If you think Lime Crush is a strange soft-drink flavour, you clearly haven’t met the product line from Dry Soda. They have all sorts of curious flavours, some of which are riffs on a familiar pop flavour (blood orange, say), and some of which are totally oddball (lavender).
The Pitch: “Less sweet. Four ingredients. All natural.” The flavours themselves do most of the pitching. If you try it, you’re trying it because you have no idea what a lemongrass soft drink will taste like.
The Look: Clear bottle with a screw-off bottle cap. The liquid in the bottle is also clear, which gives it a striking, modern, high-end look. Pretty.
The Taste (Lavender): I know for a fact that a lavender soft drink will freak some people out. The taste is utterly unfamiliar in this format. In fact, most North Americans aren’t used to eating lavender anything – in this part of the world, lavender tends to be used as a fragrance for soap and other scented home/bathroom products. As a soda flavour, it’s strange. It’s not very sweet, but it’s still too sweet for the taste to be balanced. The lavender adds a floral spice – hard to describe if you’re not used to lavender, but a little bit like rosemary and oregano, with a pinch of salt and a dash of pepper. Not fantastic, but worth trying once.
The Taste (Lemongrass): Don’t confuse this with lemon. It’s grassy and floral, with creamy lily and camomile standing out. Not very sweet, and a little bit bitter. I hate to say this, but the taste reminds me of the smell of a hand cream my wife has used. I can’t get past that.
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RATINGS AND DETAILS
Cost: $2.29 per 355 mL (12 oz.) bottle at Planet Organic.
Value for cash money: OK for what it is.
Availability: Not widespread, but not impossible to find. In the past, I’ve seen it at Transcend Coffee in Garneau, as well as at the University of Alberta Sobeys store. In Calgary, try Planet Organic.
Nutrition?: Per 355 mL bottle: The lemongrass has 50 calories, and the lavender has 70 calories.
Mixing potential: These could serve as the base for some very interesting cocktails.
The verdict: They’re not super easy to find, but they’re worth seeking out, if just for the strange foodie experience. Maybe the others are better? You may love a flavour or you may hate it – you won’t know until you try.
I’ve had the pleasure of finding these babies from Winners Homesense here in New Brunswick. They are best soda pop that I have ever tasted. Mind you I have tasted better, but healthy wise, they are the best. Rhubarb is very unique, it truly is dry, worth the venture. Lavender is good, but not my favorite, however, because Lavender was the only thing they were selling I bought the entire stock. Vanilla Bean is by far the best so far. I haven’t tried any of the other flavours but I am looking forward to getting the cucumber. I have tasted cucumber jelly which really felt refreshing, so surely it’s not that far off. I like the idea that there is only 4 ingredients and the sugar is low. I can drink this at night and not have to worry about getting a sugar headache in the morning. Because Winners doesn’t have any in stock right now, I am scouring the net looking for online retailers who are near to me.
Thanks for the flavour suggestions. I’m very keen to taste cucumber, though rhubarb is probably at the top of my to-taste list.
If you ever find yourself in Halifax, I believe there’s a Planet Organic there. My local Planet Organic in Calgary stocks lots of flavours, so you might want to call the Halifax shop. There must be other places around New Brunswick that stock it, though. Try asking the @drysoda account on Twitter, and see if they’ve got any leads. Good luck!