lost trail

Last week was my biannual trip to the Midwest. The pit stops? St Louis, MO; Springfield, IL; Columbia, MO; and Kansas City (KS and MO). Mostly it was visiting family. But there was, of course, an ulterior motive. Finding bottle caps! The trip started off well: the traveling companions I met at the airport had a few for me and as soon as I arrived in St Louis, there were a few more!  But those will be discussed at a later date.

The first crown I want to highlight this week is Lost Trail Soda. Lost Trail was purchased at a supermarket in Kansas City (Kansas! Not Missouri!) after a trip to the wonderful independent bookstore Rainy Day Books. I was able to get Root Beer, Sarsaparilla, Cream Soda, and Strawberry & Cream in a 4-pack. All of the bottle caps were the same, but since I was there, and buying an "authentic" Kansas soda, I figured I would try as many flavors as I could. This was the only root beer that I could find that is made and bottled in Kansas, but if anyone knows of any others, tell me about them in the comments section.

The bottle cap is fun -- a cowboy on a horse yelling "Yahoo!" all one color. It's a playful idea, although I wish they would have pulled a Stevens Point/Henry Weinhard and given the cowboy a few additional things to say. Yee-haw? Howdy? Giddiup? The possibilities are endless. Lost Trail, if you need more ideas, let me know.

I'm happy to report that all of the flavors (save the Strawberry & Cream -- WAY too sweet) were quite delicious and were made with cane sugar (not HFCS). The cream soda in particular was excellent: smooth and flavorful. I'd definitely buy them again if given the opportunity!