What do you get when you guzzle down sweets?

April 8, 2009 2:44 AM

What's a soda lover to do when Passover Coke has, well, passed over? Find other cane sugar sodas, of course!

We've been previously informed about Mexican Coke, and there is certainly a following for Dublin Dr Pepper, which is popular enough to be used as beef jerky marinade.

How else does one find a soda which shuns high fructose corn syrup when they have that urge for cane sugar? The Jones Soda line is full of the good tooth-rotting stuff. Cane sugar soda can even be found in store brand form. Feeling especially lazy? Avery's will deliver their line of sodas right to your door if you are fortunate enough to live in a few select parts of Connecticut. If you have a friend passing through Oklahoma, Pops on Route 66 offers an in-store kiosk for shipping a wide variety of cane sugar sodas including regional favorite brands such as Moxie, Thomas Kemper, and Foxon Park, just to name a few.

So remember, you don't need to travel back in time to get cane sugar sodas. Let Pepsi do the work for you there. Disclaimer: Does not come in Blue.

posted by Saydur (32 comments total)

If only they containered it in the big 16 oz glass bottles...
posted by JohnnyGunn at 3:40 AM on April 8 [1 favorite has favorites]

Soft Drink Reviews, Exotic & Non... A guy drinks or tries to drink, just about anything with carbonation:

I've always been a fan of your drinks and appreciate how they don't have corn syrup in them. I ordered a case of the OrangeAde from the local wholesaler, when it arrived I drank some and realized it had corn syrup.

Your website specifically states that NONE of your drinks have corn syrup...
posted by R. Mutt at 4:26 AM on April 8

I pretty much kicked the cola habit a while back. In no small part because of finally realizing how foul corn syrup feels going down my throat.

These days, I grab a bottle of Boylan's Cane Sugar Cola every so often when I want a little kick of sugar water fizz. The first time I had a bottle it was amazing - I hadn't had any sugar-based cola since Coke changed their formula. It tasted like being five years old and buying a glass bottle out of a creaky old machine. And unlike the corn stuff, one little bottle actually satisfies my sweet tooth instead of tantalizing it.
posted by egypturnash at 5:28 AM on April 8

That article about Mexican Coke was eye-opening...

Last year, Mexico consumed 55.2 billion cans of Coca-Cola products - 526 servings of Coke a year for every man, woman and child, making it the largest per capita consumer of soda pop in the world.
posted by orme at 5:29 AM on April 8

Foxon Park Kola is the best!
posted by horsemuth at 5:39 AM on April 8

Even Costco sells cases of Mexican Coke, so it's not exactly hard to buy. I can taste the difference between sugar and hfcs sodas, but to me it's quite subtle -- not like the intense difference of artificial sweeteners like aspartame.
posted by Forktine at 5:41 AM on April 8

I heard somewhere that some Mexican coke might be switching to HFCS sweetening. This is just hearsay but I was wondering if anyone could confirm/deny? If so it would make the whole "cult of mexican coke" dissolve rather quickly, eh?
posted by autobahn at 5:51 AM on April 8

If only they containered it in the big 16 oz glass bottles...

Walgreens actually has a store brand that comes in large glass bottles. I'm not sure if it's cane sugar like in the link mentioned though.
posted by ConstantineXVI at 5:51 AM on April 8

Last year, Mexico consumed 55.2 billion cans of Coca-Cola products - 526 servings of Coke a year for every man, woman and child, making it the largest per capita consumer of soda pop in the world.

Mexico has always been a haven for fizzy drinks. Long before the carnage of the cola wars and the hey-day of the modern mass-produced refresco, Mexican soda jerks were pumping out tasty and creative gaseosas.
posted by Pollomacho at 5:54 AM on April 8

autobahn, I can only confirm that by anecdotal evidence; I'm in Texas and I can taste the difference between HFCS Coke and sugar Coke, and I have had a few "Mexican Cokes" lately that were definitely sweetened with HFCS. Disappointing.

The Costco Mexican Cokes haven't done me wrong, though. It's always been in little convenience stores that the label will say "sugar and/or high fructose corn syrup." And that ALWAYS means HFCS. Ugh.
posted by fiercecupcake at 6:09 AM on April 8

Jones Soda brings the pure cane sugar.
posted by rageagainsttherobots at 6:24 AM on April 8

I think Coke is on to us goyim up here in Maine. This is the first year I haven't been able to find the real thing with sucrose, and I've checked 6 stores already.
posted by SteveInMaine at 6:27 AM on April 8

We're big fans of Hansen's soda (we being me, the fiance, and some of the extended family) - I don't like their vanilla, but the rest of the flavors are really good (I'm now informed that Matt could "live off the mandarin-lime if I'd let him")
posted by FritoKAL at 6:55 AM on April 8

Dublin DP is soooo good. Sometimes, I do miss Texas.
posted by rosswald at 6:55 AM on April 8

Even Costco sells cases of Mexican Coke, so it's not exactly hard to buy.

In Southern California, maybe. Up here in Maine? No.

Also, Passover coke uses sugar from beets, not cane. Beet sugar is pretty-much the bottom of the sugar barrel (except, of course, HFCS, which isn't even in the sugar barrel).

Mexico is the only place on the planet that produces the real deal, and that's due to cane-production protectionism on the part of the Mexican govt. Thank god for protectionism.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 7:09 AM on April 8 [2 favorites has favorites]

>Thank god for protectionism.
Of course the reason sodas use HFCS in the U.S. is that corn is heavily subsidized. Sounds like protectionism to me.
posted by bitslayer at 7:29 AM on April 8

For those in the Chicago area Goose Island makes some worthwhile root beers and fruity sodas.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 7:39 AM on April 8

Now I have a real desire to go to the local burrito place here in Austin that serves Dublin Dr. Pepper.
posted by immlass at 7:52 AM on April 8

The Whole Foods 365 brand is HFCS-free, and 100% cane sugar, BTW. As with everything else at Whole Foods, it's a bit more expensive, but not ludicrously so.
posted by deadmessenger at 7:58 AM on April 8

Another regional brand available at Pops: Gale's Cinnamon/Vanilla Root Beer, which I am kind of in love with. (And which has just switched to cane sugar.)
posted by ormondsacker at 8:03 AM on April 8

Cheerwine is awesome, though a bit hard to find, and has always been pure cane sugar soda.
posted by cerebus19 at 8:03 AM on April 8

I just saw Pepsi Natural for the first time. It's made with cane sugar and the caffeine is from kola nuts. It looks like this. I guess this is different from the Pepsi Throwback? I couldn't bring myself to buy it even though I'm curious how it tastes. Anyone tried it?
posted by esome at 8:27 AM on April 8

Hansen's cane sugar sodas are yummy - I especially like the pomegranate flavor.

(New Zealand Coke is made with sugar as well, but whether it's of the beet or cane variety, I do not know.)
posted by arachnid at 8:30 AM on April 8

>>Even Costco sells cases of Mexican Coke, so it's not exactly hard to buy.

>In Southern California, maybe. Up here in Maine? No.

I live almost as far from Mexico as you do -- it's not a proximity issue, it's about immigration patterns. Luckily (for all kinds of reasons, not just cane-sugar Coke) there's now a huge immigrant population in the northwest from Mexico and Central America, so Costco and other mainstream retailers have responded by offering a much larger variety of products.

Put facetiously: make Maine more inviting to Mexican immigrants, and you'll get better Coke in your grocery stores.
posted by Forktine at 8:40 AM on April 8

Red Bull Cola isn't half bad, and it boasts a lot of Coca-Cola-esque ingredients.
posted by mikeh at 8:55 AM on April 8

I bought a box of Streits matzah last night and didn't realize until I got home that the box says "NOT KOSHER FOR PASSOVER."

Fail for me and fail for Streits.
posted by ben242 at 9:27 AM on April 8

I just saw Pepsi Natural for the first time ... Anyone tried it?

A.V. Club Taste Test.
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:35 AM on April 8

Ya, the whole Kosher v. Kosher for Passover thing still confuses me. Thats why my sedar will consist solely of fermented grape sugar, just to be safe.
posted by rosswald at 10:05 AM on April 8

Have you folks not discovered the secret joy of Jarritos? These are widely available in suburban supermarkets in the "ethnic foods" aisle. I suggest the naranja (manadarin orange) and the sandia (watermelon) for starters. They fucking rock if you find HFCS sodas too sticky.
posted by butterstick at 10:40 AM on April 8 [1 favorite has favorites]

Q: What do you get when you guzzle down sweets?

A: "Senior moments."

Avoiding sugar can help avoid brainfarts. (I am so screwed.)
posted by Pronoiac at 12:49 PM on April 8

Oh man, I love Jarritos. All the Mexican restaurants here serve it and all the little Latino groceries have it. I love that Tamarind flavored soda exists.

One of my favorite sodas of late has been Cricket Cola. It's made with kola nut, green tea and real sugar. It's different, and definitely not for everybody, but the combination of cola and green tea flavor works much better than I expected it to.
posted by TrialByMedia at 1:24 PM on April 8

FYI, Canadian Coca-Cola is also made with sugar.

I think it's sad that as huge an icon of American culture as Coca-Cola is only sold in the USA in an adulterated and frankly disgusting form. So, for those close to the borders, there is hope. Go south, or north for the good stuff. Those of you in the middle aren't so lucky.
posted by wabbittwax at 10:30 AM on April 9