Pralines are a type of candy made from pecans, sugar, and (often) cream. Swamp Pop uses this as inspiration for a really interesting cream soda variant. Pralines are about as southern as you can get, so it’s no surprise that Swamp Pop is a soda brewer based out of New Orleans.
If you haven’t visited their website yet, I highly recommend checking it out. Swamp Pop has a beautiful logo and an engaging story of two guys inspired to form a soda company after running a food truck together. The praline cream is one of six flavors that they sell, and I hope to find the rest of them soon. This was a terrific introductory flavor.
In the same spirit as a pecan pie, this praline cream soda goes straight for your sweet tooth. It doesn’t hold back. It’s as sweet as Drew Barrymore in Steven Spielberg’s E.T. It’s almost as sweet as the love story in the book series Twilight. Just kidding. Twilight is trash, but it’s a socially acceptable target for internet jokes.
Beyond the hit of cane sugar, the other flavors that come through are a strong brown sugar/caramel/butter combination. There’s a nutiness to it as well, but it’s the kind of nuttiness you find in a pecan pie. Much more of candy than a genuine nut. The vanilla also rides through the whole experience. While it’s all a bit syrupy sweet, this is one of the dessert sodas that I would come back to. It wouldn’t be the same as a dry soda, so I recommend the occasional indulgence to enjoy something like this. The actual sugar content is 46 grams. That’s on the higher end of the scale, but not unreasonable either. This is the kind of soda that I enjoy after dinner while playing board games with friends.
This soda came in as a strong 8.4 out of 10 on my rating scale. Nice job, Swamp Pop. I hope we meet again soon. When I do review their other sodas you’ll find my posts using this link.
Catalog:
Sampled in May 2018, purchased at Cost Plus World Market.
The Sodafry 