NWR Does anybody still use a soda syphon?

[Edward Bolland]

The soda syphon was a common sight when I was growing up, my parents and most of their friends seem to have them. I am guessing that they are now pretty much defunct?

This wasn’t a random thought that entered my head this morning, rather the piece below from the Tanner’s news letter.

 

[Thom Blach]

I haven't seen one for decades but I certainly remember them, we had one at home and every pub counter had them available.There was the type described above but my feeling is that the kind with a CO2 cartridge was more common, I'll ask my mother tomorrow if she remembers. They are as stylish as they are cumbersome-perhaps it's time for a revival.

 

[Edward Bolland]

They are as stylish as they are cumbersome-perhaps it's time for a revival.

I am trying to persuade myself that purchasing one would be an environmental good, a Campari and soda would be far greener without the need for canned soda water.
I suspect that I am deluded in my thinking.

 

[Thom Blach]

I think the capsules are recyclable, lighter than the little tins and go a fair bit further, so you may well be right.

 

[Richard_Brooks]

I love my Sodastream… get through a frightening amount of CO2. I’ve always thought the canisters would make an excellent weapon.

 

[Richard Zambuni]

Soda syphons always make me think of Somerset Maugham short shories where everyone seems to drink whisky and soda.

 

[Dan Vyvyan]

Afraid I’m not as highbrow as you Richard

 

[kevin heatherington]

Vintage ones are collected. You often see them on ebay and also in antique centres. The latter are often a good source of old decanters too.

 

[Edward Bolland]

Soda syphons always make me think of Somerset Maugham short shories where everyone seems to drink whisky and soda.

As did all the adults that I knew growing up.

 

[Tom De Vecchi]

I have a vague memory of my grandparents taking their soda siphon to the off licence to be refilled. Is this a correct memory? Is that something one would do?

 

[Thom Blach]

I have a vague memory of my grandparents taking their soda siphon to the off licence to be refilled. Is this a correct memory? Is that something one would do?

That does ring a bell.

 

[Mike Holliday]

I have a vague memory of my grandparents taking their soda siphon to the off licence to be refilled. Is this a correct memory? Is that something one would do?

It's quite possible. As well as the sparklets syphons that you would use a small CO2 cylinder to carbonate, lots of places would sell syphons of ready made soda water. As I understood it you would then return the empty syphon, which would go away for refilling, and get a replacement - just the same way you would pay a deposit on a beer bottle and return it for refilling. I have a few of these somewhere in the cellar - picked up around thirty years ago..

 

[Johnny Richardson]

It's quite possible. As well as the sparklets syphons that you would use a small CO2 cylinder to carbonate, lots of places would sell syphons of ready made soda water. As I understood it you would then return the empty syphon, which would go away for refilling, and get a replacement - just the same way you would pay a deposit on a beer bottle and return it for refilling. I have a few of these somewhere in the cellar - picked up around thirty years ago..

This is what I remember - I think they would go to Stowells in Windsor for a new syphon, taking the empty with them. No CO2 cylinder so I imagine that the carbonated water would have been bottled under pressure hence the thickness of the container. The soda stayed fizzy for a month or two (they were not heavy drinkers). I remember winning a miniature of VAT69 in the village fete when I was about 14 and using it with the syphon when no adults were present. I thought it was disgusting, of course..

 

[Ben Hunting]

There’s a company called iSi that makes syphons but I believe they are either in metal or plastic, not glass. I was tempted but it seemed like you needed to spend over 50p per litre of soda on the “chargers”.

 

[Edward Bolland]

There’s a company called iSi that makes syphons but I believe they are either in metal or plastic, not glass. I was tempted but it seemed like you needed to spend over 50p per litre of soda on the “chargers”.

I have seen these. The online pictures look good, but then I realised the clear ones are plastic as you say.

 

[Steve Slatcher]

I think we got our manufacturer-refillable ones from the Co-op "pop man", who made weekly deliveries. They were definitely glass, as plastic packaging didn't really exist at the time. He also supplied us with large re-usable bottles of Co-op pop in a wide range of flavours. Lime, and dandelion and burdock, are the ones I remember best.

There was competition from the Corona pop man, who also made weekly deliveries. The Corona van always looked more attractive to me, but Mum was loyal to the Co-op.

 

[Jasper Morris]

I have a vague memory of my grandparents taking their soda siphon to the off licence to be refilled. Is this a correct memory? Is that something one would do?

Definitely - my father did weekly to be replenished at the White hart - two a week

 

[Thom Blach]

I think we got our manufacturer-refillable ones from the Co-op "pop man", who made weekly deliveries. They were definitely glass, as plastic packaging didn't really exist at the time. He also supplied us with large re-usable bottles of Co-op pop in a wide range of flavours. Lime, and dandelion and burdock, are the ones I remember best.

There was competition from the Corona pop man, who also made weekly deliveries. The Corona van always looked more attractive to me, but Mum was loyal to the Co-op.

Corona fizzy drinks in the big returnable bottles seemed a wonderful luxury when I was a boy,very much an occasional treat. Cherryade was my favourite. They were sweetened with wholesome sugar, not the foul and lethal artificial sweeteners now found in soft drinks.

 

[Richard Zambuni]

Corona fizzy drinks in the big returnable bottles seemed a wonderful luxury when I was a boy,very much an occasional treat. Cherryade was my favourite. They were sweetened with wholesome sugar, not the foul and lethal artificial sweeteners now found in soft drinks.

But no doubt offset by the carcinogenic artificial colours now banned in soft drinks.

 

[Thom Blach]

But no doubt offset by the cancerous artificial colours now banned in soft drinks.

I wonder about that and suspect that inadvisable as they are they pose a threat only in quantities that the sugar content would make absurd to contemplate. One can buy Turkish and Indian soft drinks near me that contain unbelievable horrors and taste and look just as such drinks tasted in the 1960s. A fun treat once every year or three and I suspect at least no more deleterious than drinks containing alcohol!

 

[Mike Holliday]

I think we got our manufacturer-refillable ones from the Co-op "pop man", who made weekly deliveries. They were definitely glass, as plastic packaging didn't really exist at the time. He also supplied us with large re-usable bottles of Co-op pop in a wide range of flavours. Lime, and dandelion and burdock, are the ones I remember best.

There was competition from the Corona pop man, who also made weekly deliveries. The Corona van always looked more attractive to me, but Mum was loyal to the Co-op.

I've had a search and found one in the cellar - photos attached.



I found it impossible to get a photo of the whole syphon with the labelling readable, so took the one with backlight. The tiny print at the bottom says 'British Syphon Company Limited'.
I believe the whole of the valve assembly would be taken off for refilling, and suspect that the fact the red bit is actually in two pieces may have a bearing on how that was done, but I've not tried to get it off myself!
It's really heavy - even though it's just about empty it weighs a bit over 1.6kg.

 

[Steve Slatcher]

I've had a search and found one in the cellar - photos attached.

View attachment 46791View attachment 46790

I found it impossible to get a photo of the whole syphon with the labelling readable, so took the one with backlight. The tiny print at the bottom says 'British Syphon Company Limited'.
I believe the whole of the valve assembly would be taken off for refilling, and suspect that the fact the red bit is actually in two pieces may have a bearing on how that was done, but I've not tried to get it off myself!
It's really heavy - even though it's just about empty it weighs a bit over 1.6kg.

Yes, that's basically it, though I've found a co-op branded one on ebay.

 

[kevin heatherington]

The demise of the soda siphon can really be put down to two things, the 1973 oil crisis and Barbara Castle.

The former led to the economic downturn of the 1970s and early 80s and the latter introduced the breathalyser to combat drink driving. Both contributed to the decline in drinking whisky and soda from the 1970s which had all begun as the drink of choice back in the 1870s when phylloxera made it popular because of the scarcity of wine that was then available.

 

[Thom Blach]

While there may be some truth in that, Kevin, by the 70s the price of whisky in real terms was already very much lower than in the 50s, though not as low as now, and certainly not as very low as it was in the pre-covid period.

 

[Edward Bolland]

My childhood recollections are that most of the whisky drunk was blended, and that single malt was a rarer thing. I think whisky generally was more widely consumed in the 70s than now. The butcher who delivered our weekly order on a Saturday would accept a scotch and soda from my parents in the mid morning.