Last Sunday, the third annual Summer Soda Tasting at Galco's Soda Pop Stop went down. A sequel in a series of annual soda tastings, an event very unique to LA's calendar. Sure, there's wine tastings all the time in LA, do you burp at them? The burps came. Oh, did they come and that is a pleasure you only get from drinking so much soda in an evening. As everyone at the event slowly built up their burp cache they were introduced to new sodas to try. A soda creation station that was much different than what everyone pictured in their head. Live music and the company of other drinkers of pop. Not to mention a large selection of hard to find different sodas a liquor to choose from. 
Seeing so many at Galco's was showing LA's love for soda pop. From Root Bear to Peach to Banana to Vanilla there were so many flavors to dance on your tongue as you waited in line for another taste. Bundaberg from Australia was the first table of pop, Peachee from them was my favorite. You did have to pass by Mountain Valley water first, if
you don't think water brand matters don't check out the entire section
devoted to it at Galcos. Next we had Hippo sodas with it's fine line of carbonated drinks and a large mammal on it's label. Off to Americana soda, is there anything more American? If it took place at the Americana on the Fourth of July, perhaps. Next we had O-So with a grape and root beer flavor to try out. A simple, but ingenious system of colored balloons directed to where you could purchase the sodas you tasted in large quantities inside Galco's, they were flying off the shelves. Let's not forget Galco's new Cherry soda from it's White Rose line, to sweet for me, but guzzled by many in approval.
What grabbed many patrons eyes, and then their tongues was the Soda Creation Station. My thoughts about it drifted onto something futuristic, a friend thought of a soda jerk behind a counter mixing it up for you. No, this task was open to you the consumer. In the correct order; grab a glass bottle and pour carbonated soda into it until reaching a certain level indicated on the bottle. Then choose from up to 80 flavors of syrups, so your soda can mix Cotton Candy with Coconut or how about a Peach, Lemon and Blueberry? It's a simple pump system, 9 pumps all together and your out. Now cap it with an easy to use cap contraption. Then write down what you want to call your soda. The kids and adults there drank it up. It's 2.99 a bottle, plus CRV and tax. You can recycle the bottles or keep it as reminder of the day you made your own soda.
Listen to the live music or maybe try out the Yelp booth's ring toss was what was left to do. I would like to see some growth, maybe food outside for sell or some soda based activities, like a soda race, shake it up and let a bottle fly or maybe something with the Mentos guys.
No matter, it still was a sophisticated soda saree of simple tastes that had you going, "mmmm" in delight, while burping every so often. Oh, how about a burping contest next year???!!!!
Benefiting the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition all proceeds from the event went to them.
more pics after the break
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| This Virgil logo looks like the start of a foreign film that's bleak and not safe for kids |