Schweppes Bitter Lemon

[Gregory A]

Does anyone know where I can buy this in the greater DC area?

[Flaxen_Vixen]

Spotted: Canada Dry Bitter Lemon at the King Farm Safeway in Rockville.

[winegeek]

Nice to see the bitter lemon thread back! Run, don't walk, to lay your hands on some Fever Tree Bitter Lemon. A little more expensive, yes, no HFCS, & a nice snap of quinine.

[monkeyrotica]

Where can you get Fever Tree Bitter Lemon?

[MsDiPesto]

The one and only place I've ever seen Fever Tree products is at Wegman's in Fairfax. They're always out of the tonic water, sometimes you have to find a clerk to look in the back for stock, but they're great about that.

[beauxgoris]

Has anyone seen this recently?

[MsDiPesto]

beauxgoris, if you're referring to Fever Tree tonic water, I saw a couple of 4-packs in the Falls Church Whole Foods the other day. First time I've seen Fever Tree in there.

[bacchante]

You can get the bitter lemon and both the regular and the light tonic on Amazon.com for a very good price. I gave up trying to find it in the stores.

[beauxgoris]

I looked at amazon.com and it says that it's no longer available.

[Bob W]

I have good news!

Incredibly, the same day a few weeks ago that I posted a comment about Schweppes Bitter Lemon on another thread, I got an e-mail from amazon regarding Schweppes Bitter Lemon. How in god's name did they do that? In any event, it's back. I just checked and they have the Fever Tree too.

[hill food]

bob: everything you do is being data-mined depending on your browser and security settings. what thread you read here, what you buy, what news sources you look at. welcome to 1984 (sorry we were running a little late - we hit traffic).

[Bob W]

Yeah, I figured it wasn't just a coincidence 8>D Just amazed at how fast the email from amazon was generated.

[monkeyrotica]

Need an update for Schweppes Bitter Lemon. Since many grocery stores have cut back on obscure items that take up shelf space, it's no longer carried at Harris Teeter, Safeway, Giant, Total Beverage, or ANY of the liquor stores I've checked. Any local sources?

[hill food]

I have a hunch it's a regional distribution thing as I've seen it all over the place in NYC.

[monkeyrotica]

Still no Schweppes Bitter Lemon but I did find Canada Dry Bitter Lemon at Total Beverage.

[hill food]

weird that it's hard to find Schweppes ANYTHING around here. even tonic is often out of stock at the usual sources.

[monkeyrotica]

I've also found Canada Dry Bitter Lemon at Bestway Market at North Kings Highway and Telegraph Road near the Huntington Metro. I guess Canada Dry won the Bitter Lemon wars. Maybe they'll take up the bitter orange mantle as well.

[MsDiPesto]

The Giant in Falls Plaza in Falls Church also has the Canada Dry Bitter Lemon. I've been picking it up lately as I've noticed the ingredient label saying "HFCS or Sugar", which I imagine is due to the holidays, and the current bottles have the K symbol on the white cap. I'm hoping anyway, I can't tell if it's a sugar recipe or hcfs by tasting.

[winegeek]

In the USA, Schweppes is bottled and distributed by Pepsi Cola. The Mid-Atlantic Pepsi bottling plant discontinued Bitter Lemon about 6 or 7 years ago due to slow sales. We have not been able to get it since. Tonic water, club soda & ginger ale are still available in liters & 10oz bottles. Service and deliveries are horrible unless you're a huge corporate buyer & the minimum number of cases for delivery was as best I can recall 25 cases. A lot for a small retail shop to sell before the expiration date. Tonic water & Bitter Lemon (which also has quinine) have a shelf life considerably shorter than regular sodas. Canada Dry mixers are bottled by Royal Crown & Seagrams mixers by Coca Cola.

[Smokey]

I have had more luck purchasing bitter lemon through liquor stores than through regular grocery stores. And, like GregJ, I've heard that deliveries of it are somewhat random, so it's hard to keep in stock.

[GregJ]

Schweppes has some sort of chronic production/distribution problems. I prefer their tonic water to other brands, but the stores that carry it (e.g., Giant) are often out. And those that don't (e.g., Magruders) have told me that deliveries are too random to be reliable.

[monkeyrotica]

Safeways in NoVA carry it in the mixer section. Have also seen it in downtown Safeways.

What I'm looking for is Schweppes Bitter Orange. Apparently, it's only available in Germany.

[MakingSense]

Have you tried the San Pellegrino versions of bitter orange and lemon? Very tart. Wonderful!

[bacchante]

I think we've gotten it at Harris Teeter in Ballston. If not there, then at one of the Virginia ABC stores