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The end of Dry January and your Whole30 diet are here just in time for the ultimate sugar rush from Spinning J’s new BYOB menu. As if herbaceous pops with housemade bitters and essential oil-infused syrups weren’t enough of a reason to visit the vintage soda fountain in Humboldt Park, now you can add a little nip from your pocket stash to that bay rum cola.

The BYOB mixers menu includes boozy suggestions for nine sodas, floats and shakes—from bright and crisp fresh-squeezed lemon drop soda to a root beer float concocted with housemade sassafras-wintergreen-nutmeg soda over vanilla bean gelato—plus two hot beverages. And like a vanishing elephant in a Houdini illusion, your spirit of choice is bound to hide well in these customizable cocktails.

Lemon drop soda.
Lemon drop soda.
Red Velvet Ribbon soda
Red Velvet Ribbon soda

Armed with pint-sized bottles of gin, vodka, whiskey and rum, I spiked five concoctions from the BYOB menu with a shot each. Though I could easily put away four sparkling vodka lemon drops ($3.50 each) for an afternoon delight, chemistry meets impressive culinary mastery in the red velvet ribbon soda ($4), cranberry-wildflower honey syrup with spruce and bitter orange essential oils and ginger bitters. A shot of gin in there could fool even Eliot Ness’ most elite Prohibition agent.

The balanced bevvies aren’t a happy accident. Baker Dinah Grossman and her husband, Parker Whiteway, a chemist, started investigating how to balance both alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks with the goal of creating sodas that were as interesting to drink as cocktails.

“Almost all of our sodas … use some element of a botanical or bitter to balance the sweetness, just like you would in a cocktail,” Grossman said. “We didn’t want any sodas to be overly sweet to begin with, so there’s always some element of balancing with acid, with bitters or with something like acid phosphate, which creates sort of a dry tannic taste, different from the acid you get from … lemon juice.”

Malted vanilla shake.
Malted vanilla shake.

While an adult milkshake without the obnoxious boozy aftertaste is tough to pull off, a little rum in the malted vanilla shake ($6.50) was a cream dream with nutty flavors that paired well with the essence of the tropical spirit. The liquor barely affected the thick consistency of the shake, a combination of vanilla ice cream, vanilla bean syrup, malt powder and whole milk.

Frank & Daisy hot toddy.
Frank & Daisy hot toddy.

And since winter calls for warmth, the Frank & Daisy ($5), a classic hot toddy with chamomile tea, fresh meyer lemon juice, ginger bitters and wildflower honey, was only enhanced by an ounce of whiskey, not unlike my grandma’s relaxing cold cure-all.

The Aaron’s Gift ($5)—hot fudge, steamed milk, tonka bitters and a bit of bourbon—was the latte of life I’ve been missing. Named for a former employee who grew tonka beans at home, the almondy-vanilla bitters add dryness and dark baking spice flavors that pair well with the chocolate. Whiskey wasn’t the wrong choice here, but I’d go back with rum or brandy for this one.

Aaron's Gift.
Aaron’s Gift.

The BYOB mixers are Spinning J’s recommendations, but guests can booze-infuse any drink at the shop, Grossman said. While the soda jerks can’t handle your alcohol for you, just give them a heads up, and your drink will come with a shot glass and a bar spoon with no cork fee. With you playing bartender, Spinning J might be offering the cheapest craft cocktail in town.

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