Brewed in Providence Since 1915: Why We Pour Yacht Club Soda at Wicked Fresh Cafe

When we redesigned the drink menu at Wicked Fresh Cafe after taking over in June 2026, one of the first calls we made was to Yacht Club Soda.

Not because it was the easiest option. Not because a distributor pushed it on us. Because when you're building a cafe around real ingredients and honest food, you don't pour a soda that reads like a chemistry textbook. You pour something that has a story — and Yacht Club has been telling theirs since 1915.

A Rhode Island Original, Still Going Strong

Yacht Club Soda has been brewed in Providence, Rhode Island for over 110 years. That's not a marketing line — that's a fact that puts them in a category almost no American soda brand can claim. While the big national brands were consolidating, reformulating, and chasing shelf space in every gas station from here to California, Yacht Club stayed put. Still made in Providence. Still a Rhode Island thing.

We love that. It's the same reason we bake our own bread every morning at 1345 Hartford Ave — because "made here" means something. It means someone is accountable for what goes into it.

Their flavors are classics done right: Del's Lemonade (yes, that Del's — a Rhode Island collab that makes complete sense), Ginger Ale, Orange Cream, Birch Beer, and a rotating lineup that leans into New England nostalgia without being corny about it. When a customer from Johnston or Cranston picks up a Yacht Club, there's a recognition there. It's familiar in the best way.

Why It Fits Our Menu

Here's the honest version of how we think about beverages at Wicked Fresh.

We already pour Katalyst Kombucha on draft — brewed in Greenfield, MA, and one of the cleanest fermented drinks you'll find anywhere in New England. We carry nobl cold pressed juices, made right here in Rhode Island, because cold-pressed means the nutrients are actually intact when you drink it. And our coffee program uses beans we actually care about, not whatever came cheapest off a truck.

So when it came to soda — a category that's basically a minefield of high-fructose corn syrup and artificial everything — we weren't going to just grab a 12-pack of whatever and call it a day.

Yacht Club uses cane sugar. Real flavors. No ingredient list that requires a chemistry degree to decode. That's the bar we set for everything on our menu, and Yacht Club clears it.

We also just think it tastes better. Our team did a blind taste test in the kitchen one afternoon — not scientific, just us being honest — and Yacht Club won every round. The ginger ale has actual bite. The orange cream tastes like something your grandmother would have handed you on a hot day, not like orange-flavored sugar water.

What It Looks Like on Our Menu

Right now, you'll find Yacht Club Soda in our grab-and-go cooler at the cafe. We rotate flavors based on what's available and what our regulars are gravitating toward. The Del's Lemonade flavor moves fast — especially in summer, when half of Johnston is already thinking about Del's anyway.

We've also started pairing it with some of our lunch builds. A Yacht Club Birch Beer next to one of our scratch-made sandwiches on multigrain bread (baked in-house daily, five ingredients) is a genuinely good lunch. The kind of lunch that doesn't make you feel like you need a nap at 2pm.

If you haven't tried it yet, come in and grab one. We're open Monday through Friday 7am–6pm and Saturday 9am–5pm at 1345 Hartford Ave, Johnston, RI. You can also check our full menu at wickedfreshri.com/menu to see what we're pairing it with this week.

The Bigger Picture: Why Local Partnerships Matter to Us

We're a small cafe. We don't have the buying power of a chain, and we're not trying to compete on that level. What we can do is be intentional about every single thing we put in front of our customers.

When we pour a Yacht Club Soda, we're supporting a Providence business that has been doing things right for over a century. When we tap a keg of Katalyst Kombucha, we're supporting a small-batch fermentation operation in western Massachusetts that cares about the same things we do. When we stock nobl juices, we're keeping money in Rhode Island.

That's not a marketing strategy. It's just how we think a neighborhood cafe should operate.

Our regulars from North Providence, Cranston, and across Johnston have started asking about where things come from — which ingredients, which suppliers, why we chose them. We love those conversations. They're the reason we started writing these posts.

If you're curious about anything else on our menu — where the bread comes from, why we use the protein powder we use, how we source our eggs — come in and ask. Or call us at 401-273-7374. We're not precious about it. We'll tell you everything.

And if you're a local Rhode Island business that thinks your product belongs at Wicked Fresh, reach out. We're always looking for the next Yacht Club Soda story.

Written by the Wicked Fresh team at 1345 Hartford Ave, Johnston, RI — based on what we actually make and serve daily.