British brews…without booze

Yesterday, I was in the merry old town of Lawrence and stopped in to see what English delicacies I could find at Brits, the purveyor of British goods at 929 Massachusetts Street. I was looking primarily for Cadbury chocolates (I have a weakness for Cadbury’s Coffee Crisp bars) for myself, and since I was scheduled to appear on The Walt Bodine Show the following morning, a delicious chocolate Yorkie Bar as a present for British-born Kim Noble, the midday host on KCUR 89.3. I happened to look in the refrigerated case and saw a can of something I’d never heard of: Ben Shaws’ Dandelion and Burdock Soda. I decided to bring a can of this odd-sounding beverage to Kim as well.

 Kim isn’t the only native Brit working the sound board at KCUR these days. One of the station’s interns is Jamie Medlicott, who was much more amused by the dandelion and burdock soda than Kim was. Kim had heard of the soda but had never tasted one.

Jamie Medlicott

Jamie had tasted this particular brand of soda before: “It tastes like sarsaparilla,” he said.

Kim made a face because she doesn’t like sarsaparilla. I do like sarsaparilla, but the description I found of Ben Shaws’ Dandelion and Burdock Soda that I found online didn’t sound so much like that (although it is a dark-colored soda pop). The blog Weird Soda Review — which only sounds like it might be written by Fat City’s Owen Morris — described the soda like this:

“Cola-like, with an earthy bite and an intensely sour aftertaste. Doesn’t particularly taste like lawn. Not bad, really. Effectively a licorice soda over a not-ver-sweet lemon-lime soda.”

Noble put it more succinctly: “It tastes like fizzy, carbonated cough syrup.”

Medlicott told me that Ben Shaw still manufactures beverages “that aren’t in fashion anymore.” That must be true. The repertoire of Ben Shaw flavors include Bitter Shandy, Cloudy Lemonade, Quince & Nettles. Jamie took a swig from the can: “It’s worse than I remembered,” he said. “But it is made from weeds.”

Donna Wolfe

I had also discovered a completely different soft drink in the cooler case at Brits: a bottle of JCS Reggae-Style Ginger Beer, which I bought to give to another local radio station personality: Donna Wolfe, the longtime host of Roots-Wise Reggae on 90.1 KKFI. Donna loves ginger but had never tasted ginger beer before.

“It’s delicious,” she said, “and very gingery.”

I love ginger, so the next time I go to Brits, I’m bringing home a JCS Reggae-Style Ginger Beer for me. I’ll pass on the dandelion and burdock brew.