Pickles are one of mankind’s mighty miracles of the past 4,000 years. The fact that we can take a highly perishable and marginally useful vegetable like a cucumber and transform it into a long-lasting and tangy snack speaks to our power as a species to overcome adversity. I love pickles. We owe this briny blessing to a holy liquid known as…pickle juice.
Here’s how the magic happens. A vegetable is immersed in a heavy salt water or vinegar solution. That liquid soaks into the vegetable, killing any bacteria, and preserving it in a sterile environment until you’re good and ready to eat it. Or, if you’re an outside-the-box thinker…drink it.
Yeah, you can drink pickle juice. You probably shouldn’t drink a lot of it, especially not regularly, but it is something you can do. Depending on the brine it can even offer some probiotic benefits to your digestive system. Or, if you’re more interested in something inspired by pickle juice but carbonated and sweet rather than flat and tart you can try this Pickle Juice Soda from Rocket Fizz. I dare you.
The video above shows my first experience with the beverage. Please note, I neglected to check my camera positioning. Leaving the top 50% of my head wasn’t in the original plan for the video, but we’ll just say that I was trying to keep the focus on the review material. The Pickle Juice Soda wasn’t nearly as shocking as I thought it might be, but I think that that’s actually what disappointed me about this novelty interpretation. With such a vibrant source material this soda seemed very bland and syrupy in comparison.
It’s not gross. In contrast, the Ranch Dressing Soda I tried before was disgusting. The Pickle Juice Soda was just underwhelming. I enjoy taking quick shots of real pickle juice because it’s a flavor punch in the mouth. The stuff I sampled from Britt’s Pickles is probably top shelf pickle juice. Switching between that and a very sweet, slightly briney soda made the shortcomings stand out.
I know I didn’t come across as very harsh in the video, but the more I sampled the less impressed I became. It’s possible that the flavor was designed more as a sweet pickle flavor rather than a dill pickle flavor, in which case it was a wasted effort to begin with. If you’re going pickle, you gotta go full pickle. No one is buying this because they kind of like the taste of pickles and have been dying to try it with a little fizz. People are buying this soda because they want to be shocked. Give me more vinegar, give me some garlic, give me some dill. If I hate it, so be it, but I’ll know that I’ve had a true Pickle Juice Soda.
If you’re considering drinking pickle juice, take a word of warning from me. The concentration of garlic, onion, and other spices is very concentrated in a high quality pickle brine. After my mini marathon of pickle juice, pickle juice soda, pickles, and pickle chips my wife enforced a 30 foot restraining order. I was oozing pickle funk from my pores.
I’m gonna have to give it a 4 out of 10 on my rating scale. I would try Pickle Juice Soda again, but probably not this pickle juice soda. I liked the pickle juice from Britt’s Pickles and I’ve heard of other bars and restaurants making cocktails/mocktails with pickle juice. If you’re aware of a version I should try, please let me know.
Catalog:
Sampled April 2017, the bottle was a gift from the bottling company, but you can purchase it at Rocket Fizz.
The Sodafry 