A Homemade Blackberry Soda from Cold Front

After one of my son's soccer games, we stopped at Cold Front for some treats:

My boys with their cones.

My blackberry soda that the jerk whipped up for me.

Sipping on my blackberry soda.

 
Brand: Blackberry Soda at Cold Front.

Origin: St. Paul, MN.

Purchase Place: Cold Front, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Unknown.

Review: As I find with most "homemade" sodas, this was very crisp with lots of carbonation. The blackberry was sweet and fruity, and it had a juice-like quality to it - that made it a little less soda-like, but it was still very good. It was a great end to an afternoon at a soccer game.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Bernie Memes at Cold Front and Blue Sun Soda

In the last few days, my Facebook feed has been full of Bernie Sanders memes. And Cold Front (coffee, tea, ice cream, and homemade sodas) and Blue Sun Soda Shop (candy and sodas) have gotten in on the fun. These were their posts from yesterday on their Facebook pages: 

Well played.  :) 

A Cherry Lime Rickey (and Ice Cream) at Cold Front

Whoa. It's been a while, Cold Front. Looking at my "Cold Front" tag (which has some CUTE pictures of my LITTLE boys from years ago), I haven't been in to visit in over 2 years! But I promised the boys we'd stop in sometime this week, so we did 2 days ago.

My boys went straight for the ice cream!

Charlie went for Superman...

... and Henry went with the SUPER dark brownie-like Zanzibar Chocolate.

And I went for a cherry lime rickey!

Henry's ice cream was very good - very fudge-like and brownie-like. He got it ALL over his face.

My cherry lime rickey was sharp and sweet. I didn't think the boys would like it as it's very lime-heavy (and then it turns bright red with just a little addition of cherry syrup), but they both asked for a 2nd and 3rd sip. I probably only got about half of it. It was quite sour (in a good way), but that made it a "sipping" soda, and not a "chugging" soda.

I picked up an ice cream punch card, so now we have 2 punches on our way to a free ice cream cone after a total of 9. We'll be back!

Cold Front is near the corner of Randolph and Hamline Avenues in St. Paul.

1919 Classic American Root Beer

My wife bought me this on New Year's Eve, and I had it with my boys:

Brand: 1919 Classic American Root Beer.

Origin: New Ulm and Sleepy Eye, MN.

Purchase Place: Kowalski's Market, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: First of all, I thought I had this YEARS ago, so I've been passing it up when I've come across it. But it turns out I've never had it. It might be the same as the root beer I had 8 years ago from Lynden's Soda Fountain (now "Cold Front") because the mug had this same logo and the same phrase at the top: "America's Original Brewery Made 1919 Classic American Root Beer." (And maybe part of the reason I thought I'd had this before is that I posted about the pony keg they had of this at Kowalski's back in 2015.)

So how was it? It was VERY strong on the vanilla. It was quite creamy! I poured out 2 glasses for my boys (as this is a big 16 oz can with lots to share) and it formed a good head. I wish the flavor was a little "deeper" though as it seemed a little weak. But that's about my only complaint - otherwise, it was smooth, creamy, heavy on the vanilla, and light on the anise which is the way I like my root beer.

Score: 8.5 out of 10.

A Homemade Cola at Cold Front

My big guy and I stopped at Cold Front on Thursday afternoon. He got some ice cream, and I got some soda:

Moose Tracks ice cream. He loved it!

Cold Front had remodeled since we were last there. This layout is nicer.

My cola, freshly made by the soda jerk behind the counter.

It was a nice "sharp" cola, probably from the "fresh" bubbly water. I'm not really here to rate it, but it was probably a 6 or a 7, and my son love the 2 sips he got. (And it was in a plastic cup because I got it "to go," otherwise it's in an actual glass.)

Cherry Soda at Cold Front in St. Paul

On Friday, the boys and I stopped off at Cold Front Coffee / Ice Cream / Soda shop:

I drove through that neighborhood a few days before that, and Randolph Ave was all torn up. I figured we'd stop to "help out the small guys" in case they were hurting from the road construction. But the construction near Cold Front was all complete! So stop by without fear of construction issues.

My boys enjoying "Superman" and "Birthday Cake" ice cream cones.

My Cherry Soda from Steve at Cold Front.

I got about 1/2 my soda. The boys split the other half. Charlie kept
saying "more please!" (And yes, he's got a bandaid on his finger and
a scratch on his face - it had been a rough 24 hours for him.)

I Instagrammed this after we left: "A quick stop at @coldfrontmsp for
ice cream and a homemade soda! #HighlyRecommended"

Brand: Cold Front Cherry Soda.

Origin: St. Paul, MN.

Purchase Place: Cold Front, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Unknown. (I forgot to ask.)

Review: No joke: this was one of the best cherry soda I've ever had (if not THEE best). It was plenty sweet without being too syrupy, and the "freshness" of a homemade soda gave it a perfect slight kick with the "fresh" carbonated water. This was good. The boys couldn't stop stealing sips.

Score: 8 out of 10.


(Next time I go back, I need to try something with phosphate added for an extra tanginess. You can do that for a extra $0.50 at Cold Front.)

Cold Front Ice Cream and my First Egg Cream

This morning, the boys and I stopped at Cold Front Soda Fountain just a few miles away here in St. Paul. Cold Front had just celebrated it's 1-year birthday a few days ago.

Birthday balloons and candy were still all over!

I got the boys 2 mini ice cream cones, and I got an "Egg Cream" soda for myself:

My boys and their ice cream: "Birthday Cake" for my 1-yr-old, and "Superman" for my 4-yr-old.

My first Egg Cream. It's chocolate syrup, milk, and carbonated water.
(So no EGG and no CREAM.)

Steve (the owner) put the 3 ingredients in the glass, got our attention, and said "here's the kinda magical part." It looked just like water with milky bubbles on the top, but then he started stirring the chocolate syrup at the bottom. In just a few seconds, it transformed to what you see above.

My boys drank half my Egg Cream. Really.

My funny dates at Cold Front.

So I suppose I should review the Egg Cream. Here I go:


Brand: Cold Front Egg Cream.

Origin: Cold Front, St. Paul, MN.

Purchase Place: Cold Front, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup and/or Sugar (according to the Fox's U-Bet Chocolate Syrup website).

Review: The owner mentioned that this is a much lighter version of a cold chocolate milk that would be tasty on a hot day (where ACTUAL chocolate milk might be too heavy - remember "milk was a bad choice" from Anchorman?). It was like a light, refreshing, fizzy chocolate milk. It was FAR from heavy - Steve was right in saying it'd be great on a summer afternoon. Interesting flavor combo. I'll rank it just above average, and would totally have it again.

Score: 6.5 out of 10.


Oh, and as the boys were wrapping up their cones, my younger one was tempting and teasing my older one:

"Oh, do you want a bite of my cone?…"

"… PSYCH! It's going in MY mouth!"

This was only our second stop at Cold Front - we only stopped there last February for some sodas just after they opened, and hadn't been back! We need to go back SOONER the 3rd time…

First Trip to "Cold Front" Soda Fountain / Ice Cream Shop

Last week, my boys and I checked out "Cold Front," which was the business that took over the space that had "Lynden's Soda Fountain" in it near Hamline and Randolph.

Lots of ice cream in the front.

Different cone sizes: the tiny cones on the left are from the "snowball FLIGHT" of mini cones.

Waffle cones and waffle cone maker.

I did what any Dad would do at 10 in the morning on a cold winter's day: I got my son some ice cream. Here's Henry enjoying some of their strawberry ice cream (I didn't even get to try it because he wolfed it down) as Steve from Cold Front made my "flight" of sodas in the background:

They still have the old soda fountain from Lynden's!
(Click that link if you want to see Henry at Lynden's over 2 years ago - cute toddler!)

My flight of homemade sodas: Chai Vanilla, Grape, and Cola.

They had 6 "classic" sodas like grape, orange, and cherry, and then they had 5 "signature" sodas like strawberry balsamic, lemongrass sass, and chai vanilla. Next time, I want to try the lemongrass sass and maybe the blood orange and beetroot.

Flight in progress.

Henry had about half of my grape soda.

A photo I Instagrammed: "Morning sugar rush: strawberry ice cream and a homemade grape soda at @coldfrontmsp."

This flight is over.

So here's a mini-review of my Minni-Soda Flight:


Cola: Steve told me that this was John Lyden's recipe that came from something that was published in the 1970s. It was Coca-Cola's original recipe (minus the cocaine, unfortunately). This was sharp and crisp (as most "fresh" sodas are). There was a great bite of lime, but not too much. Deep, rich flavor unlike what you get from a can of Coke or Pepsi.  Score: 8 out of 10. 

Grape: Steve asked me about this one after I had a sip to 2. He said he's still working to perfect it. It was very "grape JUICEy" as you can maybe tell from the froth on top in the first photo of the flight. Steve said he's using a mix of a grape juice syrup along with freshly pressed concord grape juice, but he's working to get it all right. It was good, but tasted a bit closer to "juice" than it did "soda." Actually, I'm excited to try this one again and again to see how it changes, even though it was my least favorite of the day.  Score: 6.5 out of 10.

Chai Vanilla: This was smooth and subtle. The vanilla was a nice touch. It tasted a bit like a subtly-flavored vanilla root beer, so you KNOW I liked it. It was better than I thought it would be. It's a unique flavor, and hard to fully describe. Just go in and try it.  Score: 8 out of 10.


I'll be back to try more of their sodas in their "Minni-Soda Flight" for sure. I still need to try their root beer.  Check out Cold Front on Facebook or Twitter.

p.s.  I love the idea of a flight of sodas. I don't need a lot of each flavor, and this way I get to try more. Steve told me that it was one of the last things they decided to add to the menu before they opened on Valentine's Day, and it was by far the biggest hit of the opening night. Great idea! Can't wait for more.

Lynden's Soda Fountain is CLOSED, but...

My wife and I headed to The Nook a few weeks ago, and noticed that Lynden's Soda Fountain was CLOSED! My heart sank a little.

But there was a sign in the window saying "Cold Front" was opening soon. I found a story on the City Pages website talking about the sale and new owners. I also checked out Lynden's Facebook Page, which announced a lot of what was going to be happening with Cold Front. It appears they're keeping the historic Soda Fountain, but they seem to be doing a bit more with (Dogwood) coffee and ice cream:

A "flight" of mini ice cream cones they call the "Snowball Flight."

And THIS is a great idea: they have a flight of sodas called the "Minni-Soda Flight." I will be trying this for SURE.

Cold Front opened 2 days ago on Valentine's Day, and hopefully my boys and I can make it over there in the next few days to check it out (Hamline and Randolf in St. Paul). I'll take some photos and post an update when I've tried their Minni-Soda Flight.

Check them out on Facebook, and scope out their coffee, ice cream, and sodas on their website.  (All photos from their Facebook page.)