With the latest Grape Soda Formula Sheet post, I have almost completed all the core soda flavours with just a few left. Irn Bru, a root beer redo, Crystal Pepsi, and possibly Mountain Dew are the only ones left.
Mountain Dew is difficult because it contained brominated vegetable oil (BVO), a density modifier that was restricted in the 1970s. It took Mountain Dew’s lab people 40-plus years to reformulate it without BVO with another product called SAIB. We may be able to get close using the transparent emulsion method, but remember, I’m just one guy with a tiny budget. If it took them 40 years, give me at least a few months. (🫤)
Also, recreating modern flavours, like the long list of energy drink flavours, can be difficult. Most of the flavours listed below have some historical clues which help point me in the right direction. Recreating a flavour from scratch takes a lot of time and materials to get it correct, and even then, it will never taste exactly like the real thing. I want to encourage exploration and experimentation because in a world with infinite flavour combinations, there are only a few hundred common beverages. We can add to it.
Looking at the list below, if you have suggestions for a flavour you’d like to see or a topic you would like me to tackle, please post them in the comments below. This content is driven by patrons like you, so feel free to have a say.
Soda Content Completed
✓ Grape
✓ Root beer
✓ Cola
✓ Diet Cola
✓ Dr Pepper
✓ Lemon Lime (Sprite/7-Up)
✓ Ginger Ale
✓ Cream Soda
✓ Orange Soda
✓ Cherry
✓ Grapefruit
✓ Mineral Water/Club Soda
✓ Tonic Water
✓ Energy Drink
✓ Moxie
✓ Tarhun
✓ Fernet Soda
Flavours Completed
✓ Pineapple
✓ Coconut
✓ Bubble Gum
✓ Banana
✓ Strawberry
✓ Blueberry
✓ Cake Flavour
✓ Vanilla
With this list, you could easily start your own beverage company or just enjoy a really cool hobby.
Next Phase
The next phase for the YouTube channel is to continue exploring flavour development while also expanding the audience. The last video on ageing flavours was my 100th YouTube video after 4 years, and the channel is still quite small, garnering only about 1000 views per day, with 20% of that from the energy drink video. The list above hits all the popular soda-type beverages, but that hasn’t translated into a larger audience. I get the science element doesn’t connect with most people, but if you want to make products like the commercial players, this is the only way to do it. I believe this content is important, but I also want to reach a larger audience. I think everyone wants a sense of success, including me.
Do you want more deep-dive Patreon-exclusive content or more general YouTube content? Or cocktails or distillation? I do want to start doing some live-streams, as I think it would be a good way to answer questions. I get a lot of questions.
Comment and let me know where you think we should go.