When I was a Disney obsessive! One of the things we used to really look forward to was the food and drinks at the theme parks. Believe it or not they serve more than Coke, Burgers and Chips. Sometimes these hidden details with in the shops become legendary, but until they are tested you’ll never know. We decided to hunt out some Beamish secret beverages and give them a try!
4 Flavours of Carbonated Drinks at Beamish
The Drinks are available from the new Chemist shop that recently opened in the main Town at Beamish. The Aerated water Drinks are available from the shop in between the chemist and the photographers. It has been set up by the son of William Smith, the chemist. We spotted them for sale when the Chemist first opened, but like most people just walked by and into the photographers. Partially as it was all new, but also as there was a long queue of people just funneling through.
The building is based upon a listed building in Durham City, on Elvet Bridge.
Smith and Son’s Aerated waters, started producing their own brand fizzy water drinks. They were sold with the belief they had medicinal properties. While chemists also had easy access to the chemicals needed to make the water fizz, plus infuse the syrups.
Codd Bottles
In 1872, Hiram Codd of London, invented a glass bottle that housed a marble, which when filled with a carbonated liquid would create a seal against a rubber ring within the lip of the neck. To open the bottle, you would whack the glass marble down and break the seal. This is the origination of the term “Codd’s Wallop!”
Windermere Waters Flavours
The flavours may change seasonally, but on the day of our tasting, we were able to buy Kola, Lemonade, Raspberry and Sarsaparilla. When ordering a drink the chemist would add a portion of the syrup of your choice into a glass bottle, then top it up with carbonated water. The lid would be sealed and a simple rotation of the bottle mixed the drink. You could sort of say that it was a predecessor of the Soda Stream.
Kola – The Kola isn’t spelled wrong it is the traditional spelling, was light in colour compares to the dark drink we get today. It had similarities to its modern incarnation, but was sweeter and slightly fruitier.
Lemonade – The Lemonade was very much like a modern-day cloudy lemonade. It was sweetened and didn’t have too sharp a lemon taste.
Raspberry – The Raspberry was a very mild flavouring and my least favourite flavour. It has a raspberry aftertaste, but wasn’t as strong a flavour as a summer fruits cordial.
Sarsaparilla – This was a winner in our family, every one loved it, which was great for the kids. The name didn’t indicate the flavour of the drink, which initially made them very cautious. We try to get them to experiment with new experiences and this was the underlying one from this taste test. Abigail seemed very excited when she tasted it. It was very comparable to Dandelion and Burdock which is a good old classic fizzy pop.
The drinks weren’t cheap, but for £2.60 per serving you got a choice of flavour and a souvenir bottle. You had the option to leave it sealed to take home, but he advice was that it should be drank on the day of purchase.
Next time you’re at Beamish buy one and see what you family think and let us know.
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