I saved this post for the week of St Patrick’s Day very intentionally. Green River is the greenest soda known to man, but I don’t think that many people know about it outside of the Midwest. It’s the perfect St Patrick’s Day green beer alternative, and I’m thrilled to be able to introduce it to more people.

This isn’t the first time I’ve posted about Green River, though. I first reviewed it back in 2016 when the WIT Beverage company sent me a sampler of several of their sodas. Back then I was scoring things on a scale of 1 to 10, and I only gave it a 6. The brand has since changed hands and is currently made by my friends at Sprecher. Once again, I was sent some product free of charge in exchange for a feature on the blog. Happy to do it! Even more exciting, Sprecher has introduced two additional flavors of Green River to compliment the original Lime (with a bit of lemon). I tried Green River with Cherry, and Green River with Raspberry as well. I’ll share my thoughts below and then provide a bit of history of the brand.

Either my tastes have changed, or Sprecher has improved on the Green River formula a bit. It tastes like fizzy green Jell-o, and I really enjoyed it. These 16 ounce cans are quite the commitment, though! I’m used to the old clear glass bottle with a yellow and green label. To be a little more descriptive, the soda is very sweet and has a tangy citrusy taste. Green (lime) Jell-o feels closer to a description than something resembling an actual lime, but there’s a bit of sharpness to it as well with a hit of citric acid. It also tastes thick…like Slurpee syrup.

That’s my description of the original flavor, but Sprecher has added some variation to it. The Cherry flavored version was also very good. Sprecher has always impressed me with their fruit flavors, and the cherry never crossed into the medicinal range. It tastes like a Shirley Temple (lemon lime soda with grenadine), but heavy on the cherry. It’s like you boosted the saturation on a photo, but it’s your taste buds. Well, it’s also the color. The Raspberry flavor wasn’t as pronounced as the cherry, but it was also nice. You can tell that something else is in play and complimenting the lime flavor, but maybe it’s competing with it a bit? I didn’t dislike it, but I might have liked the original flavor more than this one. I wouldn’t say that any of these are dramatically better than the other, so it will almost definitely depend on your personal preferences.

One other tip I have for you is that Green River makes an awesome float with some creamy vanilla ice cream. Feel free to go heavy on the ice cream because Green River is strong enough to stand up to it. It was delicious!

History of Green River Soda – I’m lifting from Wikipedia and the Sprecher Blog quite a bit, but Green River has been around for a while. It started in 1916 and became a commercial product in 1919 as an alternative to alcoholic beverages during prohibition. For a while it was the #2 beverage in the Midwest behind Coca Cola. The brand has been produced by many manufacturers since then and has risen and waned in popularity. Something I’d like to learn more about is a period of time in the 90’s when it was only sold in Seattle (we do have a Green River here).

As you’d imagine, Green River has a spike in popularity in March every year. You can find it pretty easily in Chicago (the city that colors an entire river green during St Patrick’s Day), but with Sprecher behind it you can also have it shipped to your home pretty easily. I think it’s really fun and a nice change of pace from other beverages. Thanks Sprecher for sending over the cans!