Well, there are threads on beers and cheap wine, how about soda? Some random thoughts.

Lots of soda brands are defunct, similar to what happpened with beers. Growing up (sixties & seventies) in Rhode Island there was a brand called "Cliquot Club" that had all the flavors, orange, grape, ginger ale, et al. There was also "Cott" and that had a similar product line. Both are long gone as far as I know.

Canada Dry, which is still around, but now only had ginger ale also had the different flavors. Coke, trying to broaden its product line, had Fanta, which was grape, orange et al, but I don't think they actively market any more.

Coke & Pepsi have always been the big two, but back in the day RC Cola was a solid number 3, but that brand, while still around, has kind of fallen by the wayside. They used to have RC Cola at Shea Stadium in NYC where the Mets play and people used to complain about it.

There is also a soda, still around as far as I know, called Moxie. I think it is only marketed in New England. I've never had it, but as far as I know it is still around. It had the same dark look as a cola.

And I've never tried "Dr. Pepper." What does that taste like? It is like a cola?

Oh, and one brand that Coke tried to market back in the sixties, that I used to like, was called "Simba." They had these ads that featured a lion. I think they were test marketing it, and it never panned out. It was a lemon-line soda similar to Fresca, but not diet.

There was another Lemon-Line soda I used to like, but don't think it is around. "Total" maybe? It began with a "t." It is on the tip of my tongue.

And I remember back when I was a kid there was this short-lived franchise which sold soda only. You would go in and bring the cases of bottles back and get more. It wasn't a famous brand and must have bombed because the franchise flopped and soon went out of business.
I can't remember the name of it.

And I remember there was this off-brand you could get at liquor stores. It came in those heavy wooden cases and thick bottles you would return. There were flavors like Root Beer, Ginger Ale, Orange, Grape, etc. I remember my uncle would have cases of this stuff in the cellar.

And there was a bottling company in my hometown called Warwick Bottling or something. It went out of business, but the empty factory sat there for years and years.

And remember those car hop places. They were big in the fifties and A&W Root Beer had a franchise, similar to Mickey D's or Burger King. I remember there was one that opened in Rhode Island in the 1970s after the film American Graffiti opened and kind of started that car hop fad again.

One more thought. When I was a kid my father would pile us into the car and we'd see movies every Friday. We used to bring our own food & soda & candy and we used to buy 12 ounce cans of an off-brand soda called "Mayfair." They cost like 7 cents a can. I remember my father and my youngest brother going into the supermarket and they would shake the cans to make sure they were full. Often the cans wouldn't be full so you had to check to make sure.

On that note I better end.

I don't think you can get it everywhere, but my favorite soda is Vernor's Ginger Ale. If your only exposure to ginger ale is Canada Dry or Schweppes, you're missing out.

On a road trip I took last year, I managed to get addicted to Cheery Wine, in South Carolina, that is some good stuff. I don't drink too much soda, but I also like Pepsi's new diet drink, I believe it is called Jazz, and has tones of strawberry. I miss Surge, though.

I grew up a Coke kid. It was either that, golden ginger ale or Big 8 orange.

I think I've had Vernor's before, but I may be crazy.

Jone's soda does some interesting stuff. Turkey Dinner soda anyone???

The one I like now, but no one else seems to is the new Coke Blak. Coke with coffee essence and extra caffiene too. Good stuff.

Vernor's is the Love when speaking of ginger ale. I guess my favorite all-time is Orange Crush. It's hard to find now, though, so I drink a lot of Sunkist. I grew up with Coke, but can't stand it now unless it's from the fountain. Out of a can or from a fountain, I'm pretty much a Pepsi man. Oh yeah...how 'bout a Fresca?!

I've never heard of Vernors.

That soda I couldn't think of with the lemon-line taste I used to like was called "Wink." I haven't seen it in years. I remember I used to get it in the campus bookstore while I was in college. I used to get a can of that and those marshmallow pies. Oh what were they called. You could buy them in the supermarket in a box of 12 or so. They were chocolate covered and had marshmallow and cookie inside. I can't imagine what the calorie count would be.

Moonpies???

I'm a Coca-cola addict. I did have big thing for Sprite for year or so. Mountain Dew is okay and I do enjoy a nice vanilla flavored creme soda now & then. But mostly it's Coke.

quote:

Moonpies???

Oh god, Moonpies are awful!

Diet Coke is my drink. I don't do coffee. When I was a kid and sick, my mom always gave me Bubble-Up, which was a second-place version of 7-Up, but had its own nice flavor. If I'm having a non-caffeine soda nowadays, it's usually Diet Barq's Root Beer.

I don't think it was moonpies, but next time I'm in the supermarket I'll see if they have them.

It is amazing what you can find on-line. I remember a soda I used to sample called Tahitian Treat. Real sweet.

And I remember I used to like Birch Beer, similar to Root Beer. I also used to like Sasparella. And there was a different type of Ginger Ale you used to be able to get called Golden Ginger Ale or something like that.

My favorite soda now is probably Orangina, which is from France. Orangina is made in the U.S., licensed from France. But there is a kind of Orangina you can get in France -- it is orange -- as opposed to the yellow Orangina you get here.

I mainly drink Dr Pepper and Sprite, and I don't like Pepsi. Coke Blak is vile.

I haven't had a coke or a pepsi, except for a few isolated times, in about 5-6 years. When I used to have braces they told me to switch to clear sodas, which I did, and now colas taste like crap to me. Sprite, 7-up, Sierra Mist...they're all the same. Mountain Dew's good sometimes.

Other than that, Henry Weinhard's soda is the shiznit.

I never understood the appeal of Dr. Pepper. the few times I've tried it it tasted nasty.

Fanta is ok, it's basically everywhere in Europe, nothing too special though.


Possibly the greatest soda ever:
Manzana Lift (Mexico)
AKA
Lift Schorle (Germany)

Only two countries I've been to that have it.

Up here in Canada we call it pop. If someone said they felt like a soda, they'd probably get some weird looks. Wonder why this is...

quote:

Originally posted by Fitz:
Up here in Canada we call it pop. If someone said they felt like a soda, they'd probably get some weird looks. Wonder why this is...

They call it pop here in Michigan too, but I've made an effort not to do this, because I think it makes me look like an idiot when I'm talking to people in other parts of the country.

Well, Jack Crabb was the Soda Pop Kid in Little Big Man.

quote:

Originally posted by Fitz:
Up here in Canada we call it pop. If someone said they felt like a soda, they'd probably get some weird looks. Wonder why this is...

That's true, but funny enough, Canadian hair rocker Kim Mitchell had arguably his biggest hit with "Might as Well Go For a Soda".

Yeah, I've never referred to it as soda. Kind of like in Europe they call a bag of chips a bag of crisps.

quote:

Originally posted by ChrisFromAstoria:
And I've never tried "Dr. Pepper." What does that taste like? It is like a cola?

Soda was a HUGE vice of mine. I'm trying so hard to quit now, it's destroying my bones and lots of other terrible stuff how much if it I drank. But yeah, there's a store by where I live, they sell all Dr. Pepper products for 99 cents a pack (of 6). This includes Dr. Pepper of course, A&W root beer and cream soda, Country Time Lemonade, "Big Red" if anyone's had that? And RC Cola, which I guess means it's made by Dr. Pepper. To answer your question, it's a cola, and it has a lot less bite than Coca-Cola or even RC, if it was a fountain drink it would taste like it was a lot more water than syrup. But Dr. Pepper and RC Cola are the ones I've drinken the most in the past few years, hands down.

I know it's not Soda but Snapple is my favorite drink of all time. Guess why? Because it's made from the best stuff on earth .

Actually, one of the main flavors in Dr. Pepper is prune juice, regardless I enjoy it, although my carbonated water intake is minimal. I would much rather kill my kidneys with Gatorade.