Burly Beverages Gift Shoppe & Tasting Room

I've been hearing about the house-made sodas and other drinks offered by Burly Beverages for quite awhile, but had never actually tried them. Then a couple of items popped up in my Facebook news feed. First, I saw that Burly Beverages had partnered with Conscious Creamery to offer soda floats prepared with vegan gelato. Does anything sound better in the summer than a root beer float? I don't think so. I made a mental note to find out if Burly Beverages would be at any upcoming events.


Before I even had a chance to do that, however, I saw a Facebook post saying that Burly Beverages had opened a retail location on Del Paso Boulevard. So my husband Phil and I headed over there this past weekend.


When we arrived at Burly Beverages Gift Shoppe & Tasting Room, we were disappointed to find the doors locked. I checked the sign on the window to see what hours it was open, and that's when I saw the note saying to ring the bell. We did, and were let in by the genius behind Burly Beverages, Gabriel Aiello. Since he spends most of his time working in the back of the building, he keeps the front door locked.


We sat down at the soda bar and looked over the list of available goodies. Phil ordered a root beer float with Conscious Creamery vanilla gelato, and I ordered a cream soda float with the same gelato. Both sodas were made in-house. Gabriel said the cream soda was made from a recipe he'd discovered from the 1800s, using cream of tartar rather than actual cream. Both floats were delicious, and I expect to head over to Del Paso Boulevard many more times this summer.

Many of you probably already know Gabriel as the chef who prepares the popular vegan meals for Meatless Mondays at Old Ironsides on the second Monday of every month. Hey, that's tonight! In addition to the vegan food item, which will be burrito bowls this month, Gabriel will also be serving a couple of his Burly Beverages -- strawberry-chipotle shrub soda and super smooth ginger beer.


Burly Beverages Gift Shoppe & Tasting Room is located at 2014 Del Paso Boulevard, and their phone number is 916-333-3879. Their website address is http://burlybeverages.com/retailshoppe, and their Facebook page can be found at https://www.facebook.com/bbgiftshoppeandtastingroom/. They are open Wednesday through Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Be sure to ring the bell!