Crush chef behind Dry Soda's latest flavors

When the upscale Seattle restaurant Crush is closed on Mondays, Chef Jason Wilson likes to play around in the kitchen while his wife, Nicole, does the books and other managerial work.

For several weeks last spring, he concocted sugar syrups for the Seattle soda-pop company Dry Soda, which was looking to add new flavors.

In May, he lined up his favorite 14 syrups on the curved bar at Crush and led Dry Soda founder Sharelle Klaus and other employees through a five-hour taste test.

They tried syrups made with dried elderberries, crushed black pepper, vadouvan curry and two kinds of vanilla, and narrowed the selection down to six. Wilson then whipped up 5 gallons of syrup to ship to flavor houses whose job it is to match the taste.

Several months of sniffing and sampling later, Dry Soda arrived at its next two flavors — juniper berry and vanilla bean — which will debut this fall. Dry Soda is sold nationwide, and this summer began distribution at grocery stores in Canada.

Everyone is a little wistful that basil didn't make the cut. It was one of Klaus' early ideas when she launched Dry Soda in 2005 with four flavors — kumquat, lavender, lemon grass and rhubarb.

The color of the basil syrup wowed Wilson so much that he created a similarly green syrup from tarragon for a cocktail at Crush.

He also likes the way Dry Soda's new juniper berry goes with gin.

"We don't carry Coke or Sprite or root beer anymore," Wilson said. The restaurant has replaced those sodas with Dry, a low-calorie alternative sweetened with cane sugar.

Klaus said she was thrilled to collaborate with Wilson. "He got the vision right from the start."

— Melissa Allison

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Retail Report appears Fridays. Melissa Allison covers the food and beverage industry. She can be reached at 206-464-3312 or mallison@seattletimes.com. Amy Martinez covers goods, services and online retail. She can be reached at 206-464-2923 or amartinez@seattletimes.com.