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Prost! A guide to the Swiss beverage aisle

The beverage aisle in Swiss grocery stores is a bit different from the US. Here are some beverages that almost all stores carry:
  • Rivella - A soda that tastes like someone dissolved Smarties (the US kind) or SweeTarts in carbonated water. It's made with milk whey, which gives it a slightly tangy "is that an artificial sweetener?" flavor. It's often referred to by label color. It's available in red (regular), blue (diet), green (green tea - tastes vaguely like ginger ale for some reason), orange (peach), and, in the early summer, pink (rhubarb, which is delicious). If you visit Switzerland and want to try it, I guarantee that a local will be willing to buy you a bottle. This is because most Americans really don't like it, and the Swiss enjoy our "What WAS that?" reaction. I'm a weirdo who liked it the first time I tried it.
  • Sinalco - While the company makes many flavors, Orange is all you'll commonly find in Switzerland. It's vaguely like Orangina, but sweeter with less pulp. Or, if you're not familiar with Orangina, mix Orange soda, 7-Up, and orange juice in roughly equal portions.
  • Mezzo Mix - Made by Coca-Cola. Tastes like 3 parts Coke mixed with 1 part orange soda. If you do this yourself, it's called a Spezi.
  • Tonic water and bitter lemon soda. You can find these in the US, but they're usually only used for mixed drinks. Here, they're popular drinks on their own. They tend to be a bit less brutally bitter as a result.
  • Coke, no Pepsi. While Pepsi theoretically operates in Switzerland, I haven't seen it anywhere in Zürich. Coke is widely available, and they run constant promotions, but they still get the second-tier shelf space. The product that's called "Diet Coke" in the US is called "Coke Light" here.
  • Red Bull and a generic equivalent. Most stores have 6 packs of Red Bull for about 10CHF, and 6-packs of their generic version (often in 2-3 different flavors) for less than 3CHF. Some kiosks and larger stores also sell ok.- energy drink (the most Swiss name ever).
  • Half a dozen mediocre beers, often including a store brand. There are microbreweries here that turn out really good beer. Germany and Belgium are right up the road, and they make hundreds of great beers. Instead of carrying any of that, you can count on your local grocery store carrying a few local macrobrewers like Feldschlössen instead. You need to go to specialty places to find good beer.
  • Panaché - a mix of beer, lemonade, and sometimes herbs. In the US, this is often called a Shandy. 



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