Fresh Squeezed Flavor

The first taste is lavender, but as the bubbles hit your tongue a hint of lemon comes through and a twang of ginger tickles up into your nose. The last, lingering flavor is of sweet, natural honey. No, it’s not a fancy new champagne or sparkling cocktail—it’s a Lemon Lavender and Ginger Pop Soda and, man, is it good.

Pop Soda, based in Moretown, is only one of a number of gourmet sodas made in Vermont, but there’s something about this one that stands out. Maybe it’s the combination of flavors. Forget old standbys like root beer and cola; Pop Sodas are unique.

Besides Lemon Lavender and Ginger, they also make Citrus Hibiscus and Mint Lime. Citrus Hibiscus is the most popular among kids, perhaps due to the fun pink color, or possibly because it’s the mildest on the palate of the three. The first thing you notice when tasting it is the smell of honey—Vermont honey—and the hibiscus flower is very light, really more of an aroma, a flowery finish at the end. The Mint Lime has a much bolder flavor, the mint and citrus blending nicely with a good dose of pure cane sugar to round them out. Think virgin mojito. Think cool breeze on a hot August afternoon.

John Craven, president of Bevnet Magazine, describes these drinks as having “a nice balance between a really natural, good flavor, and just being refreshing. It was, in fact, our unofficial runner-up for the best carbonated beverage of 2005.”

Their flavors stand out. While they pride themselves on being all-natural, Pop Soda is not afraid to make their soda tasty. Unlike some of the other all-naturals, they use pure cane sugar in addition to Vermont honey. They also make small batches, about 80 cases at a time. Run out of an old distillery, the entire company roster is only three people: Lara Lonon and Jim Robison, the husband and wife who began Pop Soda three years ago, and Chris Lonon, Lara’s brother, who moved here from Colorado to help them keep up with orders. Despite their tiny size and little-to-no advertising exposure Pop Soda has been growing quickly—sales have quadrupled in recent years.

Perhaps one of the biggest reasons for this is simply the great taste of Pop Soda. Not only are their flavors unique; they’re made from scratch. With most soda manufacturers, even the all-naturals, a flavor would begin with one or several little bottles of extract, purchased from a flavor supplier. At Pop Soda, Lara and Jim skip the middleman and extract all their own flavors on site. For both the lavender and hibiscus drinks, for example, the flowers go right into the kettle. The ginger, cane sugar, honey, mint—same thing. Even the fruits are squeezed on premise. The carbonation process is deferent, as well. Once the syrup has been created, it is poured into a tank along with filtered water, and then a long metal coil is inserted to produce an extreme cold that refrigerates it all. They then carbonate the entire brew, ”Like a beer would be,” says Lara. “People always tell us that our carbonation is different. It’s like the size of the bubble.”

That’s true. Drinking one of their sodas, you’ll notice that the bubbles explode more on your tongue than in your throat, as they would with a mainstream soda. It’s a different kind of fizzy.

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From raw ingredients to bottled soda, the entire process takes three to four days, a tight schedule that seems to keep the flavors remarkably fresh. “It just tastes really good. Forget all-natural. I’m not a big all-natural person,” says Beth Mills, a Burlington resident (and mom) and a regular drinker of Pop Soda. “I guess I was intrigued by the label, and tried it, and it just tastes really, really good.”

Pop Soda does have visual appeal. “Stores are always telling us, ‘your soda stands out, so people will try it.’ Yes, it can be good inside but no one’s ever going to pick it up….” Lara says. The labels are eye catching: using bold contrasting colors like purple, red, green, and yellow, they stand out from everything else on a soda shelf.

Jim is the artist of the group; he came up with the basic design of the labels and then Bonnie Atwater at Atwater Designs gave them a professional, polished look. But is that enough? John Craven of BevNet says he does wonder whether Pop Soda has a real mainstream market waiting for it. “Then again,” he adds, “they could be on the cutting edge of something. It reminds me of the first days of microbrewery beers.”

He also refers to their Vermont-minded business practices, such as buying locally, saying he could see them being the “next Ben & Jerry’s.”

It’s an interesting comparison. Pop Soda does share many of the community-focused values as the Waterbury-based ice cream company: local ingredients when possible, a commitment to livable wages and to environmentally friendly practices. And the Pop Soda plant, like Ben & Jerry’s, is a nice place to visit, with a bright and welcoming storefront right at the junction of routes 100 and 2; flavor tastings are offered in the summer.

But Pop Soda won’t likely be hosting festivals and concerts anytime soon. “We’re not looking to be huge,” says Lara. “We got into this to create a quality of life for us and whoever is working with us.

A refreshing outlook—and one that seems to guide their entire business. As Jim and Lara describe their operation, they often add things like, “We were really fortunate to find,” or “so and so hooked us up with….” You get the feeling that their success has a lot to do with their ability to improvise and their friendly attitude.

Lara and Jim are quick to credit their family, who helped them get started with loans, and the area people and businesses who have helped them along the way.

“If we’ve ever had to call any of those guys, [local soda-makers and breweries] they always help out however they can—which is just so cool,” Lara says.

What’s next for Pop Soda? With popularity on the rise you may soon see another flavor. The drink also has a growing reputation as a cocktail mixer. “People mix it with beer and wine, rum…we just mix it with vodka,” says Lara, “It’s got fresh squeezed everything.” She’s quick to add, though, that while it’s a great soda for adults it’s not meant to be an adult soda.

“It’s nice to be the first soda that a kid has tried because their mom or dad thinks that’s okay,” Lara says. “We are just trying to make something that is good.”