Mon dieu. Soda with the taste of poutine.
You probably would believe the number of my friends who have sent me the notice of Jones Soda's newest flavor: poutine. People remember when you publicly admit you like poutine.
So will I be Jones-ing for some poutine soda?
Let's start by noting that Jones poutine soda is only available in Canada. Not everywhere in Canada, the Seattle-based company is aiming its new novelty soda at Quebec (maison du poutine), Ontario, and British Columbia.
But if I were there, or the poutine soda came to where I was, would I try poutine soda?
For the blog, oui. For myself, je ne sais pas.
Poutine is salty x3: French fries, squeaky white Quebec cheese curds, and brown gravy. Soda is sweet, even with Jones use of cane sugar. For some, this is bliss. Combining the two flavors is heaven for some.
As much as we can make things taste like something, what you will likely get in poutine soda is gravy soda since gravy predominates the dish. The idea of getting potatoes and cheese into the taste is likely an after-thought. This isn't really fair because I can't try the product, but this is based on other attempts to make x taste like y.
Bacon-flavored products don't really have bacon flavor, but more like a smoky flavor to make you think you are consuming something bacon-flavored.
Gravy-flavored soda has some appeal. A salty soda is novel, even among Jones' extensive novel soda collection.
But the idea of drinking poutine flavor leaves a bit
On my last trip to Montreal about a year ago, I sampled the poutine at Paul Patates. It's a small diner off the Charlevoix Metro stop. This is a very residential neighborhood; Regular tourists wouldn't be anywhere nearby, unless they were on a hunt for poutine.
The poutine is quite excellent; one of the best plates of poutine I have ever had. But the lure of going off the beaten path is the home-brewed spruce beer. The spruce beer is non-alcoholic, and one of the best soft drinks I have ever had. I described the soft drink as "7UP mixed with trees."
The taste of the spruce beer was refreshing and a nice contrast to the salty taste of a virtually perfect poutine. The two flavors went back and forth as I finished the poutine plate.
photo credit: Jones Soda
Comments