I can only assume that drive-thru soda establishments is a Utah thing. It has to be and it makes sense considering a good portion of the population does not consume alcohol. These cocktails of soda and delicious sugary syrups are a divine alternative to their adult beverage cousins. You can't go more than two blocks without spotting one of these soda slingers. Sips does an excellent job of setting itself apart from the competition while offering mostly the same stuff. For instance, you can expect your favorite sodas infused with a variety of flavor explosions and the mythical pink cookie which seems to be the litmus for these trendy beverage shacks. Sips, however, takes it a step further to include a wide variety of coffee selections. My first encounter with Sips was to sample their drip coffee for which I am a sucker. I am always on the look out for my next favorite drive through warm beverage dispensary. Sadly, the quality of Sips' drip coffee was only a half a step above my local gas station and the wait for it was much longer. Sips always has a line so you know they must be doing something right. I discovered what it must be on my next visit. This time it was for a giant soda. If you have not experienced a place similar to this, you may feel a bit like a fish out of water just as I did. Foolishly, I pulled right up to the window and tried to ask questions about what they had. The indignant teen manning the window did not have patience for my rookie mistakes so I found myself backing up like an idiot to view the menu that is on the wall next to the window. Don't forget your glasses if you need them because the print is super small on account of all the many flavor options. I also discovered that ordering needs to be done on some sort of rhythm of which I am not familiar as it seems to be different than the typical coffee shop etiquette. I ordered two larges, a root beer with stuff and a diet coke with other stuff. He confused gentleman asked if the diet coke was also large to which I responded yes and proceeded to order some cookies. We paid a little more than $10 which I thought was steep. It wasn't until I reached the second window that I discovered the error of my novice ways. The peppier teen manning the second window promptly tossed out three extremely large beverages explaining that the root beer ones needed to be sampled as the flavor may have run out. I ended up with two gargantuan root beers and a diet coke. I did try to explain to the second window lady that it was my intent to only order two beverages. My explanation was met with a confused blank stare indicating that I was stuck with all three because they had already been poured into the two-hand worthy styrofoam containers. Glancing at my passenger for any hint of affirmation, I received a look that indicated that I was the moron in the situation so I quickly ended any attempt to correct my intended order. I smiled, said 'thank you', and we were on our way. Thankfully the root beer flavor had not run out and we discovered that if you carefully remove the ice, these concoctions can be enjoyed even a day later out of the refrigerator. The cookies are absolutely amazing too. If Sips could manage the drip coffee situation, I would probably have to have my paychecks forwarded to them directly. It would also be very helpful, especially for beginners like me, to have a larger menu positioned somewhere before you get to the window. Now that I kind of know what to expect, I'm sure our next visit will be much less awkward and less expensive. If you haven't tried Sips, I suggest you do, but definitely don't do what I did. read more