The County Bounty Farm, Artisanal Soda, Picton, Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada (0% Alcohol) Available from various places $3.50 (355ml bottle)
Living with a partner who is very publicly in recovery and who also runs a hugely successful women’s lifestyle website, you probably wouldn’t be surprised to hear that we see a plethora of soft drinks delivered to our door by myriad PR agencies.
However, what may surprise you is that I make an effort to have a small taste of each and every sample that arrives.
Despite not having anything close to the proverbial sweet tooth, I do have a passionate love for aromas, flavours, and textures, and so I do enjoy sampling all of the juices and pops that arrive week after week. Now saying that, this is the very first time I have felt moved to scribe something for Good Food Revolution about one of them…
These particular sodas weren’t actually samples, but something that my partner had picked up at this year’s One Of A Kind show. I saw them lurking in the side door of the fridge and was immediately drawn to their very attractive packaging. Not wanting to catch an earful for guzzling her special fizzy pops, I asked if I could have a wee taste, and I am extremely glad that I was granted the opportunity as these artisanal sodas turned out to be everything I ever wished for in a soft drink.
Crafted with real fruit and sugar and preserved with only natural stuff, these sodas somehow really managed to capture the expressive fresh fruits and botanicals in a manner that have never experienced previously. Whilst they are inherently “sweet” I didn’t find them in any way cloying, such was the vibrancy of the natural flavours contained within each bottle by some kind of almost supernatural stasis.
The Lavender/Lemon/Basil seasonal was particularly stunning, somehow transporting me right back to the lazy, hazy heat of this past summer, something that was most welcome in these grey, damp, and chilly days as we fall into the Canadian winter.
Looking at their website I see that they quite an expansive range, and I’m intrigued to try more than the three I recently sampled. I also spy that they have a Seasonal Soda Sippers Society, a subscription whereby one can have access to some exclusive small batch sodas.
In my household that sounds like the perfect Xmas gift for a lady very close to my heart…
Whilst I won’t be giving up my wine and beer just yet, these are really quite sensational, and certainly worth picking up. Terrific stuff… who would have thought I’d be giving a soft drink a full five apples?
(Five out of a possible five apples)
Edinburgh-born/Toronto-based Sommelier, consultant, writer, judge, and educator Jamie Drummond is the Director of Programs/Editor of Good Food Revolution… And those are really quite delicious. More please!
