There’s been a lot of chat lately about the demise of the lemony fizzy drink known as Lift, which has been replaced with something called “Sprite Plus”. But what you’re all forgetting is that Lift doesn’t even come close the actual best lemon beverage out there. That title is held by the humble pub squash and I will absolutely die on this hill.
Pub squash (AKA lemon squash) is without a doubt the ultimate zesty bev. Hands down. No arguments.
There’s nothing that quenches a mighty mid-summer thirst than an ice-cold glass of pub squash. It was the only soft drink my grandparents would keep in the fridge so I naturally have a lot of sentimental memories attached to that citrusy sippy drink.
Pub squash’s origins are, unsurprisingly, in pubs. Local waterholes around Australia would traditionally make their own lemon squash drinks as a non-alcoholic option for punters.
Nowadays it’s available in shops — like Tru Blu Pub Squash, Kirks Lemon Squash and Solo — and is miles better than the now-dead Lift.
The beauty of pub squash is that you can absolutely skull it without feeling like your nose is going to fall off or you’re going to explode from all the bubbles. Hell, Solo even famously hinged its low fizz as a selling point. There’s nothing like guzzling a lemmy bev that’s intentionally low on bubbles instead of waiting for it to go flat.
Now that I’m thinking about it, pubs should absolutely go back to making their own pub squash in-house. Christ knows there are enough lemons on all the trees in everyone’s backyards. Maybe when the local trees are fruiting off their tits people could take some fresh lemons to their nearest pub for them to make fresh pub squash.
Now that’s what I wanna see come back in vogue, surely it wouldn’t be too much of a squeeze to bring back that deeply Australian tradition.
So quit mourning the loss of Lift (boring, fizzy) and rejoice in the fact we still have our beloved pub squash in shops. If Big Drink ever tries to take that away from me I will certainly riot.
