Subject: Soft Drinks

• Daily Briefs: City Market Eviction; Sugariness

  April 15, 2008

• Summer Drive-Ins: Clem's and the Pork-Brain Sandwich

  June 3, 2008

• Summer Drive-Ins: Mugs Up and a Whiz Burger

  June 4, 2008

• Summer Drive-Ins: Mugs Up and a Whiz Burger

  June 4, 2008

• Summer Drive-Ins: Clem's and the Pork-Brain Sandwich

  June 3, 2008

• The Other Beer

  July 8, 2008

• Discovered: Another "Drug Store" Soda Fountain

  August 4, 2008

• We'll Show You Ours...

  August 14, 2008

• The Download Extra: New Cool Kids MP3

  August 22, 2008

• Sarsaparilla, birch beer and ginger ale oh my! Part I

  By OWEN MORRIS Don't ask why I started thinking about old-timey sodas, OK? I just did. For some reason, I started wondering about the difference between ginger beer and ginger ale, between sarsaparilla and root beer, between birch beer and root beer, between sarsaparilla and birch beer... It's my job, after all, so a taste test was in order.

  November 21, 2008

• Sarsaparilla, birch beer and ginger ale oh my! Part 2

  By OWEN MORRIS  Last Friday I discussed the intricacies of birch beer versus sarsaparilla versus root beer and today I'm tackling ginger. As in ginger beer and ginger ale. What's the difference? First, there's the alcohol. Many ginger beers have the stuff while no ginger ale does. Then there's the ginger itself. Ginger beer traditionally has more of the herb. For instance, the difference between Reed's Ginger Ale and Reed's Ginger Beer is 17 grams of ginger per 12 ounce bottle and the bee

  November 24, 2008

• Stevia coming: Nutrasweet and Splenda, you've been warned

  I don't want to boast, but a couple of times I've noted the upcoming domination of non-caloric stevia. Stevia is a naturally occurring (at least in Paraguay) herb that's incredibly sweet and may or may not be slightly mutagenic at high doses. The FDA has been stalling on releasing a report on whether stevia is safe. Yesterday, though, Coca-Cola announced it was releasing a stevia-based drink this week, before the FDA ruling.Coke is using stevia in its Odwalla line of drinks and fruit smoothies.

  December 17, 2008

• Drinking and smoking

  The word "taxes" makes people act irrationally. Take, for instance, this wide-ranging tax plan from New York State, which would tax everything from clothes to boats to license plates to caloric (non-diet) soft drinks. It's already got a catchy nickname -- the obesity tax -- and, not surprisingly, has already the ire of soft drink manufacturers. I received this dandy of a press release yesterday from the Center for Consumer Freedom. Titled "Taxing Soda May Shrink New York's Bloated Deficit, but I

  December 16, 2008

• Divine drive-ins

  May 25, 2000

• Mouthing Off

  September 14, 2000

• Letters

  September 28, 2000

• Best Buy for Your Buck

  October 19, 2000

• Best Lemonade

  October 17, 2002

• Best Place to Buy a Coconut Soda

  October 17, 2002

• Best Place to Have a Drink

  October 17, 2002

• Green tea ginger ale. Yuck.

  Normally I try to keep my reviews to alcoholic substances since it's more fun for me and, besides, nobody wants to read about Diet Coke or Dr. Pepper's newest flavor creation that will be gone in two months. Also, I don't drink many sodas. However, I do drink ginger ale -- and when I saw that a new hybrid called green tea ginger ale was just named the best beverage product of the year by an influential consumer group, I had to try it.Green tea ginger ale is made by Canada Dry, so I was expecting

  January 30, 2009

• Davey's Uptown Root Beer Club

  February 27, 2003

• Best Place to Eat at a Counter

  October 9, 2003

• Soda sentimentality

  It's strange how quickly sodas can become a part of our life. Companies release new products all the time and discontinue products at nearly the same rate, yet failed sodas stay with our culture. Thanks to YouTube commercials and comedic routines, people who weren't alive when New Coke or Crystal Pepsi were introduced can still talk about them.Viewing this great post called a Tribute to Fallen Sodas is like walking through a cemetery full of old acquaintances. Oh Pepsi Blue, I sort of rememb

  February 12, 2009

• Sky is the limit for soda machine

  Coca-Cola Inc.At the same time as New York is trying to pass a soft drink tax, ABC News is doing an expose on Mountain Dew Mouth and doctors are urging all Americans to cut down on soda, Coca-Cola is debuting a new soda fountain that can hold more than 100 sodas. That's ten times more than current soda fountains.Currently, fountains work through syrup bags. The restaurant buys a bag (actually, a bag in a rectangular box) from Coke or Pepsi, hooks it up to a soda line and then the fountain combin

  February 19, 2009

• A throwback to pre-corn syrup controversy

  Pepsi Cola Inc.While Pepsi did not have any news this week as cool as a 120-soda fountain machine, it did announce it was bringing back old recipes for two drinks that never disappeared and calling them new drinks.That's not confusing right?The two drinks are Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback. In addition to the "so old they're cool" labels, the main draw of the drink is the sweetener. The throwbacks use good ol' cane sugar just like the original drinks did until 1984, when Pepsi switch

  February 20, 2009

• Et Tu Tom Colicchio?

  While watching the Oscars last night and waiting for Micky Rourke to win get robbed, I saw a commercial I hadn't seen before. It's a nice restaurant and there's a jazzy-rock beat going on in the background, and then the bulldog-shaped (that's the New Yorker's description, not mine) life-saving Tom Colicchio comes on the screen and starts talking about taste. At first, I thought he was shilling for some liquor, possibly Disaronno by the vibe of the commercial and the way he sits down at the bar a

  February 23, 2009

• The Zip Code

  February 24, 2005

• Breakfast Buffet: Monday, 2/06

  No arguing with the main point of this post: Beer and (basketball) cake on Saturday night is underrated. [Recruiterlicious] Is Mountain Dew actually evil, or at least worse for you than other soft drinks? Read this first-person account of addiction, pain and sugar, Mountain Dew style! [Logtar]It doesn't take years of practice and struggle to achieve the look of a Jackson Pollock painting -- just a little spaghetti. [Instructables] Drinking from the other side of the recession. A French wine make

  April 6, 2009

• Gas Guzzler

  July 19, 2007

• Non-drinkers: bars' new best customers?

  Flickr: Thomas HawkBecause I'm a good friend, I've spent my share of nights at bars sipping on coffee, soda or mostly water trying to enjoy drunk people as much a sober person can. Being a designated driver has one major upside -- safety -- but some minor drawbacks, one of which is limited drink choices.Many bars are trying to change that, hence the growing popularity of "mocktails." The idea behind serving mixed drinks with a lot of flair but no booze is that designated drivers and non-drinkers

  April 8, 2009

• The Download

  October 9, 2008

• The Day of the Kiln God

  June 26, 2008

• Where's Tom?

  June 12, 2008

• The White Stripes

  Icky Thump (Warner Bros.)

  June 28, 2007

• The Root of the Problem

  Fitz's Bottling Company makes good root beer, but that's about all it does right.

  September 14, 2000

• Orbitz: the king of duds

  As a fat kid growing up in the Midwest, few things held as much appeal as the introduction of a new soft drink. I can't remember the name of the girl I took to prom, but I can still name the restaurant where I first tasted Surge (Sophie's Bakery, off Metcalf; it's now a Buffalo Wild Wings) and I can still vividly recall trying Orbitz for the first time.Now, the word Orbitz is synonymous with the travel Web site, but once it meant the best soft drink ever! That is, until you tasted it.Created by

  April 29, 2009

• Grill out with Slow Food this weekend

  Jasper Mirabile has been following the burger craze. "I'm telling you, they are hot right now. Hamburgers. Sliders especially. People are demanding better burgers." The consummate restaurateur, Mirabelle gives the people what they want, and as Convium Chair (fancy name for president) of Slow Food Kansas City, he's letting people know they can make an amazing burger using all locally grown ingredients. "It's about bringing out an awareness of what this city has," he says. This Saturday from 2-4 p

  June 17, 2009

• Wait, there was blue Pepsi?

  The drink aisle got confusing at some point -- the average man and woman were not ready for that many choices. And so unnatural selection took place, in which poorly selling or poorly conceived soft drinks went to dollar stores or wherever it is that they go when they are no longer being marketed. Even though we're not quite out of the decade, Buzz Feed pays homage to the "7 Soda Brands That Didn't Survive the 2000s." Whether it's a sign of information overload or our downward spiral into a suga

  July 23, 2009

• Spending the evening with Rickey

  ​When the weather heats up, you need to solve two problems: how to cool down and what to do with all those limes you bought at the City Market (it's hard to resist when they're six for a dollar). The answer to both dilemmas lies in one simple drink with a number of alcoholic and non-alcoholic variations -- the Rickey or lime rickey. This drink apparently goes back to the 1890s when a lobbyist, Colonel Jim (or Joe) Rickey, was seen as a consummate drinker in Washington D.C. A bartender at Shoem

  July 28, 2009

• Pepsi with a hint of mouse?

  ​It sounds like something out of a movie, but a Florida couple is claiming to have found a mouse in their Diet Pepsi. Amy and Fred Denegri were grilling at their home in Ormond Beach last week when they reportedly found the nasty surprise in the second-to-last can of Diet Pepsi in a 36-pack purchased from Sam's Club. Amy talked to WFTV Orlando about her husband's reaction:  "He made a face. I was sitting there and he said it tasted awful and something wasn't right." The couple has filed a

  July 30, 2009

• Down the hatch: Mountain Dew Voltage

  ​A recent post about sodas gone by the wayside led me to the soda aisle to see what colored and flavored offshoots are surprisingly still around. Green Tea Ginger Ale is apparently still going strong in its first year -- or is on the way out: a single two-liter bottle was all that remained on the shelves of Target. When I came across Mountain Dew Voltage, I figured I owed the drink a chance. This would be my first mistake. Introduced in 2008 as the winning flavor in a  "dewmocracy competi

  August 20, 2009

• This week's "Best of Fat City" is child's play

  ​The big news in Fat City this past week was that our talented blogger, author, comedian, and adventurous eater Jonathan Bender and his wife became the parents of a very beautiful baby girl. The birth of bambina Bender was the inspiration for this week's Top Ten list: The Top Ten places to take kids to dinner. In case we left your favorite off the list, please comment: Jonathan will need to make his own personal list soon. This week we also learned the secret of the 12-second c

  August 22, 2009

• Down the hatch: Ooba Hibiscus With Lime

  ​In an effort to counteract the Mountain Dew Voltage I tried at the end of last month, I thought I'd look into the latest superfood growth area: health beverages. First on the docket is Ooba, a sparkling drink made with hibiscus extract.  I've seen hibiscus-flavored drinks in Mexican restaurants; hibiscus is one of the many flavors of the Mexican soft drink Jarritos. But Ooba (an acronym for "one of botanical's advantages") marks the first hibiscus drink I've tried outside of hot tea.&nbs

  September 8, 2009

• Booze Bucket List

  ​It's about time spirit drinkers got a new goal. The idea of mug clubs is well established. You get a discount for having a membership at a brewery or a card that is stamped as you try each of the beers on draft or in bottles at a given bar. This is often a laudable goal for beer enthusiasts -- or at least a way to justify the amount of time spent in pubs. But for those who want something more than a bucket of beers, word of a Booze Bucket List comes via our sister food blog, the Houston Press

  September 9, 2009

• Top 10 foods to eat while watching the game

  ​Whether you're tailgating or parked on the couch, food goes with football. There is something satisfying about overeating while watching someone else operating at peak physical efficiency.  With college football headed for its second weekend and the National Football League slated for kickoff tomorrow night, you need to get serious about your snacks. The preseason is over, so it's time to crack out the starters and the entrees. Here's Fat City's list of the Top 10 essential game fo

  September 9, 2009

• Down the hatch: Lychee Ramune drink

  ​I had never enjoyed a drink that requires me to perform five steps before I can even raise it to my lips. But this is the fun of Shirakiku's carbonated Lychee Ramune drink -- a Japanese soda in a codd bottle.In order to get at the carbonated drink inside the glass bottle, you must first remove the seal from the top and detach the plunger from the center of the cap.​ Once the plunger's been removed from the center, you place it in a small depression at the top of the bottle. Then place

  October 2, 2009

• Breakfast Buffet: Monday, October 19

  This "artistic interpretation" of KC Beerfest includes a sampling of Boulevard's Nutcracker Ale. [Show-Me Beer]A review of some of the most interesting offerings at KC Beerfest and thoughts on the crowd. [KC Beer Blog]Score a victory for cane sugar! Pepsi is bringing back Pepsi and Mountain Dew Throwback made with cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup -- for eight weeks, beginning on December 28. [Pepsi Throwback Hub]Once you drop your Palm Pre in your beer, let it go, man. See what it

  October 19, 2009

• Soda a larger part of our lives than we think?

  ​The number of calories that soda contributes to our daily intake is a hotly debated topic. Soft-drink manufacturers don't believe that soda should be singled out in relation to the nation's obesity, and critics argue that Americans are slowly drinking themselves into a world of motorized scooters. The Center for a Livable Future (CLF) recently took issue with an argument from Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent that only 5.5 percent of our daily caloric intake comes from soda -- a statistic attributed

  October 20, 2009

• Does anybody drink a basic cup o' joe these days?

  ​On occasion, Fat City is written from the hallowed tables of coffee shops across the city and over the past several weeks, it's become apparent to me that everything but coffee seems to be going out the door. Take for example a recent lunch hour I spent at Coffee Girls in Waldo -- here's a sample of the orders that I overheard at the counter: Toddy coffee (my order); double shot of espresso; a water; umm ... a Diet Coke; steamed skim milk and decaf coffee; hot tea. Not a single cup of unadult

  November 13, 2009