This soda idea has pop: Buffalo Creek debuting new line of sodas, nonalcoholic version of signature brew

Here’s an example of what happens when a veteran craft brewer gets creative.

Bubble gum soda.

Yep. It starts with carbonated water and cane sugar, plus natural flavoring.

That’s how Mike Marr does it. He’s the owner and brewmaster at Buffalo Creek Brewing, 360 Historical Lane in Long Grove.

He’s captured something he said tastes like Bubble Yum chewing gum, which still is produced by The Hershey Company.

“It tastes like that but has a little more sweetness to it, and you can actually drink it,” said Marr, who seven years ago turned a former art gallery with cathedral ceilings into a brewery, plus a taproom and an event space. Outdoors is an all-seasons beer garden, or “biergarten” since he likes the Bavarian touch.

Customers can drink it starting late next week, when Marr unveils Buffalo Creek’s new line of sodas — cola, root beer, lemon-lime and bubble gum.

“We decided to have some fun,” Marr said.

Buffalo Creek is a family-friendly place, and Marr created a soda flavor for bubble blowers of all ages.

He’s starting small, 10 cases of 12-ounce cans in each flavor. If feedback is positive Buffalo Creek will swing into full production of the sodas.

For several years the craft brewer has offered a line of sodas from an outside vendor, but Marr said due to ever-increasing transportation costs he decided to start making his own.

“We know how to make soda, and it gives us something to explore and have some fun with it,” Marr said.

Moving to Barrington Hills from Boston in 2002, Marr was a software engineer in his prior professional life. He has long been a fan of craft beer, a member of the Samuel Adams Founders Club before that Boston brew broke nationwide.

He began his craft at home. After 15 years as a home brewer he opened Buffalo Creek Brewing on July 15, 2017. It specializes in German and Belgian beers, annually creating 40 to 50 different types with typically 16 different beers on tap at any one time.

Marr recently added an assistant brewmaster, Brian Leuders of Lake Barrington.

The momentum for Marr to open his own place came after his signature brew, Marrvelous, drew praise when he entered it in the Great Lakes Beer Festival in 2012.

A German kölsch — a light ale that tastes like a lager due to a specific strain of German yeast, Marr said — Marrvelous also inspired another addition along with the sodas.

He plans to debut a nonalcoholic version of his namesake Marrvelous kölsch at the end of next week.

“We’re going to make it available to the public,” Marr said. “We made a small batch first to make sure it turned out OK.”

These concoctions require precision. But Marr has been able to sell his brews successfully in-house, in Long Grove shops and in stores throughout the six-county metropolitan area.

“Even seven years in we’re constantly innovating and coming up with new things to make,” he said.