Tag Archives: American sweet shop

The Kool Aid Experiment

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Along with Sea Monkeys, X-ray specs and Hostess Twinkies and Fruit Pies, one of the many strange and exotic things I was aware of as a child was Kool-Aid. I became aware of this drink via advertisements in American comic books, just like the other alien products that weren’t to be found in UK shops.

Perusing Marvel or DC comics, there would often be a tantalising advert for this fruit flavoured beverage. These images always grabbed me, with their lucid colours and bold statements. Not to mention the weird and wonderful flavours available: Tropical Punch, Watermelon – even Cherry and Grape sounded unbelievably strange to me.

Of course, it would be many years till I’d track down some of this fabled product, as it was nowhere to be found in UK shops. A while back, I picked up a sachet of Kool-Aid from one of those American sweet shops to try and make it properly.

Sachet
Jug

Yes, with Kool-Aid you need to actually make the drink, as it’s sold in powdered form. This isn’t easy, as the instructions are in American and they use quarts and cups and stuff. But with a bit of a Google, I was able to mix together a large jug of water, Kool-Aid powder and a ton of sugar. Not the healthiest of drinks, even though I was very cautious with the sugar.

The result was a fairly pleasant fruit flavoured drink, which was best served cold with ice. I chose the grape flavour as that was fairly out of the ordinary for a soft drink. It was a bit grainy due to the powder and not the easiest to mix. I was fairly hyper after all that sugar though.

In conclusion, I enjoyed my grape flavoured Kool Aid, but it didn’t set my world alight. It was an interesting experiment, but not one that I’m likely to repeat too soon. Too much faffing about, and I ended up with far too much of the purple juice. Still, I’ve now answered another yearning question from my childhood – I finally know what Kool Aid tastes like.

Root Beer

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I remember the glory days; back in the late 1980’s, when we used to be able to buy root beer in McDonald’s.  We used to go skateboarding, and always choose root beer to accompany our meal if ever we went to Ronald’s.

But root beer proved too bizarre a taste for the staid British market, and soon enough it was impossible to buy any from Maccies.  Around that time, I embarked on a long personal veto on visiting the burger clown (for several reasons, not just the drinks).

Eventually root beer started cropping up in some super markets, and with the arrival of American sweet shops cans of the stuff were available again.  It was like repealing prohibition, but prices were high. P_20140907_111836

Root beer is essentially a non-alcoholic (despite the name) fizzy drink.  It’s never quite translated well over here, unlike many of it’s soda compatriots.

To be fair, it is something of an acquired taste.  I’ve previously described root beer as tasting similar to Dandelion & Burdock with a whiff of Germolene.  It’s often compared to mouthwash.

Yet I (and many of my friends) have developed a love of the sweet fizzy stuff.  Perhaps it’s the thrill of the rare and exotic.  More likely, it the fact that root beer was featured in US comics, films and TV – so just like Twinkies they became a part of a fascinating pop culture.

And don’t forget that classic British skate punk band The Stupids were known to refer to it (see “Root Beer Death” on the Van Stupid album).

Top of the crop is A&W Root Beer.  I remember trying this for the first time on my trips to the USA some while ago.  I probably tried a few different brands, but this is the only one I recall.  This brew is smooth, not too fizzy and not too sweet.  Unfortunately it’s usually only available at a premium price from specialist sweet shops. root

A cheaper option, also from a US sweet shop, was the Day’s root beer.  This only came in at just under a quid.  However, it’s not quite the quality drink that A&W offer.

Another choice is Carters Refreshing Root Beer.  This can be purchased much more cheaply, in packs of six from your local Asda.  However, this version is cloyingly sweet to the novice, and not as mellow a taste.  Still, for the price and ease of purchase it’s worth checking out.

So there you have it: a synopsis of my love of root beer.  An under appreciated and derided beverage, it beats a cup of tea any day.  ‘Cos I hate tea, me.