Rickey roll call

The raspberry lime rickey is the rickey at its most accessible, sweeter than a lime rickey and every bit as refreshing. Here are six local establishments that serve the drink.

Brigham's
109 High St., Boston
617-338-7315; $1.99, $2.75
This is the classic fountain-drink experience. The man at the counter gives the syrup dispenser four squirts, pops in five lime quarters, shoves in some syrup, then fills the cup with soda water. It would be nice if he squeezed the limes and the raspberry taste wasn't quite so strong. But the soda water is keenly effervescent, and the overall effect is highly satisfying.

Caffe Rossini
278B Highland Ave. , Somerville
617-625-5240; $1.95, $2.50
Raspberry in Italian is ``lampone," and lime, conveniently enough, is ``lime." But what about rickey? At Caffe Rossini the raspberry lime rickeys are made with San Pellegrino water and Torani syrup. The latter means the raspberry is much stronger than the lime, but with a clean rather than syrupy taste.

Deluxe Town Diner
627 Mount Auburn St. , Watertown
617-926-8400; $2
Can a raspberry lime rickey be a rickey without actual limes? Here you get lime syrup instead of the fruit itself, and the results tastes, well, syrupy. It's not bad -- compared to a bottled soda, anyway -- but it's not the real thing.

Herrell's
15 Dunster St. , Cambridge
617-497-2179; $3
A high price for a high-end product: This is a raspberry lime rickey for purists, the drink at its most refined and elegant. No overpowering sweetness here. The syrup is carefully measured out so that the sharpness of the limes predominates.

Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage
1246 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge
617-354-6559; $2.75
This glass is an ideal balance of tart and sweet, with just enough syrup to go with the quartered lime. The taste isn't cloying or oversweet, and you can really taste the citric edge from the lime sections.

Rancatore's
283 Belmont St., Belmont
617-489-5090; $2.25
A raspberry lime rickey with a pronounced tongue-tingling effervescence, easily the bubbliest of the six examples here. The secret may be that rather than coming from a fountain the soda is poured from a can of Polar Seltzer. The bubbliness gives the drink's sweetness a nicely brisk quality.

MARK FEENEY