Regional Sodas (or Pops)

The local brewpub, Walter Payton's Roundhouse, makes a rich creamy root beer that is sold in local stores. There is a local dairy, Oberweis, that makes the richest ice cream you would ever want, they make their rootbeer floats with Roundhouse rootbeer! Heaven!

Paul, it's a nice site. I loved reading the history of the brand. Thanks for the tip!

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Originally posted by Sundancer7

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Originally posted by CheeseWit

Paul, I just acquired a six pack of unused Grapette soda bottles in an original cardboard six pack holder from the '40's. Your story was great. I'll think of you whenever I look at my Grapette bottles.

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Originally posted by Sundancer7

When I was 9 years old, I got my first job carrying papers. I had a 6 mile route which I used my bike over East Tennessee hills. I had 100 customers and made $3.00 weekly for working 7 days every week. No benefits, no vacation or anything else except $3.00. It sounds bad, but at that time, I had more money than anyone else I knew. Every day and I mean every day, I stopped at this little country grocery store and bought a "Grapette" which cost a nickle and a nickle paper box of ice cream. The "Grapette" was a 8 ounce glass container of super grape soda. I would treat myself by pouring a small amount over the ice cream and use a wood spoon to slowly enjoy the contents. Oh so good for a 9 year old with change in his pocket. The paper route taught me a lot that I transferred into the world I am now in.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

cheesewit, you need to check out WWW.Grapette.com

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

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Originally posted by Sundancer7

Nehi use to make a great orange and grape drink. We use to make grape floats with them back in the 50's. I guess they are not around anymore. I have not seen them in many years.

Sundancer, if you've got a real hankerin' for that Nehi, I found some you can order from a website that vinelady had recommended: www.sodaking.com

Someone is apparently still making the grape and orange, and they also have a peach, which I'd never heard of. It may or may not taste the same as it used to, but it's there if you're interested.

I only ever drank Big Red in Texas, out of respect to my cousins - but with their folks, I'd have Dr. Pepper (as would my dad - and he never deviated from colas [mostly the RC {Royal Crown proper}]) except when we were visiting. I don't ever actively look for it, but I know I've seen it out here, in the midwest, and possibly in some of the cities of the east - the different train station snack bars being mostly a mighty blur....

I had presumed, as a kid, that Mountain Dew was originally regional. I could always find it in SoCal, but thought it was from Hillbilly Country...wherever that might be. (I can't find anyone out here who remembers the old green bottles - with the hillbillies & "It'll tickle yore innards!" on 'em.) Here's a helpful URL for those interested:

http://www.mountaindewbottles.com/

Was Wink marketed along with Canada Dry? I want to say they'd be on special at the same time as CD's Jamaica Cola [oh, how I've missed that] & Cactus Cooler would be - or was that probably specific to the store? I kinda figured that CD's flavors were marketed regionally, even if the company was a national conglomerate.

Vernor's was tough to find in SoCal, but liquor stores that carried it often also carried Delaware Punch [my mom's drink], and always had RC. Nothing had come close to the flavor of Vernor's out of a glass bottle until I had my first fountain Vernor's in Dearborn a couple of years back - that was one 32oz cup of heaven on earth, boy howdy! :)

Richard
Berkely/SF, CA

Richard
I was trying to remember who made WINK. I had it linked to Coke, but you reminded me of Canada Dry. AND that brought back the Jingle..."WINK,The Sassy One from Canada Dry"!!!
I haven't been able to build a taste for Big Red, Although there are tons of machines and fountains dispenser's in this area. I recall seeing it at AM/PM's in SoCal...but in the cheap ice-chests displays at discount prices.
AL

Ya-hoo! Mountain Dew! Richard, thanks. I had forgotten all about that. I went to the website, and when I saw the bottle it all came back. Fun! Quite a bit different from the awful "Do the Dew" ads today...

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Originally posted by CheeseWit

I do have one question about the Grapefruit flavored sodas such as Wink and Fresca. How many of you actually like the flavor? It is definitely an "adult" taste.

I absolutely love the flavor! And have since I was knee-high to Nehi! I don't remember a time when I wasn't mad for ALL citrus beverages - juices, sodas, or "aguas" (the fruit -ades of Mexico) - most especially grapefruit juice or soda. It was part of what I looked forward to when travelling to Mexico to visit family - whatever brand of [mostly grapefruit] soda was fine: Jarritos, Chaparritas, Boing, Fanta, or even Squirt.

Nowadays, as long as I have plenty of ice in any soda (but particularly Big Red - the cream soda-meets-bubble gum flavor always seemed about an 11 on the sweetness knob), I can drink about anything - as long as it ain't flat.

Richard
Berkeley/SF, CA

quote:

Originally posted by Richard Brooks Alba

I only ever drank Big Red in Texas, out of respect to my cousins - but with their folks, I'd have Dr. Pepper (as would my dad - and he never deviated from colas [mostly the RC {Royal Crown proper}]) except when we were visiting. I don't ever actively look for it, but I know I've seen it out here, in the midwest, and possibly in some of the cities of the east - the different train station snack bars being mostly a mighty blur....

I had presumed, as a kid, that Mountain Dew was originally regional. I could always find it in SoCal, but thought it was from Hillbilly Country...wherever that might be. (I can't find anyone out here who remembers the old green bottles - with the hillbillies & "It'll tickle yore innards!" on 'em.) Here's a helpful URL for those interested:

http://www.mountaindewbottles.com/

Was Wink marketed along with Canada Dry? I want to say they'd be on special at the same time as CD's Jamaica Cola [oh, how I've missed that] & Cactus Cooler would be - or was that probably specific to the store? I kinda figured that CD's flavors were marketed regionally, even if the company was a national conglomerate.

Vernor's was tough to find in SoCal, but liquor stores that carried it often also carried Delaware Punch [my mom's drink], and always had RC. Nothing had come close to the flavor of Vernor's out of a glass bottle until I had my first fountain Vernor's in Dearborn a couple of years back - that was one 32oz cup of heaven on earth, boy howdy! :)

Richard
Berkely/SF, CA

Richard,
Howdy neighbor! I remember the old hillbilly bottles, because I drank them along side my Hillbilly Bread (remember that?) I think both companies gave up the "hillbilly" idea as not PC.

Mountain Dew, first time I ever had it was on a trip to Arkansas I think in 1963 or 64. (really hillbilly country then) We had never heard of it & were drinking it straight from the bottle. Imagine our surpise when we finally poured it into a cup! My mom described it as looking like the end product of a bodily function. It was a little hard to drink it after that. One of the biggest laughs I ever had was when someone told me that she didn't drink colas because she didn't want to have the caffeine. She said all she drank was mountain dew!!. She didn't believe me when I told her she was getting more caffeine in that dew than in a cola.

Buffalo Rock Bottling Company in addition to being a Pepsi bottler, makes a very gingery Buffalo Rock ginger ale and Grapico sodas.

Was watching the Food Network and they showed a market in LA that deals in all kinds of regional sodas. As result of this show, I'll be looking for a lemon-lime soda called Green River next time I'm in Chicago.

Well, I've obtained some Green River and it certainly is not the run-of-the-mill lemon-lime soda. It's green colored and I'm not quite certain of the exact flavor. Any suggestions?

Hillbilly Bread! Haven't thought of that in years!

Is Delaware Punch still available anywhere? I couldn't find any during my annual trip to Texas a couple months ago...

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Originally posted by Al-The Mayor-Bowen

Vernor's deserves it's reputation as a leader among the Ginger Ale's in my book.
Ahhhh, Faygo, I used to think the only one to drink was "REDPOP",their strawberry Soda. A big cup of that with a scoop of either Vanilla or Strawberry Ice Cream and I was set for the day !!!

Speaking of Faygo, there was a rumor that there was a Faygo "cookbook" that taught you how to mix Faygo flavors to create new flavors. Did anybody else hear of that?

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Originally posted by topferment

We had Squirt in eastern Kansas in the early 1970's. I'm not sure how long before that it was around because that's as far back as I can remember. I used to always get a bottle of Squirt in the barbershop when I was a kid. If I remember right the bottles were green and had a little kid(the squirt) in yellow. I sure do miss pop(yea that's what we call sodas in Kansas) in glass bottles, it just doesn't taste right in cans or plastic.

The www.sodapopstop.com website is run by Galco's Old World Grocery in Los Angeles (near Pasadena). I first saw a piece on this place on Food Network's Unwrapped I think and made a point of visiting the store on a subsequent visit to LA. It was a very worthwhile trip, and if you want to find that bottle of soda that you remember from years ago, This is the place. They also make a very good italian coldcut sub, hoagie, sandwich and they are cheap. I have no connection to this place -- for me it was a roadfood "find" and I plan to make stops here on every return visit to LA.

I was in Whacko (Waco) Texas a few months ago and the city takes a lot of pride in being the home of "Dr. Pepper" and in fact they have a museum of Dr. Pepper memorabilia. I could not resist buying a cold "bottle" of the tasty drink.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

JUST got my case of DP from Waco today...mmmmmmmmmmm

There used to be a great grapefruit soda called Canada Dry Grapefruit Dry, similar to Wink but more "fizzy" in Central PA years ago. Also, I think the best ginger ale ever is Red Rock,it's hard to find, but Krogers carries it. Very sharp taste, better than Blenheim, which is very sharp, but not as fizzy. Also, a regional here in the south is Cheerwine and Budwine from NC and Augusta, GA respectively. They are similar to cherry coke.

I wish more companies did dry sodas. Here in Massachusetts, Polar does Orange Dry and Cape Cod Dry (a cranberry soda), two of the best sodas I've ever had.

When I was a kid in Philly I loved Dad's Root Beer and Hires Root Beer (which I understand was an original) and "down the shore" (Atlantic City) we would drink Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer. I was also a Frank's Black Cherry Wishniak fan, though Levis Hot Dogs' Champ Cherry soda, out of their ancient marble soda fountain was really my absolute favorite - a tall glass of that with one of their hot dogs, wow... See http://www.elliottsamazing.com for an old image of that soda fountain (now in pieces in Elliotts' basement). He apparently owns the brand now and sell it in bottles.

There was a small gas station down the street from my apartment building at Adams and Castor Ave. in Juniata Park which sold soda in small bottles out of their old refrigerator - The name began with a "G" - I think they were Gruber's, something like that.

I, too, loved Levis' Champ Cherry Soda. I loved their chocolate soda also. That marble soda fountain was incredible. I miss their hot dogs and their fishcakes. My maternal grandfather's name was on one of the lists of original customers that hung on the walls. Growing up in Philly, we were lucky to have Hires Root Beer which was a local company. I just acquired some Hires bottles from the fifties that are unopened and still have the original contents.

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Originally posted by jeffskal

When I was a kid in Philly I loved Dad's Root Beer and Hires Root Beer (which I understand was an original) and "down the shore" (Atlantic City) we would drink Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer. I was also a Frank's Black Cherry Wishniak fan, though Levis Hot Dogs' Champ Cherry soda, out of their ancient marble soda fountain was really my absolute favorite - a tall glass of that with one of their hot dogs, wow... See http://www.elliottsamazing.com for an old image of that soda fountain (now in pieces in Elliotts' basement). He apparently owns the brand now and sell it in bottles.

There was a small gas station down the street from my apartment building at Adams and Castor Ave. in Juniata Park which sold soda in small bottles out of their old refrigerator - The name began with a "G" - I think they were Gruber's, something like that.

My Dad's buddy Izzy Portnoy was a cab driver (Yellow of course) for years, and he was a member of the 50-year-club (the wall lists were 30,40,50 year clubs).

I was always proud to point his name out to my friends... I wonder what happened to those framed lists...?

I've been wondering too. My grandfather was a 50 year club member. I had been going there since '59 when I was two. I was looking forward to being a 40 year member, but Levis' closed before '99. Another hot dog place moved in, Texas Weiners, and tried to keep the hot dog and fishcake tradition. But it was short-lived. It is now an Asian food restaurant I believe.

quote:

Originally posted by jeffskal

My Dad's buddy Izzy Portnoy was a cab driver (Yellow of course) for years, and he was a member of the 50-year-club (the wall lists were 30,40,50 year clubs).

I was always proud to point his name out to my friends... I wonder what happened to those framed lists...?

Here's what happened to Levis'...
http://www.elliottsamazing.com/food.html
http://www.elliottsamazing.com/champ.html

To keep within the thread, here's a GREAT "course"
on the beverage business, and it includes what happened
to Frank's Soda's (see "Honickman Empire")... fascinating
stuff....

http://www.elliottsamazing.com/faq_cmp.html

Do I ever!!! Also Cactus Cooler and Tahitian Treat (which you can still buy). How about BubbleUP?

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Originally posted by Hode

anyone remember PURPLE PASSION , crazy can for those days

I haven't seen Bubble Up in ages, but I think it's still available in the deep south.

For anyone who's craving "Redpop"--Jarritos' (a Mexican soda) Tuttifrutti (sp?) tastes just like the Big Red I remember as a child. You can get it in Latino or international groceries.

Bubble-Up caused a revolution in the soda-pop industry when it came on the market in the 50's. Coke and Pepsi had the packaging battle going with coke finally jumping to a 12 oz bottle (from a 6 oz) to match Pepsi's 12 oz ( "2 full glasses, that's a Lot") marketing.
Then along comes Bubble-Up with the first of the tall glass 16 oz containers. Man did we (teenaged boys) go for the increased quantity of the BubbleUP. It could produce those great class disrupting burps that were such crowd pleasers back in those days!! It was a real badge of pride to be able to down one of them in one long slurp..Throat burning all the way from the carbonation!!

Gosh, I vaguely remember some jumprope rhyme as a kid that ended "...now they're drinking Bubble Up!" But I can't remember the rest.

Stewart's doeas have a great Key Lime soda...

Those of you into the foreign sodas like Ting, might want to try Cuba's Ironbeer. I can never quite figure out the taste, kind of cola, Dr. Pepper, lemon and sasparilla tasting. Really, it confounds me.

My brother was working for a cool outfit called Jones soda. They have interesting flavors like Green Apple, Blue Bubblegum and FuFu Berry. And you can send in your personal photos and they put them on the bottle. They're at www.jonessoda.com

I remember when TANG first came out, everyone wanted some of the "Space-Age" beverage...Then START followed up with an identical beverage. TANG expanded to include a Grapefruit flavor that never really caught on, as I recall. Today's Crystal-Lite is a direct descendant of those yucky powders of the 60's.
While we are on Powdered beverages, did any of the Vietnam Vets out there ever get Care packages from home with large quantities of pre-sweetened Kool-Aid lemonade in them? Man if it wasn't for that powder I don't think I would have survived that tour.

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Originally posted by Al-The Mayor-Bowen

While we are on Powdered beverages, did any of the Vietnam Vets out there ever get Care packages from home with large quantities of pre-sweetened Kool-Aid lemonade in them? Man if it wasn't for that powder I don't think I would have survived that tour.

We never sent a letter to my brother without including a pkg of Kool Aid. They fit in the envelopes like they were made for that purpose.