I love it with bourbon but don’t want to support genocide… Tried pepsi zero, not the same and they work with sodastream…
85% of products you buy of literally anything in some form benefits towards those who do fucked up shit. You can’t avoid it.
Iced Tea
Cheerwine Zero exists. It is a black cherry flavored soda. Idk if it is available outside of the SE USA, where I live. Wikipedia says “It has been produced since 1917, claiming to be ‘the oldest continuing soft drink company still operated by the same family.’” So, maybe less evil? I do know it tastes quite good.
Fritz Kola super zero
Make the spice syrup at home and mix that directly into your bourbon then carbonate the results and add water as needed.
It will be a million times better and you’ll only need to make new syrup a few times a year.
An example recipe is here https://www.flavorlab.xyz/recipes/cola
Kombucha can scratch that soda itch for me. Humm makes some good ones and is not on the boycott list.
There are also Italian sodas you can make with syrup and sparkling water, let’s you choose the strength of the sweetness too
Find some local alternatives. There’s so many craft sodas out there these days.
My favorites around here are Northern Sodas, Lift Bridge, and 1919 Root Beer. Holy shit, pony kegs of 1919 are the best thing ever.
Edit: I forgot about Sprecher Soda somehow. Their Green River is. The. Best. Soft. Drink.
Almost all soda is produced by a corporation run by psychopaths. Your best bet is to stop drinking soda.
While it is a fair point that there’s no ethical consumerism under capitalism and soda is bad for you, I still want a drink and bourbon goes quite well with coke. I just hope to not support a company actively supporting genocide. I’d hope that’s a low bar for companies but you’re right it may not be.
don’t go for similar - nothing will taste close to your favorite.
find something new that you love.
asparthame is the zero-cal sweetener that tastes the best to us, so try Clear American flavored waters at Walmart
Sucralose tastes better and is healthier. SAMs club colas are pretty good
Healthier how? Every independent study comparing sugar substitutes I’ve ever read puts aspartame as the healthiest/safest.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/sucralose-vs-aspartame#bottom-line
Citations state they came from PubMed.
Tap water.
I used to drink a lot of carbonated drinks but after I gave them up, I don’t miss them.
I mix mine with my hopes & dreams for the future.
Yeah OP, just mix tap water with your bourbon!
The taste and quality of tap water varies hugely where you are. I find hard water particularly unpleasant.
bourbon and water? eh
Try a Old Fashioned.
Very good as well but I love the fizz
I guess I could carbonate one lol
If you after carbonated go a whiskey highball.
Having said this an old fashioned is my go-to as i am a neat scotch drinker typically and this fits well (especially while i am out somewhere and dont want to pay “bar prices” for scotch).
And since the old fashioned is a bit flexible i migrate from rye to bourbon to scotch and loop back again, it keeps it interesting and its super simple if you want to drink it at home.
All you need is bourbon/scotch/rye, bitters, cherry or orange peel & simple syrup (make your own with sugar+water).Too sweet? Use less simple syrup or use rye whiskey.
More flavour? Use more bitters.
Like smokey? Squeeze the orange peel zest over a lighter flameHaha. I haven’t tried it myself, but I’ve heard carbonated oaked spirits are not that good.
Does your local grocery store have store brand softdrinks? They can taste similar. Our local store has good quality store brand products that are sometimes better than their name brand counterparts. Obviously if you only have Walmart, then that’s not a model corporation and you’re out of luck.
Yes! Is there one you could recommend?
would doctor pepper work. not sure about near you but they are constantly on loss leader here. it was sorta funny. they were cheap then they got second place in colas and the sales went away. I bet their sales dropped because after a few months they came roaring back. It has a nice taste like a cherry cola but lighter.
I totally didn’t think of them! Unfortunately I just checked and they’re also made by coke…
Dr Pepper is owned by Keurig, not coke.
I was gonna suggest Jones soda, but they seem to be owned by a chain of increasingly weird weed and crypto parent companies now.
Lime and Soda, raspberry lemonade
non-sweetened grapefruit sparking water is a good mixer for ryes and bourbons imo