Bailey Tries… 7UP and Milk

As an alumni of William Carey University, I have some wonderful memories from Common Grounds, more affectionately called The Coffeehouse. From late night study sessions to Costume Karaoke, we had some pretty awesome late nights but one of my favorite things about The Coffeehouse was all the unique items on their menu. See, unlike universities that have been taken over by Barnes and Nobles or Starbucks, Common Grounds was still just a small student run affair where the employees would regularly create fun concoctions with even better names… the best name of all time was “The Dirty Irishman” which was quite risque for a small Christian college but was an absolutely delicious milkshake with the flavors of vanilla, chocolate, Irish cream and actual coffee grounds in the mix. As much as I loved their shakes and pastries, it was their old-fashioned egg creams that I fell in love with while living on campus. In fact, when I graduated I tried to make versions at home but something was always missing, so when I saw this old advertisement for 7UP I knew I had to try it because it had a similar feel.

Now, had I never tasted these delicious concoctions I would balk at the idea of any dairy product and a carbonated soda but this so reminds me of the egg creams from Carey but maybe like a homestyle, cheats version. I was severely WRONG! Was this advertisement a joke? The research I did led to stories of weird child-rearing beliefs like the health benefits of adding the sugar to a child milk and more which is not surprising considering some of the beliefs of the past but good grief all mighty! How on earth do you make the milk not curdle? I tried it with 7 UP, the sugar free ICE drinks and more. Everyone of them curdled , which didn’t happen when I tried to recreate the egg creams years ago but those also had heavy cream and only a little milk. This is why I’m always curious about old recipes because I was certain this was going to work and be delicious. Yuck!