I have been hearing about this place called Galco’s in Los Angeles for a while now. Actually, the shop’s full name is Galco’s Soda Pop Stop. And why I didn’t get in my car and race to the neighborhood of Highland Park upon first being told about it is beyond me. The other day I finally got my act together and made the trek to the mecca of soda.
Stepping through the doors, I immediately became the child version of myself. There were huge wall length containers of every kind of candy you can think of. Candy you didn’t even think was made anymore. And the sodas. Something like 4 full aisles of the stuff from every corner of the globe. Owner John Nese has been doing the Galco shuffle since he was a stock boy as a child. Back then, it was a regular neighborhood grocery run by his father. Now, he keeps the shelves full with almost 500 different sodas and supports smaller companies that bottle their soda without any of the yucky stuff (syrups, preservatives and fake sugars.) And the bottle collection doesn’t stop at soda, John has a great looking aisle of beer too. The grown up version of myself was very excited about that.
For me, the sodas served as endless inspiration. I was there to get a few things for an upcoming event and also get ingredients to test out a few cocktail recipes. It was really hard for me to walk away from Galco’s without a cart full of goodies. I could’ve easily spent $50 (on soda!) but, I managed to resist the temptation and walked away with just 3 interesting bottles.
- First up: Plantation Style Mint Julep soda from Natrona Bottle Co. in Pennsylvania. I am a Kentucky girl, so if you put mint julep on a label I am going to want to try it. Upon first gulp, it too closely resembled mouthwash to my taste buds. Upon second gulp, definitely borderline diluted fizzy mouthwash. Didn’t really want to go back for a third. The mint was just a tad too synthetic spearmint.
- The next bottle fared far better. The Sweet Blossom Elderflower soda rocked my world. It was like St Germain’s little baby sister in a cotton candy pink dress on easter. Delicate, floral and sweet without being too much of any of those things. It is made by Global Beverge Enterprises in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.- kind of an unfortunately generic corporate sounding name for such a great company but nevertheless, they also make a Caribbean Mabi refresco, a Rose and a Jasmine soda. Yum.
- Lastly, in spirit of my day full of Pinot, I had to try Vignette Wine Country Soda’s pinot noir. What a great way to be able to taste just the juice and let the pure pinot noir fruit stand on its own. It was delightful and a full on fizzy raspberry explosion. Way better than a glass of Welch’s.
It took a couple of years to get my butt to Galco’s, but it will definitely not take me anywhere near as long to return. I’ve got a lot more gulping to do. 497 more bottles worth.
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