It is truly a rare treat to find a microbrew soda, and Ely Sodas are so local I can't find ANY information on them, beyond this ad from the local Ely gazette, the Ely Echo.
The bottle in my possession doesn't give me any clues, either. There is no contact information, no phone number, no website. It is a mystery, indeed.
We tried two varieties, the Minnesota Bear Blueberry Soda and the Minnesota Voyageur ButterScotch Root Beer.
I wasn't able to save the bottle of the blueberry soda (we had smuggled our own pop in and carrying out the empties was inconvenient.) So I don't have an ingredient list for you. I can tell you that it was moderately carbonated, not too sweet, and the blueberry flavor reminded me of what I thought was Frankenberry, but my cereal-loving husband corrected me was actually Booberry. It was pretty much lukewarm by this point, so the carbonation may be a bit more bitey when cold.
I do still have the bottle of the butterscotch root beer. Ingredients are: Carbonated water, sugar and/or corn sweetener, caramel color, natural & artificial flavors, sodium benzoate (as a preservative)
The ingredient list didn't fill me with a lot of confidence, but I forged on ahead. Again, this wasn't as cold as I would have preferred, but I don't think it hurt the flavor. Nice carbonation, good mouthfeel- not too syrupy, not too thin. But the flavor! Have you ever read Harry Potter. No? Liars. Of course you've read Harry Potter. Remember butterbeer? I'm pretty sure this is exactly what they were talking about. The strongest notes are the butterscotch. The root beer is far more subtle, just enough to keep the butterscotch from being too cloying- just a tiny bit of the sassafras. My favorite of the two.
Definitely worth a trip up to the Boundary Waters. Between Ely Soda Works and Dorothy Molter Root Beer, Ely might just be on its way to becoming the soda pop mecca of the Great Lakes.
