A fountain favorite, only better – and it’s made by a craft brewery.

There is one way to sum up the concoction known as the Italian soda. “They’re fun,” observes Mike Durrant of Hops & Fog Brewing Co.

Although a haven for craft beer, the Pacific Grove brewery also serves a lineup of sodas in flavors like orange, blueberry and raspberry. Instead of relying on prepared syrups, however, Durrant and his crew use juice or, when fresh fruit is available, creating a puree.

The latter option – raspberry on this occasion – leads to a soda with intense fruit flavor. The sensation is of fresh-picked berries, seeds and all, with a light sizzle of salinity and a drape of creamy richness. With the puree, it becomes a fountain drink with more heft, making it both refreshing in warm weather and of comfort as the cool rainy season begins.

Durrant’s approach is true to the original “ice cream” soda, likely first mentioned in an 1856 Lowell, Massachusetts newspaper advertisement. Durrant blends in half-and-half, similar to what was used in the Lowell soda fountain. In the 1920s, a San Francisco flavored syrup company added the Italian identifier and staked claim to inventing the drink. (The version marketed by the company, Torani, was merely syrup and soda; many shops kept cream as an option.)

The Italian soda at Hops & Fog is basic: fruit puree or juice, simple syrup, soda water and half-and-half. But the result is colorful, deep in flavor and rich in nostalgia.

HOPS & FOG BREWING CO., 511 Lighthouse Ave., Pacific Grove. 215-1658, hopsandfog.beer.