Tuesday

Scotland's Other National Drink


I am a huge fan of Mountain Dew but when I was living in Scotland I couldn't find Mountain Dew anywhere. I was in the depths of Mt. Dew withdrawal when I discovered Irn-Bru.

Pronounced "Iron Brew", this delightful orange colored drink was created in
Scotland and is manufactured out of Glasgow, Scotland. Its flavor is really hard to describe, it's not like any Pepsi or Coke products I've ever tasted. One of my friends described it as having kind of a bubble gum flavor and that's about the best description I've heard.

I read up on Irn-Bru a little bit and found a few interesting things. Apparently it's recipe is a huge secret, known only by two other people, with an additional copy of the recipe kept in a Swiss bank vault. It was first produced in 1901 and was called Iron Brew, but in 1946 the name was changed to Irn-Bru because the drink really wasn't brewed.

It's the most popular drink in Scotland and the UK, but Coke and Pepsi products are giving it fierce competition. When McDonald's first opened in in Glasgow it didn't serve Irn-Bru. The Scots picketed them until they included it on their menu.

Unfortunately, Irn-Bru is listed as a banned substance by the US FDA so you won't see it on US shelves anytime soon. The reason it's banned is because it contains a carcinogenic colouring called Ponceau 4R and Sunset Yellow FCF. There is one company in the US that imports it but they alter the ingredients slightly to fit within FDA standards. I haven't tasted the US version so I'm not sure how different the taste is, but it would be interesting to try.
The Irn-Bru commercials are really excellent, here's a few for you to check out:





In the meantime, pipe on!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd forgotten about the first advert! Have you seen the 'Goth's Summer Holiday' advert? It features the Irn Bru ride at Blackpool Pleasure Beach and four typical goths! Extremely funny!

Piping Girl said...

I had a hard time deciding what commericals to put on here, the Goth one is great!!

 
ss_blog_claim=68f7af64104fe11da76f3d4a6a84c2cd ss_blog_claim=68f7af64104fe11da76f3d4a6a84c2cd