A Sea Of Red

Since some are apparently offended by those who consume Adult Soda and such drinks, I bring you a less offensive thread
What soft drinks (pop or soda if you will) do you enjoy outside of the 'Mainstream'. Pun intended
1- Vernors. I used to come back from IN with cases of this stuff, which may or may not have thrilled my wife! But now Kroger stocks it so I can grab a 6 pack from time to time
2 - Original New York Seltzer. A bit from the 80's that is being brought back. When Little Ceasar's was new it was a Friday staple! Pizza Pizza and Peach Seltzer. Currently only available online but slowly being rolled out to retailers

I am seriously excited about this, I had no idea this was a thing.

Anyone remember Cucumber Pepsi? I actually liked it (the one sip I had).

Being in Texas, Big Red is the "local," soft drink of choice. That said, I still prefer the Carolina cult classic Cheerwine above all other sodas. I am open to recommendations however.

Dr. Pepper, Cherry Coke, and Cheerwine. You don't need any others.

SuperJon wrote:Dr. Pepper, Cherry Coke, and Cheerwine. You don't need any others.

Craft Soda. Dr Pepper and Cherry Coke don't qualify

They don't need to.

Years ago, BrysOn and I shared a bottle of Cucumber Pepsi that I bought off Ebay from Japan. I even kept the little plastic bottle. My favorite root beer is Frostie, for sentimental reasons, and I will buy a glass bottle of it from time to time at Fresh Market. Also like Cheerwine in glass bottles.

Anybody remember Double Cola from the 1970s? I hated the stuff, but Dad bought it because it was cheaper than Coke or Pepsi.

Purple, when you were at WVU, did you ever eat Mr. Bee Potato Chips? They are a WV brand manufactured in Parkersburg.

Love me some ONYS. I want one of your black cherry's.

As for root beer, one I like is Henry Weinhards. Here is a review, which isn't kind. What is interesting is the crowd rating.

http://www.rootbeerreview.com/henry-wei ... root-beer/

Down the road from my house growing up in CT we had this shack that sold their own brand of soda, Hosmer Mountain. I don't think they ever distributed it, though. They had tons of flavors.

There are lots of craft root beers, some are awful. I like Virgil's root beer and cream soda. Not sure if that's still consider "craft", seeing as how big they've gotten.

Big Red is awful. Dr. Pepper is the official soft drink of Texas. The HQ is right around the corner from you, ATrain. My dad was a Vernors addict for decades. In spite of numerous attempts, I was never able to develop a taste for it. But I can confirm the rabid following of primarily Michiganders. Interestingly enough, the brand is now owned by Dr. Pepper and based in the Metroplex.

I remember Double Cola and it was awful with a bitter after-taste. But it was the best cheap alternative until RC quit trying to compete with Coke & Pepsi and became a better cheap alternative. I still enjoy an RC every now & then.

Frostie Root Beer was my favorite as a kid. We would keep the bottles in the freezer as long as we could before they exploded. That helped me survive many a summer day without a/c. It has made a comeback on store shelves here in Texas the past decade after being owned by an outfit in Central Texas for awhile. Dad's used to be pretty smooth as well. A burger chain here in Houston called Prince's makes a fantastic root beer and serves it in frosted mugs that my son & I go out of our way to enjoy.

We usually load up on microbrew sodas when we go on vacation in the Jackson Hole area. Grand Teton Brewing Company in Victor, ID makes some great selections. My son claims their Cream Soda is as close to heaven as we can experienceon earth. I'm a big fan of their Mountain Berry product. Of course, I am a sucker for anything with huckleberry in the indredients.



LUconn used to wax poetic about gourmet sodas years ago. Perhaps this thread will bring him back out of hiding. Or perhps his house is like mine where soda drinking has become a guilt-ridden experience by our health-conscious wives.

alabama24 wrote:Love me some ONYS. I want one of your black cherry's.

As for root beer, one I like is Henry Weinhards. Here is a review, which isn't kind. What is interesting is the crowd rating.

http://www.rootbeerreview.com/henry-wei ... root-beer/

https://drinknewyorkseltzer.com/

Cider Jim wrote: Purple, when you were at WVU, did you ever eat Mr. Bee Potato Chips? They are a WV brand manufactured in Parkersburg.

You've met me, right? What do YOU think?

As for Root Beer I agree that some of the craft stuff is nasty. I have always like Barq's but that is a pretty big brand. A and W is a bit over rated IMO. And Hires is solid

SLY only the cool manly men can ingest and enjoy Vernors!

SCHFOURTEENTEEN will probably swear by Stewarts

I liked their cream soda over the root beer

you could get both at their little booths all over Jersey back in the day

usually in the middle of a parking lot somewhere like a Fotomat booth

Stewart's Root Beer was huge in Huntington during my Marshall days: they even had little drive ins where you could get a root beer float and a slaw hot dog.

I can definitely see Purple throwing down some Mr. Bee Chips during his Mountaineer days! They go perfect with pepperoni rolls.

The whole craft idea has officially jumped the shark.

I will second Sly's endorsement of Dad's root beer. Had a birch beer recently at a church social gathering that someone brought. I think it was out of PA somewhere but I never found out who brought it. It was fantastic.

True college story: our vending machines that I used to fill at Tenn. Temple briefly carried Barq's Root Beer until our Dean of Students saw the silver can and thought it too closely resembled the "Silver Bullet" cans of Coor's beer. The verse about the "appearance of evil" got Barq's banned from our campus.

Cider Jim wrote:True college story: our vending machines that I used to fill at Tenn. Temple briefly carried Barq's Root Beer until our Dean of Students saw the silver can and thought it too closely resembled the "Silver Bullet" cans of Coor's beer. The verse about the "appearance of evil" got Barq's banned from our campus.

I would have been gone the next day

Different era, Jake.

They have Stewarts across the nation. So I agree that it is tough to describe them as craft.

Had my first Birch Beer in Papua New Guinea a few years back. Nice change of pace but not somethign I could drink on even a semi-regular basis.

flamehunter wrote:I will second Sly's endorsement of Dad's root beer. Had a birch beer recently at a church social gathering that someone brought. I think it was out of PA somewhere but I never found out who brought it. It was fantastic.

might have been this

my relatives lived on the stuff. blechhhh

No I don't think that was it, Medic. It was actually in a 2 liter and looked like water. Don't know if that PA Dutch brand is clear or not. First and only time I've ever had birch beer.

This was it.

PAmedic wrote:

flamehunter wrote:I will second Sly's endorsement of Dad's root beer. Had a birch beer recently at a church social gathering that someone brought. I think it was out of PA somewhere but I never found out who brought it. It was fantastic.

might have been this

my relatives lived on the stuff. blechhhh

I'm with you on that, stuff is NASTY. I don't know about places actually in PA, but a few places around here that don't have root beer try to pass that crap off as a legitimate substitute.

Birch Beer...thank you, but no thank you.

Sly, I agree that Dr. Pepper is the official soft drink of Texas. However, I only mentioned Big Red b/c this is the craft soda that seems to have a foothold down here. They apparently released a new one that I just saw in Target the other day, Big Blue.

I'm still a fan of Cheerwine...and Sun Drop isn't half bad, either.

Big Red was a national brand that has its last vestiges here in Texas. I can't recall ever seeing anybody actually drink the stuff. Big Blue has been out for a few years but never seems to have found a market.