15 Regional Sodas That Should Be Sold in Every State

[Bob Riebe]

https://www.wideopeneats.com/13-regional-sodas-wish-sold-nationwide/

https://www.thedailymeal.com/drink/regional-sodas-we-wish-were-national/slide-12

Runnings farm stores now carry a lot of these, plus we have two hard-to-find pop stores in the Twin Cities that carry these and others even more odd ball.

[BUGEYE]

Nehi belly washer please.
Many years ago I would go to Port Canaveral to a fish market and get a big piece of smoked fish and a Nehi orange or grape.
Refreshing on a hot day.

[Lloyd Smale]

vernors is a staple up here. Another one i like you cant find anywhere is freska. Its even good with gin over crushed ice.

[oldandslow]

I guess we are seriously soda deprived here I suppose. Of the 15 I've only seen 1,3, and 11 and it's been along time time since I run across 11. Here all soda is referred to as "coke". That basically means any cold soda, your choice. We have a good selection of Meskin sodas though. Don't get your undies in a wad over the "meskin" thing. Almost everyone converts the "xi" to "s".

[ironglow]

I try the various types when I travel..I found Cheer Wine, Big Red and others I found in the south.

  Being a no alcohol guy myself,  i would like as big a variety of soft drinks to choose from . I like Dr Pepper, but I was first introduced to it in the south..as a GI  ..in the 1950s.  At the same time, in central Texas at least, I tried to find some Birch Beer..no way !

  A couple favorites, ..Vernor's  ginger ale and Dad's root beer.  They are my favorites in both those flavors, but I can find them only rarely where I live.

  Fanta... I first met in Germany, while serving there.

[BUGEYE]

Dad's root beer.

I've drank a million of them, usually with peanuts poured in.

[ironglow]

Dad's root beer.

I've drank a million of them, usually with peanuts poured in.

  Never tried that!  ..But it sounds good !    

[Ranger99]

I don't drink very many cold drinks
anymore.  There used to be some
still properly made with sugar instead
of corn syrup, but I don't know of
many if any. There's a place down the
road that brings in cane sugar
Dr Pepper  from mexico, and they
have the proper taste, but not any
others. I used to be a Dr Pepper fan,
but after the company put the
Dublin Dr Pepper plant in the ditch
for refusing the switch to corn syrup
from cane sugar, I've not bought
any DP. The Dublin plant reopened
as an independent cold drink
bottler with their own drinks made
with sugar, but I've not been there
or tried any of the new drinks

Big Red is pretty popular here, but
it's universally referred to by the
proper "Big Red" name, and not as
red drank as most of the other drinks
are called

[BUGEYE]

Dad's root beer.

I've drank a million of them, usually with peanuts poured in.

  Never tried that!  ..But it sounds good !    

Oh it is.
Take a couple of big swigs to make room for the peanuts and close your fist around the neck to make a sort of funnel and dribble them in to the base of the neck and enjoy.

[ulav8r]

Barely remember drinking Nugrape and Nehi grape.  Believe Nugrape was the better of the two.  Got some Sunkist grape soda at Walmart a few months back, a weak imitation, still have some left.  Got another grape a year or two ago that was good, but not sure which one it was, might have been Crush grape.

My grandmother had some Concord grape vines when I was young.  About 2-3 cups of grapes, 2 cups of sugar in a gallon jug, pour boiling water in and then put a lid and ring on it, set in boiling water for about 15 minutes, then take it out and let it cool.  The lids would "TINK" when they sealed.  They were stored in an outside building with no heat, in November and December a 16 ounce glass of cold grape juice went VERY well with popcorn, almost as good as with parched peanuts.  Coke was better than grape juice with the peanuts.  Salted peanuts were very good in a 5 ounce bottle of coke.

[ironglow]

  AS teenagers, my sweetheart (later, my wife) and I would often stroll down to the village general store during hot summer evenings..  We would sit on the short stairs in back, that led up to the "shoes" department.

    I would have a Pepsi and she would have a Grapette (a grape soda in a smaller bottle).  Old Floyd the owner,
  liked us, enjoyed our company and often gave us small treats from the store stock..like a piece of "penny candy", or a sliver of that great cheddar cheese wheel that he kept under a celluloid cover, ready to cut into 1 or 2 pound wedges..
   Ah, sweet reminiscence...

[oldandslow]

I have never contaminated root beer with peanuts. Coke and Pepsi, yes, and it's good. Been a long time since I have done so though.

[Bob Riebe]

  AS teenagers, my sweetheart (later, my wife) and I would often stroll down to the village general store during hot summer evenings..  We would sit on the short stairs in back, that led up to the "shoes" department.

    I would have a Pepsi and she would have a Grapette (a grape soda in a smaller bottle).  Old Floyd the owner,
  liked us, enjoyed our company and often gave us small treats from the store stock..like a piece of "penny candy", or a sliver of that great cheddar cheese wheel that he kept under a celluloid cover, ready to cut into 1 or 2 pound wedges..
   Ah, sweet reminiscence...

AH, memories such as my grandma taking me to Woolworths for a Cherry Coke and Franfurter on a toasted bun. (I miss Woolworths most, of all the dept. stores killed by Walmart).

[Ranger99]

I miss the woolworth's and the
5 and 10 cent stores. ME moses, motts,
Ben Franklin, etc.

[Dixie-Dude]

I like Buffalo Rock's Grapaco.  It tastes better than any other grape soda.  It is made in Birmingham by the Buffalo Rock company. 

[ironglow]

I miss the woolworth's and the
5 and 10 cent stores. ME moses, motts,
Ben Franklin, etc.

   
  Ah..the old 5 and 10 cent store !  Is this perhaps the only one left in the country?  Vidler's is located on Main St. in East Aurora..an affluent community about 15-20 miles south of Buffalo, and about 30 miles north of me..
  The store has been there since 1930..and owned by the Vidler family since then.
 
  It truly has the old time five & dime atmosphere, with perhaps more stock than the old time ones.  Since the land falls away, starting at the street level, there are about 4 floors of merchandise on display.

    https://www.facebook.com/vidlers5and10/

  Now for the bad news....very little still available for 5 and 10 cents.
https://www.vidlers5and10.com/
   

[Lloyd Smale]

another one i used to like is Fago red pop. Southern guys will scream foul but mostly what i drink today is lipton diet (not real sugar) sweetened lemon ice tea. I know its not real sweet tea but its so much easier to make. For about the last 15 years two of my service buddys come camp in my yard for a week in the summer. Ones from Nc and the other from VA. They call it my yankee sweet tea

[ironglow]

I like peach flavored iced tea..  Started years ago with Snapple.... yes, diet because Ilike the flavor that way..

  About a year ago at the Save-a-Lot store, I found a small cylindrical can with 4 pouches of peach iced tea mix.
 
  I would then take two of those pouches in a gallon jug, add water and shake..great iced tea !

...But since the shortages started..that product is no longer available... SHUCKS !

[billy_56081]

1919 Root beer, available in draught only and Buddy's Orange, both made by the Schell brewery in New Ulm MN.

[ironglow]

For most fruit flavor drinks..I tend to like the Crush brand..more specifically, the orange and cherry flavors.

[oldandslow]

I'm not really qualified on the tea thing, Lloyd, as I'm a southwesterner and can't stand tea, sweet or otherwise. I see it as drink what you like, not what someone else thinks you should like.

[mcbammer]

  Alot of those drinks I never tried  but I can list a few that I have that I dont like .   
   
             Tab , Freska , Buffalo Rock Ginger Ale ,   not fond of any coka cola  products made today .

[mcbammer]

I'm not really qualified on the tea thing, Lloyd, as I'm a southwesterner and can't stand tea, sweet or otherwise. I see it as drink what you like, not what someone else thinks you should like.

  Grocery stores here sell it by the gallons , Milo's Tea  . Milo's  is  a hamburger joint an their tea  gained  popularity .  You have to watch the date on it ,sours  fast   .

[Mule 11]

  AS teenagers, my sweetheart (later, my wife) and I would often stroll down to the village general store during hot summer evenings..  We would sit on the short stairs in back, that led up to the "shoes" department.

    I would have a Pepsi and she would have a Grapette (a grape soda in a smaller bottle).  Old Floyd the owner,
  liked us, enjoyed our company and often gave us small treats from the store stock..like a piece of "penny candy", or a sliver of that great cheddar cheese wheel that he kept under a celluloid cover, ready to cut into 1 or 2 pound wedges..
   Ah, sweet reminiscence...

AH, memories such as my grandma taking me to Woolworths for a Cherry Coke and Franfurter on a toasted bun. (I miss Woolworths most, of all the dept. stores killed by Walmart).

Was it Woolworth’s that had the chocolate shakes, they called them malts and were made with real cream...

[Mule 11]

Malts- - because they use to put malt sugar i.e. malt in the shakes, which gives a pleasant caramel  or dark sugar flavor to the shake. Hence the term a Malted Milk Shake.

Could be. I distinctly remember the flavor and taste as I’d get one every time we went. Then I was in a bowling alley and bought a chocolate shake that tasted just like the malts I got at said store? And complimented the guy on the quality of his product, I believe I was 11 and he confided in me that it was real cream he used in his shakes. Tasted identical to the aforementioned malt... It may have been macy’s?

[ironglow]

Malts- - because they use to put malt sugar i.e. malt in the shakes, which gives a pleasant caramel  or dark sugar flavor to the shake. Hence the term a Malted Milk Shake.

  I don't know why it seems nobody mkes a "malted" anymore..they were good.
   
  Now, aren't milkshakes in New England, called "frappes' and soda pop referred to as "tonic"?

  At least some of the Bostonians I served with referred to them as such, which provoked a bit of mirth
     among the other GIs...

[Bob Riebe]

Yes sometimes milkshakes are called frappes, possible French origin.
But usually soda is called soda , afaik.
But Moxie was called a tonic.
And grinders are still call subs in many parts of NE.
If you want to make a malted milkshake you could try adding Ovaltine if you can find it. Ovaltine used have high malt content.

Way back in the sixties, I was on vacation with Mom and Dad and we camped outside a very small town; the theater had closed but they still had drug store soda counter.
I ordered a chocolate and and was amazed and thrilled when it was made with chocolat ice cream and chocolate milk.

Ovaltine's name from its home country, Switzerland,  is  -- OVOLMALTINE -- is made with maltextract; later on came Ovaltine with Cocoa added.
Nestle's bought the rite to U.S. production.
Finding the original is now harder than getting the cocoa flavored version.

Back in the early oughts, when shipping prices were low, I ordered a case of Moxie from an online place that carred soda's not available nationwide normally.
It was different; I ordered from them for several years till shipping became asininely high.
Bought one case with 24 different root beers; now I can go to two specialty stores in the Twin Cities and get probably 70-80 percent of the sodas made in the U.S. and a good number from other countries.
I drank a lot of Ovaltine when I was in grade school, both types.

[ironglow]

 The big guys are bringing out new flavors..such as Coke's coffee flavor, and several others..

  https://www.deseret.com/2022/2/19/22940867/new-coca-cola-starlight-flavor-taste

  Pepsi apparently has new ones, such as Maple syrup and Nitro;
   https://www.cnet.com/culture/internet/pepsi-maple-syrup-cola-is-soda-companys-latest-out-there-flavor/

   https://people.com/food/nitro-pepsi-first-ever-nitrogen-infused-cola/