A little Eastern European bakery/market on Lawrence just west of Clark has the 1.5 bottles of the European Schweppes Bitter Lemon. I forget the name, although I have been several times. The bottles are 3.99.

City fresh now has (in addition to the six-packs of small bottles), Bitter Lemon in taller single plastic bottles (1/2 liter?) for $2. I bought some, but found it inferior to the stuff in the smaller bottles. It did not seem as bitter. I will have to do a side-by-side comparison to be sure.

I tasted Bitter Lemon in taller and smaller bottles too and i see no difference except the volume...

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glitter graphics huge fan!

Octarine wrote:Here is a drink concoted by the lovely Fifille the other night which cured my bitter lemon desire almost completely:

Canfield's Lime seltzer water 3 parts

MinuteMaid Limeaid 1 part

Does the MinuteMaid listed in this recipe refer to frozen concentrate or ready-to-drink limeaid?

I vastly prefer the concentrated. The ready mix has an unpleasant overly sweet taste to me. I also use more water than the instructions call for.

Octarine wrote:I vastly prefer the concentrated. The ready mix has an unpleasant overly sweet taste to me. I also use more water than the instructions call for.

I want to know - is this 1 part concentrate as concentrate or 1 part concentrate mixed up into drinkable limeaid?

Update - San Pellegrino Aranciata and Limonata was at Dominick's yesterday. I bought a six pack of each.

Schweppe's Bitter Lemons stopped being available in the Chicagoland area many months ago. Does anyone know when or whether it will be available again? I asked a few shop workers who said they would talk to their distributor, but I haven't heard anything definitive yet; just that is not available at this time.

San Pellegrino makes a lemon soda that is very similar. They have it at many stores.

Minos Imports, an excellent Greek market, carries real (ie, imported from Europe) Schweppes Bitter Lemon. The 1.5 liter bottles from Macedonia are in stock now. I've also seen it at Bosnian and Serbian markets but don't have any recent sightings. There's a long thread on Bitter Lemon here that might have some useful information.

Minos Imports
648 W Lake St
Addison IL
630-543-0337
http://www.minosimports.com/

We bought a 1.5 liter bottle of Schweppes "Original Bitter Lemon" at Lincolnwood Produce today. The labeling is in Cyrillic, and the bottle seems to be from Bulgaria. It's a steep $3.99 a bottle, but it's a favorite taste for my uncle so we picked it up.

Lincolnwood Produce
7175 N. Lincoln Ave.
Lincolnwood, IL 60712

I asked at Binny's a few months ago and was told that Bitter Lemon is not available in the US.

Glad to hear that the 1.5L may be available a few places around town. I don't drink it that fast, though, so it would be flat before I finished it.

I ordered the small bottles online from one of those precious British Goods importers last year, but they no longer carry it. I came up with another online source but the price was prohibitive.

In the meantime, I've accepted Fever Tree's Bitter Lemon as a substitute. It's not as good, but it's good. It has that nice bitterness that most lemon sodas lack. It's available at Binny's on North Ave (though they were temporarily out last time I was there, which was three weeks ago).

Speaking of which, I've had Schweppes Bitter Lemon a few times overseas this year, and the stuff I've had outside of the UK (specifically, Australia and Switzerland) didn't taste the same as the original UK variety. I read the ingredients, and I noticed that it didn't have saccharine. Maybe that was it. Lemony but not as bitter.

Here's how I'd rate the different bitter lemons that I've tried:

1. UK Schweppes Bitter Lemon
2. Britvic Bitter Lemon
3. Non-UK Schweppes Bitter Lemon
4. Fever Tree Bitter Lemon

I understand Canada Dry also has a bitter lemon, but I've never seen it in the stores.

BTW, if you fly Delta, they always have a nice supply of SBL in the club at Heathrow. I always take a couple for the plane ride.

J

Anyone knowing a retailer selling Schweppes Bitter Lemon?

Moderator note: moved above from Shopping and Cooking; I welcome new intel / other finds.

I've been drinking San Pellegrino Chinotto (purchased monthly at Riviera on north Harlem) over ice with a splash of water, or Simply Limeade with some sparkling soda and liberal dashes of Angostura lately to satisfy my own cravings.

If you have access to a sodastream, they make a decent quinine tonic water.
http://www.sodastreamusa.com/Tonic-P102.aspx

Binny's is now selling a bitter lemon by Collins.

Anyone know a retailer still selling Schweppes Bitter Lemon?

MLS wrote:Anyone know a retailer still selling Schweppes Bitter Lemon?

Did you read upthread?

EvA wrote:We bought a 1.5 liter bottle of Schweppes "Original Bitter Lemon" at Lincolnwood Produce today. The labeling is in Cyrillic, and the bottle seems to be from Bulgaria. It's a steep $3.99 a bottle, but it's a favorite taste for my uncle so we picked it up.

Lincolnwood Produce
7175 N. Lincoln Ave.
Lincolnwood, IL 60712

ReneG wrote:Minos Imports, an excellent Greek market, carries real (ie, imported from Europe) Schweppes Bitter Lemon.

exvaxman wrote:If you have access to a sodastream, they make a decent quinine tonic water.
http://www.sodastreamusa.com/Tonic-P102.aspx

You don't need a SodaStream, you can add their flavored syrups to any carbonated water.

I really wasn't looking for it but noticed several imported carbonated lemon/orange/misc bottles at Tenuta's Deli in Kenosha, WI today

http://www.tenutasdeli.com/tek9.asp

Oh - if you go skip the gorgonzola roast beef sandwich. Not much beef in it. I will also mention that the grocery items are fairly expensive.

toria wrote:Update - San Pellegrino Aranciata and Limonata was at Dominick's yesterday. I bought a six pack of each.

recently seen at HarvesTime: 2 new (to me) flavors of San Pellegrino: blood orange and grapefruit. I'm dying to try the grapefruit, as I love grapefruit sodas.

I tried the blood orange at Selmarie recently and I was not blown away. I like the regular Aranciata better. The blood orange was sweeter and lacked that intriguing bitter bite that I love in Aranciata.

sarcon wrote:recently seen at HarvesTime: 2 new (to me) flavors of San Pellegrino: blood orange and grapefruit. I'm dying to try the grapefruit, as I love grapefruit sodas.

It's excellent. Nice and tart.

sarcon wrote:

toria wrote:Update - San Pellegrino Aranciata and Limonata was at Dominick's yesterday. I bought a six pack of each.

recently seen at HarvesTime: 2 new (to me) flavors of San Pellegrino: blood orange and grapefruit. I'm dying to try the grapefruit, as I love grapefruit sodas.

I tried the blood orange at Selmarie recently and I was not blown away. I like the regular Aranciata better. The blood orange was sweeter and lacked that intriguing bitter bite that I love in Aranciata.

I'm a fan of both the blood orange and grapefruit. I've noticed them popping up much more widely than before (I used to only see 1.5L bottles at Caputo Cheese Market) in the last few months, so I guess they're expanding availability.

Today, I was at the Morse Fresh Market picking up some last minute Thanksgiving ingredients, when I spotted Mexican Squirt. Man, I love the stuff. It is sweetened with real sugar in judicious quantities, so the tartness of the grapefruit flavor shines through. It also lacks the brominated vegetable oil that American Squirt adds for texture, so it has a "clean" flavor. That, and the lack of high fructose corn syrup gives Mexican Squirt a much more refreshing mouthfeel than its American cousin, which seems to leave a coating on my tongue. Anyhow, it is priced at 1.29/bottle. They also now carry 1/2 liter bottles of Mexican Coke (made with sugar) for 1.39. The 500 ml bottles are made of some serious glass. On the way home, a bottle of it tore through the bag and hit the side walk. A 1/4" thick wedge of glass chipped off the bottom, but the bottle remained intact. Interestingly, they no longer carry Mexican Pepsi, but my local Walgreen's does.

Morse Fresh Market
1430 W Morse Ave
Chicago, IL 60626
(773) 973-3765

Hi,

I finally found a non-Schweppes (bitter) lemon soda I like. Unfortunately it may be further out of reach than my adored Schweppes bitter lemon.

Over the 4th of July, I visited my sister in New Jersey. Since it really is my Mom she wants to see, I tend to do retail tourism to keep myself occupied. I visited a number grocery and specialty food shops in her region. I especially look for condiments, snacks and beverages not seen in my area. I also check out the freezer section, meats (love to see familiar cuts with a different name) and produce. Pretty much everything interests me except for paper goods and laundry supplies.

At the local ShopRite, I bought a private label bottle of 'Imported Italian Soda, Sparkling Beverage with Lemon Juice, All Natural, From Italy, Lemon.' It was several dollars for a one liter bottle.

I left it in the trunk and never tasted it while at my sister's. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to like it, though I wanted to verify this for myself sometime. Shame on me for not trying it until yesterday, it was very good.

Unless ShopRite is willing to advise who packed this soda for them, I am probably out of luck finding it here.

Ironically I find a decent substitute for lemon soda only to have it located inconveniently in the northeast.

Regards,

Hi,

I was in Garden Fresh in Northbrook where I found an acceptable bitter lemon sode from Polar. A liter bottle was around $1, which is far cheaper than Schweppes bitter lemon whenever found.

Perhaps someday if the stars align, I will do a side by side taste test. Absent of a direct comparison, this Polar satisfied my bitter lemon soda wishes.

Regards,

Yesterday at the Rogers Park Fruit Market, I saw Bitter Lemon in totally retro blue/green glass bottles. The ingredients said it was made with pure cane sugar. I am not sure where it was made. It was expensive, $1.65/12 oz. I didn't buy any, but I have been obsessing about it ever since I saw it. The next time I am at the market, I will have to buy one.

d4v3 wrote:Yesterday at the Rogers Park Fruit Market, I saw Bitter Lemon in totally retro blue/green glass bottles. The ingredients said it was made with pure cane sugar. I am not sure where it was made. It was expensive, $1.65/12 oz. I didn't buy any, but I have been obsessing about it ever since I saw it. The next time I am at the market, I will have to buy one.

Did it look like this? The one I have was bottled in Lagos, Nigeria. It's an awfully nice bottle, with its old, scuffed, painted-on label.



I've seen Nigerian Schweppes at La Fruteria (8909 S Commercial) and Old World Market (5129 N Broadway) as well. I'm glad you mentioned this. I've been meaning to round up a few other Schweppes Bitter Lemons from different parts of the world and do a tasting. I'll be sure to mix some with Mandingo Bitters.

Hi,

Rather than taste it all by yourself, there could be a small gathering of bitter lemon aficionados who could be charged with bringing Schweppes from different locals. Plus I could bring the Polar to see how it really tastes against the real McCoy.

What do you think?

Regards,

Rene G wrote:Did it look like this? The one I have was bottled in Lagos, Nigeria. It's an awfully nice bottle, with its old, scuffed, painted-on label.

I don't think so. As I recall, the bottle had an unusual tapered shape. Now I want to go back and see if it was indeed of African origin. Maybe tomorrow. I didn't think to look at the side of the bottle cap for the bottling location.

I like Cathy's idea of a Bitter Lemon tasting. I have a Ginger Beer Plant, and was thinking of trying to brew a bitter lemon beer.

I finally picked up a bottle of Bitter Lemon from the Rogers Park Fruit Market. It is also bottled in Nigeria, under the authority of the Atlantic Nigerian Bottling Company. It has a Coca Cola trademark. The bottle is really stylish and the beverage seems to be cloudier than the Nigerian version pictured aboveIt was quite expensive at $1.69/30cl (10.14 oz) It seemed light on sugar and very heavy on the quinine. It was actually very tasty and would make a good mixer.