Brioschi: A Love Story

One man's journey with the beloved effervescent antacid

One of the clearest memories of Sundays at my grandma’s house—along with scratchy Lou Monte records (Dominick > Rudolph), a VHS of Fatso on a constant loop (“Get the honey, Junior!”), and roof-of-the-mouth-scalding, straight-from-the-frying-pan meatballs flattened into hockey pucks (is that a Calabrese thing?)—is sneaking off to the bathroom and tossing Brioschi into the toilet. As a kid, there were few things more entertaining than watching the misshapen white pellets slowly fizzle into nothingness.

For the Medigan among you, Brioschi—say “Bree-os-kee”—is a lemon-flavored effervescent digestive aid made of sodium bicarbonate (aka baking soda) that paisans have been using to relieve their agita for well over 100 years. (Think Alka-Seltzer for the meatballs-and-manigot set.) While the company was officially founded in 1907, the original formula dates back all the way to 1880, when Milanese businessman Achille Antonio Brioschi started making his unique concoction, originally sold as a powder. Italian immigrants almost immediately brought Brioschi to New York, where domestic production soon began in lower Manhattan. In 1953 the company moved into one of the nation's earliest suburban industrial parks in Fair Lawn, NJ, where it churned out blue bottle after blue bottle before new owners relocated to Syracuse, NY, in 2011 in an attempt to grow the business. They failed, sadly, and filed for involuntary bankruptcy in 2013. Che peccato!

Brisochi has always been a part of my life, even if sometimes I wasn’t quite sure how it got there. The bottle that lived in the cupboard of my first apartment: Did I snatch it from my parents’ house? Did visiting relatives drop it off? Did it magically appear along with the box of pastina and stovetop espresso maker? Having learned the elixir was far more effective if consumed with water than dropped in il gabinetto, I kept a bottle at my desk at various jobs over the years, perplexing coworkers who would watch me quickly guzzle down the crack-like white pebbles—gotta drink it while it’s still fizzing!—after particularly epic lunches. (“Everything OK, Pat?”) Assuming Brioschi was something that only existed in my family, I nearly jumped out of my couch when, in a 2010 episode of HBO’s Prohibition-era drama Boardwalk Empire, Steve Buscemi’s mob-connected political boss Nucky Thompson barks, “Go have a Brioschi!” to a whiny underling. My heart broke and my heartburn thrived when the company went under.

After a few years of settling for Brioschi-come-latelies like Galeffi and Crastan—the Pepsi and RC Cola of Italian effervescent digestive aids—I recently discovered that the O.G. was now available on Amazon. Once again made in Italy, the reborn company has expanded their offerings to include a ready-to-drink canned soda, a fiber powder, and a variety of gummies including elderberry, apple cider vinegar, and ashwagandha. (A hearty benvenuto to the 21st Century, Brioschi!) They even offer “Heritage Brioschi” in a glass bottle, commemorating the original Italian packaging.

For me, the iconic blue bottle that sat in cabinets from Federal Hill to Youngstown to Massapequa for generations of Italian-Americans is the true original. My (non-Italian) wife makes sure we’re always stocked up, and I don’t feel quite ready for bed until I’ve had a glass. I’m already planning on introducing my one-year-old son to the joys of a Brioschi toilet-fizzing session, which will certainly be accompanied by Lou Monte on Spotify, Fatso streaming on an iPad, and piping-hot pucks of meatball.