I’ve been meaning to write this post for quite some time. Over the past year of collecting bottle caps (check out my site, Bottle Cap-O-Rama), I’ve voluntarily drank many unique bottled beverages. I’ve written short reviews on the other site, but haven’t posted many on this blog. So here goes, a sampling of some of the more unusual drinks I’ve tasted, so you don’t have to.

The Good

1. Sosro Tehbotol

This is basically sweetened jasmine tea from Indonesia. It has a crisp, clean taste, flowery. It’s an iced tea, but doesn’t need lemon.

Company Website: Sosro

2. Kona Brewing Pipeline Porter

This is a “limited release” brew, and it’s awesome. It’s a dark, rich porter made with 100% Hawaiian Kona coffee, which is has a really smooth flavor. The result is a great beer, and even better if you eat some chocolate before hand.

Company Website: Kona Brewing Company

3. De Sarro & Torchia BibiCaffe

This is a carbonated, concentrated coffee. Espresso, caramel, vanilla with bubbles. Not too sweet, a bit of a kick, almost chocolaty. Cute small bottle. One of the best drinks I’ve sampled.

Company Website: BibiCaffe

The Interesting

1. Beer for Kids: Yoiko no Biiru

This is from bottle of “beer for kids” from Japan. Yes, you read right. It’s an amber-colored non-alcoholic soft drink that when poured in a glass, foams up with a nice huge head. The beverage tastes like sparkling apple cider with a little bit of lemon-lime. Caution, the drink seems inherently foamy and some of it spouted out of the bottle after I opened it.

2. Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier

This is an interesting “smoke” beer that dates from 1405. It’s heavy, woody, dark, and definitely has a smoky flavor that comes from burning beech-wood logs. The particular flavor this bottle cap came from was a marzen.

Company Website: Schlenkerla Smokebeer from Bamberg

3. Almdudler

Almdudler is the national soft drink of Austria. Tastes like a light lemonade with a sour apple flavor. Seems like something that would make a good mixer with beer or hard alcohol. The bottle design is pretty sharp, with two Almdudler-holics in funky hats looking straight from a Tin-Tin comic.

Company Website: Almdudler

4. Fentiman’s: Five interesting flavors

Fentimans is a British maker of botanically brewed, slightly fermented beverages. These are microbrewed, hand crafted soda for grownups. I’ve had all the flavors except Dandelion and Burdock (a purple one). They’re definitely interesting, but I have to admit the only ones I really can recommend are Curiosity Cola and Seville Orange Jigger. The others I really didnt’ care for, especially the Shandy.

Company Website: Fentimans

5. Blenheim Ginger Ale

This is ginger ale so spicy and hot you may choke, or certainly cough when ingested. Also be careful of the heat going up your sinuses. That said, this is stuff you have to sip carefully and not get too crazy about gulping down.

Company Website: Blenheim

6. China Cola

A real novelty, this is a cola where the flavor is created by a careful mix of Chinese herbs. Seems like a lot of effort for what’s basically a coke.

Company Website: Reed’s

7. Sprecher’s Orange Dream

From Wisconsin, this microbrewed orange soda comes in a hefty bottle with a cow mascot. It’s an orange cream with vanilla and honey. They also make cream soda, ginger ale, lo-cal root beer, Puma Kola, and Ravin’ Red.

Company Website: Sprecher Brewing Company

8. HiOsilver Oxygen Water

This water is infused with oxygen, and it’s not really carbonated. I’d say it tastes “fluffy.” I’m not exactly sure how the oxygen in the water is supposed to affect a person, because oxygen going in your lungs would give you a boost, but this water goes into your stomach. So I guess as a novelty, it’s great, but I can’t say I’d make it a regular beverage.

Company Website: HiOsilver Oxygen Water

9. Bovril

This is a truly odd drink that I only tried because of a comment regarding Marmite. It’s a British drink that is part Marmite, part beef stock. I put a spoonful into a mug and poured hot water on it, I think this is how you prepare “beef tea.” It tasted like drinking a warm soup stock with the distinctive smarmy yeast flavor peeking through.

The Awful

1. Black Lemonade

Black lemonade is a truly bizarre drink from Skeleteens. It’s an extremely tart, sour drink with so much blue coloring that it’s black. Beneath the lemonade taste there’s a crazy mix of herbs that I’m sure affected my brain and my heart in possibly dangerous ways. It will dye fabric, so watch out. Definitely for those with high teenage metabolisms that can down extreme energy beverages and not go into seizures.

Company Website: Skeleteens

2. Sanbitter

This is a bitter drink, bright red, that comes in a spiffy small bottle, probably because a larger portion would sour your entire meal. I’m not exactly sure what the purpose of this drink is, as it tastes like grapefruit juice run through a sweat sock.

3. Journey Siberian Sun Ginseng Brew

Journey makes some bizarre drinks, and this one, I’m not sure if I got a bad batch, but it’s particularly nasty. Sour, off tasting, and I think it’s supposed to be a ginger ale, but I’d put it somewhere in the neighborhood of carbonated lemonade, bark, and mushroom spores. The ingredients claim there’s cinnamon, ginseng, and damiana leaf, but I’m doubtful.

Company Website: Journey Food and Beverage

4. Kombucha Wonder Drink

This Kombucha Wonder Drink is described as “A Sparkling Himalayan Tonic” and a “blend of jasmine tea with essence of Niagara grape”. I like jasmine tea so picked this flavor over the peach. It’s a very odd drink, kind of sweet and sour, like a musky grape juice. Kombucha is some kind of funky mushroom. I suppose this is as close to a mushroom soda as you’ll get. And now you might get why I’m okay with the Bovril beef-Marmite brew.

Company Website: Kombucha Wonder Drink

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