Handcrafted sodas go mainstream as Starbucks extends beverage brand

For the past few years, several restaurants around the world have introduced handmade sodas to their beverage menus. Hospoda, an upscale European restaurant on New York's Upper East Side is a good example of this, offering a variety of house-made sodas in addition to their cocktail menu. Now Starbucks is quietly testing "handcrafted" soft-drink products in some stores in the Atlanta and Austin markets, attesting to the popularity of this category and how it is poised to go mainstream. The fizzy spiced root beer, ginger ale and a lemon ale are made by baristas with special carbonation machines and are sold at premium Starbucks prices.