Ize Cola you say! There’s something about me that loves a good underdog story, and you often get this on ColaQuest. A firsty local upstart taking on the global evil of the Galactic Empire like Coca-Cola corporation. I present Ize Cola, Cambodia. The second most popular cola in the whole Kingdom. Hurrah!
What is Ize Cola?
I discovered Ize Cola when I was feeling parched on a trip from Bangkok to Siem Reap on our former GNT Ultimate South-East Asian pub crawl (that’s a whole other story). On returning to now live in Cambodia noticed and drank it again. If anything I felt it tasted better than before, so decided to find out what the Ize Cola story was.
What is ColaQuest?
Well #ColaQuest or ColaQuest is very different to #FantaQuest/FantaQuest. With Fanta Quest we like to discover all the different flavours of fanta on the globe. Every country does Fanta a little different you see.
Cola Quest is about discovering all the different brands of Coke out there. Most tend to be quite bad, like really bad, but you get the odd surprising exception t this rule. So, how does Ize compare then?
How does Ize compare with other cokes?
ColaQuest is a truly funny thing. Some countries like Cuba get it right, whilst others such as North Korea less so. I was not expecting much from Ize Cola, but I was to be pleasantly surprised. Great taste, more like Coke than Pepsi, and most importantly it passes the liquor challenge. Ize Cola and cheap vodka works.
Now whilst I got all excited about spreading the word about Ize, there’s actually very scant information online about it.
Who makes it?
What I have gathered though is that it won the Monde Selection Gold Prize in the soft drinks category and that they are made by the company that makes the imaginatively titled Cambodia Beer.
So, whilst you might not be seeing Ize Cola on every street corner just yet if you do find yourself in Cambodia Ize will quench thirst, boost your sugar levels, and be a great mixer for vodka. I actually like it a lot, and whilst it is less readily available than “real” coke, I will buy it instead of coke if I see it.
Do they make any other great products?
I’m aware this will be a blog that will rarely be read, but I’ll expand on it regardless! Ize Lemon is the lemon version of Ize (go figure), so most comparable to Cambodian sprite. Could this be the start of SpriteQuest/#SpirteQuest? Maybe. Overall it is a lot more lemoney than sprite or 7-up and more like a Mountain Jew (lol) but with less caffeine. I didn’t liquor test it, but I guess it would work with vodka. It is nowhere as good as Ize Cola in my opinion.
But it does end there, I also found Aje Big Cola, which apparently is the worlds 4th most consumed soft drink….Not though sadly, any good…
And they also make a fruit punch
Ize Fruit punch! No, we will not be starting #FRuitPunchQuest. I’m assuming this will be my last Ize-based update, but who knows they could throw a curveball like Tanduay did and throw up some new flavors.
Ize Fruit punch is a carbonated sickly sweet fruit punch beverage. Not all that bad, but nothing also to write home to grandma about. As a chaser to Soju it works very well.
And that is the story of Ize Cola and friends. Is this the end of the journey? Time will tell.