The Soda Thread: Coke not Classic; Throwback Pepsi

[Lady Day]

Has anybody else tried the Walgreens Gourmet Sodas? They are made with real sugar and come in a glass bottle. They've been out for a while and I really love the taste, especially the Black Cherry

Here's the link to the flavors
http://www.walgreens.com/store/stor...p?catId=352398&N=352398+352405&brandId=352405

I drank those all the time a couple of years ago. The black cherry is the way to go I dont see them around here very much anymore, but then again, I dont frequent Walgreens like I usta.

LD

 

[Bruce Wayne]

http://www.nwitimes.com/lifestyles/leisure/article_6b69e8f0-8df9-5368-b6ca-f575722f841c.html

http://glassbottlesoda.org/

 

[Bruce Wayne]

http://www.selfridges.com/en/Origin...HUTCHBTL250ML/?cm_re=row2-_-right-_-coca_cola

 

[Formeruser012523]

I'm from Texas & yes, everything is a "coke" here. I am old enough to remember the Classic vs. New Coke battle & even Crystal Pepsi. *gag* :icon_smil

I'm a Pepsi gal & was excited to find that the Mexican restaurant where I would sometimes get Mexican Coke (in the glass bottles) also had Mexican Pepsi. Tho it tastes a little flat to me, it's still better than coke.

 

[Justin B]

Yes, here in Texas when you ask for a Coke, you get asked what kind. Was the same wya when I lived in Georgia. When visiting a friend in North Carolina though I was asked if I wanted a "Co-cola". Had no idea what that was so I politely declined.

 

[Derek WC]

Supposedly you can get Coke with real sugar in Mexico.

Man, is Mexican Coca-Cola good - especially when bottled in glass. Heaps better than this canned corn syrup they have everywhere.

The only soda I've tried that doesn't taste better with real sugar is Sierra Mist.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Sad news about Dublin Dr. Pepper. I never got a chance to try it. I hope I do someday

http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...its-identity/2012/01/13/gIQAnptGxP_story.html

 

[Dixie_Amazon]

Sad news about Dublin Dr. Pepper. I never got a chance to try it. I hope I do someday

http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...its-identity/2012/01/13/gIQAnptGxP_story.html

This is so sad. I am glad we visited this past summer.

 

[EmergencyIan]

Sad news about Dublin Dr. Pepper. I never got a chance to try it. I hope I do someday

http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...its-identity/2012/01/13/gIQAnptGxP_story.html

That is very sad news! I have had the Dublin Dr. Pepper shipped to me and it's very good to say the least. I cringe to think of what is to become of the product itself. And, that it is the tip of the iceberg as far as the fate of Dublin Dr. Pepper and Dublin, Texas are concerned.

- Ian

 

[Bruce Wayne]

http://soda-emporium.com/

 

[3fingers]

http://soda-emporium.com/

Interesting. I enjoy good soda, but for 2 or 3 bucks a shot plus shipping, I think I'll have to pass.

 

[LizzieMaine]

One of the interesting things about soft drinks in the Era that's often forgotten is that every decent sized town -- not just city, but *town* -- had its own local bottler, and often more than one. The richest bottler in town was always -- without exception -- the Coca-Cola bottler, but because Coca-Cola was the only product the Coca-Cola company made, there were usually other independent bottlers who put out their own brands of fruit-flavored drinks sold only around that town. The next town over from where I grew up, with a population of less than 6000, had its own bottler with his own brand and his own line of drinks, which you could only get within about a ten-mile radius of that town. And he made money doing it, because there was so little national competition. And these weren't expensive boutique brands, either -- you got six or seven or even eight ounces for a nickel, no matter whose brand it was. Local drinks were for the masses, not the classes.

If you reached for a soda in the Era and didn't want a Coke, you were far more likely to go for one of these local brands than any other nationally-sold drink. But like so much else, the postwar era and its move to consolidation put an end to that.

 

[3fingers]

Our local Coke bottler was a huge contributor to all kinds of community projects here. Many things a lot of the locals didn't even know he paid for. The bottling lines are all long gone, and the building is now a distribution center for a huge Coke bottler in another state. We never did have a Pepsi bottler here that I know of. It was in a town about 60 miles away. I believe they lost most if not all of their bottling lines a few years ago as well.

 

[LizzieMaine]

People have forgotten how inconsequential Pepsi was until about the mid-fifties. It had a reputation as a cheap, second-rate drink, the sort of thing you might take on a picnic, but wouldn't think of offering to guests -- and the most memorable thing about it was its radio commercials. People didn't particularly like the taste, which was a good bit sweeter than the Pepsi of today -- the company ramped back the sugar content around 1953 or 1954 to give it a more tart, Coke-like flavor, and it was only after that that it really became serious competition to Coke.

 

[Gregg Axley]

I've found Pepsi to be too sweet as well Lizzie, but if you start off on one and not the other (Pepsi instead of Coke) you may never know the difference.
It's also not possible to compare the two today, even with the two having sugar in them and not high fructose corn syrup.
As already states, both Pepsi Throwback and Mexican Coke (sold at Costco and other retailers) have sugar instead of HFCS.
But the Coke recipe is different from the one prior to the change in the 80's, sadly....
I've tried both, and found Pepsi to be the closest to the "old style."
Mountain Dew Throwback tastes the same as well, IMHO of course.

 

[3fingers]

This was a childhood favorite. Drank many of these at a dime a piece. Root beer, orange, grape, and strawberry. They also made a sour lemon and a lemonade I think. It eventually got sucked up by Coke and then it disappeared.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/20...NPR&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20130710

 

[Stanley Doble]

In the late seventies I looked at a house that was for sale in Peterboro Ontario. It had been in the hands of the same owner for many, many years. In the house it looked like nothing had changed since the forties or early fifties.

Out back was a small pop bottling plant in a building about the size of 2 or 3, 2 car garages placed end to end. All the machinery inside covered in canvas sheets, mothballed for many years.

I remember several local brands of pop that don't exist anymore. Which one came from that little plant, I don't know. It may have been one I never heard of.

 

[LizzieMaine]

In the late seventies I looked at a house that was for sale in Peterboro Ontario. It had been in the hands of the same owner for many, many years. In the house it looked like nothing had changed since the forties or early fifties.

Out back was a small pop bottling plant in a building about the size of 2 or 3, 2 car garages placed end to end. All the machinery inside covered in canvas sheets, mothballed for many years.

I remember several local brands of pop that don't exist anymore. Which one came from that little plant, I don't know. It may have been one I never heard of.

We had a bottler like that around here when I was growing up, just a guy and his wife working out of their shed. Their brand was "S & O'K", and they specialized in the common fruit flavored drinks -- for a while they even had the Orange Crush franchise for our part of the state -- along with the best cream soda I've ever had. We sold their products in the Coke machine at our gas station, but they went out of business not long after we did, and I've always wondered if maybe we were their last client.

Back in the '90s some Young Entrepreneur bought up the rights to the brand and was going to restart the company, but I think he found the work a bit harder than he expected and nothing ever came of it.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I found a 4 pack of Dr. Pepper in glass bottles made with sugar the other week in the store. They hit the spot after a long, hot day working.