Goes Great With Corned Beef on Rye...and Always Has

Dr. Brown’s line of sodas totals six flavors but it’s the unique Cel-Ray  flavor that helped launch the brand in Brooklyn’s Jewish Community in 1869.  The Dr. Brown brand is Kosher and primarily found in delicatessens and specialty grocers.

While the company bottles and cans Black Cherry, Cream , Orange, Ginger Ale and Root Beer flavors its the lightly sugared, vegetal flavor of celery with a slightly peppery fizz that has been the favorite soda to pair with Deli foods from pastrami and corned beef to Kosher Hot Dogs and knishes.

Cel-Ray was originally developed by a doctor who treated immigrant children in NY. The seltzer known at the time as a ‘tonic’ helped  children with digestion and contained celery seeds and sugar.  Dr. Brown’s was sold as a bottled soda beginning 1886 and within a few years had become a staple in ethnic New York restaurants.

It was the first Kosher soda and the only and preferred soft drink of the Jewish Community until 1930 when Coca-Cola became certified as Kosher and in the 1930′s Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray was so popular that it earned the nickname “Jewish Champagne’.

Each of the six Dr. Brown’s flavors are  marketed in a package designed by Herb Lubalin that has  a New York vignette taken from old prints, to emphasize the brand’s old-time New York roots .

Yoo hoo was an 'energy' 'Drink of Champions'

Once called “The Drink of Champions” because of it’s connection and endorsement by New York Yankee players, Yoo Hoo chocolate drink has changed ownership through the years, but remains the most popular chocolate soft drink in America.

In the 1920′s Mr. Natale Olivieri and his wife had a small business producing Tru-Fruit flavored soft drinks by squeezing fresh fruit. Mr Olivieri knew that if he could produce a chocolate flavor that it would be popular, so he set his goal on producing a chocolate drink from natural ingredients without preservatives that wouldn’t spoil.

He experimented and ultimately used many of the same methods his wife used to can and preserve her homemade tomato sauce and after realizing that time, temperature and agitation would be necessary to heat the product uniformly. Natale Olivieri introduced his chocolate drink, that had small amounts of dairy added without fear of spoilage and immediately it became the favorite drink of consumers.

The name Yoo Hoo was already being used for the fruit drinks and was applied specifically to the new chocolate drink, and the name fit in for the times and became a popular expression to get someone’s attention. Yoo Hoo got attention and once it was bottled by a major company was quickly spreading its wings in supermarkets and beverage shops around the globe.

In the 1950′s and 60′s the Yankees officially sponsored the drink and backed it with a campaign that featured the popular Yankee catcher Yogi Berra. Berra drank a bottle of Yoo-Hoo in a suit,  holding the bottle next to his face and  smiled, “It’s Me-He for Yoo-Hoo!” The ad became wildly popular and the brand continued to introduce new drinkers of the chocolate drink.

The brand has had many owners from around the world through the years. Natale sold early to help get distribution and during the 50′s until 1976 , B.B.C. Industries owned Yoo-Hoo.   They sold to Iroquois Brands in 1976 who sold it to private investors from 1981 to 1989 when they sold to Pernod-Ricard.

The change of ownership continued when Yoo-Hoo was purchased  by Cadbury-Schweppes in 2201, who placed production in the hands of their Mott’s Group and promoted it under the Snapple advertising umbrella.

It gained new drinkers and new awareness and remains a popular drink for all ages and demographics. In 2008 Cadbury-Schweppes split into two companies and created  the Dr. Pepper – Snapple Group and Yoo- Hoo hs been a part of that group from the start.

Yoo Hoo currently produces their classic Yoo Hoo chocolate drink, as well as a Lite Chocolate, a Double Chocolate and even a Strawberry Yoo Hoo.

Nehi Soda Fruit-Flavors date back to 1924

The fondest for flavors in the soft drink business really began in 1924 when Claude Hatcher, a Georgia grocer developed a line of fruit flavored Nehi sodas to go with his Chero-Cola and Nehi Cola.  He offered orange, grape, root beer, peach, and other flavors of soda and soon each began to out sell his cola to the point that Hatcher changed the name of the company to The Nehi Corporation in 1928.  Nehi flavors went on to survive the Great Depression and marketed its way to become an American icon.

The advertising logo for Nehi was  a head turner on signage and a page stopper in magazines and newspapers.  A bottle of Nehi next to woman’s legs, in which the skirt was high enough to show the stockings up to the knee, suggesting the phrase “knee-high”.

Nehi was the featured advertiser on Robert Ripley’s top rated radio show “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” and by 1940 you could find Nehi in 47 of the then 48 states.  By 1946 Nehi realized the power of celebrity and signed Bing Crosby and Bob Hope and sales soared and popularity grew.

They used glamorous Hollywood Stars like Joan Crawford who later joined Pepsi Cola’s Board of Directors.  Nehi countered with the leggy starlet  Hedy Lamarr who appeared in all ads and the flavors of Nehi had grown to ten including new flavors like  Dr. Nehi, Nehi Chocolate, Nehi Root Beer, Nehi Lemonade, Nehi Wild Red, Nehi Blue Cream, to go with the classic flavors of Nehi Orange, Nehi Grape, and Nehi Peach.

Nehi Cola was available along with Chero-Cola but in 1955 they reformulated recipes and consolidated their cola efforts with the creation of Royal Crown Cola and marketed it as RC Cola,  The surge of both Coca-Cola and the growing popularity of Pepsi caused the decision of the Nehi Corporation to change the corporate name to Royal Crown Cola Company.

Nehi Grape had a revival and was introduced to a new generation of pop culture when Radar O’Reilly of the popular CBS television show M*A*S*H made an ongoing reference to Nehi Grape being his favorite drink and reason for the Korean War to end.

In 2008 The Dr. Pepper Snapple Group acquired the Nehi Brand.

Squirt

They both realized that they had to build consistent awareness for their through advertising the brand and in 1941 created  an iconic character named ‘Little Squirt’ to represent and personify the soft drink.  The marketing plan worked and attracted new  drinkers and kids began to love it coast to coast. In the 1950′s the brand became a popular mixer for whiskey, bourbon and brandy and by the 60′s and 70′s Squirt was a staple at home cocktail parties and was on the gun at bars across the midwest and Great Lakes States.

Herb Bishop sold Squirt to to a Holland Michigan based bottler named Brooks Products in 1977 and in 1983 they introduced Diet Squirt the first soft drink in the United States to be sweetened with aspartame. A& W Beverages purchased the brand in 1986 and with a commitment to marketing it became the fastest growing soft drinks in America in 1987 and sales continued to grow every year after.

The Squirt brand is now part of the Plano, Texas-based Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc.,that markets more than 50 beverage brands throughout North America.

It was the Coca-Cola Company and their annual advertising campaign that has established the image that most Americans identify as the classic Santa Claus. Coca Cola asked commercial illustrator Haddon Sundblom to create a series of drawings that depicted Santa cooling off with a Coke back in 1931.   Even though other long bearded Santas in red suits with white fur trimming had appeared in print prior to the first Coca-Cola Santa Claus it was a magazine advertisement that created this 79-year-old icon. Santa with Coke was originally a marketing campaign to help boost sales of the soft drink during the sluggish winter months that quickly grew to billboards, newspapers and in-store advertising that many Americans used as Christmas décor during the Great Depression.

In 1985, Jolt was the Nation’s First ‘Energized’ Beverage

JOLT Cola was created in 1985 as a refreshing alternative to coffee and in essence was The Espresso of Colas. The invention of C.J. Rapp of Rochester, NY, JOLT was the original “energized” beverage in both name and product. Every can and bottle had the slogan “All the Sugar and Twice the Caffeine.” JOLT became an instant hit and fueled a generation from college students, to rock stars and anyone else needing a quick pick me up. JOLT Cola became ‘news’ with  more than 1,000 newspaper features and mentions in almost every lifestyle periodical from People to Playboy and has been seen in more than a dozen motion pictures, including Jurassic Park, and Wayne’s World. JOLT was the first soft drink to sell at a premium price above Coke and Pepsi but in recent years JOLT resurfaced as energy drinks in metal oil can bottles and an energy gum. The Jolt Company, Inc. filed Chapter 11 September 28, 2009, and is currently restructuring.

When Dr. Augustin Thompson of Union Maine introduced his new herbal soft drink Moxie way back in 1884, he called it ” A delicious blend of bitter and sweet, a drink to satisfy everyone’s taste”. Moxie, was so well received that it became the first mass produced carbonated soft drink in the United States, and it’s still sold today. Thompson knew how to create interest and claimed that Moxie contained extracts from a rare, South-American plant that a friend named ‘Lieutenant Moxie’ had discovered.  Moxie’s flavor, more spicy and bitter than most modern soft drinks is a result of the herbal gentian root, and the flavor remains unique. The Moxie Man icon and the slogan ‘Make Mine Moxie’ remains popular in some areas and on May 10, 2005 the brand became the official state soft drink of Maine.  Moxie is available locally at The Sandy Butler Gourmet market and all Fresh Market Locations

Related Blogs

• Related Blogs on Beverages Back in the Day

• Related Blogs on Drink Moxie

Before there were soda guns, or cocktails that called for specific soft drinks like ‘Rum & Coke® and even before ‘7 & 7®’there was ‘Bubble Up’, the very first lemon-lime soda. Founded in 1917 by Sweet Valley Productions in Sandusky, Ohio and at least 10 years prior to its more popular competitor ‘7-Up®’ Bubble Up was a regional brand until the brand went nationwide as the Bubble Up Company, Inc. of Chicago. With the tag line, “A Taste of Lemon, A Taste of Lime”, Bubble Up was distributed in the Coca-Cola bottler network prior to the creation of Sprite. Monarch Beverage Company in Atlanta purchased the brand in 1978 and since 2007  Bubble Up is owned by and distributed by Dad’s Root Beer Co. of Jasper Indiana along with regional brands Dr. Wells and Sun Crest orange soda.

Bubble Up is available in Southwest Florida at The Sandy Butler Gourmet Market and all Fresh market locations®

Related Blogs

• Related Blogs on Beverages Back in the Day: Bubble Up Lemon-Lime Soda