Coke and Pepsi are out; small batch, craft soda is in. While sales for mass-produced sodas are on a steady decline, people are turning to the more natural versions offered by smaller producers. And breweries are getting in on the action. Here are seven beer makers that also make tasty soda.
Oskar Blues
Longmont, Colorado
Soda Styles: Many
Oskar Blues makes an entire line of sodas under the brand B. Stiff and Sons. The brewery started with a root beer, but this spring expanded the brand with a ginger beer, cream ale, orange cream and black cherry. They even revamped their original root beer recipe, cutting 20% of the sugar. I got to try the B. Stiff and Sons Ginger Beer recently, and dug the extra spice I found inside the can.
Abita Brewing Company
Covington, Louisana
Soda Style: Root Beer, Cream Soda and a Hard Root Beer
Abita uses spring water, herbs, vanilla and yucca, which creates an extra foamy soda. They also use local cane sugar, because apparently, there’s tons of cane sugar in Louisiana. In addition to the root beer, Abita also makes a Vanilla Cream Soda that follows the same hand-crafted mold, but manages to be gluten free. You can even buy Bayou Bootlegger, a boozed up version of their root beer.
Sprecher Brewing
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Soda Style: So Many Styles
While Sprecher follows Wisconsin’s fine tradition of brewing beer, the brewery is also the king of craft soda, producing an uber popular root beer along with every other flavor you could imagine. They even do seasonal release sodas. Check out their summer Strawberry right now, and when fall rolls around, make a point to try their Red Apple.
