Regional Sodas (or Pops)

green river, i sure miss it here in florida

I just paid too much money to have some Boylans creamy red birch beer shipped to me.
I could only find it on the internet, and we know what rip off's they are!
I think a case of 24 set me back forty bucks. OUCH!

Tara, I will bet someone not that far from you sells it. I have strolled into several independent markets where the owner's passion (obsession) is lesser known or fallen from grace sodas. The problem I have found in searching food products is The maker only knows the distibuter's they sell to who are much less likely to provide info where they sell to.

quote:

Originally posted by Al-The Mayor-Bowen

WINK was/is a Coke product, isn't it? Or an independent bottled by our Coke Bottler?? It is better than SQUIRT! (IMHO)

Great, now I have the Wink jingle stuck in my head.....
"WINK, the sassy one
From Canada Dry.
Wink, the sassy one,
Give it a try.
Wink is so refreshing,
Man it's really hip!
Wink is so (something)
Take a sip
And you'll flip for
WINK! From Canada Dry!

Oooooooooookay.... I have now read all 17 flipping pages..... Here's my notes on the fascinating thread!

It's called POP! At least in my lexicon.

Fave sodea from childhood-- Cotton Club from Cleveland, Ohio. Makers of Hillbilly Juice.

In an Iowa City minimarket in 1978, I found a dusty six-pack of 12-ounce bottles. The holder said SunDrop but the bottles were from different decades-- Golden Girl, Golden Sun, Golden Cola, and finally Sundrop. Near as I can tell, this was the original "opaque lemon/lime plus caffeine" soda pop. Hillbilly Juice, Mountain Dew, Mellow Yellow (man, what a contradiction that name is!), and the 1964 specialty drink Goldwater were all copies of this.

About this time, Shweppes Beverages tried their own Sundrop clone, Rondo. Rondo had a sharper taste that Mountain Dew and was clearly aimed at the adult male market. "Rondo! Slams down thirst!"

In the early 90s, I was fond of a Chicago soda, Dr Bob's Vitamin Enriched Tangerine Soda. How many pops gave you your daily requirement of ZINC?!?!? And tasted dang good, too!

YooHoo and Chocolate Soldier were variations on the deli drink the "Egg Cream" which is chocolate sauce in seltzer. There is no egg, no dairy, and thus the drink could be drunk at a Kosher deli. I was surprised that coffee shops aimed at 20-somethings and teenagers have revived YooHoo. Guess it goes well with coffee (whichj I don't drink).

Cheeswit-- I agree, Grapefruit sodas were more adult as they were more tart. As a kid I used to drink Wink or Squirt for the novelty or to pretend to be adult.

Skyeblue-- I used to drink New York Seltzer a lot. It lacked the stickiness of regular pop and thus didn't cause me to get congested.

David,
I used "Bitter Lemon" by Canada Dry for the same appearance that Wink and Squirt gave.
AL

I will read all 17 pages in a minute, but has anyone said Fanta Red yet???

Not sure if this was regional or not (to Michigan/upper midwest)...But I remember when I was probably about 7 or 8 yrs old (around 1982-84) there was a bubble gum flavored pop. It was either Hubba Bubba pop, or Bubbleicious pop. It came in a pink can w/the bubble gum maker's logo on it. I only remember it being around for a little while then I never saw it again...Man that stuff was good!!!

been away a long time, but i just saw something about "Goldwater" I remember trying it (once,) just for the taste, but thought it was a little pricey for a nine-year old, all of twenty cents a can! As I recall, Goldwater was half orange, and half ginger ale. Over forty years later, I still have no desire to replicate the taste.

quote:

Originally posted by georgiadawgs

Not sure if this was regional or not (to Michigan/upper midwest)...But I remember when I was probably about 7 or 8 yrs old (around 1982-84) there was a bubble gum flavored pop. It was either Hubba Bubba pop, or Bubbleicious pop. It came in a pink can w/the bubble gum maker's logo on it. I only remember it being around for a little while then I never saw it again...Man that stuff was good!!!

It was Hubba Bubba soda. My home ec teacher in 9th grade used to keep hers in the freezer before her lunch so it was ice cold.

I remember Delaware Punch,and Dad's Rootbeer.Yes Dad's Rootbeer tasted good. I recall my dad talking about Grandpa Graf's Rootbeer in Milwaukee.Yes that's what my dad called it.It might now be known
as Graf's Rootbeer,but back in the 1930's I guess it had the name my dad called it.
I remember Mello Yello and Squirt.We had around here Jolt and OK Cola.
Both were Coca-Cola products.I only seemed to find them in places like New Braunfels and San Marcos area,not in any stores in Schertz or Converse.
I never thought Jolt or Ok Cola were great.
H.E.B.Grocery Stores has their own brand of soda called Hill Country Fare .Don't know who makes it for them. We also have Stars and Stripes soda here. Big Red is a local regional soda.
We used to buy Shasta here too,but I don't see it around this part of Texas much like I used to.
In Alaska,when we lived on Elmendorf AFB,we used to by White Rock Soda. All I have seen of it here is the club soda and gingerale.
I have seen IBC,Stewart's and Vernor's here.Also Hansen's Natural Sodas,and Jones's .

Does anyone know of a strawberry soda that was probably manufactured locally in the SE Missouri area from about 1950 until the early 1980's. It came in a glass bottle, it was almost a cream soda (probably was) and I used to drink it at my grandmas house in the Cape Girardeau area? If your not sure just throw company names out and I will research them, any help would be appreciated

quote:

Originally posted by Lunvy

I was born in 1962 in New Haven, Connecticut. I grew up in the farm town/suburb of (ironically) Orange, Connecticut. When I was young I did not like soda, but the only non-carbonated thing I remember coming in bottles was Pal. Nowadays, even milk comes in individual bottles! I have searched stores, and the web, from time to time, but I have never found any information about the stuff. The only thing I have ever found was some "Pal Ade" cardboard cutout ads for sale on antique web sites. I'm pretty sure it's the same stuff. Where did you get the Orange Green-spot? Did it come in bottles too? Do you figure these are only local brands?

Anyone living in North Jersey remember "Petersen's" soda company? They made a grape soda called Peco Punch I can almost still taste when I hear the name> I wonder if they're still in business!

Canada Dry had a flavor called "Cactus Cooler" that I used to slug on hot days.

Also, back in the 60's after Pepsi introduced Mt. Dew there was also "Kickaapoo Joy Juice" that I thought was the best.

Cactus Cooler is still around in parts of the Southwest US and Kickapoo is also still around in some places.

Kickapoo www.popsoda.com/kicjoyjuic.html

We see cans (12 pks) of Catus Cooler at the Meijer store here. No bottles though.

We had a soda in central NY called Fizz Pop, you had to buy large glass bottles of it from a package store, then bring them back empty. I can only remember tasting the grape, and ginger ale when I was sick. This had to have been at least 30 years ago when I saw it last.

Thanks for the info on Cactus Cooler And K-J-J.

Meijer here in West MI dosen't offer it but then again I have to look for diet versions of all of them now.

We received a gift of a case of Red Rock Ginger Ale this week. Our friends had it shipped from Retrosodas in Skokie,IL. We had hoarded the 6 pack we brought home from the Mobile Roadfood get-together long enough that the last one had gone flat by the time we opened it. Now we are enjoying 24 of those bottles of Heavenly Nectar. I can promise we won't let these go flat !! This is wonderful Ginger Ale.

So does anyone else remember "Carl's Roadkill Cafe"? Or maybe it was Karl's.

Back in the early 90s, maybe a little before that, when I'd go to West Virginia, some of the gas stations would have stocked Carl's Roadkill Cafe brand soft drinks (I liked the ginger beer flavor) and beef jerkey. I don't really know how good the stuff was, but as an 11 year old kid I would've liked anything with a name like Carl's Roadkill Cafe.

There's only two mentions of the brand on the internet that I found, one with each spelling.

Have to say my favorite is PA Dutch Birch Beer. Polar (Worcester, MA) makes a pretty good one, but there is something about thta PA Dutch that makes me pick up a few 12 packs everytime I am in NJ.

In New York's Southern Tier, we had a local bottler called Fawn. All flavors were great and the Orange had pulp in it.
We still order Foxon Park online!
And Boylen's is very good. I especially like thier Birch

In my Hometown, St Marys, PA we had the Crystal Beverage Company. They made fruit flavored Pops. Their Grape and Orange were the best. As a kid in the 50's, we had a baseball park complete with a covered and enclosed grandstand. A bunch of American Legion Teams would play there along with some adult teams from neighboring towns. The Pittsburgh Homestead Greys of the Negro League would come up every year and play a game against the local All-Star Team. That was a big deal! I would get paid a $1.50 a game to sell Crystal Pop during the game. Then the concessions operator would give us an extra 50 cents if we would pick up the empty bottles after the game. We also got 1 free bottle of Pop. Livin' high on the hog in those wonderful years! The Company was bought out by Pepsi.

has anybody mentioned Ski? It's a lemon/lime/citrus soft drink. I found one in the St Louis area a couple of weeks back.

In Dothan, AL, there is still a billboard for Ski on the circle around town, but haven't actually
seen the product in any of the stores I've gone to there; but today I found Dad's Root Beer in 1-liter
bottles (the "Big Daddy" size), along with diet Dad's, creme soda & red creme soda, going for $1 apiece,
in K-Mart.

Well, boy, I never thought I would see THIS one here in the middle of Kansas...but I went to our local grocery store today, and what should I see in the "pop" aisle but 12-pack cartons of Vernor's Original Ginger Soda! I may be regretting that I didn't purchase a carton -- so I should go back.

That was a welcome surprise!

quote:

Originally posted by roossy90

I just paid too much money to have some Boylans creamy red birch beer shipped to me.
I could only find it on the internet, and we know what rip off's they are!
I think a case of 24 set me back forty bucks. OUCH!

roossy....this is too FREAKY! I had scrolled down to the subject of regional sodas/pops as I had picked up a couple of six packs of some stuff I had never heard of today and wanted to post about it here. Anyway, I'm sitting here drinking a bottle of Boylan's Creamy Red Birch Beer right now! Your post from way back when was literally the first one I saw at the top of the page! From Moonachie, NJ...BTW, I got 2 six-packs for $6.00! Got a Cream Soda as well....(cane sugar, btw).

I would love to find some Faygo in Kiwi-strawberry flavor. I do remember towne club soda, They had every flavor you could think of. Living in the south now and love blenheims ginger ale, Cheerwine,and Sundrop. I have found a steady supply of Vernors, but alas not a decent selection of Faygo.....

Wabbit
The only source I have found for Faygo since leaving the West Coast several years ago, is the MEIJERS Store Chain (Michigan Based, similar to Walmart) We have a couple here in the Louisville area and I have recharged my supply of "RedPop" every now and then. I will watch for the Kiwi...I remember it from SoCal but haven't noticed it here in the IN-KY area.
Most of our groceries carry Vernors and a few have Cheerwine now and then. No Moxie anywhere here. Some of the Liquor Barns carry Sprecher Root Beer and some of the Dr. Brown Flavors.

Thanks Mayor, I really miss Meijers too, living in NC now so we are blessed in BBQ, but there are some MICH thinks such as Faygo I dearly miss. I did find it in Alabama once while traveling for work.

Few things are as good as a Sun Drop in a glass bottle - made with real sugar, with the citrus pulp at the bottom - awesome stuff. The local Bowling Green, MO Pepsi bottler makes Sun Drop and Cheerwine around here.

Another great soda around the St. Louis area is Fitz's Root Beer, which can be found many places. And of course the Vess line of sodas (Fruit Punch is my favorite, and Whistle Orange), and the stuff is generally as cheap as the generic grocery store stuff.

And any time I make it into Southern Illinois, I try to make a trip by the Excel Bottling Co, and pick up some Ski & Frostie Root Beer in glass bottles. Awesome stuff.

Oh- Forgot to mention, if you have Dollar Tree stores in your area, most if not all of them carry 3 liter bottles of various flavors of Faygo including the "Redpop" and Orange.

MY SPRECHER Puma Cola andCherry Cola arrived today. I ordered a 12 pk of each last week and now I can sip some good soda for a couple of weeks ! I ordered a 12 pack for my cherry coke loving daughter in Baraboo, WI and she got it in less than 24 hours!...and she is now hopelessly addicted to it. !

This is very good soda !

OK Time for a taste-test report. When I ordered the Cherry Cola and Puma Kola from Sprechers recently I had enjoyed the Cherry Cola previously..It is fantastic !

I had not tried the Puma Kola previously. It is indeed a unique flavor...not so much a cola but a vanilla and spice cross between root beer and cola. It lists Vanila and Cinnamon and Honey among its ingredients. It leaves a mild sweet-spicy aftertaste that is sort of suprising to the newbie trying the soda for the first time. It is NOT an unpleasant aftertaste!! It makes a good 'sipping' beverage as opposed to a 'gulping' thirst solver.

I think I could build a liking for the Puma Kola, if accessibility were better. As it is (hard to get!) I will savor the 12 that I have and look for it again when we head to the Great White North (Wisconsin) next Spring.

quote:

Originally posted by Wabbit

I would love to find some Faygo in Kiwi-strawberry flavor.

Florida has it .. Albertson's and Dollar stores carry it

I like Ironbeer soda, not pronounced as spelled iron beer but in Spanish, it is eeeronberr. It has a unique fruity-bubblegummy taste, kinda like a blend of sweet clear cream soda and Dr Pepper
 
It was created in the USA in the early 1900s and it was taken to Cuba where it became a sensation. A few years after it was introduced in the US it went out of buisness but its Cuban branch flourished and it became a Cuban soft drink company until 1959 when it set up shop in Miami, the same company also bottles Jupinya, a sweet pineapple soda that was very popular in Cuba sponsoring TV and radio music shows with Cuba's biggest names

does anyone remember Richardson rootbeer stands. it was a typical drivein featuring their rootbeer

dad's was one of my favorites growing up. I always thought it had a stronger root beer flavor than the rest. oddly enough if you buy a&w in dark bottles versus the clear bottles, it has a more intense flavor.

one of the local mexican restaurants offer both mexican coke and pepsi 16 oz bottles for $1:50

When I was a kid in Los Angeles, we drank a lot of Delaware Punch, Nesbitt, Orange & strawberry Crush,  Nehi, Pepsi Cola, RC Cola,  and Bubble Up. 

Aww man we would go to the original Fat Burger and order a foot long chili dog & a strawberry Crush! Nothing tasted better than that!

I never had a RC Cola til I got down to Alabama in 1970.

chicagostyledog


Many years before Yoo Hoo hit the Lake Michigan shores of Chicago, Kayo Chocolate drink was king.

Hi everyone!  I'm new here but wanted to chime in.
Choc-ola seems to fit in right here also.

Mark in Ohio


In southern Ohio, we have Gem soda, which is made and bottled in little Wellston in Jackson County, lots of flavors.

Mark, I've been to Wellston and have enjoyed Gem soda.  Will be through there in about six weeks and will have more.

I live outside of Philly and have been searching high and low for an A-Treat distributor.  Is it still bottled in Allentown?  I have a case of 32 oz. returnable bottles (all twelve different flavors) and wanted to know if they still bottled them in that fashion.  Any information would be appreciated.

In Baltimore back in the 60's there was a brand called Suburban and in addition to the regular flavors they had a soda called Almond Smash. I don't know if there is a soad on the market today that is similar but I remember that I liked it as a kid. I couldn't begin to describe what it tasted like.

If anyone knows where I can get Moxie shipped from, reasonably, I would be one happy camper.  I found one place online recently and it was only $12.00 for 24- 12oz. cans but the shipping cost was $35.00.  I was definately not that thirsty.  I have gotten it shipped to me in the past at a much lower rate.  I think around $20.00 including shipping but have lost the name and phone number.  I love Moxie.  Always drank it as a child and whenever I could get my hands on it since but its been a long time now and I would really appreciate any help.  Thanks, Miss Lillie

TFitz


In Baltimore back in the 60's there was a brand called Suburban and in addition to the regular flavors they had a soda called Almond Smash. I don't know if there is a soad on the market today that is similar but I remember that I liked it as a kid. I couldn't begin to describe what it tasted like.

You can still get Suburban Almond Smash and Golden Ginger Ale sodas in 2L bottles at any Mars Food Store in the Baltimore Metro area.  It is a tart cherry soda with a smooth almond finish and has been one of my faves for many years. 

John Tebeau has a cool vintage Vernor's painting today:
http://johntebeau.wordpre...-paintings-in-30-days/

[link=http://johntebeau.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/vintage-vernors-day-24-of-30-paintings-in-30-days/][/link]

My Wisconsin-based son is driving down for the Holiday in a little Ford Focus, bringing his Dad 14 four-packs of Sprecher's Cherry Cola and a couple more of Raven'Red Cherry/Cranberry Soda. He wants to unload it ASAP as it is weighing down the car !!

I am excited about receiving my annual "Christmas inventory"!

For November 24th, the restaurant reviewed was the Dawg House in New Britain, CT. Michael Stern commented about the excellent root beer produced by Avery Beverages of New Britain, CT.

Our Thanksgiving Day gathering had a large number of people taking "Do not consume alcohol" medications. So, our hosts laid in a supply of Avery Beverages. For laughs, they also included some of Avery's novelty line of "gross" sodas, with names such as Dog Drool Soda, Toxic Slime, and Kitty Piddle. Kitty Piddle was a very tasty Orange/Pineapple soda, also made with cane sugar. According to my hosts, Avery's distribution is confined to the Hartford, CT area.

Avery even registered a secondary URL for their web site: totallygrosssoda.com

I've had sodas from all four of Connecticut's mom-and-pop bottlers and I have to rate Avery's third, behind Foxon Park (East Haven) and Hosmer Mountain (Willimantic) and ahead of Castle (Ansonia).

Foxon Park white birch beer and pizza from Modern -- a perfect combination.

Filbert's root beer in Chicago.

Two Special Sales 500 miles apart have sparked a big buy activity for me.

1. Up in Baraboo, WI my daughter has found the Sprecher's Soda (Cherry Cola and Raven Red-Cranberry) At a local Feed/Hardware Store for $2.00 a four pack of 16 oz bottles.  She bought a bunch and will send it down with one of her Hoosier Brothers who will be visiting over this holiday weekend!

2. At the local supermarket Vernor's is selling this weekend for FOUR 12 pack cans for $10. That's only $2.50 a 12 pack...normally $5.00 here.  Another Bargain !!
 
Same local market sells FAYGO- All Flavors- 20 oz bottles for 40 cents from the soda case by the registers. Now and then I have to have a "REDPOP" !!

Al, you don't have to go as far away as Baraboo, WI, to get your Sprecher's.  (I am pretty sure your daughter found it at Blain's Farm & Fleet, since we have one here in Morton that carries it.)  There is also a Farm & Fleet in Champaign-Urbana, IL, a lot closer to you:  http://www.farmandfleet.com/stores/urbana.aspx

Thanks for  the tip...What makes it easy to use the Baraboo connection is that one of my Louisville-based off-spring is going to visit his sister up there and will haul $50 worth of the 4 packs back down here !  I believe you are correct in the name of the chain!

I brought back two 12-packs of Double Cola from Chattanooga this weekend.  I don't drink as much soda as I used to, so these might last me three or four months.

I stopped into a teeny little import shop on the square in Marietta and found four cans of Vimto, which I've not had in years.  They were obscenely expensive - $1.85 a can! - but I suppose the novelty is worth it.

Here in Texas, around San Antonio you can find Shasta soda.It's mainly at like Dollar Tree, 99Cent Only, family Dollar and Big Lot Stores.Big Red is bottled here too.You can buy Vernor's here and IBC. We also have Jarillto's which is from mexico and carried by H.E.B. Grocery Stores who have their own brand of soda called Hill Country Fare.Got that name because  the company started in the 1900s in Kerrville,Texas, in the Texas Hill Country. I have seen Hansen's Natural Sodas  and Jones Soda's as well as Izzy's.Haven't found Jolt by Coca Cola here, but have found it in New Braunfels and Seguin in the Valero Gas stores.
We also have mexican Coca Cola here to.I think there is another brand of mexican soda in the stores here, but can't recall the name. We also have Pepsi with lime, and Royal Crown ,RC Cola, both regular and cherry flavour.
I've seen Fanta sodas.In fact a year or two ago, the Fanta Girls were up at the Walmart at NE Loop 1604 and Nacogdoches Road
in NE San Antonio. Don't know if I have seen Faygo, though it's possible. We have Lipton's Brisk teas here.One of the flavours is a strawberry melon flavour that's not to bad.
I have also seen cans of Tab soda in H.E.B. I remember that from when I was a kid. Still have Fresca too.I remember Squirt. Trying to think where i have seen it recently.In any case, going to have to buy a bottle of it to see if it still tastes like it did in the 1960s and 70s when I grew up.I have also seen Frostie and Dad's Rootbeer too.

We have DietRite Soda, Orange Crush and Nehi too.

How about Ma's Root Beer?  Made by a small indy. bottler long ago in Syracuse NY.

Anybody remember Tahitian Treat soda?  In my neck of the woods it was made by Canada Dry.
It is now made by 7 Up/Dr. Pepper bottlers.