A typically untimely follow-up to this post – on that occasion we not only tried the «Nar», we not only tried the «Sourcherry», but we mixed the «Nar» and the «Sourcherry». Those were the days, my friend! When we still knew how to live!

Based in İzmir, (AKA Smyrna) Turkey, I suppose that the Dimes Company calls this one “Classic” in honor of all Smyrna’s former residents. You know – the ones who planted the cherry trees? The ones who were viciously burnt out of their homes, tortured, and then literally chased into the sea…? Yeah, cheers to them guys. Thanks for the juice.

If you can, imagine 7up as it was in the pre-HFCS era. That’s Çamlıca: Turkish 7up. But, for me, citrus flavoring and pine tree/snowflake imagery sorta contrast.

Tamek brand Sour Cherry Nectar is only 35% juice, but even hypersweet cherry juice is delicious, and Tamek cuts the recipe with lemon to compensate. Sadly lacking in carbonation, though.

Interestingly, the can of Çamlıca provides bilingual information… in Turkish and Greek. I’m at a loss over this. Who’s the intended audience? Certainly not the few hundred Greek-speakers in Northern Cyprus, nor the couple thousand in Turkey proper. The Northern Aegean black market? I HAVE NO IDEA. It’s weird.

Meanwhile, Tamek pursues the standard Turk food-labeling language conventions, but diplomatically adds Arabic to the usual list.

Then I went to sleep. But not before brushing my teeth.

Just in time for QuineFest, 2008, here’s Rutgers-endorsed, Tomasello Winery’s cranberry wine.
Yeah that was a stretch. So?

Though a mere 9% alcohol, this wine is made from 100% real cranberries. No apple, no grape, no grāpple. It’s AMAZING.

The Tomasello Winery people seem nice too. Third-generation family owned with a whole huge line of products. Of special interest to me, though, are the fruit wines: Cranberry, cherry, blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, and pomegranate. Must COLLECT THEM ALL.

So, laugh not at the idea of New Jersey wineries! Even if they host a few weddings on the side.

This wonderful drink is bettered only by the homemade raki provided by Adonis’ 90-year-old Cretan step-grandfather. Mr. Very Old Man adds sour cherry juice to his moonshine, and bottles it in even sketchier containers than the one depicted above.

Chios is a strange one amongst Greek islands. Yeah, it’s got the inevitable picturesque port… but with an old, mostly intact mosque/minaret hovering overhead, and a Mohammedan cemetery nearby. It’s got clunky, mediæval towns and fine, sandstone homes. [All photos by me; thank you-thank you.]

The island is also known for serious tragedy, catastrophe, cherries, and mastic (μαστίχα)!

I tried some cherry juice (in the village of Kambos) but it was way oversugared. It’s foolish to bottle a sour cherry juice only to sweeten it.

Then I tried MAST, mastic-flavored soda. It’s a “Refreshing, Sparkling Drink with Mastic“, and it is totally AMAZING. Even worth traveling to this depressing little island just to drink.

It tastes like carbonated WD-40.

[PS - When on Chios, in Chios Town, I recommend Pizza Palace. Out-of-place, I know - but trust me: they serve good food.]

As far as I know, there is no stereotype associated with pineapple soda…

And certainly one cannot generalize about those connoisseurs of black cherry soda…

So I am left with nothing to say but that Big Shot grape soda is totally disgusting. Of course.
But, then, I’m not really part of the target demographic.

I took one sip, dumped out the rest, and ate my candy instead.

Mmm.

I was reading a (pathetic, but somehow highly-recommended) novel recently. The protagonist, a former expat returned to America, describes a situation that seems familiar to me:

“In the Low Countries, I’d developed a taste for refermented fruit beers. These were as expensive here as they were ridiculous, in the land of the thin, frozen pilsner. But a kriek was a lot cheaper than a round-trip ticket. I ordered a bottle, which the bartender had to dust off.”

And, from the same book, but on cognitive science:

“A brain tangled enough to tackle itself must be too tangled to tackle.”

Agreed.

{Confidential: ευχαριστώ πολύ ! to ξ who hooked me up with a super-rare LP I’ve been searching out for about a decade.

Not just a song, but a landmark piece of COWPUNK HISTORY. Odd accompaniment for kriek beer.}

“BENEFITS OF CONSUMER:

unique quality

differentiation from the mass

stability in flavour

Greek character

separate choice”

ΕΨΑ (Epsa) is famous for its lemonade in a fancy glass bottle, but I tried the Bυσσινάδα (sour cherry drink) instead.
It’s too sweet, and only 20% juice.

But to present the opposing point of view, here’s a jingle:

Six generations in the same family (erm, the Luxardo family). I can’t even begin to go into the “company history”, etc. Thankfully – they have a website now: http://www.luxardo.it/ .
Look it up if you care so much.

For 500ml of some of the most outstanding tasting cherry eau-de-vie, I will gladly (occasionally) pay the 750ml price. Jeez – I would buy it just for the label. I mean…
I did buy it just for the label. And because it came in a box.
Most fancy alcohols that come in a box are going to be good. But this one is guaranteed.
Delicious cherry flavour! Beautiful bottle! Family owned! Brandy!

It’s odd tasting stuff too.
I can’t really describe it,
except to say that it is…
not like anything else.
Sorry – best I can do.
Strong artificial overtones to it –
like everything else in the South.

From the bottle: “Smooth as a Southern gent,
and sassy as a Southern belle…
A drink for individuals bold enough to set the pace.”

Ugh.

The name is beyond stoopid.

My beloved Georgian cherry juice!
The one made by “Gorkoni”.
The best litre of cherry juice
I’ve ever had!
Poured into a small glass, I couldn’t even see through it!

Cherry season was probably a little off this year.
Georgians are preoccupied at the moment.
They are making a good try, right now, at not containing any more conservatives.
Vive la Georgie libre!

Thankfully, I was in a part of town where I was easily distracted by “ethnic groceries”.

There was the Samoan shop that had cacao (that’s chocolate) beans, which you are supposed to roast, and sugar, and make a drink out of. The Samoan ladies were very instructive on the finer points of the process, but I wonder if they eat them raw instead, too? I do.

Then there was the Russian grocery where I bought several different bottles of juice from several different countries: cherry juice (Georgia)
blueberry juice (Belarus)

and pomegranate juice (Azerbaijan).

I also got candy.

Another non-textile high point was a typical drive-thru coffee shop which had an atypical item on their menu: caffeine-added coffee. (Some of us may remember, during the “hi-tech” 1990s, when A/V stores were selling, not only hardware, but consumables to wanna-be techies. I mean food products at the Best Buy. The most practical item was Shock Coffee. Caffeine-enriched coffee beans. It tasted okay. They’re still in business?!Shock!).

The drive-thru’s brand of 50%-more-caffeine coffee is called “EAGLE VISION”
which would be nonsensical if you didn’t notice that this coffee drive-thru’s logo
is an eagle and an American flag, which seems nonsensical in any case.

I ordered my usual of two shots of espresso with ice.

The coffee is what I would call a “goal oriented” drink.

My friend said that hers tasted like cigarettes.