bros. Characters?

Yoshi was Apple, Peach was Pink Drink, Mario was Cola, Luigi was lemon lime, the Goomba was rootbeer I think, I could be mixing up the flavors, but I have very fond memories of convincing my mom to include this crap in my lunch. Yeah, I convinced her a total of one singular time and it was on a feild trip day, so she didn't care.

Pretty sure the pic I found is a modern re-issue, cause those cans look awfully current, and I remember there being different flavours.

Also, anybody remember orbitz? This unholy (non-carbonated) drink had little balls floating around in it. As a kid, it used to float my boat.

2012 May 1
soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo nineties!

2012 May 1
Also a huuge fan of the now discontinued, Sprite remix. I remember buying it from the cafeteria in high school.

Any body remember, Vault? Highly caffeinated coke product that was the same price as a normal pop? Tasted like Mountain Dew-ish. It is what fuelled my undergrad.

2012 May 1
I had a hard time with Orbitz as a kid, just couldn't drink it!
Is Tahiti Treat (produced by Canada Dry, I think?) or Clearly Canadian still around?

2012 May 1
was it RC cola that used to have parts of a bicycle under their bottle caps and i could never figure out why i always had a whole bike except one piece like the seat or front wheel...perhaps the missing part was in another part of the country and they needed the parts I had? No, RC wouldn't do that, would they? ;-0

why does and did pop always taste better when we were younger? And in glass bottles??

2012 May 1
Never tried Vault, but did try Jolt once. It was pretty nasty, and jacked up with caffeine.

2012 May 1
I remember loving Tahiti Treat as a child. I think that it is no longer available in Canada as I haven't seen it in years. I'd love to retry it just out of curiosity.

2012 May 2
Jolt cola, "all the sugar and twice the caffeine" LOL. I've gotta try some of that pineapple crush.

2012 May 2
Being from Out East, I grew up on locally bottled Iron Brew from Havelock Bottling and Sussex Golden Gingerale from Sussex, NB.

Sussex is now bottled in TO and only sold in the merry-times.

Just had a bottle with a bag or roast chicken chips on my way to Halifax last week.


2012 May 4
Found these two doozies at Di Rienzo Foods on Meadowlands.

Henry Weinhard's Black Cherry Cream, and Vanilla Cream.

Like drinking candy :)

2012 May 4
I have seen some interesting soda pop at Herb and Spice on Wellington--it is sort of on the ground under the organic fruit, so a little hard to spot. I haven't paid attention to what they carry, but I remember taking note to look there if I needed something interesting.

I really like the San Pellegrino sodas, including the limonata, aranciatta rossa, and chinotto, as well as Organina. They are not overly sweet and have a genuinely fruity taste.

Anyone into making their own soft drinks? I have dithered about getting a carbonation thingy...

2012 May 5
mark_ottawa We're going out to buy a SodaStream today! It remains to be seen if we'll make soft drinks or just delicious fizzy water, but we'll probably try.

2012 May 5
Momomoto, let us know if it proves to be a good purchase. I mainly want to use it to carbonate cocktails (yeah, a little trite, I know) but still curious if it is something I will really use.

2012 May 5
With one of these attachments for a regular soda bottle and a CO2 tank intended for homebrew you will have a far more versatile and in the end inexpensive setup than a soda stream.



2012 May 5
Ooh, that's neat! And why limit it to normal 2L bottles? Carbonate in everything!

Thanks for the link. I think I may have to stick with the smaller, counter-top units, though, since I don't think we have room in the kitchen to hide a CO2 tank.

2012 May 5
I think Defalco's is going to start carrying them so you can ask there. A 5lb CO2 tank and all the fittings can be bought for about $100 if you are lucky on kijiji ($200 if not) and it is relatively small.

2012 May 5
Hey ilikerealfood, they sell virgil's rootbeer and cream soda at the merivale mall farmboy.

Stella, I've seen the barq's diet rootbeer in 12 packs at the independent grocery store in riverside south and at the metro on merivale rd, so it's probably available in more locations.

2012 May 6
OK so we were stateside this weekend and fell in love with Cherry Coke Zero. Especially with a shot or two of Bourbon. Kind of like soda that tastes like a Manhattan.

2012 May 6
Oh god, I so miss Orbitz. I used to buy cases at Costco (or was it still Price Club back then?). One of them tasted like liquid lollipops, so obscenely sweet yet awesome.

My other fetish is Jolt Cola. It's a weird nostalgia thing for me. Just after college, I decided to clean up; no booze for a year-ish. So at parties I'd be gulping Jolt all night long, then driving the lushes home (or to the poutine shack). Sadly, the company went under a few years ago and I'm not sure if their debtors actually went ahead with the relaunch. I haven't seen it in Ottawa in 2-3 years at least.

2012 May 6
Great thread. I love Cherry Coke Zero, wish we had it in Ottawa. Green Rebel carries Dry Soda, drysoda.com . It's a Seattle-based brand that makes some very tasty, less sweet, subtle-flavored soda. Seems to be marketed as 'health' food, but honestly, the flavors are wonderful. Not a traditional soda, but a nice riff. Cucumber is my favorite.

2012 May 7
has anyone heard of this this? www.newswire.ca

2012 May 7
Awesome! I've been hoping this would come to Canada since I saw these:
drinks.seriouseats.com
drinks.seriouseats.com

I'm looking forward to it despite my general ambivalence towards pop...

2012 May 7
PB and A,

That is some amazingness if I ever saw it. I remember when I was about 10 I went to the coca cola factory in Atlanta and they have this huge room where they have all the coke products from all around the world. They had something like 300 fountains of pop, a ten years olds heavan.

of particular mention was the Lichee Fanta. Yes please :)

So, maybe I glanced over it, but is that machine a consumer product or for restaurants? I would totally consider buying that for when I move into my Condo next year. Imagine that, Rob to guest: "what would you like to drink?, Guest: "What do you have", Rob: "Everything". Hospitality done right :)

Beleive it or not that is almost a direct quote. I played a jazz gig in Stratford On. in highschool, at some huge rib fest. The organizer brought us home to try his secret, signature rib recipe (which was amazing), but he asked me what I wanted to drink, and he litterally had everything. He had a full size fridge, with every single shelf pakced with every imaginable flavour of pop.

This guy was like 400 pounds and his nickname (and the name of his BBQ company) was the BBQ Guy. Nuff Said..


2012 May 8

Can anyone tell me where in Ottawa I can find Cotts soft drinks (in particular the Cotts black cherry soda).

I can by 12-packs of Cotts black cherry at Nate's Deli , but it would be more practical (and probably cheaper!) if one of the groceries or other stores in Ottawa regularly stocked it.

2012 May 8
Yeah, I was going to say Nate's. When I ate there recently, they charged me 2.95 for a regular sized can of the stuff. It's really good, but 2.95?

The Giant Tiger in Hull on eddy, carries cott products. I used to buy their 2L cola because it was very similar in flavor to Pepsi (even though I'm a coke man), but I liked it better. It did not have the narsty knockoff 'cola' taste to it. I think it was a buck a bottle.

You can also find SPRUCE BEER! Yeah, you read correctly, SPRUCE BEER, made by cotts. The stuff tastes like a pine tree (or wait, maybe a spruce tree - lol). Not my thing. All the usual offenders are there as well (orange, lemon lime etc). {RC Cola too, but meh}. Sorry to say, I don't remember ever seeing the black cherry. It's worth a look though, cause they certainly carry Cott's.

Presidents Choice used to make a steller black cherry pop, but I havn't seen that in years.

Not nearly as cost effective, but wholly better (IMO), is Stewarts Black Cherry, which you can get at Giant Tiger (apperently - according to a post I saw above), Bulk Barn, certain hasty markets, etc.

Hope that helps


2012 May 8
The Hintonburg GT Express carries Cott products. I always enjoyed the PC pink grapefruit pop, but the past few years have only seen the diet version. :p

2012 May 9
President's Choice Black Cherry Soda may taste quite like Cott's Black Cherry.

To see why go here:

goo.gl/9HAjd


2012 May 9
WHERE DID YOU FIND THAT!... They rebranded it. I thought they no longer made it. I'm making a B-line for Loblaws as soon as I finish work... that is if you can tell me which one.

Where have they been hiding all these years?

2012 May 9
Anybody remember the President's Choice chocolate cherry soda they had, I dunno, 25 years back? It was sublime. Dessert in a glass, and the best thing to use for ice cream floats.

2012 May 9

CaptainCaper if that is recently sighted (aka the PC Black Cherry is available again) I am branding you my new hero!!!

2012 May 9
For root beer when we were kids at the beach in the States, it was always Hires. Don't think they had it in Canada. I remember drinking root beer for the first time in front of my parents and wondering why they let me, after all it was 'beer'.

2012 May 9
Bacon. I remember Hires as far back as 1967.

In fact it was the first, and only, Home Made Pop my brother and I made.

Basically add sugar, water, yeast and Hires extract. Then bottle. The fermenting sugar would carbonate the beverage and the fermentation would stop when there was too much CO2 pressure for the yeast to keep reproducing.

Yeasty tasting ... but dirt cheap to make (especially if mom bought the sugar, that is). I think the extract was 75 cents , if I can remember correctly.

Here is some interesting stuff on Hires history.

en.wikipedia.org

and ...

"One of the major ingredients of root beer was sassafras oil ..."

Wow !! Sassafras oil is a precursor for MDMA ... the street drug ... ECSTACY !


2012 May 9
I used to make those Hires kits too Captain Caper, and sell it!

2012 May 9
Wow, that hires kit looks like a lot of fun.

I have had Hires in Canada before, but totally forgot about it. It's been years. Wiki says Hires was replaced by Mug (yuk), in the 90s.

Lame...

2012 May 10
Yep that kit brings back memories, I made quite a few bottles and remember that yeasty taste too. Sassafras oil comes from the root bark, hence root beer. Also known as Sarsaparilla.

2012 May 10
consumerist.com

Double 'U', Tee, EFF!!

2012 May 10
They have so many cool flavours,

rocketfizz.com

I'm going to make an order, I'll share with you beautiful people what ever I find :)

2012 May 10
www.sodapopstop.com

For you Jolt lovers out there.. check this out, it can still be found.. in bottle form no less :)

Wonder if it is just surplus from a few years ago.

2012 May 11
That's awesome, Captain Caper. We never made it ourselves, just the conventional ready-made cans or bottles off the shelf. Cool DIY suds though, respect!

2012 May 11
Al Jazeera on Wellington has orange-flavoured Fanta (bottled in India ;)) in old school bottles right now -- I picked up a couple bottles this afternoon. :)

2012 May 14
Jackpot! at Grace International Foods on Bank.

$.79 grace sodas and $.33 chubby drinks.

I'm a happy camper

2012 May 14
When I was a dumb teenager I went to an IGA with a few friends and we noticed that those Chubby bottles would bounce off the floor. So we were all bouncing the bottles until one cracked. The funny thing is that the crack was tiny so all the pressure would come out really fast and it made the bottle spin, spraying the sugary liquid all over the aisle.

We actually offered to clean and pay for the bottle but the manager just asked us to leave!

2012 May 15
For all you Tahiti Treat lovers out there....

Grace International Soda: Fruit Punch, is pretty much Tahiti Treat. AS I was trying to figure out what it was like I couldn't help but think childrens tylonol, but then it hit me: TAHITI TREAT. Yuk but oh so yum.


2012 May 17
Virgil's Cream Soda for me thanks! But not their rootbeer. And if I can't get handmade rootbeer (or birch beer once), without caffeine added, then IBC is the cat's meow. Briefly, I found some in the 7-11 next to Lincoln Heights, and only that one, but that was.. 15 years ago? Most other rootbeers with HFCS doesn't taste right.

If I knew someone going to Ogdensburg, I'd pay to get a case of IBC. (no car of my own)

I need to investigate Cotts again. I really liked their orange soda, back in the days of a deliciously greasy (or greasily delicious) slice-and-pop special at Imperial Pizza next to Barrymore's. Buy one and a PC orange and compare in a blind taste test.

2012 May 17
The best pop is GUS - Grown Up Soda. It's available at Bulk Barn and Grace in the Kitchen.

I'm also a big fan of Jarritos which is now available at Sobeys.

2012 May 18
Looking for pineapple crush. Anyone know where to find it around here?

2012 May 19
Looking for something else, I happened upon this page:
store.defalcowines.com

Get extracts to brew your own ginger beer, root beer, spruce beer or cream soda.
Please keep the line orderly. No screaming. No cuts.

2012 May 19
Well smoker guy, I know where you might get some pineapple crush but unfortunately not around here. If you're ever heading to Toronto, just off the 401 look for the exit to Courtice ON, there's a flea market around there (like a 5-10 min drive off the highway) that sells it and the crush birchbeer. I bought all the cans last time I was there but that was about 2 years ago so not sure if the vendor is still there (they sold newfoundland products and also served food).

2012 May 19
I haven't seen anyone post T&T supermarket, they have lots of weird drinks there; my favorites are sarsi (black licorice), Hey Song (sarsaparilla) and the last of the Jones soda Christmas edition (they have 2 flavors left as of yesterday, they are ginger bread and candy cane $1 each).

2012 May 19
When I go to Price Chopper on Ogdensburg, I pick up Birch Beer made by Polar.

Polar makes some other hard to get flavours as well.

Here is the Soda lineup:

Birch Beer
Black Cherry
Cola
Cream Soda
Fruit Punch
Golden Ginger Ale
Grape
Orange
Orange Dry
Pineapple
Pomegranate Dry
Raspberry Lime
Root Beer
Sapphire Ginger Ale
Strawberry


2012 May 21
D&S Southern Comfort BBQ has babbling brooks rootbeer and cheerwine. Not sure if they can be bought without ordering something else but even on their own they are expensive ($3.50 each).

2012 May 21
You can buy them at D&S without buying anything else but they are expensive indeed. I got some cheerwine when I did the bbq judging course there in Feb. and I was underwhelmed, frankly. Too sweet.

2012 May 21
Ya, I didn't mind the taste of cheerwine but I was expecting it to be amazing the way my brother was going on about it. Speaking of american soft drinks, winners and homesense sometimes carry various stuff, so far I've seen zuberfizz (cola and rootbeer), thomas kemper (an 8 pack of 4 flavors), a 10 pack of five different types of rootbeer and jelly belly drinks (4 or 5 different flavors).

2012 May 27
Has anybody tasted the new Dr. Pepper "Ten"? I think it's an homage to Coke Zero. Ten calories, darker label. Didn't buy any because it was only available in large cases and I didn't want so much.

2012 May 28
I'm sad about the loss of regular no-caffeine Mountain Dew. Is it even still available? All I see now is the new stuff. This is a major soda bummer for me..

2012 May 28
Our canteen at work has started stocking Cherry Dr. Pepper. I don't think that adding cherry was necessary, but I tried it and it's quite nice. Sorry, I have no idea where you might find some, but it was in a black can. If that helps.

2012 May 28
Dr. Pepper Cherry can be found at all Shoppers Drug marts (at least the ones I frequent - Rideau centre, Bank and Laurier and World Exchange) in 500ish ml bottles.

I like it, but I find it is less carbonated then standard Dr. Pepper. I buy it for a change sometimes, but the original is still better for me.

2012 May 28
Last week while I was stocking up at the Desi Price Club on Merivale @ Slack, I came across this wonderful pop.

Pakola Cream Soda from Pakistan!!!!!!

This is virtually identical to Spar-Letta cream soda, which is a South African Coca-Cola product. Whenever my relatives come from SA, or I visit the South African store in Thornhill (Sedo Snax) I stock up on Spar-Letta.

Hoarding is no longer necessary now that Pakola is easily available.

It is unlike any other cream soda. a) it's green, but b)it has a wack, yet very delicious almost flower like flavour.

Very hard to explain.

Perhaps they are both (SA and Pak) similar because of colonial influence? Anybody had this kind of cream soda in the UK, that would be my only guess to link them together.

Check it out!!

2012 May 28
I haven't tried those, but I did try Irn Bru while in the UK and it was full of nastiness. It was fizzy and lumpy and slimey all at the same time; I have no idea how they achieved that. Well, it's nice to feel a little wondrous disbelief in this cynical world. Actually it reminded me a bit of Orbitz that was mentioned upthread in that it also had little balls of....slime?

2012 May 29
Marshmallows, but yeah... slimy for some :) I didn't mind them at all, they were so tiny and flavourless anyway, next to the hyper-saccharine fluid surrounding them :)

2012 May 29
Really? I didn't know they were marshmallows! I always thought (well, as a kid) that they were Nerd candies that had been soaked for too long.

2012 May 30
I was walking down Carling Ave yesterday and saw this store called southeast asian market (I think that's what it's called; located near Bayshore Dr) so I go in and see these drinks from Sri Lanka, the companies called Elephant House (here's their site ccs.lk/) anyways they had the cream soda, necto and ECB. The place also had this curry flavored drink which I had the misfortune of buying, it was so gross (tasted like curry that was liquified and then a sweetener was added to finish it off) I took 2 sips and then threw it out.

2012 May 30
Has anyone seen CC Lemon in Ottawa? It's awesome and is apparently available in some Japanese stores in Toronto (T&T had it over there a while back). I had quite a few of those over in Japan, thanks to the vending machines everywhere!


2012 May 30
I've only seen C.C. Lemon at T&T. You might try Greens Food on Rideau St, they specialize in Korean but they also have a few Japanese products. Your best bet would be to ask them if they can order it in.

2012 May 30
I didn't see it at T&T when I was there on Saturday. Then again, it was my first time at that store and I was a bit overwhelmed with all the stuff in there. I'll look again next time.

2012 May 30
Ya I should have mentioned that T&T only has C.C Lemon once in awhile.

2012 May 31
This is only a rumor but there's talk (from another food board that I go to) that Pepsi will be introducing cherry or wild cherry pepsi in the next few weeks at Costco.

2012 Jun 1
Probably old news around here but Dollar Giant/tree sells Shasta cola, ginger ale, 3 types of club soda (regular,lemon and lime), orange and one or two other flavors. All of them come in 2.5L bottles and the cola is also available in cans as a 4 pack.

2012 Jun 9
Got a case of virgils orange cream soda from the Foodland in Greely, ON. I've never seen it in Canada before. Hope it tastes good.

2012 Jun 29
Costco now sells wild cherry pepsi, it comes in a 32 pack.

2012 Jun 30
In Detroit last week I picked up Vernor's and an old fashioned six pack of Faygo redpop in glass bottles.

2012 Aug 10
Just back from vacationing in the Maritimes and I brought 6 cases of Sussex Golden Ginger Ale with me to spread around. I'm willing to part with 4 of them. That's 12 cans to a case, $10 each for the first 4 emails I get.

2012 Aug 10
Rizak ... your slogging Sussex Golden Ginger Ale ? What a waste of trunk space !

Where is the Alpine Lager ??? Give ya 50 bucks a two-four, for that !

(Never could find that alpine mountain in New Brunswick. The one that's so prominently displayed on the label.)

2012 Aug 10
People seemed genuinely interested, so I thought I'd bring some up. It helped to keep the back end on the road.

2012 Aug 10
I know ... I'm just 'rizzin' ya !

Besides , Not only is it illegal to bring booze across provincial lines, it is quite illegal to sell it ... That's called bootlegging !


2012 Aug 10
Shoulda brought Beep.

2012 Aug 11
Thankfully, we'll be ale to restock ourselves, shortly. I've only a couple cans left from the case I bought back in June, when in New Brunswick. Rum & Sussex = heaven.

2012 Aug 11
Coca-Cola.... Been drinking it at least every few days forever....

2012 Aug 13
Jarritos-Mexican soda, You can get it at La Colonia, I think. or at Corazon de Maiz

2012 Aug 14
Cherry Pepsi has popped up again. Yum!

Yum, found it at the Bell Deli in between Slater and Laurier.

Hungery Pete I love Jarritos, especially the tamarind flavor. You can also get it at Ahora and the Mid East Food Centre.

Tunnelb1 I drank lots of Virgils in Arizona. It's a fantastic cream soda. And it has no Sodium Benzoate in it. It's all natural and has cane suger. Awesome.


2012 Aug 14
Anybody ever try Cheerwine? Perhaps one of my favorite pops. Again, I found it down in Arizona at an 'aritsan' pop shoppe. It's from the east coast I beleive (Carolina)

Anybody know where I can find it in Ottawa? I know the Pop store in Witby has it, but thats way to far.

2012 Aug 14
Hey ilikerealfoo, you can find cheerwine at D&S Southern Comfort BBQ.

2012 Aug 15
Thanks Tunnel

That is a bit far for me (especially cause I don't have a car), but thanks for the tip. It's promising that its possible to find here. Think they would tell who their supplier is?, hopefully somebody local.

2012 Aug 27
Was in the US a week ago and drove through VT to Montreal.

Picked up a bunch of sugarfree sodas that I cannot find in Canada - Cherry Coke Zero, Vanilla Coke Zero, Minute maid lemonade light, Fresca Black Cherry Citrus, diet Coke with Splenda..


2012 Aug 28
in addition to jarritos, corazon du maiz carries Sundral Mundet!!!! green apple and red flavour!!! sooo good

2012 Aug 28
Although technically not a pop(?) I like Hall's Sparkling Apple Ciders. Local, tasty, and healthier.

Grace is good for more tropical flavors. Some of the flavors are very sweet though.

The are Japanese brands that make pretty much every flavor imaginable, including some savory ones if I recall.

2012 Sep 2
not a soda connoisseur myself -dentist suggested i drink beer instead (what a helpful dentist!)- but as a psa for birch-beer enthusiasts, the Baseline Loblaws carries Boyland's brand. In limited numbers and not prominently displayed - look to the lower shelves in one of those display rack used to promote PC's black-label sauces (out near the produce and olive bar sections).

also spotted were some stevia-sweetened pops (root beer, cola, ginger ale). Forget who makes these ("Zevia" maybe?) ... sitting there in the health/organic section for those interested. Think i've seen them in other Loblaws, as well?

2012 Oct 7
The pop shoppe has come out with 4 new flavors, they are: Omazing Orange n’ Cream, Big Time Banana, Psychadelic Strawberry, and Got the Blues Raspberry.

Now I'm not normally a fan of any of the pop shoppe drinks, but I tried Got the Blues Raspberry and I really liked it. The drink was well carbonated and had a good candy raspberry taste, the downside is, it might still be considered too sweet for some people.

2012 Nov 16
Boylan diet Black Cherry soda while in BC. Wish I can find some in Ottawa

2012 Nov 16
same from Jones Zilch (zero calorie)Pomegranate soda.

2012 Nov 16
I think Alice's Cafe in Carp carries Boylan's

2012 Nov 17
I remember seeing Boylans at a restaurant but they did not have the sugar free ones.

2013 Feb 4
Kichesippi Beer will be brewing their own line of naturally flavoured/pure cane sugar sodas under the name Harvey and Verns

2013 Feb 5
If they make REAL Root beer I hope they truly brew it from all or any of the following:

Main ingredients:

Sassafras albidum – Sassafras (roots) – safrole. The oil from these roots is believed to be carcinogenic so artificial versions are generally used instead. However, natural extracts with the safrole distilled and removed are available.
Smilax regelii – Sarsaparilla.
Smilax glyciphylla – Sweet Sarsaparilla.
Piper auritum – Root Beer Plant or Hoja Santa.
Glycyrrhiza glabra – Liquorice (root).
Aralia nudicaulis – Wild Sarsaparilla or "Rabbit Root."
Gaultheria procumbens – Wintergreen (leaves and berries) – the oil can be toxic.
Betula lenta – Sweet Birch (sap/syrup/resin).
Betula nigra – Black Birch (sap/syrup/resin).
Prunus serotina – Black Cherry.
Picea rubens – Red Spruce.
Picea mariana – Black Spruce.
Picea sitchensis – Sitka Spruce.
Arctium lappa – Burdock (root).
Taraxacum officinale – Dandelion (root).

For Foam/froth:

Quillaja saponaria – Soapbark.
Manihot esculenta – Manioc or Yuca (root).

Spices:

Pimenta dioica – Allspice.
Theobroma cacao – Chocolate.
Trigonella foenum-graecum – Fenugreek.
Myroxylon balsamum – Tolu balsam.
Abies balsamea – Balsam Fir.
Myristica fragrans – Nutmeg.
Cinnamomum verum – Cinnamon (bark).
Cinnamomum aromaticum – Cassia (bark).
Syzygium aromaticum – Clove.
Foeniculum vulgare – Fennel (seed).
Zingiber officinale – Ginger (root).
Illicium verum – Star Anise.
Pimpinella anisum – Anise.
Humulus lupulus – Hops.
Mentha species – Mint.

Other ingredients:

Hordeum vulgare – Barley (malted)
Hypericum perforatum – St. John's Wort
Sugar
Molasses
Yeast

2013 Nov 19
Spotted at Mid East Food on St. Laurent.

$2.79 for 1.5l

2013 Nov 19
You know you are raising a foodie when ... he requests "that fancy glass bottle pop" for part of his birthday feast :-)

2013 Nov 19
Has anyone seen Vernor's ginger ale in Ottawa recently? When I worked at south keys loblaws 10 years ago we sold it because the manager drank it but I haven't seen it since. Hoping to pick some up next time i'm in town.


2013 Nov 20
Vernor's is scarcer than hens teeth around here. I used to be able to get it in Carleton Place but haven't seen it for awhile.


2013 Nov 20
Lovetoeat; Not sure if this will help, but I have recently purchased Vernor's in Ogdensburg NY.. I think it was at the Price Chopper.


2013 Nov 20
I work at Place Bell and purchased a bottle of Bruce Cost Ginger ale (uunfiltered) at Green Rebel in the building. OMG, it is the best ginger ale I have ever had but very $$. I looked online and could not find retailers for this area... In the States it looks like I could get a 4pk for almost the price of what I paid for 1 bottle here.... Anyone know where I can get a case or a 4pk?

2013 Nov 20
Anyone looking for Vernor's can find it at Burgers on Main, they sell them at 2.25 a can.

2013 Nov 21
Poutine, I haven't seen Bruce Cost around here but it is an excellent product. I think I paid around $4/$5 for a bottle when I was in Winnipeg from a food vendor.

2013 Nov 21
For $4-$5 per bottle, they can keep it.
Sorry.

2013 Nov 22
I'm addicted to diet pepsi. I admit it.

2013 Nov 26

I can't drink much carbonated stuff lately :(

But I have seen Basmati restaurant, they sell some kinds of Indian cola- like the Indian bottled Coke and something else.
I bought one earlier this year and they are different and come in glass bottles.

Shoppers Drugmart has some good store brand soda.
One kind is from France and used to come in glass bottles- there is 4 flavors and one is blood orange, lemonade and I forget what the other two are.

I think the large glass bottles 800ml? are around $4-5 and the smaller new plastic bottles are 2 something.

2013 Nov 26
I paid about 3.20$ for the Bruce Cost ginger ale bottle. It's a treat and I think worth it, the bottom is full of ginger pieces. I just wish I could buy a case for less $$ here is Ottawa :-)

2013 Dec 1
Prettytasty,

Are you thinking of Oragina?

2013 Dec 2
Prettytasty,

Are you thinking of President choice's new chocolate soda?

BTW, never drink it. It's horrifying.

2016 Oct 18
Anyone know if any of the local Sobey's carry the Crush Birch Beer or Crush Pineapple ?

Wiki says that some Sobey's may have the Birch Beer. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crush_(soft_drink)


2016 Oct 18
Captain Caper, If you don't have any luck with Sobey's you could try The Pepperoni Guy out of Carleton Place www.thepepperoniguy.com

2016 Oct 21
For neat soda try Cedar's grocery on Bank, Whole foods, Foodbasics.

online Vitacost will ship anything to canada for $10.
I usually buy food there that I can no longer find here-

Shawarma house and Prince Ali bakery have some interesting non-alcohol flavored malt drinks called Barbican

2016 Oct 27
I love the freestyle machine at Burrito Gringo . . .

www.coca-colafreestyle.com

2016 Oct 28
Sobey's sells the pineapple and birch beer in their Waterloo stores (I stock up when I visit family there). Not sure if they do in Ottawa as I am usually don't shop there.

2016 Oct 29
Oh and I should mention that in Waterloo these 'unusual' flavours are not in the normal pop/drink aisle but instead the 'ethnic foods' aisle.

2016 Oct 29
Is no one else a fan of Freestyle ? :-) greatest invention ever ! Where else can you get zero calorie cherry Fanta ?

2016 Oct 30
Love the freestyle. The Dr Pepper and root beer variations are sugary awesomeness.

2016 Nov 11
I like black cherry soda and also Barq's root beer.

But one of my favorite soda used to be Ribena mixed w club soda or soda water.
Or else Stash lemon ginger green tea powder mixed with cold soda water.

Apr 21
Used to LOVE lemonade drinks but my dentist from "smiletogo.com.au" has then told me it's bad for me. My teeth's okay now, so I can freely drink all the lemonade!

Apr 22
Well, that's nice, but I mean, how would a dentist in Australia fix my teeth so I can drink more lemonade?

Apr 22
I was never a big soda pop drinker, until I lived in Mexico for a while. Mexican soda is great. Also the beer is pretty good, the tequila...mescal...... weird thing is, while I was there I lost so much weight, because I was living in a remote area, and the food was always fresh, and simple. Never got sick either.
Jarritos is great, and you can get it all over here now.

May 3
Mexican Coke and Fanta are also pretty great.
A little less sweet, more flavor than NorAm versions.