Jan
06
Last week, I read through a list of brands that were expected to disappear sometime in 2012. This list included things like A&W Restaurants, MySpace, and Kellogg’s Corn Pops. In today’s world these kinds of list are quite common. That is why it is even more amazing to see a brand that is making a …
Nov
18
The last few Thanksgivings I have been making my very own cranberry sauce. It’s a very simple thing to do and taste much better than what you get out of a can. But I was thinking is there anyway that I could make it better? One of the ingredients of the sauce is water. Water …
Nov
09
I was shopping at Hiller’s in Ann Arbor, Michigan a while back, when some bottles of soda pop caught my eye. The thing that first got my attention was the fact that the bottles said 97% fat free. But wait isn’t all soft drinks 100% fat free? I had to go in for a closer …
Aug
24
Two things you don’t see too often in the soft drink world: a blueberry pomegranate soda and a bottle with the picture of a monster from a Montana lake. Ok I have never seen either of these things before, until I had a bottle of Flathead Lake Blueberry Pomegranate soda. Whatever you have some flavor …
Jun
24
Ah Birch beer, root beer’s almost forgotten cousin. The best way to describe birch beer is that it tastes like wintergreen in carbonated form. The only birch beers I have had before were both made by Boylan (their traditional birch beer and creamy red). So I was interested in giving another company’s birch brew a …
Jun
23
It’s been a seasaw experience with Waialua sodas. The first of their sodas that I tried was the Lilikoi Soda. I really did not like it. I saw a bottle of their pineapple soda on a clearance at a store in St. Louis, so I decided to give the company a second chance. And I …
Jun
14
What could be more patriotic than drinking a classic root beer with an American flag on the bottle? Americana is a line of “vintage sodas” that is distributed by Orca Beverages out of Mukilteo, WA. The bottle tells me that this soda is handcrafted and contains pure cane sugar as the sweetener. The Americana brands …
Jun
02
When it comes to the soft drink world, the term “artificial” is commonly found on ingredient lists. There are a lot of “fruit drinks” that barely resemble the fruit listed on the label of the bottle. That is why it’s always refreshing to me when I find a carbonated drink that does contain actual, natural …
Apr
28
Earlier this year, I got a chance to visit Fitz’s American Grill & Bottling Works in St. Louis, MO. I got to taste a lot of great soda pop directly from the tap and in a frosty mug. They also had bottles you could buy to take home. I choose their strawberry pop (best strawberry …
Apr
28
This past winter, I got the opportunity to visit Fitz’s American Grill & Bottling Works in St. Louis, Missouri. Fitz’s is most famously known for their root beer which they began making in 1947 and serving at a hamburger joint in Richmond Heights, Missouri. This drive-in lasted until 1970, when the owner retired and closed …
Welcome to my blog! My name is Eric. I live in Saline, Michigan with my wife (Donna) and two daughters, Hannah (4) and Autumn (1). I started this blog in October 2009 to share my culinary experiences from making my own food from scratch to what I find at farmer's markets and grocery stores.
With 200 recipes for making and using your own soda, this book is the best source I have found on making your own carbonated treats at home.