Soft Drinks

[dangerhelvetica]

Because we can't be drinking alcohol all the time.

Lemme tell you a little bit about a drink named Moxie.

(I don't think Teddy Roosevelt ever officially endorsed it)

Moxie, like Coca-Cola and other currently popular sodas, initially started out as a medicinal nerve tonic, something intended to cure-what-ails-ya from the heebie-jeebies to "softening of the brain" (seriously). The name was supposedly taken from a Native American term, and due to the drink's, uhm, uniquely bracing taste the word's become a synonym for boldness, at least among people who like to talk all old-timey.



It was president Calvin Coolidge's favorite drink. The drink was once a serious competitor to Coca-Cola but over time it became more and more marginalized and regional. It can still be found in stores around northern New England, though it recently changed logos to include merely the text and avoids including the man pointing towards you, demanding you to drink it.



It's somewhat hard to describe the flavor, as it seems to taste different to everybody; often times I've heard it called medicinal, sometimes like a cream soda, others "I'm not taking another sip of that". I tend to go through phases where I hate it and I love it.



So, if you ever get the chance, give it a try. Or the androgynous Moxie mascot will come and find you. It's up to you.

[Calorie Mate]

But is there Diet Moxie?

[mopinks]

my bizarre old-timey soft drink of choice is celery soda.

it's real nice!


the eternal king of soft drinks is still root beer.

[dangerhelvetica]

Originally Posted by Calorie Mate

But is there Diet Moxie?

Yup! That reminds me actually, they've recently put out an energy drink, I'm guessing banking on the whole "moxie = energy" association. Being somewhat adverse to the whole energy drink concept, I haven't tried it, myself.

[shivam]

[Ethan]

Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray is so good. As far as I know, Hot Doug's in Chicago is the only place to find it outside of NYC.

Reed's Ginger Brew is my usual soft drink.

[Wolfgang]

Originally Posted by criminallyinane

Moxie

Moxie tastes like Coke that somebody's ground a bunch of aspirin up into. Coke with an intensely bitter aftertaste. It almost doesn't seem like it'd be a New England thing, really, we tend to go for sweet.

[Reinforcements]

My drink of choice when I'm feeling health-conscious enough to avoid both sugary sodas and diet drinks is a club soda, preferably with a slice of lime.

Also, ginger ale and celery soda are both really easy to make at home. Try it!

[Tomm Guycot]

Pepsi Throwback, son.

I remember when it used to be called Pepsi.

[Lucas]

The guy at BevMo told me that straight Moxie just isn't made any more. That was a sad day for me.

They didn't even have any Leninade in stock that day! That trip to BevMo sucked.

[Falselogic]

Diet Coke is my go to caffeinated beverage. When I need soda but don't need caffeine it's all about ginger beers. I don't care which, the sharper and spicier the taste the better though.

the secret best soda is Dr. Pepper

[Violentvixen]

Originally Posted by shivam

Leninade

I have a bottle of this on my desk! My coworkers always find it amusing.

Anyway, the best soda is Dry Soda, Lavender and Juniper especially:

[Wolfgang]

Originally Posted by falselogic

the secret best soda is Diet Dr. Pepper

...because it pretty much just tastes like Dr. Pepper, but without the calories. Although I still can't drink it at night because of the caffeine. So my go-tos are typically caffeine free diet colas, diet root beers or (seldomly) diet orange sodas.

Over the summer I had a love affair with Diet Cherry 7-Up which, predictably, tasted like a light, clean Shirley Temple, and it was fantastic on a hot humid night. I burned myself out on it though, and haven't really wanted it in months. I went through a similar jag with Diet Green Tea Canada Dry ginger ale which is excellent,

You know what was awesome, though? Mountain Dew Pitch Black. It was black soda that was really black, and not in the caramel-brown-when-light-shines-through-it way colas are. It was black as fuck, and I felt a little sinister drinking it.

[Red Hedgehog]

Originally Posted by destro713

Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray is so good. As far as I know, Hot Doug's in Chicago is the only place to find it outside of NYC.

Celery soda isn't even that easy to find inside NYC. It's a shame.

[Dadgum Roi]

I'm pretty sure that I've seen cel-ray in the little Dr. Brown's line up inside the deli case at the grocery store here.

[Parish]

Diet Coke gets me through the day, but every Michigan-born child knows that Vernor's is the best. I love that there's a place in my neighborhood that actually sells Boston Coolers made with real Vernor's. Esoteric and totally out of place for San Francisco, but all the more wonderful for it.

[Cyrael]

Coke for the regular day, Irn-bru when I can find it. There is (was?) a Scottish Import store in SLC that had it. I haven't been there in a few years though /:

[Jeanie]

Originally Posted by Parish

Diet Coke gets me through the day, but every Michigan-born child knows that Vernor's is the best.

Thank you, yes! I was going to post that but now I don't have to.

[Aleanil]

Originally Posted by Parish

Diet Coke gets me through the day, but every Michigan-born child knows that Vernor's is the best. I love that there's a place in my neighborhood that actually sells Boston Coolers made with real Vernor's. Esoteric and totally out of place for San Francisco, but all the more wonderful for it.

Good lordie, yes! This man knows his stuff! I make it a point to stop at Meijer's in Michigan whenever I end up there and stock up on Vernor's. There's one small grocery store here in Kansas that stocks it, but at $4 / 6-pack it takes some major cravings for me to cave in. It's the best ginger ale that exists, delicious even if you hate ginger ale.

[Calorie Mate]

Diet Coke > most things, but Diet Dr. Pepper trumps 'em all. Also, has anyone else tried Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper? It's good stuff! I'm the only one I know that mixes whiskey with it, but there you go.

Originally Posted by Parish

Diet Coke gets me through the day, but every Michigan-born child knows that Vernor's is the best. I love that there's a place in my neighborhood that actually sells Boston Coolers made with real Vernor's. Esoteric and totally out of place for San Francisco, but all the more wonderful for it.

What kind of soda is Vernor's?

[Falselogic]

How could I forget! That the best soda I can never find and have to import from Brazil or have friends pick up for me int he cooler cities in which they live:

Guarana Antarctica

This is hands down the very best carbonated beverage ever made! I only forget about it because I rarely get my hands on it!

If you ever see it, do yourself a favor and pick up a can and drink it, you can thank me later!

[Lumber Baron]

So smooth.

[ArugulaZ]

Vernor's used to be a lot better before they took out the stevia. I ranted about this in a thread a couple of years ago, but the short story is that stevia is a spicy natural sugar substitute that Monsanto lobbied to have taken off the market so it could sell aspertame. Stevia was taken out of Vernor's in the early 1990s, and the flavor profile changed drastically as a result... it was no longer as fizzy, no longer as bold. I still drink it from time to time, but it's just not the same now that it doesn't singe off your eyebrows and nosehairs when you open the can.

Stevia's back on the market, but only as a processed extract that companies can patent. Any food with natural stevia in it has to be marketed as a "diet supplement." Yeah, screw you too, Monsanto.

...anyway. There was a brand of budget sodas called Towne Club, also from Michigan, that was pretty popular in the 1980s. Back in 1984, my parents brought home a case with a rainbow of flavors inside. The fruit punch was so caustic you could use it for Drain-O, but I remember some of the other flavors being pretty good... and man, there were a whole lot of them! The variety is what made this soda work, I think... Towne Club had flavors like sarsaparilla that you weren't likely to find anywhere else.

CMate: It's a ginger beer. I stop short of calling it ginger ale because it's not as crisp as Canada Dry or Schweppes... instead, it's hot and spicy. The original formula was REALLY strong, but the heat is still there in the new recipe; it's just toned down. Imagine a ginger ale with redhot jawbreakers dissolving at the bottom of the glass and you'd be on the right track.

[Alixsar]

Everyone knows that Dr. Pepper is the best soda. Everyone.

[Ethan]

Vernor's... spicy? Really? Last time I had it, I thought it was kind of like a combination of Schweppes ginger ale and Sprite. I detected almost no ginger spice.

[Tanto]

Originally Posted by Alixsar

Everyone knows that Dr. Pepper is the best soda. Everyone.

[Parish]

Originally Posted by destro713

Vernor's... spicy? Really? Last time I had it, I thought it was kind of like a combination of Schweppes ginger ale and Sprite. I detected almost no ginger spice.

They've weakened it over the years. It used to have this amazing potency. You'd accidentally breathe a bit of the fizz and double over into paroxyms of coughing.

[`Hrist]

I love me some Dr. Pepper, but I really ought to stop drinking soft drinks. Awful, awful, awful for your health.

[Wolfgang]

Originally Posted by `Hrist

I love me some Dr. Pepper, but I really ought to stop drinking soft drinks. Awful, awful, awful for your health.

Aside from the corn syrup/sugar, how so? I drink diet all the time and I don't have any health issues. I'm "built like a brick", as it were.

[Posaune]

Iowa isn't interesting enough to have a neat soda..