Lynden's Soda Fountain's Root Beer

This past weekend, my wife and I thought we'd check out a local candy store / soda fountain that we'd just heard about.  So we headed to the corner of Hamline and Randolph here in St. Paul to go to Lynden's Soda Fountain:

I HAD to get a root beer from their soda fountain.  They make their sodas "fresh" with soda syrup (some of the syrup is even homemade) and carbonated water.  The root beer is from a 1919 syrup:

It was GOOD!  But it got a little weaker as I went (partially due to the ice, but I think mostly because I'd sucked up most of the syrup in the first half).

Lynden's is a pretty small place, but they have a lot of "classic" candy.  Here are a few photos I took:

You grab a tiny little paper bag (hand-stamped with "Lynden's Soda Fountain") and throw in whatever mix of candy you want.  My wife and I got 3 small bags with cola gummies, sour cola gummies, "lipstick" candy (my wife used to love that, but I'd never heard of it), and some chocolate covered expresso beans.

Our 3 little bags at home.

We liked that we could pick as little as we like, because we both just like a "little" treat now and then.  We spent just over a dollar on that candy.

When we go back to Lynden's, I need to try a "Lime Rickey" made with fresh lime juice.  Or maybe a Raspberry Lime Rickey - that was recommended by the high-school or college-aged girl working behind the counter.  They also have ice cream, egg creams, phosphates, coffee, etc, etc.

Brand: Lynden's root beer soda syrup and carbonated water.

Origin: St. Paul, MN.

Purchase Place: Lyndens's Soda Fountain, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Their Facebook page notes their homemade syrups are made with cane sugar, but I'm not sure about this root beer syrup.

Review: Sharp.  "Fresh."  It was "strongly" carbonated because it was just made from the soda fountain (which is an antique!).  It wasn't the BEST ever, but it was good.  And it's quite a great little store.  My wife and I WILL be back to try some of their other concoctions.

Score: 7.5 out of 10.


p.s.  I heard about this place for the first time because they were on the news for "illegally" selling candy cigarettes - something you apparently can't do in St. Paul.  I asked the young woman working behind the counter if people have been coming in and saying "I never knew you were here until I saw you on the news!"  She smiled and said something like "No one has come right out and said that, but I'm pretty sure we've had people in because of that!"  The video on their website shows a quick glimpse of the candy cigarettes, but now they're no longer in the store.  Dang.