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Um, rivka, you need to shop up here, too. Or let us know when you want some cream soda if we're going to see you and we'll pick you up some.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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It's actually a Michigander thing, not a Wisconsinite thing, and was developed in Detroit; in fact, legend has it that it was the first franchised carbonated soft drink. There's one chain here in Wisconsin that sells Vernor's in plastic 2-liters, but due to the lower pressure of those containers, the drink doesn't hold its fizz well enough. (And as anyone who's had proper Vernor's will tell you, the truly extreme carbonation is half the point. If you haven't had Vernor's from a keg, long-neck bottle, or reinforced can, you haven't had Vernor's.)
I can't really explain why it's the best ginger ale in the world, except to say that -- like Sprecher's -- it's more of a ginger beer that happens to have vanilla and sugar in it. (It's a golden ginger ale, rather than one of those cheap and flavorless "dry" ginger ales; it's meant to be drunk on its own rather than mixed with something.) It's sharp, rather pungent, and is so incredibly fizzy that drinking it from a brandy snifter can create a quite passable high.
Sadly, it is no longer possible to get the Vernor's of my childhood. In the late '80s, the company was purchased by A&W -- a company which makes a decent cream soda and a truly awful root beer -- and the original formula abandoned. While the current version is passable, the original actually required that the drink age four years in oak casks. Seriously. Obviously, that sort of expensive step didn't fit in with A&W's desire to turn Vernor's into a major national brand, so they scrapped it -- and, in so doing, sacrificed a lot of the dark richness of the original pop.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Oh, more things you can't get from around here: root beer, vanilla coke and cherry coke.
And I've been to America, so I can tell you can't get real bread there. They just sell wierd American breads that, well, simply don't taste so good.
Posts: 247 | Registered: Dec 2006
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Vernor's Ginger Ale was actually a mistake, or more accurately, an accident. Mr. Vernor made ginger ale in his soda shop. He had a batch brewing in an oak barrel and was called off to join in the war. When he returned from the war, the ginger ale had aged in the oak keg and had taken on a distinctive flavor.
I've only had Vernor's in a can, and of the recent variety, so I can't say what the original tasted like, but I wasn't too impress with the Vernor's I had. Again, it wasn't bad, it just didn't coincide with my idea of what ginger brew should taste like. I like mine nice and HOT!
Probably the best ginger brew in the USA is Blenheim's, made in South Carolina. I've actually had a couple of cases ship from there to Minnesota. Absolutely the pure essense of ginger brew perfection, based on my tastes. The cost of shipping was two or three times the cost of the ginger drink itself. Though even with the inflated price, it was still roughly what I pay for premium soft drinks that I buy locally.
Probably the only thing hotter that Blenheim's 'Old #3 Hot' is genuine Jamacan Ginger Brew. Never had it, but would love to try it. I'm told it will literally set your mouth on fire.
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*Semi-sweet chocolate in every form, including chocolate chips *nacho chips, salsa, and everything else Mexican-specific *French bread & baguettes (we can get French bread here, but that's because it's called French bread. It's name is its only similarity to The Real True French Bread.) *decent beef. We can get beef, but... *liverwurst (which I could never have in this house anyway, as with...) *bacon *A&W, Arby's, Subway, Wendy's, and other chain fast food restaurants except for McDonalds & KFC doughnuts & crullers (I miss me Tim Hortons ) *sambal oelik (which my sister has brought several times, and another friend mailed to me ) *any potato chips other than Mr. Potato, which are really truly gross and disgusting regurgitated potato flake thingies *prepared foods like perogies, pizza (we have frozen pizza here - one brand that came in about a year ago - and it's so disgusting), or pretty much everything else *cheddar cheese (not the processed crap, but the real actual cheddar cheese with flavor) *parmesan cheese * and oh, so very very much more.
But what we can get here...
*fresh monkey (there were two outside my window less than two feet away from me last week... *jumboo, mangosteens, mangos, papayas, pineapple, king coconut, lime - all fresh off the tree) *halloumi (on occasion), halva *Elephant Ginger Beer, which is Da Bomb, Baby!
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Blenheim's IS pretty good. It's spicier than I like my ginger ales for casual drinking, though.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Extra-lean ground beef, for some odd reason. Nestea low-cal flavour packets. Goat meat (I still have hope of finding this one).
There's not a lot around here that I can't get in the market or somewhere close. Perhaps ginger marmalade, but I did get a bottle in BC, so I'm good for a year or so.
Posts: 2849 | Registered: Feb 2002
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Once my Chinese roommate made us dinner (well, more than once, but this particular occasion...). Hot pot - one of the traditional dishes from her area. But she looked a bit put out as we began eating.
Me: This is delicious! Thank you so much!
Her: Well, it is supposed to be made with dog but I couldn't find it ANYWHERE.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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quote:Originally posted by breyerchic04: There is decent bread here, it's not often in supermarkets though.
It is if you shop at the right supermarkets/grocery marts. For instance, TJ's, or your local "ethnic" store (around here we have lots of Armenian markets.)
Then there are the bakeries, which is probably what you had in mind. Mmmm... German bakery bread...
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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We do not have In n' Out. We do not have Jack in the Box. We do not have a single White Castle.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Oh we get good breat at our supermarkets too, and at our local stores. But it isn't available in many places that only have one or two groceries.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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I can't get good bread, or plain chocolate digestive biscuits. The World Foods near me often has milk chocolate digestive biscuits, like it's cruelly taunting me, making me believe that someday plain chocolate ones will arrive too. But they never do.
Posts: 910 | Registered: May 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Lisa: I can almost never get cherimoya here. It's my favorite fruit in the whole world, and I get to have it maybe once every couple of years.
Yeah, I never saw that in Dallas, either (although I'm sure there was someplace that carried it.) I have a local produce mart here that regularly carries it for $2.99/lb. (they get it every couple of weeks, so it's there about every other time I shop there.) When I was in Dallas I seriously considered Harry and David's as a source of cherimoya, but we just couldn't afford it.
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In the late '80s, the company was purchased by A&W -- a company which makes a decent cream soda and a truly awful root beer -- and the original formula abandoned. While the current version is passable, the original actually required that the drink age four years in oak casks. Seriously. Obviously, that sort of expensive step didn't fit in with A&W's desire to turn Vernor's into a major national brand, so they scrapped it -- and, in so doing, sacrificed a lot of the dark richness of the original pop.
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It's spicier than I like my ginger ales for casual drinking, though.
