Blaine now has two dirty soda shops. One menu has a drink called You Betcha, and the other runs a pool of quarters so kids can get a free drink. Neither shop came here directly from Utah. Each step closer to Blaine made the drink a little more Minnesotan, and you can see that in the cup.
Dirty Sota Pop opened at 10945 Ulysses St. NE, Suite 500, in the building the city lists as Shoppes at 109th. Sodaly opened at 11716 Jefferson St. NE, and Bring Me The News included it in its October 2026 roundup of openings. To see why both shops look the way they do, it helps to follow the drink's route here.
What Actually Goes in a Dirty Soda
The basic version is fountain soda with additions. Bring Me The News described it as pop with pebble ice, flavored syrups and mix-ins like energy shots, creams, purées and fruit. The New Yorker reports that the Utah chain Swig, founded in 2010, coined the term "dirty soda" and later trademarked it.
The drink grew out of a habit that already existed. The New Yorker explains the background this way: the Word of Wisdom, a Latter-day Saint teaching that dates to 1833, leads many church members to avoid coffee and caffeinated tea, and in 2012 the church clarified that caffeinated soda was not prohibited. That left soda as the caffeinated drink of choice. The same article says Swig founder Nicole Tanner was a regular at Sonic for Diet Coke before she set out to build a soda stop with more ways to customize. According to The New Yorker, dirty soda became part of everyday life in Utah, with drive-through runs worked in around kids' activities.
For years it mostly stayed in Utah. National attention came with Hulu's The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, a reality series about a group of social media influencers in the Salt Lake City area who drink dirty soda on camera.
The Route North, One Suburb at a Time
The drink didn't reach Blaine through a national chain. Minnesota operators brought it here, and you can trace the steps:
- December 2024, Maple Grove. Sota opened and called itself Minnesota's first business dedicated to dirty soda. The family-run shop started out as a beverage truck.
- 2025, Chisago City. Dirty Sota Pop opened at 10635 Railroad Avenue. In May 2026 the Chisago Lakes Visitors Bureau promoted a one-year anniversary party for May 16.
- Isanti. Sota Girls, co-owned by Jakki Kay and Christi Patrick, opened. The Isanti-Chisago County Star reported that a TikTok video Patrick made about the shop went viral.
- 2026, Woodbury. Bevvie's, a Minnesota company owned by Hadier Jassim and Mitch Riebow, opened its first shop and announced plans for a second near the University of Minnesota.
- 2026, Blaine. Dirty Sota Pop added its second location on Ulysses Street, and Sodaly opened on Jefferson Street.
The same Bring Me The News report on Bevvie's found dirty soda on the menu at Mall of America and U.S. Bank Stadium, and listed Dodopops as a Minnesota State Fair vendor. By the time two shops opened in Blaine, the drink had already been through Minnesota's busiest venues.
The route matters because of how it started. Sota owner Chad Taylor said the idea came from family trips to Utah. In an Instagram video quoted by Bring Me The News, he said:
"We kept going back to Utah where we have family and we said, 'hey this is bringing a lot of smiles to a lot of people's faces, somebody gonna do that here, right?'"
Each Minnesota shop that followed made its own version. Look at the names: Sota, Dirty Sota Pop, Sota Girls. The industry's word is "soda," but these shops named themselves after the state and, in one case, called it "pop."
A Menu That Reads Like a Minnesota Bumper Sticker
Dirty Sota Pop takes the Minnesota theme furthest. Mpls.St.Paul Magazine described it as soda "with a home-state spin," with drinks named You Betcha and For Pete's Sake, plus dirty energy drinks made with Red Bull and Alani Nu. The shop's delivery menu also lists State of Hockey, Wally the Beer Man, Gone Fishin' and 1858. A Utah idea has ended up with names that would only make sense in this state.
Sodaly takes a different approach. Its signature drinks are built around color, not place. The Sodaly Swirl mixes strawberry and blue raspberry and is topped with vanilla cream. Here's how the two compare:
| Dirty Sota Pop | Sodaly | |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 10945 Ulysses St. NE, Suite 500 | 11716 Jefferson St. NE |
| Roots | Second location of a Chisago City shop | New Blaine business |
| Menu theme | Minnesota references: You Betcha, State of Hockey, 1858 | Color and custom builds, like the Sodaly Swirl |
| Hours | Check the shop's social pages | Mon–Sat 11 a.m.–8 p.m., Sun 11 a.m.–4 p.m. |
| Price | Varies by size | Most drinks $3–$7 |
Between them they sit on two different sides of town, one on Ulysses near 109th and the other on Jefferson Street. Not everyone in Blaine is near both, and the two menus aren't trying to do the same thing.
The Quarter Pool on Jefferson Street
Sodaly's most unusual feature is on the receipt. Its "Buy a Kid a Drink" program lets customers add 25 cents, or any amount, when they pay. The money goes into a shared pool, and every day staff use it to give kids free dirty sodas. The shop's community page explains it this way: "We've been given grace we didn't earn. This is our small way of passing it on."
The program fits how the shop describes itself. Sodaly calls itself "a colorful hangout spot" and "a place to be yourself." It scheduled a Connect 4 bracket night for Friday, Nov. 6, with a free soda for the winner. The New Yorker described dirty soda in Utah as a drive-through habit built around kids' schedules. In Blaine, Sodaly is aiming for a place where kids stay a while.
What Else Opened Nearby
Dirty soda wasn't the only new arrival this fall. Alleycat's Gourmet Sandwiches, a sandwich shop well known in White Bear Lake, opened a Blaine location at 10450 Baltimore St. NE, Suite 170. Bring Me The News reported it is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Those late hours make it easy to pair with a drink run.
At least one place has closed. The longtime Panera Bread near Northtown Mall closed for good on Sept. 29, Bring Me The News reported, citing social media posts.
This fall's new businesses in Blaine were started by owners from Chisago City and White Bear Lake. Dirty soda arrived the same way, through Minnesota owners who added a location in Blaine rather than through a chain from out of state. If you want to taste the result, order You Betcha on Ulysses Street or a Sodaly Swirl on Jefferson Street, and add a quarter to the pool while you're there.
New businesses like these are part of how Maisa Olson gets to know a neighborhood, block by block, along with the streets around them. If you're wondering how this year's changes in Blaine might affect your home's value, book a free valuation consultation.
