Simpson Spring

One of the few real springs around! I went down today for the free hayride for kids, and ended up having a great time. We took the free tour with owner and learned about the history of the springs, then sampled several of their sodas and bought a 12-​pack for the road! Highly recommended.

So much to do and to buy. It’s a real treasure in Easton.

The absolute best customer service is where it starts, then its off to the BEST soda available anywhere made from the best tasting actually real spring water available. They have white birch beer soda (my favorite and very hard to find). Our family stopped in on a Friday and we came from an hour away to get the soda I had as a kid from the local area. The owners gave us a tour of the very charming old school soda factory area and it was a great way to show your customer support. All local products available here. Support your local business.

You know how the story goes. You turn off the main street, the numbered route, and start down a long road that gets worse the further you go. Just when you think you’re on the road to nowhere and wondering where you can turn around to head back, you see signs of civilization ahead… At this point, inbred hillbillies usually start killing off the horny college kids, until the hero (or heroine) finds love and/​or safety (and a large caliber handgun) in the arms of the only other survivor.
This isn’t that kind of story. Well, it is up to the inbred hillbillies part.
Saturday afternoon found me bumping along a paved, but cratered road off route 138 in South Easton. My GPS told me this was the place, but I really was starting to wonder if we (my GPS and I) were lost. Then, through the trees, came the sight I was hoping for; the Simpson Spring bottling plant!
It looks old, because it is old. Go to their website and check out the story, which runs parallel to our region’s history. Entrepreneurs, screwed-​over Native Americans, Yankee ingenuity, quality products and murderous hillbillies (just kidding). A personal history note; as a kid we rarely drank soda, but when we did, it was Simpson Spring.
I walked into a small store that featured some crafts, some snacks and a display of their soda products. I put together a couple of mixed six packs (sodas are in 12 oz glass bottles, except the coffee soda which is 10 oz) and suddenly realized that they probably didn’t take debit/​credit cards. I was correct, but what the woman at the store said next floored me, ‘You can send us a check’. She said I could leave with the soda, and mail her a check! With a small part of my faith in humanity restored, I drove to a local ATM and procured cash for my purchase. When I returned there was a group finishing a tour of the bottling plant and I was invited to enjoy an ice cream soda with them. I had come from a late breakfast and declined, but the looks on their faces almost made me reconsider.
I’ll update when I’ve tried the soda to see if it stands up to my childhood memories, but that is a small part of it. Local owners. Local products. Pleasant, trusting staff. Renewed hope for humanity. And honestly, no hillbillies of any kind.

I love the coffee soda.

The main attraction of Simpson Spring isn’t the bottled water… but if you DO buy bottled water from some place like Poland Spring, and you live close to Easton, you’re wasting money if you don’t come here instead. We drive here once a month or so, and not only can you fill up very cheaply out front, you can buy the traditional 5-​gallon bottles at $ 3 each (excluding that first-​time deposit).
That said, the real attraction is that Simpson Spring bottles its own sodas, and they’re awesome. They have white birch, orange, lime (the color of the plutonium rod in a Simpsons episode!), grape, cream soda… I’m forgetting a bunch. It’s fun to bring the kids right there to the warehouse floor and pick out your own.
Five stars plus.