POPular Demand!

In recent years many mixologist are taking on a healthy homegrown/do-it-yourself attitude; think of Martha Stewart, but thrown behind a bar. Bartenders seek out top-notch ingredients or they just make things themselves. The quality of each individual ingredient is paramount to creating a good cocktail, one ingredient that you'll sometimes want to utilize when creating your own is soda...or pop....or soda pop depending on where you're from. I love making soda! It's much quicker and easier than you would think it to be, but will improve your beverage exponentially. You can create simply carbonated water or you can stir up something far more complex! It's whatever's your pleasure.

So yesterday, I was laying around the house bored and thirsty. Then to top it off the cocktail party I was doing was cancelled so I have ingredients abound just laying around. For the cocktail party I was going to do a spin on a not so well known classic, the Buck. A buck is simply your base spirit, ginger ale to fill, and the juice of a quarter lemon; it's the Rickey's littler lesser known sibling. Actually some people already drink Bucks and just don't know it. Here it goes:

Step 1
You need a soda siphon. Mine is made by ISI, it's a one litre canister and it works well enough to suit my needs. When you make soda with this thing, don't expect to have carbonation like your coke from some chain, not happening; there are a few key things to making this work.
-Make sure the canister is cold. I put mine in the freezer before using
-Make sure the mixture going into the canister is cold. I put mine in the canister and put the whole thing in the freezer, BUT don't let it freeze.
Step 2
Make sure your mixture isn't too dense or the carbonation will not take as well. If your base is the consistency of Molasses it just may not work. For my last soda I made a Quince, Cardamom & Rosewater soda. It sounds pretty complex but it's not. I made Cardamom Spiced Quince Puree to which I added a scant amount of sugar and a small bit of rose water then I added to that plain old water!
Step 3
Pour your mixture into your canister, carbonate, let sit for a couple of minutes and chill.
Step 4
Make good use of it. Give it a shake and use as desired. Now you're bartending with gas...well not that way, but you all know what I mean!