Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray Soda

If you've been to a Panera Bread in your lifetime, chances are you've seen Dr. Brown's soda. The Black Cherry and Root Beer are fairly common flavors and quite tasty, but their most popular and rarest (oxymoron?) is the Cel-Ray soda, a soda derived from the extract of celery seeds. I did a little research, and the good doctor has been pumping out this celery flavored tonic since 1869 and was originally developed to give nutrients to immigrant children. Why not just give them some celery? Because science. Apparently this particular soda was so popular among the New York Jewish community in the 1930s that it became known as "Jewish Champagne." There's a lot of history involved in a soda based on something that only tastes good with cream cheese slathered on it. Today, unless you're in New York or Florida, you'll find it pretty hard to stumble across a bottle of Cel-Ray. But is it worth seeking out?

Appearance:

Well it's green, which...I guess...means celery. We're reminded twice that this beverage has been around since 1869, and the front features a small photo of people crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. I'm assuming in 1869. And I'm assuming it's because they had a cravin' for some cel-ray soda. It's interesting to note that it is actually made with celery seeds. Not like the peanut butter soda that blatantly lied to my face and tasted like sugary peanut water. I'm not gonna lie - I'm pretty excited to try this one.





Smell/First Sip:
I take a whiff and the two things I smell are sugar and very very faintly, celery. I don't know if this is my mind
playing tricks on me because I have celery on the brain, but it definitely had a mild celery smell. I've never typed the word "celery" this many times in one sitting in my life. Brace yourself Jewish Champagne, I'm going in. (sips). That's...interesting. It's heavily carbonated, and you can feel the bubbles on the way down your throat. I DO taste celery, and it's not an overly sweet flavor mixed in. I guess the best way to explain it would be if you blended ginger ale with celery and then took out half the sugar. Shalom!

Drinkability/Overall:
One of my favorite Gatorade flavors is Cucumber-Lime because there's a fresh vegetable hint mixed in with the fruity flavor. It's really refreshing. The same can be said for Cel-Ray Soda. It's fresh, has a hint of celery that's not overpowering, and it works as a soda. This might be my favorite (read: only good one ever) beverage I've tried on the Soda Shack thus far. So...yea...not a very funny review I guess, but thanks Dr. Brown!

                                                            "You're welcome, Matt."

Milo: Chocolate Nutritional Energy Drink

Well...this one's been in my fridge for months and it about to expire, so what the hell? It's Milo time. (Get it? Like Miller Time? Get it?). At first I thought this was a celebrity endorsed beverage by some famous soccer player named Milo, but I was terribly wrong. It's an amalgamation of different countries that you rarely hear together in a conversation. It originated in Australia in the 1930s as a powdered product, is distributed in energy drink form by the American company, Nestle, is manufactured in Malaysia, is most popular in Singapore, and was found in the Mexican section of my local grocery store. Dear God, Milo - how many cultures put their blood, sweat and tears into making this can just so a fat, white kid can make fun of it?

Appearance:
Milo is still mostly consumed around the world in its powdered form (much like Nestle Quick), but we're lucky enough here in the states to enjoy the green 8oz can of pure milk juice. The fancy can also features not famous not soccer player, Milo celebrating his huge milk drinking victory. I looked on Wikipedia to see how it was made, but it was quite literally an entire essay of information including words like hygroscopic, theobromine, and thick opaque syrup obtained from malted wheat barley. Yep. On second thought, I don't need to know how it's made. Let's drink.



Smell/First Sip:
I crack it open and DAMMIT, I forgot to shake well! If it sucks, it's on me this time. It smells a lot like Nestle Quick. And seeing as it's made from the same company, it's probably the exact same thing with caffeine. (here goes) It's quite chocolaty and is quite a bit thicker than I imagined it would be. The best thing I can compare it to would be if you leave your chocolate ice cream out in the sun and try and sip up the soupy remains. It's tasty, but I still don't feel like playing soccer.

Drinkability:
It's been around since the 30s, so who am I to judge? But I definitely think it's strangely marketed. This is a tasty chocolate drink more akin to being the awesome thing the cool kid sneaks over at a sleepover for eight year olds. When I was a kid and my friends and I would create our own energy drinks to stay up, it would usually end up tasting something like this. I certainly don't see a fit athlete swiggin' some Milo and then scoring the winning soccer goal, but who knows, maybe things are different in Singapore/Australia/Malaysia/Mexico. Who am I to say?

Overall: 
It's no thirst quencher, but I like the taste. Now that I've had my Milo, I'm off to play some soccer with the Quick Bunny and Stuart Little. Until next time friends.