Universal Monster Army

What are your favourite brands of soda pop? Pick up to ten from this list!

Coca-Cola

Pepsi-Cola

Royal Crown Cola

Kik Cola

Double Cola

Other Cola

Canada Dry Ginger Ale

White Rock Ginger Ale

Vernor's Ginger Ale

Other Ginger Ale

Ginger Beer

7-Up

Sprite

Teem

Mountain Dew

Wink

Squirt

A & W Rootbeer

Hires Rootbeer

Frostie Rootbeer

Barq's Rootbeer

Other Rootbeer

Dr. Pepper

Dr. Nut

Chocolate Soldier

Faygo Rock & Rye

Faygo Red Pop

Orange Crush

Nesbitt's Orange

Mission Orange

Wishing Well Orange

Other Orange

Nu-Grape

Other Grape

Lemon-Lime

Black Cherry

Cream Soda

Dr. Brown's Sodas

Kist Sodas

Stubby Sodas

Wishing Well Sodas

Faygo Sodas

Other (Specify. No diet drinks allowed.)

8)

My Others are Stewarts, Dad's Root Beer (The best on earth, BTW), Coke Zero, Jolt(Not anymore, as I am diabetic)

My favorite all time ginger ale is Schweppes Ginger Ale.

I like Dr. Brown's Black Cherry Soda.

I've never seen Dr. Nut in New Orleans but really wanted to try some after reading 'A Confederacy of Dunces' .. I'd still love to locate this product.

My other is the long gone Hoffman's sodas ... Chocolate Cream was my favorite.

I just stumbled across this ... Olde Brooklyn Sodas .. I would love to try this product ..

(http://www.gasko-meyer.com/Images/Soda/oldbrooklyn.jpg)

With more flavoring and lower carbonation, these high quality sodas capture the flavor and nostalgia of the oldest and most famous Brooklyn neighborhoods. Featuring the Brooklyn Bridge on their label, you can taste a Coney Island Cream Soda or a Red Hook Raspberry. This Kosher Certified line of drinks is so smooth you'll never want to drink sumthin' else-just fuhgeddaboutit!
Flavors, available in 12 oz bottles, include Williamsburg Root Beer, Coney Island Cream Soda, Brighton Beach Black Cherry, Flatbush Orange Soda, Bay Ridge Birch Beer, Red Hook Raspberry, Greenpoint Grape Soda, Park Slope Ginger Ale, Diet Williamsburg Root Beer and Diet Coney Island Cream Soda.

8)

Coke more than Pepsi
Dr Pepper more then Coke.

I also like most Ginger Ales. 
Vernors is a favorite, but its hard to find and expensive here in Spokanistan.
I also like Ginger Beer (stronger ginger taste) but it is almost impossible to find. Bundaberg is available at one of the import markets, but six bucks for four eight oz bottles is a tad expensive.

Never was fond of Seven-UP or Sprite. Brings back too many memories of staying home from school with the Flu.
I had a friend from Ireland who could not stand Root Beer.  It reminded him of the mouthwash at the dentist!

One soft drink I am really fond of is Tonic Water.  Never really liked overly sweet things and tonic water is surely not sweet.

But every August, I have to go to the local Highland games and pick up a few bottles of IRN BRU!

I've often said I couldn't survive without Coke. I just love the taste of it. I used to have one every day, if not more than one. But in the last few years I've been trying to take better care of myself, so I've cut way back on it, having no more than 4 sodas -of any kind -per week.

I've come to really like Barq's root beer -it has a real bite to it. Plus, there's no nasty phosphorus in it (which sadly Coke does have).

I drink way too much Mountain Dew, and try to drink Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi instead, but it's soooooo good!

Funny thing about Pepsi: ever since my Grandma passed away, if I drink Pepsi I get violently ill! When she was living we had a ritual when she came over: I would get a bottle of Pepsi, use the opener to pop the cap off, and we'd split a bottle. We did this every time we got together. Ever since she passed away I cannot drink it. I would assume it's some deep psychological issue, but I can't offer any other explanation for it.

Coca-Cola #1! I wouldn't call it a collection at this point, but I have a modest "accumulation" of Coke items.

Dr. Pepper & 7up tie for a close 2nd.

COCA COLA, DR. PEPPER and GRAPE.....yum!

Quote from: LundyAfterMidnight on June 06, 2011, 09:54:54 AM
Coca-Cola #1! I wouldn't call it a collection at this point, but I have a modest "accumulation" of Coke items.

Dr. Pepper & 7up tie for a close 2nd.

The only Coke collectibles I have are centered around the Coke Santa painted by Haddon Sundblom. Someone gave me a set of porcelain trading cards with his images on them.

Can your cat say "Pepsi Please?"

???

This guy likes Orange Fanta ...

Cat drinking soda (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKckw1hznu4#)

FAYGO...............CREAM SODA!!!!!!

IBC Cream Soda!

Quote from: Illoman on June 06, 2011, 11:15:37 AM
The only Coke collectibles I have are centered around the Coke Santa painted by Haddon Sundblom. Someone gave me a set of porcelain trading cards with his images on them.

I've a handful of Coke Santa things. It wouldn't be Christmas w/out him!

Either Diet Rite Black Cherry or Diet Cheerwine. Both are sweetened with Splenda. Diet Cheerwine's cherry flavor is a bit more aggressive, and also has caffeine.

Cream soda seems to be a popular choice. I wonder if everyone realizes that this wild looking beverage is flavoured by plain, ordinary vanilla?

???

OooH- I LOVE Sprite or Sprite Zero with fresh squeezed lime juice mixed in!   YUM! 

Quote from: LundyAfterMidnight on June 07, 2011, 01:52:17 AM
I've a handful of Coke Santa things. It wouldn't be Christmas w/out him!

Amen to that, Lundy!!!

Flower mentioned Hoffmann's sodas.  They were the absolute BEST for Creme Soda.  It's got to be almost 50 years, but I remember being in the car on Rte 22 in New Jersey.  We were always going to visit my Grandparents in East Orange, and we'd pass a Hoffmann's Bottling plant on the way.  They had a huge watertower shaped like a pop bottle, and they'd change the "flavour" every 6 months.  It was usually ginger ale or club soda.

I don't remember exactly when Hoffmann's sold out...but I was still young enough to be upset when I saw my ginger ale bottle newly painted  as Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer!

"E"

^^^ You couldn't turn on the radio without hearing ...

"The prettiest girl I ever saw .. was sipping Hoffman's thru a straw"

I attempted to find a video of the jingle but failed.

There isn't too much written on Hoffman's other than what Elisabeth already posted.

Quote from: Elisabeth on June 08, 2011, 11:57:57 PM
Flower mentioned Hoffmann's sodas.  They were the absolute BEST for Creme Soda.

I've been told that Hoffman's cream soda was creamy tan in colour. Is that consistent with your memories?

I grew up with cream sodas that were red - Wishing Well, Kist, and Stubby's. When Wishing Well bottled a clear cream soda along with its red for a time in the mid-sixties, I was absolutely astonished. The only mainline cream soda widely sold around Toronto these days is Crush which is also red but doesn't have the bite that I remember Wishing Well having. Crush cream soda is comparatively smooth.

???

One of my local grocery stores recently began selling Mexican bottled Coca-Cola.  It is really good.

Quote from: judd on June 09, 2011, 08:23:05 PM
One of my local grocery stores recently began selling Mexican bottled Coca-Cola.  It is really good.

I really don't drink much soda, but I'll go with anything from Avery's (http://www.averysoda.com/about.html)-

In the old neighborhood...
used to stop by on our bikes, watch 'em make soda, sample the flavor of the week...
I was kinda thrilled to see they're still going strong~  ;D

(http://gallery.unrealspawnboard.com/albums/userpics/10006/166308_164062800305176_100001043727495_317979_6868974_n.jpg)

Quote from: CreepysFan on June 10, 2011, 01:57:28 AM

   

  How is it different ?  Descriptions required.   C:)

It comes in 12 ounce glass bottles.  It has a stronger taste and more flavor than the US version of Coke.  It is made with sugar cane and not high fructose corn syrup.  Basically it tastes like Coke did years ago.  I found it in Price Chopper but there are other stores around the country which sell it.  Sam's Club often sells it.  The bottle has Spanish language on it but when it's sold in the US they place a white sticker label on the bottle. 

The head of the company said there is no difference between Mexican Coca-Cola and the US version but most customers disagree.

Quote from: Street Worm on June 10, 2011, 04:17:04 AM
I really don't drink much soda, but I'll go with anything from Avery's (http://www.averysoda.com/about.html)-

In the old neighborhood...
used to stop by on our bikes, watch 'em make soda, sample the flavor of the week...
I was kinda thrilled to see they're still going strong~  ;D

Interesting!

(http://www.averysoda.com/images/greenbot.jpg)

8)

When I was really young, the folks couldn't afford to buy actual Coca Cola or Pepsi, so we would get these 24 packs of Shasta or Cragmont Cola.These packs typically consisted of grape, lemon-lime, and root beer, I believe.  There might have been orange too; I can't recall for sure, although I know the grape and root beer would disappear first. We drank the stuff but it was never all that exciting. It was still a treat to go to the mom and pop store once in awhile and spend some of my allowance on a bottle of honest to goodness Coke.

Then in my early teens, Dad's position at work improved and suddenly we had "the real thing", Coke,  in the house! Those were the days of milk and honey -and Coke!

Quote from: Moonshadow on June 11, 2011, 12:09:10 AM
When I was really young, the folks couldn't afford to buy actual Coca Cola or Pepsi, so we would get these 24 packs of Shasta or Cragmont Cola.These packs typically consisted of grape, lemon-lime, and root beer, I believe.  There might have been orange too; I can't recall for sure, although I know the grape and root beer would disappear first. We drank the stuff but it was never all that exciting. It was still a treat to go to the mom and pop store once in awhile and spend some of my allowance on a bottle of honest to goodness Coke.

Then in my early teens, Dad's position at work improved and suddenly we had "the real thing", Coke,  in the house! Those were the days of milk and honey -and Coke!

Well, our common childhood deprivations worked out for me, because to this day I still LOVE Shasta and Fanta sodas.  :)

My favourites were Hoffmann's Ginger Ale, Hoffmann's Cream and The "Radar O'Reilly" Special...Grape Nehi.  I went to summer camp in Cooperstown, NY, in 1962-63....and they still had it.  A strong, Concord flavour...wicked fizz and gorgeous colour.  I remember it as being the exact opposite on Nehi Orange.....melted orange lollipops mixed with day-glo colour.

"E"   ededed

Quote from: Flower on June 09, 2011, 03:18:16 PM
^^^ You couldn't turn on the radio without hearing ...

"The prettiest girl I ever saw .. was sipping Hoffman's thru a straw"

I attempted to find a video of the jingle but failed.

There isn't too much written on Hoffman's other than what Elisabeth already posted.

Well I haven't been able to find the jingle but I did find an ad, a sign and cans:

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Hoffmanad.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Hoffmansign.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Hoffman.jpg)

8)

Quote from: judd on June 10, 2011, 09:27:55 AM
It has a stronger taste and more flavor than the US version of Coke.  It is made with sugar cane and not high fructose corn syrup.  Basically it tastes like Coke did years ago.

Pepsi Throwback is made with sugar and I understand that it's supposed to taste like the Pepsi from days of yore.

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/APepsiT.jpg)

Well I tried it and didn't like it. For one thing it tasted a bit sour. Worse yet it was flat compared to modern day Pepsi. The technology for keeping soda pop saturated with carbonation has improved dramatically over the past few decades.

:-\

Does anyone else remember an orange flavored drink called "Sun Dew"?

It came in a cardboard cylinder .. I can't find any images for Sun Dew .. I would buy it at Waldbaums in New York.


Btw ~ I like my soda pop without ice and love it that when you go to an A & W outlet that they don't plop ice into your drink.

Shhhhhhhh!!! I'm trying to keep that sidelight secret from Revenue Canada.

Cheerwine made with cane sugar.Coke man myself.Heartburn or indigestion a 6oz coke in a bottle does the trick.The cane sugar drinks taste so much better to me.Started buying cane sugar bags to sweeten my ice tea insted of granulated sugar.

Quote from: HARRY HAMMOCK on June 19, 2011, 07:14:51 PM
   Heartburn or indigestion a 6oz coke in a bottle does the trick.

My greatest carbonated addiction in life is TAB. Yes, I know, most people think this soda pop tastes like battery acid. And it probably does. But it flows through my veins with no apologies. 

TAB - it's my only weakness.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Yall remember Kick a poo Joy Juice?I loved that.Also I remember a drink call Cactus Cooler in a can I believe.

I never had a chance to taste it but I have a ten ounce bottle very similar to this one in my pop bottle collection.

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Kickapoo.jpg)

8)

I wish that I had a chance to try Dr. Nut ...  :(

(http://www.vgg.com/drsodas/graphics/drnutfront.jpg)

Quote from: CreepysFan on June 22, 2011, 04:01:14 PM
   [/left]

I refuse to drink anything with whizz in the title.

Especially if it's THAT color.

(http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo156/CreepysFan/pw.jpg)

(http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQgO1PnDt6FPFsXywxYGFJlrKjKu9elxNLbtDRFTPRdwcjLv2MDdQ)

Quote from: CreepysFan on June 22, 2011, 04:01:14 PM

I refuse to drink anything with whizz in the title.

Wise!

:o

Quote from: CreepysFan on June 25, 2011, 02:30:24 AM

 

I've found this tin sign listed several times on ebay, but can't come across any bottles for Popeye soda.  Does anyone have any info on this beverage, and has anyone ever seen a bottle ?  I was wondering if this was a real beverage or a made up item just for the sign, so I'd know if I'm wasting my time searching for an old bottle.

   

(http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo156/CreepysFan/popeyesoda.jpg)

I did a bit of research on the Popeye soda.  Bottom line is nobody knows for sure.  A collector does have a metal Popeye bottle cap but no bottles have been discovered yet even amoung serious Popeye or soda bottle collectors.  There is a cardboard sign for the soda which may or may not be fake.  That sign has been reproduced and sold as magnets and tin signs onb ebay.  It's possible a Popeye soda was produced for a very short time.  Most likely if it was real the labels were paper and may be all gone.

antique-bottles.net has a long thread about the subject of the Popeye bottle.

Soda pop was typically sold in painted label bottles for the first part of the 20th century quite simply because the bottles were most often sold out of ice water coolers in places such as convenience stores and gas stations until the mid sixties. Paper labels would have had the tendency to come off and float away in the water.

8)

I never saw Donald Duck soda but I wish that I had a bottle ...

(http://www.nwwone.org/world-war/worldwar-image-large/vintage-40s-cone-top-donald-duck-soda-can-good-cond-nr_140505256409.jpg)



http://www.angelfire.com/tn/traderz/donald.html (http://www.angelfire.com/tn/traderz/donald.html)

As I am a diabetic, I have been forced into the realm of diet sodas.  They are MUCH better tasting now---------and actually the better ones are my preferred sodas.  Anyone who drinks even just 2  cans per day that wants to drop 300+ calories from your daily intake the SUPER EASY way, simply switch to the better diet sodas.

You'd be crazy not to.  Remember, cutting 500 calories per day for 1 week= 1 pound weight loss (all other things being equal).  I have dropped about 30 pounds in the last 2 1/2 years by doing nothing different essentially than cutting out sugar.  And I am NOT in the age group where weight loss should be easy (mid 40s).

Anyway, Coke Zero and Pepsi Max are the best colas.  MUCH better than Diet Coke & Diet Pepsi to me.

My favorite?  Diet Sunkist Orange.  Sprite Zero is also excellent.

Man, that WOULD be an interesting taste test!

Quote from: Moonshadow on June 05, 2011, 11:00:18 PMI've come to really like Barq's root beer -it has a real bite to it. Plus, there's no nasty phosphorus in it (which sadly Coke does have).

I had a recollection of not liking Barq's Root Beer when I tried it last but that had been quite some time ago. Well I bought another bottle last week and reconfirmed that I don't like it. It think it has a very unpleasant undertaste/aftertaste.

:(

Quote from: Hepcat on July 20, 2011, 09:25:28 AM
I had a recollection of not liking Barq's Root Beer when I tried it last but that had been quite some time ago. Well I bought another bottle last week and reconfirmed that I don't like it. It think it has a very unpleasant undertaste/aftertaste.

:(

Hep, that's how I feel about Mug's root beer. Ah well, different body chemistries, different preferences!

Muggs tastes pretty boring to me. A & W is my favourite. I used to really like Frostie Root Beer but I haven't tasted any in decades so I'll defer making any pronouncements on Frostie for the time being.

:)

I had Polar Root Beer for the first time over this past weekend and really liked it ..  ;D

http://www.polarbev.com/PRODUCTS/PolarProducts/tabid/55/Default.aspx (http://www.polarbev.com/PRODUCTS/PolarProducts/tabid/55/Default.aspx)

(http://www.polarbev.com/Portals/0/products/prod_flavors.jpg)

I always see the giant bear outside of Polar HQ when I'm driving to Maine.

here's a related question for everyone:Do you prefer fountain soda or canned or bottled?  I find fountain soda can either be the very best, or terrible, depending on how it is mixed and carbonated. I prefer a glass bottle over a can.

A Great Lemon Pop .....GINI...and my Favorite Tahiti Treat...can't find either of these anymore  :(
Mcdee

Quote from: Moonshadow on July 25, 2011, 05:28:44 PM
Do you prefer fountain soda or canned or bottled?  I find fountain soda can either be the very best, or terrible, depending on how it is mixed and carbonated. I prefer a glass bottle over a can.

I still remember how good the fountain orange out of the vending machine was at the Loew's Theatre in downtown London in the early sixties but in general the quality of fountain pop is just too unreliable.

Nothing feels as good in one's hand as a ten ounce refillable pop bottle straight out of an ice cooler but I seem to have developed a preference for the taste of aluminum when drinking pop.

:-\

Quote from: CreepysFan on July 26, 2011, 02:53:58 AM
Don't care for fountain soda much, I think they must calibrate them to save syrup or something.

I think they do precisely that, as if their profit margins aren't enormous enough already.

>:(

Looking at something else, I just came across Goose Island Sodas ...

http://www.gooseisland.com/pages/sodas/5.php (http://www.gooseisland.com/pages/sodas/5.php)

(http://www.gooseisland.com/filebin/images/products/full/Soda_Orange.jpg)

(http://www.gooseisland.com/filebin/images/products/full/Soda_Grape.jpg)

I'll have to add them to my 'list' ..  :D

Quote from: Moonshadow on July 25, 2011, 05:28:44 PM
here's a related question for everyone:Do you prefer fountain soda or canned or bottled?  I find fountain soda can either be the very best, or terrible, depending on how it is mixed and carbonated. I prefer a glass bottle over a can.

Yup, you take your chances with a fountain, and DEFINITELY bottles over cans.

Quote from: Scatter on July 29, 2011, 05:06:30 PM
Yup, you take your chances with a fountain, and DEFINITELY bottles over cans.

Once again, we are in agreement my brother!!

Soda pop was a significant part of my life when I was a kid. Pop in my neck of the woods was sold almost exclusively in ten ounce refillable bottles when I started grade school in 1958. The only exceptions were that Coca-Cola was also available in 6 1/2 ounce and 25 ounce bottles and Canada Dry was available in 25 ounce bottles. Cans and non-refillable bottles were not yet on the scene. Nor were there any diet brands, perish the thought!

Pop was found in coolers full of ice water at corner variety and mom-and-pop grocery stores. There was no joy on a hot summer's day like reaching into an ice water cooler and pulling out a bottle of pop still dripping icy cold water onto the floor as you carried it over to the clerk behind the counter!

By the time I was in grade one, my father would send me to the store once or twice a week to fetch a case of six bottles for the family. I would be sternly admonished not to pick any of the coloured stuff by which he meant cream soda, grape, orange or lemon-lime.

There were of course dozens of brands from which to choose:

Coca-Cola
Pepsi-Cola
Canada Dry
7-Up
Vernors
Snort*
John Collins*
Squirt*
Hires Root Beer
Orange Crush
Nesbitt's Orange
Wishing Well (many flavours)
Kist* (many flavours)
Stubby* (many flavours)

The brands with the * would disappear well before I finished grade school in 1965 but would be replaced by other brands such as Royal Crown Cola which was the first brand in those fabulous sixteen ounce bottles, Frostie Root Beer, Sprite, Teem, Mountain Dew, Wink, Fanta Orange, Dr. Pepper, etc.

I'd get my fill of the coloured stuff though at the community dances held perhaps a couple times a year at a banquet hall out in Nilestown. The adults always took the kids to these dances with them. I mean why pay for a babysitter? And these were the baby boom years so there were swarms of other kids with which to run in packs. After a meal of cabbage rolls, sausages, kugelis and corn, the music would begin and the adults would start their drinking - big time. So how could parents possibly begrudge their kids the fifteen cents for a pop (they gouged at the banquet hall!) when the parents themselves were drinking beer and liquor? And the pop sold at the banquet hall was Wishing Well -  ginger ale, root beer, orange, grape, lemon-lime and cream soda in all their splendour! Three or four ten ounce bottles of pop in one evening was about as much as any ten year old could handle.

But most impressive of all was the selection of brands at the annual Labatt's company picnic in Springbank Park. Hundreds and hundreds of bottles of pop and half-pint chocolate milks in long galvanized steel bins filled with ice water! Theoretically you were limited to two pops, two hot dogs and one (or two) ice cream cones. The ice cream was doled out from a pastel coloured wooden trailer in those old-fashioned tube shapes from which the paper would then be unwrapped after the ice cream tube was dropped into the cone. The thing is though you could always bum more pop and ice cream tickets from any available adult. Such fun! And such great memories now!

But best of all the ten cent price for a ten ounce bottle included a two cent deposit. I spent many a morning and afternoon hunting for pop bottles to cash in at the store to fuel my addictions to pop, potato chips, bubblegum cards and comic books, let me tell you that!  The deposit was raised to five cents in 1966.

The refillable bottles in which pop was sold left such a profound mark on my psyche that for the last twenty years I've been accumulating the ones I remember together with any other ones that catch my fancy because of the graphics. I keep all my bottles in a custom built kitchen pantry:

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Abottle3.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/BottleCabinet.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/BottleCabinet2.jpg)

8)

Hepcat,

I've never read a more beautiful ode to soda pop. I teared up a couple of times reading that post, and your soda pop bottle collection is amazing. There's a book in there an you need to write it. What touches us about the things we collect often isn't the artist or creator of the thing, but how it relates to our everyday lives. Thank you for that.

Quote from: Radioactive Rod Whitenack on October 03, 2011, 07:42:32 PM
What touches us about the things we collect often isn't the artist or creator of the thing, but how it relates to our everyday lives.

Oh absolutely! The underlying reason I collect the artifacts of my youth is that they embody a mental snapshot of precisely where I was and how I felt when I first encountered those objects so many years ago! They represent not only a tie to the past, but are in a very real sense a vivid connection to the days of our youth which would otherwise be completely gone. With those collectibles, we never have to let go of those precious moments of our lives from years gone by!

Given the two cent deposit on the empties, the pop bottles also represent a very real tie to whatever else I was collecting them to buy at the time - whether football, hockey, baseball, Spook Stories or Civil War cards, Popsicles, or even the penny candies I loved the most e.g. Dubble Bubble or Bazooka gum, black balls, black babies, whatever!

8)

Hep, that was a great read!! Your sentiments on collectibles echo my own completely. It's not about value primarily, or even secondarily. It's about a touchstone to a different era and a tangible connection to one certain little MonsterKid that I used to know, and never want to let go of.

Quote from: Scatter on October 05, 2011, 05:41:10 PMIt's not about value primarily, or even secondarily. It's about a touchstone to a different era and a tangible connection to one certain little MonsterKid that I used to know, and never want to let go of.

That's a great way to put it! I agree entirely. It's all about the little kid that should still be there inside us all.

8)

Quote from: Radioactive Rod Whitenack on October 03, 2011, 07:42:32 PM
Hepcat,

What touches us about the things we collect often isn't the artist or creator of the thing, but how it relates to our everyday lives.

100% correct.

Quote from: Scatter on October 05, 2011, 05:41:10 PM
Hep, that was a great read!! Your sentiments on collectibles echo my own completely. It's not about value primarily, or even secondarily. It's about a touchstone to a different era and a tangible connection to one certain little MonsterKid that I used to know, and never want to let go of.

Also 100% correct.

I mentioned previously that the ten ounce refillable pop bottles cost a dime in my neck of the woods when I was a youngster. Sixteen ounce Royal Crown Cola bottles costing twelve cents were therefore an excellent value for a pop thirsty youngster when they appeared on the scene in 1961 or so. Coke and Pepsi brought out their own sixteen ouncers within a year or two but that was it. Only colas could be found in those wonderful big bottles in London. (By high school though sixteen ounce bottles of Pepsi were my beverage of choice.)

Imagine my delight in 1963 therefore when I found that the Faygo machine at the Marathon service station a half block from my uncle's house in Detroit was stocked with sixteen ounce pop bottles in maybe a dozen different exotic Faygo flavours such as Red Pop and Rock 'n Rye!

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/AFaygo2.jpg)

The machine did unfortunately demand fifteen cents for a bottle but I still hit it repeatedly on sunny summer days on our periodic visits to Detroit.

One of the reasons I still have fond memories of that machine is that I had also discovered a wonderful hobby shop a couple of blocks away on Seven Mile Road where over three summers I managed to score a Revell "Big Daddy" Roth Brother Rat Fink T-Shirt Iron-On, a Mad, Mad, Mad Scientist Laboratory, a 1/24 scale Monogram Ferrari 275P slot car kit and a 1/32 scale Monogram Ferrari 330 P/LM slot car kit. To add to those treasures my cousin bought me a Nash(?) wooden skateboard at Kmart or somewhere and I saw my first James Bond movie, "Goldfinger", with my sister. Good times then, good memories now!

8)

Orange, grape and strawberry faygo, squirt, A&w rootbeer and Jones sodas are what gets stocked in my fridge.

I actually prefer bottles (glass not plastic) to cans. Even to this day at Family reunions and parties my Uncle's will get root beer in a keg. You have not had root bear until you had it out of a keg.

Quote from: CreepysFan on October 22, 2011, 01:19:09 AM
Never saw any Faygo's in the stores when I grew up, so I grew up mostly on Orange Crush and Pepsi.

It's a regional brand centered around Detroit. To my knowledge it wasn't exported to southwestern Ontario until the seventies and then only on a haphazard basis. It's currently being dumped in cans and family size plastic bottles in the Toronto market at very attractive prices indeed.

Quote from: CreepysFan on October 22, 2011, 01:19:09 AMIn my teens I used to grab Mr. Pibb every so often, but have never found it again in my adulthood.

Interesting! I was wondering whether Mr. Pibb was still around. Mr. Pibb was a brand launched by the Coca-Cola company to target Dr. Pepper drinkers. To my knowledge it was never sold in Canada.

8)

Quote from: twilitezoner on October 22, 2011, 08:14:03 AMEven to this day at Family reunions and parties my Uncle's will get root beer in a keg. You have not had root bear until you had it out of a keg.

They must have to order the kegs through the distributor because I can't see kegs being sold in retail stores. What kind of root beer?

???

Well that's what they had in PA was distributors. Not sure what the brand was I'll have to check into that..

I prefer V8 juice or mixed fruit juice, though I'll enjoy a ginger ale and a birch beer a few times a year.   ;)



Tor

Yes! You and I appear to be on the same page.

;D

Diet Sierra Mist Cranberry

Well, Faygo definitely made it to Connecticut in the 70s, because I drank gallons of the stuff. And I can still find it down here in the Nether Regions at Dollar Tree stores. As for Mr Pibb, we still have that here as well, so it's alive and kickin'!

Man Hep, what would you give to have that incredible soda machine in your living room?? I love that thing!

I've always wanted a pop vending machine for the kitchen myself. And they are available from companies such as this one:

Pop Vending Machines (http://www.barsandbooths.com/bandbfrostierootbeermachine.htm)

Three problems though:

1. Space. They're as big as refrigerators.

2. Shipping costs. They're bulky and really heavy. You're best to try to find one locally.

3. It's tough to find the bottles with which to stock them. Refillables are basically a thing of the past so that you would have to stock your machine with he premium sodas sold in long-neck bottles e.g. Jones and Dad's Root Beer.

:-\

Quote from: twilitezoner on October 22, 2011, 08:14:03 AM
You have not had root bear until you had it out of a keg.

Totally agree.  Years ago we went to a local bar to get an empty keg (this was in high school) and then drove over to the local A&W.  Walked up to the window and said filler up.  Got back to a friend's basement, let it age 24 hours, slapped on Zappa's Freakout and couldn't believe the taste a wooden keg could add.

Quote from: CreepysFan on October 24, 2011, 11:03:29 PM

   

Man, I would give my brother's right arm to have one of those vintage soda machines.  Those are beyond awesome and cool.

The ones I like the best are the squaretops from the early sixties where you would select the bottle you wanted and pull it out sideways.

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/APepsi.jpg)

8)

One of the old, original A&W restaurants still exists here in Louisville, KY. It's way out in the middle of nowhere on Dixie Hwy, and it's the only one I know of where they still make their own rootbeer on the premises and store it in a wooden barrel that you can get directly from a tap.

Quote from: Hepcat on October 25, 2011, 08:44:54 AM
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/APepsi.jpg)

Quote from: CreepysFan on October 25, 2011, 11:21:45 PM
That's EXACTLY the model I would choose.

I believe that Pepsi machine is a Vendo 56. Here's a just slightly bigger Cavalier 64 in Coca-Cola livery:

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Acavalier206420chuck20lg.jpg)

And here's a Cavalier 64 customised with spectacular Frostie Root Beer livery!

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/AFrostie2.jpg)

My preference though would be a Vendo 56 or Cavalier 64 with the livery of a local regional brand such as Wishing Well or Kist.

8)

Quote from: CreepysFan on October 27, 2011, 03:38:46 PM
Hmmm .... wonder if Hep had anything to do with the Kitty Piddle ?

Cat's gotta make a living. Business is slow and there are lots of toys I can't afford.

;)

As a kid, I loved Shasta.  The mountain on the can made it look so refreshing....

(http://ts4.mm.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=1361976244211&id=1e738a4c8f78dc79fa692e223d44213e&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.diamondcokecans.com%2fOtherSodaBrands%2fShasta%2fShasta(SparklingOrangeSoda).JPG)

GREEN RIVER ------KAYO------BIG J.........

Love Dad's root beer and Coke products.  Also like Crush and Faygo sodas.  Used to drink Faygo a lot when I was a kid.

Quote from: CreepysFan on February 12, 2012, 03:40:10 AM

   

Didn't realize Squirt soda was still being made, until our local Wal-mart started carrying it recently.   Love the grapefruit like flavor, just not crazy about the bright yellow can. 

   

(http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo156/CreepysFan/sq.jpg)

Squirt in refillable ten ounce bottles disappeared from my neck of the woods some fifty years ago. It reappeared briefly about twenty years ago in the big plastic bottles and cans but I've not seen it since.

Great sour flavour though!

8)

But I thought that first and foremost you were a Pepsi drinker.

???

Very true!

Quote from: Hepcat on October 03, 2011, 02:26:30 PMThere were of course dozens of brands from which to choose:

Coca-Cola
Pepsi-Cola
Canada Dry
7up
Vernors
Snort*
John Collins*
Squirt*
Hires Root Beer
Orange Crush
Nesbitt's Orange
Wishing Well (many flavours)
Kist* (many flavours)
Stubby* (many flavours)

The brands with the * would disappear well before I finished grade school in 1965 but would be replaced by other brands such as Royal Crown Cola which was the first brand in those fabulous sixteen ounce bottles, Frostie Root Beer, Sprite, Teem, Mountain Dew, Wink, Fanta Orange, Dr. Pepper, etc.

It's interesting as well to compare the mainline brands (as opposed to the "gourmet" sodas sold at premium prices) being sold in everyday outlets such as supermarkets and variety stores in my neck of the woods today with the above list of brands that were available when I was a kid. Here are the ones commonly available to me these days:

Coca-Cola
Pepsi-Cola
RC Cola (once in a while)
Canada Dry
Schweppes Ginger Ale
Vernors
7up
Sprite
Mountain Dew
Dr. Pepper
A & W Root Beer
Barq's Root Beer
Mug Root Beer
Cplus
Orange Crush
Crush Grape
Crush Cream Soda
Cott (many flavours)
Faygo (many flavours)
Fanta (several flavours)

8)

Crush Cream Soda is a very smooth cream soda compared with the Wishing Well I drank as a kid. I remember the Wishing Well had far more bite.

:-\

So I saw a can of Pepsi Next yesterday:

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%202/pepsi-next.jpg)

It's a reduced sugar/calorie variant of Pepsi with added cherry and vanilla flavours, in other words yet another gimmicky product labelled Pepsi. Not that I'm opposed to cherry or vanilla flavoured pop, but it's not Pepsi!

>:(

How I miss the days when Pepsi was Pepsi, and Coke was Coke, and there was only one of each. And they were sold in great looking refillable ten ounce bottles with a deposit!

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%202/Pepsi.jpg)

8)

My favorite was Pepsi.  Then I tried and drank Jones sodas when I could, they are expensive.  Then I got diabetes and had to stop. 

Have to go with Coke. There's no other choice.

Bloomberg's stand on soda ...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/20/soda-ban-new-york-boston-michael-bloomberg_n_1612656.html (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/20/soda-ban-new-york-boston-michael-bloomberg_n_1612656.html)

I just found out about it and think that he's wrong.

This sort of stuff is ridiculous. Instead of just taking away people's rights to be fat, why not just educate them so they will know not to get fat? :P

*&^~*>&~! How many of those nutrition fascists take the escalator rather than the stairs? How many of them use the TV as a babysitter for their kids instead of chasing the little rascals outside to play? Both The MAN and I have been quaffing pop all our lives and he's sixty (whatever that is in cat years). Do we look fat?

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/LithuanianT-shirt2.jpg?t=1342014202)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/StyxVelcro2.jpg)

:o

I usually can take or leave soda. I do like it when I'm eating though. With that I'm a huge Diet Coke fan...a 12 pack will normally last me 2 weeks. I drink a crap ton of bottled water.

Lately for whatever reason I got on a kick and have been going for the DC as sort of a "snack"--definitely drinking waaaaaaaaaaaay too much of that!

Coca-Cola for sure! It's the best in my opinion - I really like the old bottles as well like Hepcat mentioned - my second is  Pepsi

Quote from: Hepcat on August 15, 2012, 04:04:43 PM

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/StyxVelcro2.jpg)

Quote from: CreepysFan on August 26, 2012, 12:22:27 AM

 

Looking good my feline friend.  Your pet man is in fine shape .... for a human. 

   

  PEPSI ... in glass bottles ... top of my list.

   

Try taking my soda ..... see if you don't pull back a bloody stump Mr. Bloomburg.

Once again, we are in agreement. Pepsi rocks!! Elvis' favorite too. The ultimate endorsement!!

The drink of choice of Hugh Hefner as well was Pepsi. He always kept a supply of the ten ounce bottles in a refrigerator above his circular bed at the Chicago Playboy mansion.

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%202/Playboy.jpg)

It certainly didn't seem to hurt him with the ladies and he's actually still looking pretty spry. Could that be the secret to longevity, bunnies and Pepsi?

???

I guess that Hepcat is a Coke drinker ...

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%202/HepcatCoke.jpg)

Well the price was right! Besides I can never get enough. It's the secret to my sleek coat and the spring in my step.

8)

Quote from: Hepcat on August 26, 2012, 09:22:55 AM
Could that be the secret to longevity, bunnies and Pepsi?

"Now it's Pepsi, for those who think young!"

Pepsi Commercials 1960's (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVf9g5yC_pg#noexternalembed)

Or should that be "Come alive! You're in the Pepsi generation!"

8)

I need to take a road trip to pick up some pop ....


http://www.polarbev.com/PRODUCTS/SodaFlavors/tabid/56/Default.aspx (http://www.polarbev.com/PRODUCTS/SodaFlavors/tabid/56/Default.aspx)



(http://www.polarbev.com/Portals/0/products/prod_flavors.jpg)

Quote from: Flower on September 18, 2013, 11:56:19 AM
I need to take a road trip to pick up some pop ....


http://www.polarbev.com/PRODUCTS/SodaFlavors/tabid/56/Default.aspx (http://www.polarbev.com/PRODUCTS/SodaFlavors/tabid/56/Default.aspx)



(http://www.polarbev.com/Portals/0/products/prod_flavors.jpg)

Oh mannnnnnnnnn............I haven't had white birch beer in over 33 years. Sigh.

Take a road trip ...  ;)

I plan to....

Quote from: Scatter on September 28, 2013, 04:27:54 PM
I plan to....

:)

My others from childhood:
Wilsons' Ginger ale (Hepcat should remember this one)
Mini Pops blue (I think raspberry?)

You bet I remember Wilson's Ginger Ale!

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/wilson11_zps95d2e4d7.jpg)

Unfortunately I own neither the above handsome vending machine nor even a Wilson's pop bottle in my collection. I've always passed that one over until now because it has fairly non-descript graphics and it was never one of my favorites as a kid. I'll grab one at the next bottle show I attend though!

:-\

The only pop I really care for is Mr. Pibb.  I'm not a huge fan of High Fructose Corn Syrup, it's just not the same taste as sugar.  But I've really gotten away from pop in the last few years.  I only drink it on a Blue Moon.

Quote from: Hepcat on August 30, 2013, 12:03:35 PM"Now it's Pepsi, for those who think young!"

Pepsi Commercials 1960's (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVf9g5yC_pg#noexternalembed)

Or should that be "Come alive! You're in the Pepsi generation!"

I think the best advertising slogan Pepsi has used was "Taste that beats the others cold; Pepsi pours it on!"

(https://i.pinimg.com/236x/05/7b/36/057b368e1d173b927fb6658309dfdb9f--vintage-advertising-signs-metal-vintage.jpg)

8)

Has anyone ever given out (or received) cans of Coke, Pepsi or some other soda pop for Halloween?

(http://www.coca-colacompany.com/content/dam/journey/us/en/private/2014/10/w6544-604-337-f7f52186.jpg)

???

just to name a few...

sioux city sarsaparilla
moxie
boylan's creamy red birch beer
virgil's root beer
china cola
iron beer

i could go on & on & on!

(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/a1/d6/48/a1d6483a0d646830ce6756bbefa6e81f.jpg)

Diet!

:o

Quote from: Hepcat on October 29, 2017, 09:38:05 PM
Diet!

:o

They have come a long way since TaB in the 70s.   ;)

Diet Rite Cola was launched nationally by the Royal Crown Cola Corp. in 1962. Tab was the Coca-Cola Company's answer in 1963.

(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/bf/4c/4e/bf4c4eb37524ed7ccc77244bb2bf6897--high-school-lunches-little-girls.jpg)

My considered opinion is that all the chemically sweetened soft drinks are a dreadful affront to monster kids everywhere.

:o

I'm good with any of these (except root beer). So long as you can mix it with rum, whisky, or vodka...I'm good.

No, sorry. No liquor allowed for monster kids.

C:)

Quote from: Hepcat on October 30, 2017, 12:52:03 PM
No, sorry. No liquor allowed for monster kids.

C:)

There may be a few members here that might disagree.

A&W Root Beer & Coconut Rum

Wow.  HIRES ROOTBEER is even listed!  We started special-ordering it thru a friendly manager at a local WalMart, and they ended up stocking it full time.  Alas, we have microbreweries that make even better rootbeer, but those beget rootbeer floats and noe's waistline can't allow too many of those! 

Quote from: ChristineBCW on November 02, 2017, 02:24:13 AMWow.  HIRES ROOTBEER is even listed!

When it comes to pop, I'll have you know that I'm not just a dilettante. I'm hard-core. Here's a semi-recent shot of my bottle pantry:

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Bottles%20and%20Plane%20June%2021%202015/DSCN3651_zpspuiubcta.jpg)

Close-ups of the pop bottles:

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Bottles%20and%20Plane%20June%2021%202015/DSCN3656_zpslsriaysi.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Bottles%20and%20Plane%20June%2021%202015/DSCN3659_zps8t8cw6yo.jpg)

Here's a good magazine for those similarly inclined:

Soda Spectrum (http://www.sodaspectrum.com/)

8)

Quote from: Mord on October 30, 2017, 01:10:10 PM
There may be a few members here that might disagree.

Amen

Hubby asks for collectors: "Chocolate Soldier" bottles?  Kik-a-poo Joy Juice?  Those were way before my time, and on a different continent.  I am clueless about those.

who wants to do a soda swap?

ill mail you a mixed variety six pack of my favorite bottled cane sugar sodas if you mail me or another boardie a six pack of yours in return...

(https://t21.pixhost.to/thumbs/291/76705101_104414fb83d3b44a57f30227f75c65e5.jpg) (https://pixhost.to/show/291/76705101_104414fb83d3b44a57f30227f75c65e5.jpg)

Taste that beats the others cold!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGeuOxnBPbc (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGeuOxnBPbc)

8)

Vernors! And Frostie! Two of my favorites from my childhood. Haven't seen a Frostie in years, but I still drink a Vernors now and then.

I'm disappointed that Sioux City Sarsaparilla didn't make the list.

Quote from: ChristineBCW on November 07, 2017, 07:33:24 PMHubby asks for collectors: "Chocolate Soldier" bottles?

Quote from: WikipediaChocolate Soldier was a chocolate-flavored beverage produced by the Monarch Beverage Company of Atlanta, Georgia. Chocolate Soldier was made by Citrus Products Company in Illinois in the 1950s and 1960s. The drink was sold in glass bottles from 1966-1988. It was bottled all over the United States.

It was also bottled and sold in parts of Canada including in my home town of London for a number of years beginning in the early sixties. The bottle I remember and currently own in my collection is pretty boring:



Some of the Chocolate Soldier signage is wild cool though!

Quote from: ChristineBCW on November 07, 2017, 07:33:24 PMKik-a-poo Joy Juice?

The Kickapoo Joy Juice name was introduced in the Li'l Abner comic strip:

Kickapoo Joy Juice

I've never encountered Kickapoo Joy Juice being sold in my neck of the woods but I do have a bottle in my collection just because I like the name and graphics:





8)

Hubby says he recognizes that 2nd CHOC SOLDIER bottle, the heavily-painted bottle, and he said his pals had games to etch something on that bottle's label, then return it and see if they'd ever find it again.  No.  Never. 

He also remembers KICKAPOO a few years before MOUNTAIN DEW arrived.  He remembers a silly TV ad with a gun-shooting KICKAPOO hillbilly "almost like Richochet Rabbit - ping-ping piiiing."  He said SQUIRT was of the same style - with a sour punch to it.

Quote from: ChristineBCW on April 09, 2019, 11:42:30 AMHe also remembers KICKAPOO a few years before MOUNTAIN DEW arrived.  He remembers a silly TV ad with a gun-shooting KICKAPOO hillbilly "almost like Richochet Rabbit - ping-ping piiiing."

Hmmmm, perhaps something like this Mountain Dew commercial?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xd8fzk8Rlk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xd8fzk8Rlk)

Quote from: ChristineBCW on April 09, 2019, 11:42:30 AMHe said SQUIRT was of the same style - with a sour punch to it.

Squirt is truly excellent! While widely available in the Detroit area, it comes and goes in my neck of the woods. Sadly I've not seen any here for over fifteen years.

But why are you asking your husband how these soft drinks all taste? Is it just a case of availability? Hopefully you're not resistant to quaffing them yourself.

???

I'm not into sodey-pop myself - 2 or 3 bottles a year perhaps.  I do like Hire's, though, and we had a local grocery that ordered Hires on request - it arrived 2-3 days later.  But we had a lot of local microbreweries and they produced even better root-beers, and in kegs for easier cooling and rather fun dispensing.  And I always preferred making rootbeer floats myself.

So many of these are long before my years began.  In our travels, though, I should have taken the chance to explore soda-pop options but our kids aren't fans, Hubby's not, I'm not... looking for these escapes my list of To-Do's, normally.

And thanks for that MOUNTAIN DEW YouTube commercial.  I'll be surprised if that's not what he remembers, actually, and incorrectly, too, since it's a Mountain Dew hillbilly, not a Kickapoo one.  I should have bet a lot more.

Quote from: ChristineBCW on April 10, 2019, 09:02:18 AMI'm not into sodey-pop myself - 2 or 3 bottles a year perhaps.

Two to three per day for me. Keeps me young (at heart anyway), strong and healthy!  8)

Quote from: ChristineBCW on April 10, 2019, 09:02:18 AMAnd thanks for that MOUNTAIN DEW YouTube commercial.  I'll be surprised if that's not what he remembers, actually, and incorrectly, too, since it's a Mountain Dew hillbilly, not a Kickapoo one.  I should have bet a lot more.

Or else what he "remembers" may be this Li'l Abner cartoon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1dVK5vC9DY# (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1dVK5vC9DY#)

:-\

Quote from: Dr. Acula on April 08, 2019, 09:46:18 PMVernors! ... I still drink a Vernors now and then.

Yes, Vernors is distinctly and deliciously different from other ginger ales, perhaps due to being "flavour aged" in oak barrels (although I think the recipe has been toned down somewhat over the years since I don't think it has as much bite now as it did 50-55 years ago). There was a Vernors bottling plant about a mile away from where I lived in London when I was a kid.

Vernors was created in 1866 by James Vernor, a Detroit pharmacist who initially sold Vernors from the soda fountain in his drugstore on the SW corner of Woodward Avenue and Clifford Street. Vernors is now the oldest surviving ginger ale sold in the United States!

The fabulous graphics associated with the Vernors brand have made for great signage and other paraphernalia since the nineteenth century:

(https://oi1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/Vernors%205_zpss19gxuaj.jpg)

(https://oi1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/Vernors%201_zps8mfdfyoc.jpg) (https://oi1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/edited-image_zpshx73nogl.png)

(https://oi1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/Vernors%206_zpsndvqke8l.jpg)

This has spawned an active collecting interest in Vernors memorabilia and the Vernor's Ginger Ale Collectors' Club has seventy members some of whom have truly mouth watering collections:

(https://oi1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/Vernors%2010_zpsnj8dk8l6.jpg)

(https://oi1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/vernor_s%2012_zpsk3kugrxj.jpg)

Club founder Keith Wunderlich of Troy, Michigan has among the best collections:

(https://oi1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/Vernors%2011_zpsoey4tgy6.jpg)

8)

Wow! That's a lot of Vernor's paraphernalia!

I am an Alabama boy myself, but my mother was from Detroit, Michigan. When I was a wee lad, you couldn't get Vernor's in Alabama; the only time we got it was when we went to visit relatives in Michigan. Now, however, Vernor's is more widely distributed: you can even buy it in Alabama!

Quote from: Dr. Acula on April 08, 2019, 09:46:18 PMHaven't seen a Frostie in years....

I don't believe I've seen any Frostie being sold in my neck of the woods for fifty years. Very sad since I always preferred Frostie to Hires. Unlike Hires which I remember had an unpleasant aftertaste,  Frostie had a clean finish.

A major contributing factor to Frostie Root Beer's disappearance has been the brand's truly sordid history of ownership changes:

Frostie Root Beer - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frostie_Root_Beer)

Nonetheless, both the Frostie signage and bottles had/have truly wild over-the-top graphics!

(https://oi1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/FrostieRootBeer_zpsdshsqyen.jpg)

(https://oi1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/Frostie%202_zpstwqprpz7.jpg)

(https://oi1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/Frostie%205_zpskd1voiid.png) (https://oi1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%203/General%20Album%203001/Frostie%203_zps7dshhmoj.jpg)

I have both a nifty plastic vacuform Frostie sign in my memorabilia collection and a ten ounce returnable/refillable Frostie bottle in my bottle cabinet.

8)

I wouldn't be surprised if root-beer wan't sold widely because of the awful A&W product spelling itself as "root beer".  Oh... it's not THAT bad, I realize... but compared to Hires or Frosties, it's not even in the Top 10.  There's a brand calling itself "Maine" that appears in a lot of hipster joints but they're all flat-tasting versions - cola, lemon-lime and that root beer.  Yet it IS my preference to A&W.  So's water.  So's nothing.

Quote from: Dr. Acula on April 08, 2019, 09:46:18 PMI'm disappointed that Sioux City Sarsaparilla didn't make the list.

You shouldn't be. It's not on the ballot for two very good reasons:

1. It's a johnny-come-lately. The Sioux City line of soft drinks dates back no further than 1987. That was already a decade past the golden era of returnable/refillable pop bottles.

2. It's not a mass market brand but is instead a premium priced upscale niche soft drink brand. No self-respecting kid would have ever bought such a product in the baby boom years. I mean what kid would have had the money for such extravagances? All the ten ounce pop bottles I ever pulled from ice water coolers were at popular prices. In fact the very concept of premium priced soft drink brands would have been considered bizarre at the time.

C:)

Quote from: ChristineBCW on April 10, 2019, 09:02:18 AMI do like Hire's, though, and we had a local grocery that ordered Hires on request - it arrived 2-3 days later.

Incidentally the latest issue of Soda Spectrum magazine (#85) has a fourteen page article on Hires Root Beer and the history of the company.

Soda Spectrum (http://www.sodaspectrum.com/index.html)

(https://www.peachridgeglass.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/spectrum-logo.jpg)

8)

Mmmmm! Gene $Simmons' Money Bags soda.


(https://csnews.com/_flysystem/s3/styles/content_md/s3/2018-09/moneybag-sodas.png?itok=N5XjkGcd)

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9db-YeLtjmU/WvZmeuNIW1I/AAAAAAAA4eU/hlgiMcSOeq4yrEJG5un6IoVq9inWhhopQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/KISS%2BSODA2.jpg)

Wow! King Kong Cola!

8)

Quote from: ChristineBCW on April 09, 2019, 11:42:30 AMHe said SQUIRT was of the same style - with a sour punch to it.

Squirt is another brand that I really like but is no longer available in my neck of the woods. It's sour punch/tanginess is at least partially due to the small amount of grapefruit juice in its recipe.

Quote from: WikipediaSquirt was created by Herb Bishop in 1938, after experimenting with a citrus drink known as Citrus Club. The result used less fruit juice and less sugar than some other drinks, and Bishop claimed it had the "freshest, most exciting taste in the marketplace".

In 1941, a mascot named "Lil' Squirt" was created for marketing the product.

The Lil' Squirt mascot has been incorporated in some great signage over the years:

Quote from: WikipediaThe Squirt brand has changed ownership several times, and is currently the property of Keurig Dr Pepper.

Well whoever owns the name brand better get their ass in gear and make some available in my area!

cl:)

Perhaps my all-time favourite Pepsi versus Coke commercial:

Pepsi vs. Coke in Truck Stop (https://youtu.be/qy4_XKYo0rQ)

8)

After decades of drinking Pepsi, Coke, Mountain Dew and the like, this carbonated drink has been my go to for the last several years...

(https://acimg.auctivacommerce.com/imgdata/0/2/3/4/5/2/webimg/13783687.jpg)

Quote from: Buzzybean on January 17, 2021, 02:44:40 AM
After decades of drinking Pepsi, Coke, Mountain Dew and the like, this carbonated drink has been my go to for the last several years...

(https://acimg.auctivacommerce.com/imgdata/0/2/3/4/5/2/webimg/13783687.jpg)

I drink that, too. When available.

Quote from: ChristineBCW on April 10, 2019, 09:02:18 AMI'm not into sodey-pop myself - 2 or 3 bottles a year perhaps.

"Sodey-pop"? Is that an attempt to be snooty or condescending toward pop drinkers? If so you're doing it in the wrong place.

cl:)

Quote from: Buzzybean on January 17, 2021, 02:44:40 AM
After decades of drinking Pepsi, Coke, Mountain Dew and the like, this carbonated drink has been my go to for the last several years...

(https://acimg.auctivacommerce.com/imgdata/0/2/3/4/5/2/webimg/13783687.jpg)

I remember seeing the exact(?) same can here in Toronto a few years ago but the brand name was AriZona. I've not seen it for a couple of years anyway though.

???

Quote from: Hepcat on January 17, 2021, 02:59:50 PM
I remember seeing the exact(?) same can here in Toronto a few years ago but the brand name was AriZona. I've not seen it for a couple of years anyway though.

???

It is Arizona brand. Their distribution sucks. They are difficult to find.

I finally tracked down a corner store carrying the Arizona Cherry Lime Rickey about a mile and a half away from my house. It's good and I'll continue to buy it occasionally but it won't supplant my regulars.

:)

A really strong bubble gum flavour!

(https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0015/2679/2291/products/ThePopShoppeBubbleGum6Bottles_1024x1024.jpg?v=1596320192)

Wild!

Sadly nothing of the original concept of Pop Shoppe's but the name and logo remains. The Pop Shoppe was launched in 1969 in London, Ontario and sold its pop at deep discount prices through its own stores and franchised outlets inside refillable bottles in 24-count plastic cases for 10 ounce bottles and 12-count plastic cases for 25 ounce bottles with a deposit on both the bottles and the cases. Flavours included cola, (Festival Dry) ginger ale, root beer, orange, (Sparkle Up) lemon-lime, lemon, lime rickey, grape, cream soda, fruit punch, black cherry, cherry cola,  grapefruit, strawberry, pineapple, tonic water and soda water. Many including most of the fruit flavours were really good. Within three years there were over 500 outlets and by the middle of the 1970's Pop Shoppe products were available across Canada and in twelve American states. Sales surpassed one million bottles per day in 1977.

By the late 1970's though Pop Shoppe was starting to incur stiff competition in its market segment from private label grocery store brands packaged in throwaway containers. This caused sales to fall off dramatically in the early 1980's and Pop Shoppe Int. ceased operations in 1983. Very sad.

By the early years of the 21st century nostalgia for the days when soda pop was sold in glass bottles acted to create a market niche for "craft" pop brands sold in glass bottles. This enabled the Pop Shoppe brand to be resurrected in 2004 as a premium (of all things) brand sold in throwaway bottles.  There's nothing right about the way the brand is sold these days but I must admit that the bubble gum flavour tastes great.

:(

Quote from: Hepcat on March 27, 2021, 01:39:10 PM
A really strong bubble gum flavour!

(https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0015/2679/2291/products/ThePopShoppeBubbleGum6Bottles_1024x1024.jpg?v=1596320192)

Wild!

Sadly nothing of the original concept of Pop Shoppes but the name and logo remains. The Pop Shoppe was launched in 1969 in London, Ontario and sold its pop through its own stores and franchised outlets inside refillable bottles in 24-count plastic cases for 10 ounce bottles and 12-count plastic cases for 25 ounce bottles with a deposit on both the bottles and the cases. Flavours included cola, (Festival Dry) ginger ale, root beer, orange, (Sparkle Up) lemon-lime, lemon, lime rickey, grape, cream soda, fruit punch, black cherry, cherry cola,  grapefruit, strawberry, pineapple, tonic water and soda water. Many including most of the fruit flavours were really good. Within three years there were over 500 outlets and by the middle of the 1970's Pop Shoppe products were available across Canada and in twelve American states. Sales surpassed one million bottles per day in 1977.

By the late 1970's though Pop Shoppe was starting to incur stiff competition in its market segment from private label grocery store brands packaged in throwaway containers. This caused sales to fall off dramatically in the early 1980's and Pop Shoppe Int. ceased operations in 1983. Very sad.

By the early years of the 21st century nostalgia for the days when soda pop was sold in glass bottles acted to create a market niche for "craft" pop brands sold in glass bottles. This enabled the Pop Shoppe brand to be resurrected in 2004 as a premium (of all things) brand sold in throwaway bottles.  There's nothing right about the way the brand is sold these days but I must admit that the bubble gum flavour tastes great.

:(

Those were the days.On Saturdays I would accompany my Dad to the Pop Shoppe (on  O'Connor Dr. I believe?) Since as an ex-WW2 Merchant Mariner, where he had gotten a taste for Rum & Cokes, my Dad would grab a half dozen Colas while I stocked up on Root Beer, Orange and the dreaded Black Cherry. Now by dreaded, I mean once the crown bottle cap was off there was no other markings on the bottle to denote Cola-type.Well every so often you would here swearing coming from our Rec room/Home Bar where my Dad had erroneously added Black Cherry to his Rum. Good Times  :)

Quote from: Dr.Cyclops on April 10, 2021, 05:51:41 AMThose were the days.On Saturdays I would accompany my Dad to the Pop Shoppe (on  O'Connor Dr. I believe?) Since as an ex-WW2 Merchant Mariner, where he had gotten a taste for Rum & Cokes, my Dad would grab a half dozen Colas while I stocked up on Root Beer, Orange and the dreaded Black Cherry.

Were you buying the 10-ounce or the 25-ounce bottles?

Quote from: Dr.Cyclops on April 10, 2021, 05:51:41 AMNow by dreaded, I mean once the crown bottle cap was off there was no other markings on the bottle to denote Cola-type.Well every so often you would here swearing coming from our Rec room/Home Bar where my Dad had erroneously added Black Cherry to his Rum.

Were you using those soft plastic stoppers to cap off the bottle after pouring out some of the pop? You could perhaps have colour coded the stoppers with the flavours to prevent such mistakes, but I suppose garnering such pyrotechnics from your dad was a desirable end in and of itself.

;D

I don't like pop with a lot of sugar and chemicals, so I usually drink Zevia brand.  It's a good taste with no sugar.  When I did drink "regular" pop I always when with Mr. Pibb.  The Pibb from the 80's and 90's was awesome!  Unfortunately, I believe they tweeked their recipe over the years and it went down hill.

I've recently been treating myself to Sprecher Cherry Cola:

(https://i.postimg.cc/9Q1fNn5z/scc.png)

Quote from: Hepcat on April 10, 2021, 10:43:10 AM
Were you buying the 10-ounce or the 25-ounce bottles?

Were you using those soft plastic stoppers to cap off the bottle after pouring out some of the pop? You could perhaps have colour coded the stoppers with the flavours to prevent such mistakes, but I suppose garnering such pyrotechnics from your dad was a disireable end in and of itself.

;D

I remember getting the small bottle but I Seem to remember us getting the larger size more often then nought. The stoppers we used had a lever
http://img1.etsystatic.com/000/0/5431485/il_fullxfull.257045473.jpg (http://img1.etsystatic.com/000/0/5431485/il_fullxfull.257045473.jpg)

Quote from: Hepcat on October 03, 2011, 02:26:30 PMSoda pop was a significant part of my life when I was a kid.

The refillable bottles in which pop was sold left such a profound mark on my psyche that for the last twenty years I've been accumulating the ones I remember together with any other ones that catch my fancy because of the graphics. I keep all my bottles in a custom built kitchen pantry:

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Abottle3.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/BottleCabinet.jpg)

(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/BottleCabinet2.jpg)

Here are some close-up shots of a few of the pop bottles:

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Balticprince004/.highres/DSCN3368_zps89f66255.jpg)

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Balticprince005/.highres/DSCN3348_zpsf77fb47c.jpg)

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/g434/Balticprince/(edited)_DSCN4168_zps7ajohqzu.png)

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/g434/Balticprince/(edited)_DSCN4166_zpsb2ug2dfx.png)

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/g434/Balticprince/(edited)_DSCN4164_zpswfwq7wrh.png)

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/Snort%20Baxters%20Scout%20on%20Vay/.highres/15350dca-b8f2-46d4-b77c-f715858a28ef_zps9vzyr5z9.jpg)

8)

And here from my collection are a few glasses into which one could pour the pop from the bottles:

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/g434/Balticprince/Joe_Kapp_Peanut_Butter.jpg)

Squirrel Peanut Butter Glass Featuring Joe Kapp

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%202/.highres/JohnnyDC-1.jpg)

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/General%20Album%202/.highres/JohnnyDC3.jpg)

Johnny DC Glass

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/.highres/WonderWomanGlass.jpg)

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/.highres/Robinreshoot.jpg)

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/.highres/SundayFunnies4-1.jpg) (http://)

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/.highres/SundayFunnies-1.jpg)

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/.highres/WendyCasperGlasses.jpg)

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/.highres/WendyCasperGlasses2.jpg)

8)

Here are a few more glasses from my collection:

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/.highres/ChillyWillySpaceMouseGlasses-1.jpg)

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/.highres/AndyPandaWoodyWoodpeckerGlasses.jpg)

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/.highres/SmallWoodywithNet3.jpg)

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/.highres/SmallChillyWillyGlass6.jpg)

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/.highres/AndyPandaGlass.jpg)

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/.highres/AndyPandaGlass2.jpg)

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/.highres/ChillyWillyGlass.jpg)

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/.highres/SmedlyGlass.jpg)

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/.highres/OswaldGlass.jpg)

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Balticprince/.highres/CuddlesGlass.jpg)

8)

I always liked Pepsi better than Coke - don't know why.

I also liked a couple you don't have here.  Bubble-Up was a pretty good lemon-lime soda.

In the q950's, Dad's Root Beer was always far and away the best root beer to me.  Dad's also made a pretty good Cream Soda.  Either of these made a really good "float" with vanilla ice cream.

I recently saw an Internet rating of root beers and Dad's came out on top, after all these years.  It is hard to find around here, but Big Lots carries the brand.

Today, I drink Diet Rite Cola.  It is a really good tasting diet cola that advertises they have no sodium, no sugar and no carbohydrates.  I don't need the extra calories, but sodium is a big deal for this old codger.

Quote from: Monsters For Sale on November 11, 2023, 12:33:09 PMI always liked Pepsi better than Coke - don't know why.

Pepsi is sweeter. It therefore is more appealing to kids and wins out against Coke in blind taste tests involving just a mouthful.

Quote from: Monsters For Sale on November 11, 2023, 12:33:09 PMIn the 1950's, Dad's Root Beer was always far and away the best root beer to me.

Hmmmm, Dad's you say?

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/g434/Balticprince/89_424_1_med.jpeg)

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/g434/Balticprince/maxresdefault.jpg)

I'll have to give Dad's Root Beer a try. I've seen it in recent years in bottles at premium prices in certain convenience stores. The premium prices have of course put me off till now.

Quote from: Monsters For Sale on November 11, 2023, 12:33:09 PMI also liked a couple you don't have here.  Bubble-Up was a pretty good lemon-lime soda.

Bubble Up was actually a Dad's Root Beer brand created to compete with 7-up, Sprite, Teem, Snort, etc!

(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/g434/Balticprince/il_570xN.2383880606_cmao.jpg)

I don't even have a bottle in my collection and I'll keep an eye out for one (plus an Uptown) at the next big bottle show I visit.

:)

I like this Pepsi commercial:

Cindy Crawford at a Pepsi Vending Machine (https://youtu.be/YtK-yq-BQDU?si=HLGRrvjcQevKF2aH)

;D

Quote from: Monsters For Sale on November 11, 2023, 12:33:09 PMIn the 1950's, Dad's Root Beer was always far and away the best root beer to me.

So I bought a four pack of premium priced Dad's Root Beer in bottles (sadly non-returnable, non refillable) at my neighbourhood Metro supermarket and gave it a fair taste test. It has a very full, rich root beer taste and packed a wallop of taste at the front of my mouth. The finish however was lacking in bite. This was perhaps due to somewhat milder carbonation than A&W. Since I like a bit of a crisp bite at the end, I'm sticking with A&W.

cl:)

Quote from: Hepcat on December 13, 2023, 12:16:13 PM
So I bought a four pack of premium priced Dad's Root Beer in bottles (sadly non-returnable, non refillable) at my neighbourhood Metro supermarket and gave it a fair taste test. It has a very full, rich root beer taste and packed a wallop of taste at the front of my mouth. The finish however was lacking in bite. This was perhaps due to somewhat milder carbonation than A&W. Since I like a bit of a crisp bite at the end, I'm sticking with A&W.

cl:)

Try one with vanilla ice cream.  I always thought they made good floats.

(https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/0f/93/ef/68/dad-s-root-beer-floats.jpg)

Will do!

8)