Calypso Lemonade

I usually do not drink sweet drinks, but lately I have become totally addicted to Calypso Lemonades. The lemonades are made in Milwaukee, and come in about a dozen flavors like strawberry lemonade, melon lemonade, kiwi lemonade, grape lemonade, etc. Since I am not overly fond of sweetened drinks, I was surprised at how much I liked this brand. When I checked the ingredients, I realized that they are made with cane sugar, no corn syrup. It really does make a difference. On top of that, they use natural flavors (at least on the ones I have checked) with juice pulp and concentrate with bits of real lemon. Best of all, they cost around $1.50 for a 20 oz. glass bottle. Unfortunately, I now find myself buying Calypso Lemonade instead of water.

Where have you seem them--I have a SO who goes thru cases of Izze b/c he won't drink soda with anything artificial in it--these sound like they could be an option for him.

boudreaulicious wrote:Where have you seem them--I have a SO who goes thru cases of Izze b/c he won't drink soda with anything artificial in it--these sound like they could be an option for him.

I get it at the corner store by my house, but I have seen it at Menard's and some (but not all) 7-11s. Apparently, it is sold at Walmart, but I couldn't find it on the Wally-World site. Here is a link to the website, which has a store locator, which is totally incomplete because it doesn't show any of the 3 corner stores that sell it by my house. I suspect, however, that those places buy it from Wal-Mart or Menard's and resell it on the down-low (they also carry Kirkland peanuts) http://www.calypsolemonade.com/

Most Jewel stores carry it.
I know mine does (River Forrest).

I am not having luck getting to an ingredient list from my phone tonight and don't have the laptop at home--is this stuff really "all natural" with no HFCS? Given the places I'm seeing it's sold, I admit to being a bit skeptical...

boudreaulicious wrote:I am not having luck getting to an ingredient list from my phone tonight and don't have the laptop at home--is this stuff really "all natural" with no HFCS? Given the places I'm seeing it's sold, I admit to being a bit skeptical...

According to the ingredient list, there is only Cane sugar and natural flavorings. They do use brominated vegetable oil as a flavor stabilizer (most citrus flavored beverages do). The FDA limits the amount of bromine in BVO. The EU does not approve its use. In Europe they use glycerol esters of wood rosin instead. The FDA is phasing out the use of BVO(like mannitol and saccharin). I will buy some Calypso later today and look up the ingredients. Although the concentrations of bromine are very small in beverages, it may be of concern to somebody who is super-health conscious. In higher concentrations, Bromine has been linked to health problems.

edit:Calypso uses both BVO and ester gum (sounds like a silent movie star) to stabilize the flavor. So they probably use less BVO than other beverages (like Squirt or Mountain Dew) and will phase it out altogether.

Thanks much d4v3--the issue isn't so much health consciousness as trying to avoid a reaction that my SO has to typical soft drinks. I'm going to find this and see what he thinks--they sound very promising!!

It also makes great whiskey sours. Apparently Calypso makes an alcoholic version of their lemonade. They have something called teamonade too.

Calypso recently added Limeades to their lineup. I think they are a delicious change from lemonade. Flavors include Natural Limeade, Pineapple Peach Limeade, Pink Gauva Limeade, Tangerine Limeade, Coconut Colada and my new favorite beverage, Sweet Cherry Limeade. Like their lemonades the lime drinks contain real bits of fruit and are sweetened with 100% cane sugar. The limeades would make great mixers for Rum or Tequila.