Food & Beverage Buzz

I just got my first whiff, and taste, of a HOTLIPS Strawberry Soda. Normally I wouldn't say whiff in reference to a soda, however this is one exception.

The instant I popped the top on the glass bottle, I caught a whiff of what smelled like a basket of fresh strawberries. And not the kind from the supermarket either! The kind right from the strawberry farm stand, like the ones from Watmaugh Road in Sonoma (you locals know what I'm talking about!). Even better, the flavor delivers as well, holding to a true fresh, ripe strawberry flavor, and without the cloying sweetness that most sodas have.

Having only seen this soda recently, I had to find out where this soda came from. Who are these guys? Well, here's the story: (I rarely use info straight from a company website, however their story is so truely their own, I thought you needed to hear it straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak).

"We make soda to worship the fruits and berries grown in the Pacific Northwest. HOTLIPS is traditional soda pop, made the old-fashioned way. It’s cooked in a kettle and bottled, then pasteurized.
Magnificent fruit and summer berries grow here and we offer the magic to you in a bottle. Each sip tells the story of local-grown fruit. To the explosion of fruit produced by this enchanted place, the hard work of many growers, we apply a traditional brewing process. There’s maximum taste blast and shifts in flavor, surprising notes, harmonies in every sip.

HOTLIPS Soda is real fruit soda pop. Picked-ripe fruit is cooked in open kettles, bringing out the nuanced flavors. Seeds are filtered out, but not pulp, then water, pure cane sugar and organic lemon juice are added. Then it is carbonated, put into bottles and pasteurized. It’s simple. High percentages of real fruit. No shortcuts, supplements, artificial flavors, concentrates or trickery. And no corn syrup. Even the bottles are local, manufactured from 80% recycled glass right here in Portland.

Chef-driven and overseen, the sodas are brewed throughout the year and bottled using refurbished 1960’s-era equipment, capturing the tastes of the Pacific Northwest. Early summer declares itself with strawberry, then raspberry and blueberry. Late summer brings boysenberry, blackberry, and the wicked beauty, black raspberry. The nights cool, apples and pears ripen. Flavor nuance in HOTLIPS Soda varies from batch to batch depending on the varietal, the heat of the day and cool of the night. Creating connoisseurs of the young and old, as they compare batches, seasons, years, equalizing food snobs and kids."

So, grab a HOTLIPS Soda (if you can find one), and sit back in a rocking chair on the porch, put your feet up and take a few moments to savor the flavors of Summer, before they are gone, too soon...