Gwynedd Stuart
We recently heard that Pepsi is making a little bit of a comeback in the cold war for cola supremacy between Coke and Pepsi, but the fact remains: Coke is the king of Colas. It’s the standard by which other colas are judged. I mean, the word “Coke” is synonymous with ALL sodas in some parts of the country. And we honestly can’t argue that Coca-Cola isn’t great. It is! There’s nothing like a crispy glug of Coke fresh from the soda fountain on a hot summer day. But when we recently sat down to a bunch of different cola brands, we found some rare and oddball colas that are good enough to give Coke a run for its money—or at the very least good enough to make our ranking of the best colas. If you happen to have a fancy, glass-bottle soda shop in your neck of the woods, you have to keep an eye out for these three craft colas.
Videos by Sporked
Spiffy Cola
This one isn’t just cute (although we do love the 1950s-coded freckle-faced tyke on the bottle). Spiffy Cola tastes like an artisanal cherry cola, even though it’s not actually a cherry cola. Seriously, take a sip of this, close your eyes, and imagine you’re in a soda shop where the jerks are spiking the Coke with fancy maraschino syrup.
Mole Cola
This Italian cola comes in a bottle with curves like Sophia Loren, but that’s not its only draw. It’s a sophisticated cola, with a drier flavor profile and nice, crispy bubbles we loved. This is a cola to bring to a dinner party. Leave that 2-liter of Coke at home.
Nichol Cola
Well, we didn’t see this one coming, I’ll tell you that. This craft cola isn’t just delicious—it was so good it actually ranked higher than Coca-Cola in our taste test. We imagine THIS is what Coke tasted like before it was so mass-produced. It tastes like it was made with care and we love that. This is a cola that soda freaks HAVE to seek out.
Griffin Parker
