Birch Beer is a non-alcoholic, carbonated beverage made from birch bark and birch sap. It’s brewed, like (real) root beer is, and has a head on it when poured, so some think it’s just a type of root beer, but in fact both are a type of “small beer.” Birch Beer brands that are still…
Carbonated Beverages are drinks that have had carbon dioxide added to them. Carbon dioxide is colourless and flavourless. Carbonated Beverages have as their base either carbonated water or soda water – which are considered Carbonated Beverages in their own right. Usually flavour and sweetener are added. Such beverages are mostly water, 90% and up (diet…
Carbonic Acid is simply water that has small amounts of carbon dioxide in it. It is a very weak acid. Carbon dioxide is CO2; water is H2O. When combined, the two form: CO2 + H2O = H2CO3 (aka Carbonic Acid.) Carbonic Acid gives a sharper tasting edge to drinks. It is found naturally in rainwater,…
Ginger Beer is a beverage made from ginger, yeast, a sugar (honey, molasses or sugar), and lemon juice. All homemade Ginger Beer will be alcoholic. Home made batches need anywhere from 1 to 2 weeks in the bottles before being ready to drink. During this time, the drink carbonates itself naturally in the bottles. Most…
Ice Cream Floats are a fizzy drink made with ice cream. They are similar to but not the same as Ice Cream Sodas. Floats are simpler to make than Ice Cream Sodas. They are just pop and ice cream. The flavoured soda pop acts as a substitute for the soda water and syrup that is…
An Ice Cream Soda is a foamy, non-alcoholic drink made with ice cream that ends up as a fizzy slurry drink. The foaminess is a result of the ice cream interacting with the soda water. You don’t mix either of them to make a harmonious blend, instead, you want a contrast in tastes and textures….
To make Italian Sodas, you need plain fizzy water, though some people use Soda Water (aka Club Soda, the kind with bicarbonate of soda in it) and either don’t notice any appreciable taste impact, or like it. For the flavouring, you can buy the syrups at coffee shops, specialty food stores or Italian delis. Well-known…
Pop (aka soda-pop) is fizzy, flavoured soft drinks sold in bottles, cans or from dispensing pumps in restaurants, fast-food places and stands, etc. A technical definition of it would be along the lines of “non-alcoholic carbonated beverage.” Often at restaurants, you’ll notice that all the kinds on offer belong to one big chain or another,…
A soda is a sparkling beverage. In the North American sense, confusingly enough, it will be a beverage made from plain carbonated water, not “soda water.” Soda water has bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) in it, so it would affect the taste of the syrup being used to flavour the water with. In the UK,…
