Mountain Dew Dark Berry

This limited time only soda from 2012 was in conjunction with the latest Dark Knight Batman movie. The flavor seems to be a mixture of grape and the berry flavor of Mountain Dew Revolution. This bottle was made by one of the bottlers who embosses an MD logo into the side of the bottle.

Faygo Candy Apple

I'm not a huge fan of candy apple flavor, but I always like soda flavors I haven't tried before, and Faygo is usually good for something I haven't tried before. Today, I overheard a coworker say this was his favorite soda, but has trouble finding it around here. For whatever reason, I see Faygo much more often in West Tennessee.

Fentimans Dandelion & Burdock

Dandelion & Burdock is considered a fine beverage, but people in the US aren't accustomed to the taste. (I've never wanted to drink a dandelion and had previously never heard of Burdock.) The people who don't understand it thinks this taste somewhere between licorice and cough syrup. However, there are people that swear by it and think it's the best thing ever. It comes in a really neat glass bottle, but sadly was only 9.3 ozs.

In small letters on the label, they say this is "Botanically Brewed." The brewing process causes there to be a smidgen of alcohol in the beverage. As they describe it, it's less than 0.5%, so legally they don't have to mention in on the label. (As they say, 7-up also contains a teeny tiny bit of alcohol for the same reason, but it's so small that nobody cares.) Well, there was a city up north that banned the sale of this drink to minors, even if it was less than 1 proof. That's the kind of thing that would probably make minors want to drink it even more!

Soda Shaq Vanilla Cream and Strawberry Cream

Boy do these have a lot of Sugar! The Strawberry Cream is similar to Big Red but a little bit sweeter. They are made by the Arizona Tea people, and there are other flavors in the product line, but not on the day I saw this at my nearby store.

Roy Rogers Western Style Soda

Prairie Berry and Lasso Lemon Lime. The other flavors not pictured are Sasparilla and Orange Wrangler. Normally, I would have tried these flavors, but my mother-in-law is a huge Roy Rogers fan, so I let her have them, where she will probably keep them as a collectors item. These are produced by International Marketing Partners.

A motel advertising Mountain Dew

That's what I'm lookin' for in a hotel: Mountain Dew!
Along US 52/62/68 between Ripley, OH and Aberdeen, OH

Barq's Red Cream Soda

Barq's, best known for their root beer, is brewed in Biloxi, MS. In that area, I was also able to find their red cream soda which is not sold where I live. It has a flavor somewhat like strawberry and tastes very similar to Big Red.

Orange Crush in Tennessee - 2012

celebrating 75 years of Tennessee State Parks

Exstra-Sitro from Russia

It is my understanding that Exstra-Sitro is the transliteration from Cyrillic into our alphabet. I suppose the Russian Soda would be translated to Extra Citrus. This is the first Russian soda I have been able to try. It has an orange cream taste, although unfortunately not one that my American palate was able to enjoy.

Citrus Blast

Do you remember this. It came out four years ago but didn't last too long.

Pepsi's 2011 product was seen at the local grocery store today. I can't tell a difference between this and Squirt. At the same time, I can't tell a difference between this and another of their newest products, Mountain Dew White Out, but without the caffeine.

As far as the label goes, I'd say labels for the generic Kroger's house brand looked more exciting. It reminds me of Shimmer, a floor wax and a dessert topping!

Appalachian Brewing Co. Root Beer

Brewed with a delightful blend of Honey.

I'm not a fan of root beer, but my sis-in-law is. This is a prized beverage of hers, but she let me photograph it

Ed Hardy Celebrity Energy Drink

Ting - A Drop of Caribbean Sunshine

Ting is a Jamaican Soda dating back to 1976. On the front is a label that points out it is made from Real Caribbean Grapefruit. "A Drop of Caribbean Sunshine" must be a motto because it was on the back of the label. I liked it and it reminded me of Squirt but a little more sour.

Ole Doc Bell's Wizard Elixir

The other day I was touring a property with a historic cabin. As with most vintage cabins open to tours, there were several vintage utensils and household items on the shelves. This bottle caught my eye and I liked the natural light.

It certainly looks like the typical medicinal elixir from a hundred years ago, such as Wine of Cardui. It turns out it's a (relatively) new product made to look old, although by now this bottle was quite dusty.

I can only find very little about this product, as they don't have a website. It looks like they make a variety of flavors but are not sold in stores. Instead, they only appear to sell at fairs and festivals, particularly ones that have a throwback theme. It looks like you buy from them an empty bottle with the label affixed to it and then fill it with the soda flavor of your choice. I have had a chance in the past to try a couple of small-time soda makers that run by this business model, such as Bayou Billy's or Old Texas Soda Co.

Bayou Billy's Homemade Soda

www.bayoubilly.com/

I saw this at Smithville's Fiddler Jamboree, This mobile cart sells 10 different soda flavors. It comes in a 32oz. tin mug.
flavors shown here: Root Beer, Cherry Wine (like Cheerwine), Sassafras, Cream Soda, Orange Zip, Peach, Sour Grape, Strawberry Cream, Sugar Free Root Beer, Birch Beer. Never before have I seen a brand of soda sold only in a mobile cart like this.

Mountain Dew 65th Anniversary Bottle (from 2012)

Bawls Guarana Soda

Bawls was one of the first energy drinks on the market, and usually their target demographic is the hardcore gamer. The most distinct feature of the blue bottle are the grip control bumps. It is also available in cans where instead of 122 bumps, will feature 59 circles with color changing ink for when the contents are cold. When I drank this, i thought it tasted like pure donut glaze. I'll let you decide for yourself if that is a good thing.

Billboard Juxtaposition

Problems with Binge Drinking &
Illegal Drug Use in Your Community?
let it pour.

I suppose it depends if you have a coke problem, or a Coke problem.

Dang! That's Good Butterscotch Root Beer

Recently I had a couple of friends tell me this is among the best beverages they've ever had. Now, I'm not a fan of root beer, and I don't go out of my way for butterscotch. I did enjoy this.

Ski - by the makers of Double Cola

Ski is a citrus soda made by the people at Double Cola. It is my understanding that Ski predates Mountain Dew and Mellow Yellow and thus it doesn't taste like a copycat of either one, having its own flavor. I found this in the Cave City, KY area, where Double Cola products seem to be popular.

Lime Crush

2010 was the year I finally realized I really enjoy Lime flavored beverages. So, when I was on vacation, I stopped at a rural gas station in East Tennessee, and the people around there must really like Lime. They had lots of Lime Crush and Like Sunkist, neither of which I'd ever seen before, plus Mtn Dew Distortion, which was my favorite of the recent Dew flavors but had been out of production for 2-3 months.

Then, I make it home and see my grocery store now has Lime Crush, so Yay!

Kickapoo Joy Juice faded wall ad

This is painted on the side of a building that used to be Jenkins Food Market in the small commercial area of Trimble, TN which is a small city in Obion County. Kickapoo Joy Juice is a citrus-flavored soft drink brand owned by The Monarch Beverage Company. Perhaps more people are familiar with the name, which was taken from the Ll'l Abner comic strip (although in the cartoon, the beverage was alcoholic, but the drink you can buy is a soda.)

The real world drink was introduced in 1965 under NuGrape, a former brand of The Monarch Beverage Company. That year, Nugrape worked out a deal with Al Capp, the owner of the Kickapoo Joy Juice rights, to produce the beverage as a carbonated soft drink. Capp, however, would have the last word on all advertising and promotion. Kickapoo Joy Juice's early advertising campaign was very similar to Mountain Dew's of the time – using characters from Li'l Abner to create and market a hillbilly feeling. Although the product is currently distributed largely in Asian markets, the can still comes decorated with a vintage Li'l Abner drawing.
www.kickapoojoy.com.my/product.html

Vernors Ginger Ale

I don't know what took me so long in life to pick up a bottle of Vernors. I had always passed up on the 2 Liter bottles it in the grocery store, but decided this glass bottle would make a good addition to my soda collection.

I mean, all ginger ales taste the same, right? Of course not. I guess it never had registered that there's an obvious difference: Canada Dry is clear and this isn't. This Ale is flavored with caramel and the dry ginger ales aren't. Oh, it's also aged in barrels for a few years inside their Detroit bottler, which contributes to why the Michiganders I know will swear by it. It's also about the oldest soft drink around, which the bottle reminds me is 1866.

Goya Cola Champagne

This tastes like a cream soda, except more sugary if you can imagine that.

Jones Soda Mousse a.k.a. Cream Soda

When I first saw this soda on the shelf at the local store, I saw the name Soda Mousse. My initial reaction was to think how those Jones Soda people always come up with the most unusual flavors and my palette was already imagining mousse in soda form.

But then, I realized I was looking at the French Canadian side of the label and this is really a cream soda. There is still a difference: Every other cream soda I've seen is usually a caramel / brown color, and as you can see this one is as clear as water. That must mean it's going to taste different, too.

And it did! Not only that, I thought it tasted like a Mousse soda, just as I originally had envisioned it. While I like the flavor, it might be a little too sweet for me to drink much of it. I have since learned that cream sodas can quite often be clear in color, but the ones I see most often, A&W and IBC aren't.

Marriage of RC Cola bottles in Tennessee (with moon pies)

I saw several interesting cake designs shown at a state fair. This one shows a Tennessee tradition of two great things that go great together. And the RC Cola bottles are getting married while the groom is wearing a UT hat.

Mountain Dew 2008 retro hillbilly design

One of 5 designs with the GreenLabelArt limited edition Aluminum bottles. This was my favorite since it plays homage to the 1950's Hillbilly design. It'll tickle yore innards!

Vintage Pepsi Cola wall ad - Roanoke, VA

at the top is

Virginia Carriage Factory inc.
Manufacturers of
Carriages, Buggies, Etc.

and then...

Fountains also in Bottles
Drink Pepsi-Cola 5 Cents
Delicious - Delightful

Seen on the side of a building in downtown Roanoke, VA next to a Uneeda Biscuit sign

Cascal Crisp White

Cascal is an unusual soda. I found it at the local Whole Foods market. I took this photo a few months ago but thought about it again after seeing a billboard for it. I think the slogan was something along the lines of it's a soda that drinks like champagne.