Looking for local alternatives to Sprite, I got bottles of Hotlips lemon soda and Crater Lake Soda's lemon-lime to try masking the cloying, bittersweet goop. Hotlips lemon soda would be fine with cheap gin, but it did very little to dilute the pungent flavor of the key ingredient. Crater Lake's lemon-lime sizzurp, however, was a real treat—the grapefruit-pink liquid was smooth and effervescent, with a sugary aftertaste you wouldn't mind taking with an espresso and a slice of tiramisu at a bistro with a pretentious name. Imagine a chilled glass of Fernet-Branca with a cherry Freeze Pop melted at the bottom.