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Mt.
Angel Brewing Company sodas can be found at Zupan's
markets and Made in Oregon stores (various
locations).
For more information,
visit the Mt. Angel Brewing Company's website at www.mtangelbrewing.com.
Mount Angel, Oregon--the name conjures up Norman Rockwell-esque
images of a town where Sheriff Taylor and Deputy Fife still
patrol without their guns. When you stop at the local diner
for a home-cooked meal, Lucy Mae, the waitress, might suggest
you wash down your lunch with one of Mt. Angel Brewing Company's
locally produced sodas.
Now, I'm a hardcore soda drinker, the sort of weirdo who
knows the difference between Dr. Pepper and Mr. Pibb and
is prepared to expound at length on the topic. In other
words, I don't take my carbonated beverages lightly. For
a city slicker such as myself, the idea of specialty crafted,
microbrewed soda seems kind of quaint--like the kids down
the street from my place with the lemonade stand. Mt. Angel
Brewing Company got started in the world of microbrewed
sodas in 1995. Its flagship brew was the well-received Old
Fashioned Rootbeer. With growing sales, the independently
owned and operated business has recently added a few new
flavors drawn right from the fruits of our great state--locally
grown marionberry and hazelnut, for instance. Unlike the
big daddies, Coke and Pepsi, each batch of microbrewed soda
takes about eight hours to craft.
The lightly carbonated Orange Cream Soda tastes
just like a melted-down Creamsicle. It's perfect for battling
the summer heat; it conjures up memories of chasing down
the ice-cream man. With just the right mix of orange and
vanilla flavor, it isn't sickeningly sweet; rather, it relies
on natural extracts used in the brewing process to provide
its sugary kick.
Many sodas that claim to be berry-flavored taste nothing
like the fruit that inspires them, but MABC's Marionberry
Soda tastes surprisingly like the real thing. With a
tart punch and a slightly less sweet taste than the Orange
Cream, the Marionberry is also a bit more carbonated. Its
lack of overpowering sweetness magnifies the unique, tart
flavor of the marionberries.
By far the most far-out of MABC's three new flavors--and
the least satisfying--is Hazelnut Cream. At first
there seems to be a root-beer-like flavor, but that's just
the hazelnuts talking; they provide an odd, nutty taste
that never really grew on me. The mix of vanilla cream is
overpowering, making for a too-sweet combination that does
not go down smoothly. This was the first soda I'd ever swigged
that gave me the equivalent of the ol' bitter-beer wince.
All the same, given the wide assortment of alternative
soft drinks on the market, from the caffeine-fueled Red
Bull to the so-sweet-they-burn-your-throat Voodoo Rain products,
it's nice to have something low-key on the shelves that's
not only local but a bit more wholesome and old-fashioned
than the rest.
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