I purchased this tarragon soda at The Spanish Table ($1.79) because, well,

Published 7:00 am Wednesday, June 10, 2009

I purchased this tarragon soda at The Spanish Table ($1.79) because, well, you just don’t see herbed sodas every day. I prepared myself for disappointment based on the bright green color alone, but I heart tarragon and was hoping for something new with which to mix gin this summer. I reluctantly love it.Though in the same genus as wormwood, tarragon never tastes overtly of licorice to me, but this soda tastes exactly like the coating of Good-n-Plenty, just at that moment when you break on through to their black, chewy innards. At first I thought the spelling was some of that crazy Basque zsa, zsa, zghee stuff, but that’s Russian. The soda is traditional to Eastern Europe, and the English translation is “tarhun.” It’s too sweet to make it as a mixer for me, but if you cut it with some very aggressive sparkling water, using it as part soda part syrup, it makes an excellent gin highball.