An Ode to IRN BRU

'If it's not Scottish, It's Crap' Ad campaign AND awesome segway!

"Made from Girders" is the motto of the number one selling soda of Scotland. Irn Bru is totted to be Scotland's 'other national drink' after co......nope, after whiskey! The Barr brothers family business has been producing Irn Bru since 1901 and is based in Glasgow, Scotland. One cannot come to this fair country without tasting the national treasure which can only be described as, in their add campaigns, phenomenal. The fizzy orange phenomenon is the culmination of the original 32 flavours, a recipe that remains a closely guarded secret to this day.

Iron Bru is rumoured to have originated from the numerous beer induced deaths caused by overconsumption by iron workers during a time when Scotland's sanitation systems where questionable and clearly before the dawn of bottled water. Iron Brew, as it was originally labelled( perhaps a shout out to the iron workers it was founded for), was later taken to task as advertising laws took accountability actions against the company discouraging false advertising. Oddly enough, the named was changed on account of the fact Irn Bru was not actually brewed and not because its iron content came into question. The fizzy ferrous beverage claims to be 'made from girders' because in actual fact, if you read the label, it does contain iron in the form of ammonium ferric citrate. The new name is a take on how the popular hangover cure is pronounced in a Glaswegian accent.

This is a picture of a bin of bru! Buy four for a pound! Pictured here is the "wee-bru" size of soda pop!

Irn Bru cannot be called an orange soda by any stretch of the imagination, in fact the only thing that resembles orange soda as I know it it the controversial colour. Try to name the flavour...go ahead. I sampled some from the glass 750 ml serving size, which has been confirmed by many a Scot to be the best way to drink your bru. The best I can describe it is a citrusy-cream soda, with a hint of rosewater, mixed with notes of bubblegum and vanilla. Complex, but try it and taste for yourself.

The Council of the Scottish Tartans Society see to it that not just anyone gets a tartan.Orange and blue is synonymous with Irn Bru and in 1997 this IRN-BRU tartan became certified and accredited (which means this tartan has more letters behind its name than I do!)

Irn Bru emotes a sense of sentimental Scottish pride comparable to Tim Horton's coffee in Canada and similarly to coffee this sweet soda contains caffeine for a boost in addition to quinine for some bitterness.

12 cans of Irn Bru are consumed every second in Scotland-FACT!

Check out some of Irn Bru's odd but apparently highly effective add campaigns here! Most of them make me blush! This one reminded me of home!

Enjoy!