I’m just quaffing on one of these at the moment and it occurred to me that in an international context it might be blogworthy, since maybe it’s not that widely available around the world. Irn-Bru is a Scottish carbonated drink that’s been going for about a hundred years now, and it’s, well, odd. It’s bright orange, but it doesn’t taste remotely orangey. It’s as refreshing as a citrusy drink, but it tastes nothing like fruit, or quite like much else on this planet. It’s got more than a slight hint of barley sugar, but it’s nowhere near as cloying as that might suggest, and there’s clearly something else in there too. Irn-Bru is an enigma.
I love it though - I don’t chug canned drinks that much any more, but when I do it’s nearly always Red Bull (or the cheaper British imitator, Red Rooster which is surprisingly good) or Irn-Bru. There’s something pretty unique about it - they won’t tell you exactly what’s in it (which is pretty common in traditional Scottish fare), but they hint it might have something to do with girders - at least they used to, until they were forced to remove that from their advertising because it was misleading to the public, given that there weren’t in fact any genuine girders in there (just some kind of ferrous additive), and obviously, consumers could be confused by that. If they had been hit rather hard in the head by such a girder in the past, rendering them drooling halfwits perhaps.
Anyway, it’s got all the ingredients any hacker needs in a drink - water, carbon dioxide, caffeine, sugar, additives and a weird flavour. Perfect, and you can drink it in greater quantities than Red Bull without the unfortunate side-effects, such as being so hyper you’re convinced you can see 10 seconds into the future 
I’m not sure how widely it gets distributed outside of the UK but if you haven’t tried it yet, give it a go if you see it.
April 26th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
What about Dandelion and Burdock?
April 27th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
I bought it out of curiosity once, after reading the ingredients on the label. Now I’m addicted. It’s pretty hard to find in Australia (at least in brisbane), I’ve only seen Woolworths sell it.
From a post I made on my forum where I researched the ingredients and their (dangerous) effects:
- Ponceau 4R, a red dye made from coal tar. Ponceau 4R is illegal in America, Norway and Finland, because it is carcinogenic, causes asthma attacks, reactions in people allergic to aspirin, and hyperactivity in children.
- Quinine. An alkaloid which has properties like anti-inflammatory, painkilling, anti-smallpox, fever reducing, a malaria treatment, and arthritis treatment. It also has less happy side effects of rashes, deafness, blindness, anaphylactic shock, nausea, diarrhea, vertigo, headaches, confusion, tinnitus, dysphoria, low blood pressure, cardiotoxicity (fatal), birth defects, induces chemical abortion, nerve paralysis, pulmonary edema (fatal). It’s responsible for at least 23 confirmed deaths in america between 1969 and 1992.
- Ammonium Ferric Citrate. A chemical used for reducing gold and silver, and making cyanotype prints. It’s Material Safety Datasheet lists it as an eye and skin irritant, large doses will cause liver damage, coma or fatal iron poisoning. It has a health rating of “3 - Severe (life)” and it is recommended you use goggles, lab coat, vent hood and gloves when handling it.
Oh, and it has the best ad campaign:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5Dny-s27Dk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhHP3hP_0Pg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfiqrkV_ZqI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pFodgI3tnA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYNkqMPGQoY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fID-W9RT7OY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_f7WJUVVoY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtsizeQ9QJg
(It’s damn hard to get the piano one out of your head)
April 27th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
I haven’t had that for decades, I can’t even remember what it tastes like…
April 28th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Go and buy some then, it’s awesome stuff. I would rate it over Irn Bru any day.