On Tuesday we hit the first day of summer. And the temperatures in Iowa are currently in the high 90s. You know what is a great way to beat the heat? Pop open an ice cold bottle of soda. Pick your flavor. Lemon Lime? Grape? Strawberry? Orange? Maybe you just dig a nice cola. Well today we are giving you the scoop on the best bottled soda to quench your summer thirst.
Which bottled sodas are we trying today?
Cheerwine
Ale-8-One
Boylan Shirley Temple
Romano’s Orange Cream Italian Soda
Millstream Brewing Co. Black Cherry Soda
Dublin Texan Grape
Kickapoo Joy Juice
Who is on this carbonation quest?
Kris, your very own cocktail waitress
Matt, smeller of nothing
Nate, the human tramp stamp
Amy, carbonation snob
And of course, our subscribers! Thanks to our small, yet coveted group. We appreciate the support. You too can join us on this food journey. All you need to do is… SUBSCRIBE!
The History of Bottled Soda
On May 8th, 1886, pharmacist Dr. John Pemberton was visiting a pharmacy in Atlanta to promote his French Wine of Coca. This medicinal wonder was said to cure virtually every problem you might have. Do you have a headache? Try some French Wine of Coca. Diarrhea? French Wine of Coca. Delusions of grandeur? French Wine of Coca.
Why was this the cure-all? Well because of the cocaine. Actually, it was a mix of Bordeaux red wine, caffeine, and coca leaf extract. This patented medicine was sold at $1.00 a bottle. But since it was a medicine and more of a niche market, he decided to try to sell it as a soda. So he took his medicine, which was kind of bitter tasting, and masked it with sugar. And to make it marketable to children and adults, he removed the alcohol. But not the cocaine, since after all, it was legal.
So, Pemberton’s accountant, Frank Robinson, came up with the name Coca Kola. Coca for the coca leaf, and Kola is for the caffeine, which came from Kola nuts. He also came up with the logo, the Coca Cola script. In the first year, it only sold $50 worth of stock. And Dr. Pemberton actually died before the beverage took off. Asa Candler is the one who took the soft drink and made it nationally successful. He acquired the company in 1891. Candler’s goal was to get the Coca Cola name out there and put it on everything. In 1902 he spent over $100,000 in advertising. Think of all the novelty things you can purchase with coca cola on it. Posters? Sure. Towels? Sure, Wallets, lunch boxes, pins, buttons, salt and pepper shakers. Farmers were even paid to have the logo painted on the side of their barns.
The drink started off being sold in pharmacies at the soda fountain. And usually at a soda fountain, there could be over 100 different syrup options to choose from. So since nobody really knew what coke was, Candler started a sampling campaign where he would contact the pharmacies to find out who their 50 top soda fountain customers were, and he would send them free drink coupons. And it paid off. What was making $50.00 a year in 1886 was now making over 11,000 times that by the turn of the century. By the end of the 1890s, they were selling a quarter of a million gallons of syrup a year.
But in 1903, the New York Times wrote an article that linked cocaine to crime. The FDA came along and said to remove the cocaine. So the company found a way to keep the coca leaf but with the active cocaine removed.
In 1899, two lawyers, Joseph Whitehead, and Benjamin Thomas got the exclusive rights from Asa Candler to Bottle coca cola. Candler had no interest in doing himself, because bottling was back alley and un sanitary since the bottles could not be sanitized. So he sold the rights for $1.00. The lawyers made a national network of coca cola bottlers. The first bottles were sealed with a stopper and wire. Which was just not a sanitary and safe way to keep the beverage.
Shortly after the operation began, the invention of the bottle cap happened, which could be properly sealed and sanitized. With that, bottlers across the country became millionaires. By 1910, bottling plants popped up across the country.
The Results
**SPOILER ALERT!**
Listen to the episode first if you do not want the results revealed to you yet!
7th Place: Ale-8-One
Amy: 3
Kris: 2
Matt: 5
Nate: 2
6th Place: Boylan Shirley Temple
Amy: 4
Kris: 3
Matt: 5
Nate: 5
5th/4th Place (Tie!): Millstream Brewing Co. Black Cherry Soda
Amy: 8
Kris: 5
Matt: 7
Nate: 6
5th/4th Place (Tie!): Kickapoo Joy Juice
Amy: 8
Kris: 7
Matt: 6
Nate: 5
3rd Place: Romano’s Orange Cream Italian Soda
Amy: 6
Kris: 7
Matt: 7
Nate: 7
2nd Place: Cheerwine
Amy: 9
Kris: 7
Matt: 7
Nate: 6
1st Place: Dublin Texan Grape
Amy: 7
Kris: 9
Matt: 6
Nate: 8
There you have it. Dublin Texan Grape receives the Quest for the Best seal of approval. Check out their website to try them out for yourself.
https://www.dublin1891.com/
Thank you all for joining us on this episode of Quest for the Best. Let us know what you thought. Have you tried all these sodas? We would love to hear your rating as well.
Also, do you have any foods you would love to get the coveted seal of approval? Let us know in the comments what you want to hear next.
And of course, remember to subscribe to hear the latest episodes. Additionally, paid subscribers will have access to monthly content where we put two restaurants head to head in a Quest for the Best battle. You definitely do not want to miss out.
SHOW NOTES:
*Pop*Fizz*Belch*