2008 Olympics Russian-designed Coca Cola can

Imagine my surprise when I get this out of a vending machine at work. I had to look at it for a little bit to realize that this is one of a series of 5 Olympic themed cans

Sprite - Safe Haven Baptist Church - sign

There's a joke in here somewhere, but I'm not going to make it. :)

Often I've seen signs like this with Sprite or Coke or Pepsi or Mountain Dew where the drink is featured prominently and the business is on the lower half. I've always assumed there's some kind of arrangement where the soda company would buy the business a sign if their drink was featured at the top. I'd just never seen it at a church before. These sprite signs are my favorite. Does this style date back to the 60's? The green and red things along the middle somewhat remind me of stained glass in a church vestibule, so maybe this combo does work.

Seen along Dayton Blvd. (US27) in the Red Bank suburb of Chattanooga.

fading mural for Drink Chero Cola

Drink Chero Cola
There's None so good
In bottles 5 cents

Chero Cola became Royal Crown Cola in 1934, so this sign is at least 73 years old! This is located along Main Street in Shelbyville, TN in the town Square. it's painted on the building which is home to Pope's Cafe.

Just a few months ago, I think there used to be a building here which would have prevented me from taking this picture. Now only the frame of the building remains, including the 2 beams in the picture. Before then, to view this ad, you would have to do so from an angle, which I have seen online several places, such as JimmyWayne22's photo Here.

"There's none so good" could be an insult if you think about it.

2 Liter of Inca Kola from Peru

The Golden Kola!

Inca Kola is from Peru and is Partially owner by Coca-Cola. It has somewhat of a bubblegum flavor

Vintage glass bottle of Up-town

I bought this Soda Bottle at a swap meet in Centerville, TN when I came home to research this soda, my efforts came up empty. Anyone ever heard of it?

Dr. Enuf and Cherry Herbal Dr. Enuf in Glass Bottles

The Dr. Enuf product line is from Tri-Cities Beverages in Johnson City, TN. The original flavor is actually a clear liquid and is not a Dr. Pepper type clone, but more of a lemon-lime type beverage. It's marketed as having a bunch of extra vitamins in it to make you feel better with a slogan of "Enuf is Enough."

While it is most common to find in northeast Tennessee, for a short while when I was in college, our university bookstore carried it in the mid 90's. I wish I had save the bottle from back then, but it came with a little booklet tied to the neck of the bottle describing all the curative properties of the drink as if were an 1890 miracle elixir.

The taste: Imagine a sprite or 7up with a couple of multi-vitamins dissolved in it. I guess that would make you feel better but I didn't really care for the taste. As I wrote on my blog about 7 years ago, "after one sip, you'll say "Enuf'" A few months later, someone commented on my blog to say I should go out and try the Herbal Cherry flavor as it wasn't so vitaminy. Indeed, it is better but still has a vitamin taste to it.

Today, the drink is marketed as an energy drink from before there were energy drinks. Unlike most lemon-lime type beverages, it does have caffeine. Of course, it has thiamine and niacin as well. Both flavors come in a diet version, too. I bought these at the Sycamore Drive-in in Elizabethton, TN.

Roanoke's Vintage Dr. Pepper sign in the day

This sign was placed in downtown Roanoke by the Dr. Pepper people in the 1940's. Since then, more Dr. Pepper has been sold in Roanoke than any other city east of the Mississippi River. To go along with the drink's popularity, the old fashion sign with it's illuminated bottle cap design surrounded by chaser lights has become a popular landmark lighting up the Roanoke sky.

As old signs tend to do, the Dr. Pepper sign started to get worn down. In addition, a new multimillion dollar art museum was being built next door in 2005, unfortunately obstructing the view of what some would call a work of art in its own right.

The sign needed to be moved and refurbished. During three months in 2005, for every case of Dr. Pepper sold in Roanoke, 8 cents went into a fund to accomplish the new goal. When $30,000 was raised work was begun. Virginia Sign Works, who was also tasked with restoring the other historic downtown Roanoke sign for H&C Coffee, refurbished the sign. A crane was brought in to move the sign to a prominent and highly visible corner, atop the Legg Mason Building.

On New Years Eve in 2005, six hours before the new year would ring in, a ceremony was held for the relighting ceremony. The Mayor along with a 104 year old lifelong Dr. Pepper drinker flipped the switch for the sign which now again illuminates the skyline every night.

Replica 1899 Coke Bottles Six-Pack from 2007

According to the description on the side of the 6-pack, this was the first coke bottle design to have the coke logo on the bottle, and was also a precursor to the traditional coke bottle. Each bottle has about 9 oz. of Coca-cola.

Dr. Pepper Cherry 12-pack from 2009.

I thought I'd had this before but I was thinking of Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper.

Recently, Dr. Pepper marketed themselves as a beverage of 23 flavors, and I find the cherry very dominant here with the mixture of the usual Dr. Pepper not as strong in this beverage, which is what makes it "Amazingly smooth."

I'm waiting for the day they create a Cherry Vanilla Raspberry Orange Pomegranate Cinnamon Dr. Pepper, along with a diet.

Drink Royal Crown Cola sign, Maryville, TN

Taken from the hill of the Blount County Courthouse, with the row of shops facing Main Street in the background.

"Best by Taste-Test"

Two cans of Mountain Dew Revolution from 2008 Dewmocracy

One of 3 new limited run Mountain dew flavors as part of their DEWmocracy promotion. This flavor is wild berry and isn't too different than the taco bell exclusive "baja blast" in my opinion.

Six-Pack of Orange Crush glass bottles

My favorite soda in 1981.

I was 4 and a can cost 35 cents where my dad worked.

Two cans of OK Cola

A carbonated "Beverage"

I'll start my soda blog with the first unusual soda I ever purchased - and saved.

OK Cola was an experimental soda concept produced by Coke in 1995. I picked up these cans in one of their test regions (north central Arkansas) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK_Cola