These Forgotten Sodas From The Past Will Refresh Your Memory
These Forgotten Sodas From The Past Will Refresh Your Memory
Soda execs have attempted literally every flavor of the bubbly stuff — coffee, bubble gum, grapefruit and more.
These Forgotten Sodas From The Past Will Refresh Your Memory
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Late 1940's - 1950's: Fitz's Root Beer
Similar to A&W, Fitz's Root Beer rose to fame as a menu offering at Fitz's drive-in restaurant outside of St. Louis, MO. The soft drink was mass-produced for years but ceased production when the restaurant closed in 1970. They started things back up 15 years later, and it's still on the market today.
1960's: Bubble Up
This lemon-lime soda pre-dates both Sprite and 7 Up. It launched in 1919, but became popular decades later thanks to the advertising slogan "kiss of lemon, kiss of lime." Ariana Grande even referenced it in a 2012 music video.
1962: Diet-Way Cola
Diet-Way was first introduced to the public as the sugar-free alternative to Double-Cola. It was around for less than two years before it became known simply as "Diet Double-Cola."
Mid 1960s - 1970s: Cotton Club Beverages
Cotton Club was based out of Ohio and sold a variety of fruit-flavored soft drinks. Flavors included cherry-strawberry, grape, orange, and a fruit punch-soda called Tropical Delight. They also offered a line of cola, ginger ale, and root beer.
1970's: Big Red
This one is still a popular pop of choice in the south, and it's been around in some form or another since 1937. However, it didn't become known as "Big Red" until 1969. Don't be fooled though: Despite the name and color, it's actually a cream soda.
1970's: Peppo
Maybe you know this soft drink as Dr. Pibb … or Mr. Pibb … or Pibb Xtra. The pepper-y soda was renamed and reformulated more times than we can count, but its original purpose was to compete against Dr. Pepper. The original test markets were even in Waco, which — in addition to being Chip and Joanna Gaines' home — is home to Dr. Pepper.
Early 1980's: Life Savers Soda
Every kid has dropped Life Savers into soda at some point in their life, but only kids of the early '80s were able to try life Life Savers-flavored soda. Get that disgusting mint flavor out of your head: The drinks were meant to taste like the fruity variety.
1983: Snapple Tru Root Beer
Before Snapple became your favorite brand of bottled iced tea (and your favorite way to learn useless facts), the company had a line of sodas. This root beer set itself apart from others with a clear look, light carbonation, and less sweetness.
1984: Slice
Slice was what you sipped on when you wanted to convince yourself the soda you were drinking was semi-healthy: It was 10 percent fruit juice.
1985-1986: New Coke
This was the product of Coca-Cola's midlife crisis, when the company announced it was completely scrapping its old formula. It was sweeter, newer, and a giant mistake. Diehard fans missed the old formula, which Coca-Cola soon brought back as Coke Classic.
1987: Hubba Bubba Original Bubble Gum Soda
You've had soda-flavored gum, but what about gum-flavored soda? Yes, kids in the late '80s had the distinct pleasure of rotting their teeth the lazy way — drinking a pop —if chewing gum was too much work.
1988-1989: 7-Up Gold
We could think of a hundred catchier names for this ginger ale soda, since "gold" didn't even accurately describe the reddish-caramel hue. Those who tried 7-Up Gold loved it, but the general public had trouble accepting the stuff since it went against classic 7-Up's two biggest features: that clear color and the lack of caffeine (Gold included it).
1990: Mountain Dew Sport
As we've learned, all good sodas are born out of rivalry, and Mountain Dew Sport is no different. It was introduced to compete with Gatorade as a Mountain Dew-flavored sports drink.
1991: Pepsi Wild Bunch
This was actually a bunch of flavors (see what they did there?) meant to capture the taste of summer. Packs came with a bottle each of Strawberry Burst, Tropical Chill, and Raging Raspberry. Does it feel like summer yet?
1993: Zima
The classy word "cooler" (as in "wine cooler") didn't always exist. So when you wanted a Zima — a spiked soda with about 5 percent alcohol — you would just ask for an "alcopop."
1994: Crystal Pepsi
This clear pop was nothing more than a slightly sweeter, caffeine-free version of the Pepsi people knew and loved. Poor sales led to an early demise (it was on the market for less than two years), but America's nostalgia-backed plea earned it a rerelease in 2016.
1995: Josta
Before Monster and Red Bull became the bane of every frat house's existence, there was Josta. The high-energy soft drink boasted not only caffeine but guarana, too — a plant whose seeds contain about twice the concentration of caffeine found in coffee seeds.
1996-1997: Citra
You might recognize this better by its current name, Fanta Citrus. But originally, the grapefruit-flavored soft drink was called Citra. You can't get it in the U.S. any more, but rumor has it the soda moved to India shortly after it was discontinued here.
1997: Orbitz
The folks who brought us Clearly Canadian decided to test out another product in 1997, which didn't quite land the way they hoped. Orbitz was one of those things that everyone had to try — but then quickly realized how terrible it actually was. Its selling point was tiny edible balls that floated around inside the bottle, making it all seem very futuristic. Clearly Canadian decided to capitalize off of the current 90's nostalgia trend and re-introduced Orbitz to a new generation back in 2015.
1998-1999: Surge
'90s kids have the Pepsi-Coke rivalry to thank for this citrus-flavored soda. If the super-subtle neon burst logo wasn't enough of a clue, Coca Cola's Surge (which debuted a year earlier in Norway as Urge) was advertised as having a hardcore edge, just like Pepsi's Mountain Dew was at the time.
2000: Pepsi Twist
You could ask for a lemon wedge alongside your can of Pepsi or you could reach for a Pepsi Twist, which is just a regular Pepsi with — you guessed it — a twist of lemon (or a squeeze of lemon flavoring).
2001: Mountain Dew Code Red
Mountain Dew blew everyone's minds when it came out with this bright red drink. In the U.S. it was cherry-flavored, but in New Zealand and Australia it had a berry taste.
2002: Pepsi Blue
Nowadays, you'd have to fly to Indonesia or the Philippines to sip this Pepsi spin-off, but in the early 2000's it was the berry-flavored soda of everyone's dreams — even Britney Spears, who starred in a Christmas commercial for the soft drink.
2003: dnL
Don't be fooled by the photo: This wasn't just 7-up cans turned upside down. It was the popular soda's complete opposite. Instead of a caffeine-free clear drink in a clear bottle, dnL was a citrus-y caffeinated green drink in a clear bottle. (You can roll your eyes now.)
2004: Pitch Black Mountain Dew
Because Halloween candy isn't enough, Mountain Dew released this Halloween-inspired soda. To the disappointment of people everywhere, it wasn't actually pitch black but a dark purple, with a grape flavor.
2005: Coca-Cola Vanilla
Classic Coke already has small amounts of vanilla, but in the 1940s, soda fountain workers would often request an extra "shot" in their fountain soda. That's what inspired this canned version.
2006: Pepsi Holiday Spice
Oh, you thought Starbucks kicked off the holiday drink craze? No, no. Pepsi had it covered in the mid-2000s with this cinnamon-based soft drink. In subsequent years, you could find it on the shelves as Christmas Pepsi.
2007: Coca-Cola BlāK
In a stroke of genius, Coke decided to add coffee flavoring to its formula. It only lasted for a year or so in the states, but a whole slew of other countries around the world — Lithuania, France, Canada — kept it alive.
2008-2009: Pepsi Natural
This was the beginning of the anti-artificial craze when Pepsi removed all fake flavoring, coloring, preservatives, and sweeteners. Basically, this was a no-fun version of the Pepsi people knew and loved.
2010-2011: Bacon Soda
In 2010, nothing was safe from becoming bacon-flavored — not even soda. Obvi, Jones Soda, which is known for its oddball flavors, jumped on the bandwagon.
2012: Spindrift Soda
Spindrift debuted as the ultimate feel-good soda: It was made with real, fresh-squeezed fruit juice, produce from family farms, and each bottle cap revealed one of the company's environmental partners. If all that doesn't make it seem totally fine to drink soda, nothing will.
2013: Honest Tea Fizz
This was an ultra-sneaky move on Coca-Cola's part: Rather than release a healthy (ish) soda and watching it flop (as has happened in the past), the brand released it under its Honest Tea line. The four original flavors all had zero calories.
2014: Fizzio Handcrafted Sodas
While lawmakers around the country were trying to tax and ban soda, Starbucks was adding them to their menu. The coffee house debuted its handcrafted soft drinks in three flavors: spiced root beer, golden ginger ale, and lemon ale. While they're still available at select shops, they didn't turn into the hit we're sure Starbucks hoped they'd be.
2015: Kombucha Soda
In the midst of an anti-sugar backlash, one entrepreneurial health nut brought us this. It's kombucha with soda flavorings (like root beer or cola), sweetened with organic stevia.
2016: Unicorn Kisses Polar Seltzer
The nation collectively freaked out when Polar Seltzer released this puzzling flavor. Unfortunately for many Americans, it was a limited release, so only several thousand people got to know what unicorn kisses taste like. Hint: They're sweet.
2017: Coca-Cola Zero Sugar
It was the drink everyone had been waiting for—the fan-favorite Coke, just without all of that sugar. In 2017, the company officially rebranded "Coke Zero" as "Coca-Cola Zero Sugar," and people couldn't get enough.
2018: Bubly
When PepsiCo launched Bubly in 2018, the calorie-free seltzer became a healthy option for soda-lovers. The 16-flavor line only became even more popular after singer Michael Bublé partnered with the brand.
2019: Jones Ginger Beer
Since modern ginger beer carbonated and not fermented, it's actually considered a soft drink! In 2019, Jones Soda launched their own, with that famous resealable cap the brand is known for. It's safe to say that Moscow Mule lovers everywhere were big fans.
Remember the Crystal Pepsi craze?!