The Fizzary

Never in my wildest soda dreams did I ever imagine a place like The Fizzary existed. Years of seeking out special brands on the Internet dulled my soda senses and with that I lost my edge; my ability to go grass roots and uncover flavors hidden in bodegas and high-end grocery stores in every area I visited. I thought finding sodas from across the country would mean a trip across the country. Never did I fathom a store, a beautiful little store, could offer me this and so much more.






The Fizzary is a Graceland of mind-blowing proportions for soda fans and worth a pilgrimage to Haight Street in San Francisco. The sign on the wall says it all: 900 Flavors. 900 flavors!!! I couldn't and still can't believe it. 900 flavors...and I only had 2 hours before a flight to drink what I could because I firmly believe if I drank what I wanted the gas bubbles in my body would expand and cause me to literally explode once the airplane ascended to 10,000 feet. Instead I opted for four bottles (because the nice clerk told me buy three and get one free!).

With 900 to chose from and not a great deal of time I formulated the plan to try two cherry colas (possibly my favorite soda), a cream soda and a root beer. I wanted to see what sparked my interest as well as what I should try based on geographical limitations that could prevent me from obtaining the same soda brand at a later date. For the cream soda I picked Waialua Soda Works from Hawaii since the likelihood of going to Hawaii soon was small. My root beer was Crater Lake from Oregon, another location far from my home. My two cherry colas were closer, Cicero Beverages Cherry Cola out of the Windy City and Squamscot Cherry Cola from New Hampshire. I'll save my reviews for a later date because this post really belongs to The Fizzary.

The soda selection is overwhelming and it would take weeks to truly sample all The Fizzary has to offer. For those reading this that are irked by the idea that these bottles are warm, The Fizzary has a solution: a chiller that cools soda bottles in four minutes by submerging them in a bath of cold water so if the soda you would like to taste is not located in one of the two refrigerated coolers you can still walk out sipping your beverage of choice. Every wall is lined with shining bottles of soda and arranged by flavor, such as colas, orange sodas, root beers, etc. There is even an area for ones that can't be categorized as well as one for foreign sodas.


The Fizzary also offers a selection of candy, naturally, for those bozos who want to get an extremely ecliptic sugar high on. One candy that surprised me was Super Ropes, 34" of licorice I have not had in years. But my main focus here was the soda and when it comes to soda The Fizzary can not be topped. A true store for soda aficionados and my first stop the next time I am in San Francisco.