Ever wanted to try raspberry ice cream made with the “Carolina Reaper,” the hottest pepper on the planet?

Lesley Kline, the co-owner and proprietor of Kast Iron Soda Works, is getting set to churn a batch of this fiery frozen dessert in the back of her soda bar where she makes many of her own confections by hand. The “Raspberry Reaper,” as it is now called, is actually her daughter’s invention brewed up during a family dessert cooking contest. Such collaboration is appropriate for Kast Iron Soda Works, a family-owned, family-centered enterprise located at 420 E. State St. in Salem. Kast Iron is one of several businesses operating in concert with other local businesses to revitalize the downtown area.  

“I love seeing the resurgence of Main Street America and then seeing that same resurgence here with other small businesses starting to pop up,” Kline says. “You can just see Salem coming back to life. And I just thought, how cool would it be to be in on that somehow and to be part of that.”

So far it’s working, business is good, and at the end of Kast Iron’s inaugural year the ice cream is selling.  The other flavors in the Kast Iron repertoire include mac-and-cheese (the frozen macaroni gives a nutty heft to the dessert), affogato (ice cream drenched in expresso), and more familiar flavors for traditionalists. Ironically, the very same week that Kline produced her cheesy concoction, Kraft produced their own version of Mac & Cheese ice cream.  “I stood on my driveway and shouted ‘Noooo’ at the top of my lungs,” Kline says.  It turns out that Kraft was celebrating National Mac & Cheese Day (July 14).  

The real showstopper, however, are the rows and rows of soft drinks from around the world that adorn the Kast Iron walls. The establishment boasts close to 600 different brands of soft drinks, some of which have yet to be taken out of storage. These include drinks dedicated to famous musicians (Ritchie Valens), infamous people (Al Capone), drinks brewed in-house (including homemade root beer), and drinks with a lot of unusual names (Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray Cola, Jones Fufu Berry Soda and Fitz Voodew Soda).  

Others include soft drinks from Mexico, various fruit punches, butterscotch soda, and soft drinks manufactured by a brewer from Washington state, Orca Beverage Inc., which specializes in out-of-circulation beverages. Moxie Original Elixir, for instance, was originally sold as “nerve food” in the 1870s in the northeastern United States. Brewed from the gentian root, an alpine plant found in Asia, Moxie tastes like a cross between cream soda and a horehound candy.  Needless to say, the majority of Kast Iron’s inventory would be difficult to find anyplace else.   

In fact, Kast Iron’s menu lists 50 categories of rare sodas. Unexpected flavors include Gross Gus Pimple Pop (marshmallow), Bacon with Chocolate Soda, Pickle Soda, Black Olive Soda, and Peanut Butter and Jelly Soda, among many others. Recently Kline visited a Salem local grade school and asked students to design flavors. One of these will actually be featured on the menu. Sour Blue Mango is a brand new soda unique to Kast Iron with true local roots.

In addition, Kast Iron has a feature all but lost to modern restaurants, a working soda fountain which can make rich phosphates and ice cream floats. 

There is such variety in Kast Iron’s stock that bewildered customers are given the option of rolling dice and the ordering a beverage with a corresponding score off a chart.

“We were looking for the wow factor,” Kline says, indicating the display behind the bar which holds over 300 different brands. “We wanted people to come in and just stare at that wall.”

The inspiration for this Willy Wonka-esque enterprise was an antique store in Hunting, Ind. where the Kline family lived at the time. The store owners had set up an old-style soda counter at the back of their basement. “It was not a sit-down place,” Kline says, “but it was just fun to see all the labels of different kinds of antique sodas.” When the family moved back to Ohio, they brought back two cases of rare sodas from the store. This selection then became a mini-soda-bar for the Kline children and their friends.

“That’s one of the story lines,” Kline says about the Kast Soda Works creation narrative. “Another story line is just having grown up here,” Kline says. “I’ve watched Salem going from a flourishing downtown as most of this area has to not flourishing at all, kind of a ghost town.”  

When the family returned from Indiana, Salem was a ghost town compared to the place where Kline had grown up. “It was just sad to see because all of my memories were here.”

After working for the Salem Area Sustainable Opportunity Development Center, Kline was inspired to do something. She found a space for rent on Facebook even though she did not know what would go in it.

“My husband said, ‘What are we going to do downtown?” Kline remembers.  “And I said, ‘I don’t know but the space is really cool.” The couple began to imagine the possibilities. “Our brains started going to the one thing that downtown Salem needed,” Kline says, “and that is a gathering place for the evenings.”  

Kline and her husband decided Salem needed a place “to get out and be with people,” she says. The Klines wanted a family-friendly environment people for all ages, where teenagers could hang out after school, adults could meet in a pub-like atmosphere without the alcohol, and families could find dessert after a night out. “We wanted an intergenerational and not just a kid-focused place with the vibe of a coffee house, but also with the feel of a bar where people can enjoy each other’s company without knowing each other.”  

This crossroads of story lines sparked the look and layout of Kast Iron Soda. “This is where our ideas just collided and our imaginations exploded in that very moment,” Kline said. The establishment sports booths, lounge-seating, and a board game room with a magnetic, wall-mounted Scrabble board.  The Klines based their business design on the activities their children enjoyed. In fact, the name “Kast” comes from the initialization of their daughters’ first names: Karyle, Abigale, Syndy and Tory. The “Iron” in the title simply fell into place after that.

Kast Iron’s ambiance is both old timey and chic modern. An open polished wood ceiling, wood walls and a polished wood floor are enhanced by industrial style light fixtures and bare brick walls.  The space has the feel of the contemporary loft-style so popular in big city establishments offset by the pub-style booths and coffee-shop. 

The establishment hosts live music every second Saturday, and a local gaming expert, what the Klines dub a “game guru,” lends his expertise on occasion to traditional board game tournaments. Kast Iron will host just such a game day from 5-8 p.m. on June 1.

Kast Iron is one of several success stories taking place in downtown Salem. Newly opened and reviving businesses include a record store, a comics store, a nature shop, a book store, a vintage toy store, a tattoo parlor, several cafes and restaurants, and Stone Age Gamer, a videogame outlet which went completely online during Covid but opened its doors again at the urgings of its neighbors to help generate foot traffic.  Salem businesses have come together to support each other with the help of the Development Center and their own resources.  

These businesses will all work together for the upcoming Salem Super Cruise, for which Kast Iron will brew a special root beer which they hope to brand and sell regularly by the end of summer.

As always, the focus is to bring the community together.  As Kline says, “Our passion is people.”

Kast Iron Soda Works

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