great international sodas

I thought i'd list some of my favorite foreign sodas, with an eye toward copying them. It used to be that the atlanta coke museum let you taste their foreign versions, but apparently no more.

One of the best are the guarana varieties from brazil, which are sort of like ginger ale with caffine. I may try some thai wild ginger (galangal) syrup to come close, which is available but expensive.

Of course there are the strong british or caribbean ginger ales, but i was knocked out by some UK peach soda that included a kick of vinegar of all things... possibly it was fermented into a light vinegar.

Czech republic sells champaign soda that is pretty good.... an adult taste rather than for kids. Italy has a range of great fruit sodas, like blood orange. Almost everywhere has great lemon sodas. In gibraltar i saw blackcurrent soda which was novel because stupid rules ban most US blackcurrent production.

Most anyplace seems to have a better tasting coke, maybe tasting like a bit of birch beer was added. I wish i could get syrups for those, but i cant even find local sources of those exotic syrups by monin.

I'd love to see any recipes you come up with!

As for the vinegar in soda... Have you heard of sekanjabin? I still have a hard time wrapping my head around liking it, but there is nothing like a good fruit sekanjabin.

Kinnie from Malta. It's kind of like a mild version of the Italia Chinotto.

I miss a good bottle of Kinnie.

I'd like to get some bitter orange peel and see if I can make a recipe for it, but it's been a while since I was in Malta, so I don't know if I'll end up being very close.

I love me the Irn Bru from Scotland. Its an orange flavored soda. Damn delicious!

Halbrust said:

I'd love to see any recipes you come up with!

As for the vinegar in soda... Have you heard of sekanjabin? I still have a hard time wrapping my head around liking it, but there is nothing like a good fruit sekanjabin.

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Thanks, i looked at some online recipies and they seem to add white vinegar after removing the fruit slurry from the heat. I earlier tried adding white balsamic vinegar to a bottle of lime soda and it was jarring and raw. Probably needs gentle but not strong heat to infuse and burn off some bite. Then the taste is fantastic.

P.S. i' just remembered a killer soda from Greece... something like Luix sour cherry, in a bulbous bottle. Better than other greek or US sour cherry.

daft said:

Thanks, i looked at some online recipies and they seem to add white vinegar after removing the fruit slurry from the heat. I earlier tried adding white balsamic vinegar to a bottle of lime soda and it was jarring and raw. Probably needs gentle but not strong heat to infuse and burn off some bite. Then the taste is fantastic.

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Daft...if you like the vinegar kick in soda, you may enjoy kombucha based sodas. Or better yet, buy a bottle of plain kombucha tea and add some to your soda as you pour it. Then you will know. If you end up liking it you can make kombucha at home, and save loads of money.
Or water kefir 'soda'. I make both all the time.
As far as sekanjabin I have made a few recipes off the web, but really like this one, plus it is a hit at gatherings, and my husband and two sons will drink this one @ http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/112336/recipestrawberry-ginger-and-mint-sekanjabin
This one is nice, even like to follow their advice and dip crisp romaine lettuce in it, then blended with some olive oil and had a huge hit for salad dressing, and does make a nice flat or sparkling soda, added a cucumber spear or grated/chopped cucumber frozen with a bit of the soda and use as ice cubes, see http://www.superluminal.com/cookbook/beverages_sekanjabin.html. I avoid distilled vinegar, but now use white wine vinegar that I make. Even used commercial white balsamic vinegar in the subliminal recipe, divine.



*Sara*

Ive always loved malta soda, there are lots of different brands all over latin america. I finally found what looks like a good recipe which I will be brewing pretty soon.

Ostomo517 said:

Ive always loved malta soda, there are lots of different brands all over latin america. I finally found what looks like a good recipe which I will be brewing pretty soon.

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Isn't Malta just unfermented beer? I'm Puerto Rican and have been drinking it whenever I can find it since I was very young. Let me know how your recipe compares to the available commercial varieties. The Hatuey and India are my favorites, but don't seem as good as they were when I was a child.

snaps10 said:

Isn't Malta just unfermented beer? I'm Puerto Rican and have been drinking it whenever I can find it since I was very young. Let me know how your recipe compares to the available commercial varieties. The Hatuey and India are my favorites, but don't seem as good as they were when I was a child.

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It pretty much is pre boil wort with pale malt, Carahell and chocolate malt and small amount of low AA hops (not all brands use hops) India is one of my favorites as well as Goya. I used to love making vanilla floats with them. Im a third generation Mexican American so been drinking it all my life. I will update how it turns out. Also there is technically a little fermentation in the bottle for carbing (using Safeale-05) but the alcohol is negligable.