Franklin & Sons 1886 Original Cola
Franklin & Sons’ cola, built on West African kola nut and Colombian coffee beans, with a ferment and barley malt behind it. It is the cola in our IWSC Silver serve, and it carries roughly half the sugar of a standard cola.
Essential Ingredient
A staple for any well-stocked bar
Quick Facts
Flavour Profile
Primary Flavours
Tasting Notes
Cola with its botanicals audible: spice and citrus over a drier-than-standard sweetness, built to leave room for a spirit.
Storage & Handling
Cool and sealed; refrigerate before service. One small bottle per serve.
Usage
Poured at 150ml over 50ml of Expedition Spiced Rum, which is the serve the IWSC judged. It also suits an aged rum or a bourbon, where the coffee and kola meet oak rather than covering it over.
The Serve That Won
The International Wine and Spirit Competition awarded a Silver in 2026 to Expedition Spiced Rum served with this cola, judged at 50ml of rum to 150ml of cola, with no ice and no garnish. That specification matters. A serve award is judged on the combination rather than on either bottle alone, so the medal describes a pairing rather than a product, and the ratio is part of what was assessed. The rum, the cola, and nothing else.
Kola Nut and Coffee
Two things define the flavour. West African kola nut is the original cola botanical, giving a bitter edge and natural caffeine, and it is the ingredient the entire category was named after even though most colas no longer use it. Colombian coffee beans are the unusual addition, and they explain the roasted depth that separates this from a sweet cola. Phosphoric acid on the list is the conventional cola acid, the same sharp backbone the mass-market bottles use, so the structure is familiar even where the flavour is not.
Fermented, and Not Gluten Free
Like their ginger beer, this is partly built on a ferment: the ingredients name a ferment of water, sugar and ginger extract, alongside a barley malt extract. Barley means gluten, and Franklin & Sons state plainly that the product contains it. That is worth knowing because nobody expects to have to check a cola, and because it is the second product in their range where doing the brewing properly carries that consequence. Their tonic and their ginger ale are both gluten free.
Half the Sugar
It runs at 20 kcal and 4.95 grams of sugar per 100ml, which is roughly half what a standard cola carries. In a rum and cola that changes the drink materially, because the sugar in a conventional cola is doing much of the work of covering the spirit. With less of it, an aged or spiced rum stays audible, which is the whole argument for the serve. It comes in 200ml and 275ml, and it is vegan and vegetarian.
Pro Tip
Taste the judged serve once as the judges did: room for nothing, and nothing missing. Then build your own version knowing what the baseline holds.
Top Tips
- Pour it at 150ml to 50ml of rum. That is the ratio the IWSC judged, and it is built around this cola’s dryness.
- Check the label if gluten matters. The barley malt puts gluten in this one, unlike their tonic.
- Try it once without ice. The judged serve had none, and dilution softens the coffee note that makes it distinct.
Possible Substitutions
- Fever-Tree Madagascan Cola: the other serious answer to the same question
History & Context
Franklin & Sons have made tonics, sodas and soft drinks since 1886, a British soft-drinks lineage running longer than most spirit brands can claim. The 1886 Original Cola carries the founding date in its name, and in 2026 it carried our rum to an IWSC Silver: the serve was judged exactly as poured, no ice, no garnish.
Common Questions
What is the IWSC serve?
50ml of Expedition Spiced Rum to 150ml of this cola, with no ice and no garnish. That is the specification the International Wine and Spirit Competition judged when it awarded the pairing a Silver in 2026. A serve medal assesses the combination rather than either bottle on its own.
Why this cola with spiced rum?
Because it carries roughly half the sugar of a standard cola, so it does not bury the spirit. The kola nut brings bitterness and the Colombian coffee brings roast, and both meet the spice in the rum rather than covering it. A sweeter cola would flatten all of that.
How is it different from supermarket cola?
Less sugar, at 4.95 grams per 100ml against roughly double that, and a different flavour build. Kola nut and coffee beans replace the generic cola flavouring, and there is a ferment and barley malt behind it. It also contains gluten, which a standard cola does not.
What does 1886 mean?
It is the year Franklin & Sons give as the founding of the business. It is also, by coincidence, the year Coca-Cola was first made in Atlanta, so the name marks their version of a drink as old as the company itself.
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Often Used With
Guide by Jerry Can Spirits