Handcrafted Soda · Reading, Pennsylvania · Since 1921
Reading
Soda Works
Old-fashioned soda, pure cane sugar and more than a century of Pennsylvania fizz.
Reading Soda Works has been bottling soda in Reading since 1921—through the soda-fountain years, the rise of mass-market soft drinks and today's return to small-batch craft soda.
A Reading bottling company begins during America's dry years.
Where It Began
In the middle of Prohibition, Peter Lysczek opens a soda bottling business in Reading, Pennsylvania.
A Soda Company Born
During Prohibition
In 1921, Peter Lysczek opened a Reading bottling business known as ABC Soda.
The timing could hardly have been more interesting. America was only one year into national Prohibition, and beverages without alcohol were taking on an increasingly important role in American social life.
Soda fountains were thriving. Root beer, birch beer, flavored sodas and other fizzy drinks gave people something fun to order while the nation's bars operated under an entirely different set of rules.
From those early Reading roots would eventually emerge the sodas generations came to know under the Reading Draft name—and today, Reading Soda Works.
Peter Lysczek opens ABC Soda in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Joseph Lysczek Sr. establishes Reading Draft Birch and Carbonic Gas.
A new family chapter begins and Reading Soda Works takes shape.
More than a century later, craft soda is still bottled in Reading.
The Reading Draft Years
A Name Generations
of Pennsylvanians Remember
Long before “craft soda” became a category, Reading was already bottling its own.
In 1946, Peter's son Joseph Lysczek Sr. started Reading Draft Birch and Carbonic Gas, continuing the family's beverage-business story.
The Reading Draft name became attached to familiar regional flavors including root beer, birch beer, white birch, sarsaparilla and cream soda.
Those weren't novelty flavors. They were part of Pennsylvania's everyday soda tradition.
ABC Soda became Reading Draft. Reading Draft became part of the story Reading Soda Works carries forward today.
More than a century of hometown fizzThe Fizz Matters Too
Not All Bubbles Are Created Equal
Reading Soda Works uses a slower carbonation process designed to create smaller bubbles, a smoother sip and fizz that lasts.
Triple Filtered
The water is filtered before it ever becomes part of the finished soda.
Slow Carbonation
Instead of rushing carbonation, the soda absorbs it gradually.
Smaller Bubbles
The result is the company's signature pinpoint carbonation.
Smoother Fizz
The bubbles stay lively without overpowering the actual flavor of the soda.
Inside the Bottle
Pure Cane Sugar.
Old-Fashioned Flavor.
The bottle looks nostalgic, but what is inside matters even more.
Reading Soda Works makes its traditional craft sodas with pure cane sugar rather than high-fructose corn syrup.
The company combines that with quality ingredients and its slower carbonation process to create the kind of soda that feels much closer to an old neighborhood soda counter than a mass-market plastic bottle.
Pure cane sugar. Slow carbonation. Glass bottles. Reading, Pennsylvania.
The old-fashioned approach inside the bottleSelected for a Reason
Why We Chose
Reading Soda Works
A soda company founded in Pennsylvania in 1921 almost feels tailor-made for Gift With a Story.
Reading Soda Works gives us a real connection to the soda-fountain culture that existed alongside Prohibition—not a reproduction created decades later, but a Pennsylvania bottling tradition whose story actually begins during the era.
Then there is the product itself: glass bottles, cane sugar, old-fashioned flavors and enough variety to let us build completely different gift experiences around the same maker.
It may be one of the clearest examples of what we mean by giving something with a story.
The bottle is nostalgic. The story behind the fizz is the real reason we chose it.
Why Reading Soda Works belongs in the giftFrom the Soda Crate
Choose Their Fizz
Reading Soda Works now makes dozens of flavors. These are some of the classic styles that best tell the old-fashioned soda story.
The Soda-Fountain Classic
Root Beer
Wintergreen · Vanilla · Creamy
A familiar old-fashioned root beer with wintergreen and vanilla character and a smooth finish.
The Pennsylvania Favorite
Birch Beer
Wintergreen · Herbal · Crisp
One of the flavors most closely associated with Pennsylvania soda culture, with an unmistakable wintergreen character.
The Lighter Birch
White Birch
Light · Crisp · Refreshing
A cleaner, lighter expression of classic birch beer for someone who prefers a more refreshing sip.
The Old-Time Bottle
Sarsaparilla
Roots · Herbs · Earthy
A deeply traditional soda built around root and herbal flavors with an old-fashioned personality all its own.
The Fruit-Soda Classic
Black Cherry
Dark Cherry · Rich · Fruity
A fuller cherry flavor with plenty of fruit character and old-fashioned fizz.
The Creamsicle Bottle
Orange Cream
Orange · Vanilla · Creamy
Bright citrus meets creamy sweetness in a bottle that tastes remarkably like a fizzy creamsicle.
The Soda-Fountain Sweetheart
Vanilla Cream
Vanilla · Smooth · Sweet
Simple, creamy vanilla flavor with the unmistakable personality of an old-fashioned cream soda.
The Spicy Bottle
Ginger Beer
Ginger · Spicy · Bright
A stronger ginger profile with enough spice to stand on its own or work as a mixer.
Our Starting Point
Begin With the Classics
Root Beer · Birch Beer · Sarsaparilla
If the history is the reason for the gift, start with the flavors that feel most at home beside an old soda fountain.
Choosing Their Bottle
Not Sure Which Soda to Pick?
Start with what kind of experience you want the bottle to deliver.
The Classic Soda Drinker
For someone who wants the quintessential old-fashioned bottle.
Root BeerThe Pennsylvania Pick
For a flavor with an especially strong regional personality.
Birch BeerThe Sweet Tooth
Creamy, dessert-like sodas made for floats and fun recipes.
Orange Cream · Vanilla CreamThe Adventurous Bottle
For someone who wants something less familiar than cola.
Sarsaparilla · Ginger BeerBorn During the Dry Years
1921 Prohibition was already underway.
While the Bars Went Dark,
the Soda Fountain Stayed Bright
National Prohibition began in 1920. Reading's soda-bottling story began just one year later.
The era dramatically reshaped American drinking. Alcohol moved behind hidden doors, but soda fountains remained legal, public and increasingly important places to meet, drink and socialize.
Root beer, birch beer, cream soda, ginger ale and countless flavored fountain drinks offered another kind of indulgence— one that did not require a password.
That makes Reading Soda Works different from a modern company simply recreating 1920s flavors. Its story actually begins there.
The American Soda Fountain
More Than Somewhere
to Buy a Soda
The soda counter became one of America's great informal gathering places.
Drugstores and confectioners built counters around sparkling beverages, ice cream, phosphates, floats and flavored syrups.
Young people met there. Families stopped in for treats. Workers grabbed something cold. Friends sat at the counter and talked.
The soda itself was only part of the experience. The fountain was part restaurant, part neighborhood meeting place and part entertainment.
Old Bottle · New Tricks
The Soda Fountain
Can Keep Evolving
We love the history, but we do not expect anyone to leave the bottle sitting unopened on a shelf.
Drink It Cold
Chill the glass bottle, pop the cap and let the soda speak for itself.
Make a Float
Root beer, orange cream and vanilla cream practically ask for a scoop of ice cream.
Mix a Dirty Soda
Add cream, fruit, citrus or another syrup and turn the bottle into a recipe.
Build a Mocktail
Ginger beer and fruit sodas make easy foundations for zero-proof drinks.
Still Rooted in Reading
More Than a Century
of Hometown Fizz
The ownership has changed. The bottle keeps moving forward.
In 2015, the Conner family purchased the Reading beverage business and began the next chapter as Reading Soda Works.
Today the company remains family-owned and locally operated, producing traditional sodas alongside newer fruit flavors, botanical beverages and seltzers.
The lineup has grown to more than fifty varieties, but Reading—and the company's old-fashioned approach to soda—remains at the center of the story.
100+ years of soda history. 50+ sodas, botanicals, and seltzers. One hometown: Reading, Pennsylvania.
The bottle keeps changing. The hometown remains.From the Bottling Line to the Gift Box
When Reading Soda Works Goes Into a Gift
A Real 1921 Story
A Pennsylvania soda company whose story begins during Prohibition.
Product History
Reading Draft, cane sugar, glass bottles and pinpoint carbonation.
Recipes
Floats, Dirty Sodas, soda-fountain drinks and mocktails.
Personalized Story
Add an occasion story chosen for the person receiving the gift.
From the Story Library
More Stories About Reading Soda Works
Explore the history, traditions, recipes, and everyday stories connected to this maker.
Featured Story
The American Soda Fountain
Where fizz, flavor, ice cream, and conversation turned an ordinary counter into one of America’s favorite gathering places.
Read the Full StoryMore From the Story Library
Article 1920 Diner
The counter that never closed—where coffee, malted drinks, pie, soda, and everyday American life met on the same row of stools.
Read the StoryMonthly by Post
Find Reading Soda Works in the American Soda Fountain Club
A monthly trip back to the American soda counter, with old-fashioned bottles, fountain-inspired flavors, and the stories behind the fizz.
For Campus
Find This Maker in The Collegiate Survival Parcel
A more thoughtful care package for dorm rooms, study breaks, and a little taste of home—built with American-made pantry favorites and the stories behind them.
From Our Shop
Gift Sets Featuring Reading Soda Works
Give them the bottles, the recipes, and the story of Pennsylvania soda since 1921.
Give More Than a Gift
Pop the Cap.
Pour the Story.
From Reading in 1921 to a cold glass bottle today, Reading Soda Works carries more than a century of Pennsylvania soda history in every crate.