Soda

As the summer comes to a close, and you would rather just drink things out of a bottle and not spend forever concocting something or whatever, we are grateful to have access to a myriad of fizzy beverages that are made with actual taste in mind and not by some giant faceless company who shoves high fructose corn syrup into everything. 

Now we know that every region has their own local soda that everyone likes, and if we leave yours out then... too bad, we can't go get everything.
























Pig Iron Cola

Fentiman's

If you like a really strong sharp cola taste, the Pig Iron is a really good example of that.  Unfortunately, Pinky Mixology HQ is a bit far from Seattle, so our local suppliers don't always have it on hand.  The Fentiman's has the unfortunate distinction of being liked by the New York Times and being rated #1 in their list of colas, but despite being liked by the newspaper equivalent of a retired food co-op manager, this stuff is a very nice change of pace and goes well with stuff like fish or salad.




















Moving on to Birch Beer











Brownie Caramel Cream


Manhattan Special Sarsaparilla


Boylan's; a soda company that's still close to our hearts, but the Birch Beer just seem to miss the mark for us.  Maybe it's because we used to spend so much time in Wayne County PA.




Now maybe you might be wondering, where is the Dublin Dr. Pepper?  Well, it's dead.  It was murdered by friggin Snapple, which is owned by Schweppes, which is owned by Cadbury.  So now you can never taste Dr. Pepper as it was originally invented and stayed that way for almost 100 years.  Snapple, Schweppes, and Cadbury have decided that you can't have that because they are all a bunch of total assholes.   So as sad as it makes us, we won't be buying anything from these fucktarded companies again... even the amazing cream eggs.  So sad.









Unless it is kept extremely cold and still before opening, Manhattan Special does have a habit of kerploding out of the bottle instantly upon opening.  There are 2 methods of dealing with this that don't involve getting soda all over you.


Small Bottle: Open it as fast as you can and shove it in your face before it has a chance to overflow (this takes some practice, but eventually you'll be able to pull off this move while walking down Brooklyn streets with the soda in one hand and a slice in the other).


Large Bottle:  You may have seen the large bottle of Manhattan Special featured in our Ice Cream Float Valentine's Day Specialaganzatacular.  Due to the nature of the cap, there is no way you are getting it off fast enough, so we usually just let a little pressure out at a time while keeping the bottle on ice in the sink in case of overflow.

Manhattan Special is always worth hunting down, but you may want to avoid their coffee variations if you have a heart condition or other caffeine sensitivity.   Their Orange and Vanilla flavors are naturally caffeine free. 









Manhattan Special


Moxie


Fentiman's weirdness.


















Cheerwine

Nesbitt's

NuGrape






Now, we're a little late on this one, and that's because we were trapped way in the wilds of upstate New York in such a forested area that there was no internetseses (we were lucky there was indoor plumbing).  So a week of living the Amish life basically has set us back a bit.  On the plus side, there was moonshine.








See you next time, when we bring you:

SRIRACHA LEMONADE (With bonus cocktail).

We really did want to make this a bonus episode for this month, but that week away really killed us.  Also we're short on booze money right now (FYI that means send us some... Money or Booze it really doesn't matter).  You you all will have to wait until Oct. 1 to see how to make the ultimate Sriracha Lemonade.  Also we made a martini version:

The Sriracha Martini awaits.
That's the bonus cocktail I was talking about
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ICE CREAM SODA

Welcome to the 2013 Valentine's Day (read: regular February) episode of Pinky Mixology.  This time, we harken back to that sock hoppin' time in America where poodle skirts and drive-in movies were cast in the warm glow of nuclear tests, and the kids were oh so innocent just hangin' out at the malt shop and ordering up an Ice Cream Soda.  Swell!

The ice cream soda.  The float, brown cow, Boston cooler, orange whip, or even the Butter Beer those Hogwarts kids are drinking these days.  All are part of this family.  From this family, we bring you both the little goody-two-shoes that everyone knows, and that scary cousin that lives in the attic who you hope doesn't show up to your wedding.  As you might expect, there's a bit more to it than throwing a scoop of ice cream in a classic soda glass (actually no, not really).

So check out our take on the root beer classic, followed up by our high octane, Manhattan Special ice cream float that gives Four Loko a run for its money.  You expected anything less?




It's good to chill everything before using for this, even down to whatever glassware you plan on using.




Santorum is still out there.  Santorum is still horrible.




This ice cream pictured is a pint purchased at the world's first ever Häagen-Dazs shop.  The top half is Vanilla and the bottom half is Coffee flavor.  There is a universe of difference between the grocery store stuff and what you can get from the store itself.

Half a pint of ice cream is more than enough to make 2 normal sized floats or 1 awesome big one depending on what your agenda is.

 

Boylan's is probably the most easily found non-HFCS root beer out there.  But if you really want to keep away from the sodium benzoate, then you can try Virgil's (which isn't as sweet, but is totally organic) for your hippie ass.

 

Does anyone know what these dish/cup things are called?

 



It can foam up, so do this in a spot where you can be prepared for such a possibility.
 

These spoons are easy to find.

 

The Arnold Palmer is also a drink where it's just 2 things put together.






 

Making a perfect coffee flavored ice cream soda will require Manhattan Special.  This espresso coffee soda has been made the same way from the same stuff since before the friggin Atlanta Compromise.   They roast the beans right there in the soda factory and the never use High Fructose Corn Syrup. It is hard to find if you're in flyover country, but check out the retail locator or simply order online directly from the makers or from Galcos Soda Pop Stop.

But let us say you are in Fargo, or Guam, and you just can't buy this anywhere?  Well here's a resourceful science chicky who's put up a video of how to MacGyver some of this soda at home for yourself.  I am also assuming, that if you own a sodastream, then you're probably golden with this. 

 

Sambuca makes Italian cafe corretto variant and Irish Whiskey makes an Irish coffee variant out of this.  Adding alcohol is completely optional and is traditionally not a required component for an enjoyable ice cream soda, so if you don't want any, then just don't add any.

 

 Make no mistake, this ice cream soda made from coffee ice cream and spiked Manhattan Special can combine the mega one-two-three punch of caffeine, alcohol, and ree-donk-you-luz amounts of refined sugars.  Like we say, you'd be getting the same effect from a Four Loko ice cream soda. What you see in the above photo has the very real potential to kill someone with a heart condition, so be forewarned.   Enjoy.

 Next Time:

SPRING BREAK AND THE PIÑA COLADA



See you then. 

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