Community Corner
Grosse Pointe Park Boy Creates Drink for Parents' Popular Restaurant
Roanan Lowell shows "mixologist" talent with his Rowdy Roanan soda drink offered on the menu of his parents' restaurant in downtown Detroit. An adult version has more recently been added to the menu, too.
Way back in 2009, Roanan Lowell, then 8 years old, wanted something sweet to drink. Fortunately, he was hanging out at his parent’s restaurant, Detroit’s Traffic Jam & Snug, and he had full access to the soda pop area.
What he created was the beginning of something children from the area would come to know as the Rowdy Roanan drink.
“I felt like having a real sugary drink,” said Roanan, a fourth grader at Grosse Pointe Park’s . “I went in the back and mixed up some sodas. It really tasted good.”
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Roanan’s recipe includes varying measurements of Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Sierra Mist, Vernors and Orange Twist soda pops.
“The first time I mixed it, I knew it was missing something,” Roanan explained. “I added more Orange Twist and more Sierra Mist. It needed a more natural flavor.”
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Since that happenstance beginning, the Rowdy Roanan has been added to the menu at the Traffic Jam for the under 21 crowd – or more the point, the ‘kid’ group.
Most recently, Carolyn Howard and Scott Lowell, Roanan’s parents, have added what they call the Extra Rowdy Roanan to the drink menu at Traffic Jam, well-known for its brewery, cheese and meals.
“The Extra Rowdy Roanan has booze in it,” Roanan explained.
But Roanan’s mixology doesn’t begin and end with soda pop.
“Whenever we barbeque at home, we’ll ask Roanan to mix up the sauce,” said his dad, Grosse Pointe Park’s Scott Lowell. “He really knows what will work.”
