THE SODAS OF SUBS-N-SUCH

bubble up

do you remember back in the day, long before the lemon lime soda wars ended in the bloody death of 7-up, back when these sodas were a clear, crisp miracle for your taste buds? back when they truly were the un-cola? remember this little fucker:

oh snap. that guy’s ready to mess shit up. and surf. you know, i never really got these abstract company mascots who were into extreme sports. and it’s awful that they were made into video games. worse yet, i’ve played this one before. and own this one. anyway, 7-up was the winner of the old war in my mind, before they all went flavor-crazy and became obsessed with approximating an actual lemon/lime flavor. bad move. so now, instead of tasting like awesome, we have one soda that is only slightly crappy (sprite), one soda that no one will ever buy again due to its “natural” bullshit (7-up), and then somebody invented sierra mist, which is just an abomination. but somewhere out there, some brave and dedicated individuals were responsible for the preservation of the that glorious old school lemon lime flavor, in the form of bubble up.

bubble up is everything a lemon lime soda is supposed to be, done immaculately: crisp and clean, highly carbonated, sweet, bubbly, and delicious, with just a light lemon lime flavor to it. it is the most refreshing soft drink i’ve ever had. seriously, the first time i had it, i was shocked at how the flavor seriously was “crisp and refreshing”, just as the bottle suggests. now distributed by dad’s root beer, bubble up dates back to 1919, predating 7-up by ten years, and sprite by over forty. in fact, it was coke’s lemon lime soda until sprite came along. and sprite is clearly an inferior product. stupid sprite. the fact is, bubble up tastes better than any other lemon lime soda i’ve ever had, somehow even overcoming the terrible power of nostalgia goggles.

unfortunately, bubble up is rare, as are most sodas available at subs-n-such. in fact, bubble up is so rare that it’s often not even available there!! what a rip. i had it at pink’s when i was visiting LA, so you can get it there. otherwise, the place you need to check for bubble up is cracker barrel, where i believe it is regularly stocked as a “retro” soda.

in any event, i wholeheartedly recommend picking up a bubble up any opportunity you can. go out of your way if you have to, make a day out of it. it will remind you what soda is supposed to be, and perhaps even reaffirm your belief in whatever hilarious god you used to believe in.

best lemon lime soda out there, hands down.