So long, Howdy
Look beyond the big-name brands of soda pop and you will find a whole world of
lesser-known flavors. Thousands of new beverages are introduced every year
around the world.
But not all of these products will survive. Every year, many of these new drinks
and even some older brands will go extinct. And perhaps a secret recipe and a
unique flavor will be lost along with it.
Sometimes we assume these extinct sodas were rejected by the public due to poor
taste or poor quality. In a level competitive field the losers must have been
defective and the winners superior, right? But most often this is a simpleminded
way of looking at business. Maybe it was sloppy bookkeeping, or poor marketing
decisions, or sudden materials expenses, any of these factors could have doomed
these businesses, without any input from the consumer.
So why do many people insist that the big-name brand is superior just for being
bigger? Have they really assessed the entire field? It is to the advantage of
the larger companies to shut out the competition so that we will not be able to
ask this question. Coke and Pepsi have bought up their rivals, or enticed
schools and businesses into contracts which exclude competitors. Does this
really give the public a chance to enjoy the soda brands it chooses?
So raise a glass to the long-lost sodas of the past. Many of these brands
existed in the first half of the 20th century, before the large soda brands had
become large enough to bully the smaller ones, when local bottlers were able to
experiment with new flavors and advertising was a much smaller factor for
success.
Here are a few brands you will never
have the pleasure of tasting again:
Ace High
Alka Vichy
All Star Kola
Almond Smash
Apple Jackie
Atomicola
Bat Juice
Batter Up
Bikini Cola
Birchola
Birdie
Blackhawk Ginger Ale
Black Kow
Booth Jr. Grape Soda
Boulevard Ginger Ale
Brandimist
Buck-A-Roo
Budd Kola
Buster Cola
Celery-Cola
Cheer Up
Cheri Keeta
Cherry Dee-Light
Chocolate Mello Malt
Choc-A-Fizz
Chum Chocolate
Cinderella Punch
Clearfield
Clove Cola
Colonial Orange Soda
Cream Puncho
Creme De Menthe Cola
Crown Brew
Dixie Fizz
Donner Ginger Ale
Double Seven
Drink-1-Mor
Drinkola
Fizz-Ade
Frid-Gee
Gingerbrau
Golden West Cola
Grape Shrub
Grap-O-Cola
Henson's
Hi-Dive
Hi-Spot
I-C
Jurk
Kik
Korker
Lady Adair
Lemmy
Lindy
Little Joe
Moko
Natural Set-Up
Nichol Kola
NuGrape
Nutmeg Club
Pal
Penn Treaty Orange Soda
Pep
Plezol
Quiky
Rummy
S & S Ginger Ale
Smarty
Sparkling Life
Spiffy Cola
Sperky
Strike
Stubby
Sugar Boy
Sweetie
Texas Punch
Twin Cola
Wink
Zimba Cola
