The X-Entertainment Blog

02/04/2007: New Article? Yes! About old soda!

There was a time, many, many years ago, when I wrote these things called “articles.” I was feeling nostalgic, so I decided, what the hey? Let’s use, a lot of commas, and see if it still feels, okay, to write articles.

Today’s feature chooses “eleven” as its arbitrary token number and examines “eleven” different soft drinks that are no longer with us, running the gamut from Surge to Strawberry Burst Pepsi and beyond. It’s my way of getting a return on the many thousands spent to amass a ridiculous collection of old, sealed soda cans.

I hope you find the article to your liking, because I gave up watching Wolf Creek to write it, and I really wanted to see that “head on a stick” part.

Posted by Matt. E-mail me!

Good article. Josta was where it was really at back then. If I could bring back any soda it would be that one.

I’ve tried not to post if I don’t have anything to post, lately? How’m I doing?

I have two stories:
1. In eleventh grade chemistry one of our labs was to figure out what the hell made the bubble guys in Orbitz float around like that. The teacher kept his bottles of Orbitz safer than he kept the various acids in the room because he liked doing the lab so much and it’s nigh impossible to find.

2. The local grocery store had a free Surge dispenser for, like, five years. It was awesome.

I remember reading that Vault uses almost the same formula as Surge, only Vault has more caffeine than Surge did. The very first time I tried it I thought it was just like Surge.

Let’s see I liked Crystal Pepsi and Pepsi Blue. Does that make me a Pepsi fanboy?

It warms my heart that, at least for a while, Heatmiser and Snowmiser had their own Pepsi variants. They could have used them to plug ‘em. That would have owned!!

Forgive my second post. Just as I placed a post on the last thread, I went back to the blog and found that a new thread had been published while I was preparing my comment on the last one. Oh, well. The weather is great where I live right now, very warm and sunny, so the soda theme seems very appropriate. I remember Crystal Pepsi(stank!), Pepsi Blue (liked), and Surge(kinda so-so). In case nobody reads my post on the last entry, why don’t we think of Valentine’s Day-themed episodes of 80’s/early 90’s tv shows? If he wants to, and if he hasn’t done so before, Matt could then write a review for one.

Heh, I read Tropical Chill Pepsi as Tropical Chili Pepsi at first. That would be one hellauva failure……

I guess I was in 9th grade when Surge first came out, and while it was wildly popular at first, soon rumors started spreading that the yellow dye they used was actually a spermicide and that drinking it would drastically lower your sperm count (I’ve heard these same rumors attatched to Mountain Dew, but never on the level that they were with Surge, at least locally).

Naturally, this rumor eventually evolved into “Surge causes shrinkage of your genitals”.

I absolutely hated Surge. and while I’m at it, I also hated Kick and Jolt and all those other fucking nerdy hacker drinks.

I swear Pepsi Clear tasted like soap. I remember being so excited to buy it and so disappointed to drink it.
I also remember watching Top Gun on VHS with the Pepsi commercial before the infomous Paramount intro. It was about this pilot that had a malfunction with his “Refreshment System” which would shoot a pepsi out between his legs. So instead of admitting defeat he inverted his plane and poured the drink via gravity into a coffee cup. Ah….the choice of a new generation. Good stuff.

Orbitz just plain stunk, and the gel balls didn’t help. It was like they couldn’t decide if they were a soda or a flavored water.

Pepsi Blue- This was actually pretty good, if you’re a fan of plain fruit sodas (strawberry, grape, orange. Also, does anyone know you can’t find diet fruit sodas like every other flavor?) in general. Heck, MD Livewire still exists, no reason why this can’t be brought back under a new name.

Surge- MD on steroids. This was good, but you were hyper after drinking it. Maybe parental backlash was the reason it doesn’t exist anymore. BTW, does Vault still exist? I tried it when it first came out. It wasn’t bad but I haven’t seen it for a long time.

Justin- Code Red still exists, at least around here it does. I haven’t heard anything about it being discontinued.

The Tropical Chill Pepsi brings back a very good childhood memory for me.
Sleeping in the backyard with the kiddie pool converted into the most awesome bed ever.
While the Strawberry Burst brings back a horrible one. Not traumatic, but not fun. Sitting in our old blazing hot Jeep herokee while my dad changed the tire in the parking lot of the world’s most ghetto ass shopping center.

Man, I wish I had saved some of the 11,000 Pepsi Cool Cans I bought back in the day. I’d be rich now!

Hah! I still have a bottle of Orbitz on my bookshelf. The floaters look like they’re starting to lose some cohesion, and the liquid is a bit more yellowy than it used to be, but otherwise it’s still in pretty good shape.

Surge and Jolt are the reason I’m alive today. They’re also the reason I’m going to have a massive heart attack at the age of thirty-two, but that’s all in the future. Oh, and Vault is still around so far as I know. I snag a bottle whenever I find myself at a gas station which lacks Jones Green Apple.

I tried Pepsi Fire when I was in Malaysia. It was so-so. When I travel abroad I always hit up a store to check out the soda and candy selection.

The rapper for the PEPSI COOL CANS was Young MC. I remember it well because there was a cash give away if you found the lucky cool can.
YOUNG MC to “Bust-a-move”: “Cool cans are coming so don’t be afraid and if you get lucky then you might get paid” Oooohhh yeahhh.

SURGE: Everywhere I went, SURGE was being given away. After school, the SURGE van. After the SMASHING PUMPKINS CONCERT, SURGE was there. After the old Jacksonville Lizard Kings ECHL game, SURGE was there and it was free! I even filmed a SURGE commercial for my high school T.V. production class.
Finally, I saw (but sadly did not buy) COKE II in college in Statesboro, GA (???)

Matt, Satan is still wondering if you’ll be his Valentine’s. He won’t relent until you give him an answer.

Man, Surge. I still can’t believe I ever put that into me, but it was middle school and I was willing to try any stupid “cool” thing that came down the pipe. (I had it for breakfast. The rest of that day was awesome.)

I make no such claims for Orbitz, as I was just suckered in by the awesome look of the thing. And does Coke Blak fall into this category yet? Because I don’t know anyone who’s ever bought the damn thing, and it’s certainly a dumb enough concept.

As soon as it gets approved, my original post will show. It will show you the glory that is American Surplus and Supply and the X-E classic The Fight for Pepsi Blue.

I should know better, two links automatically puts a post into the approval bin. Oh well.

I loved Surge. Maybe it was because it was so like Mountain Dew. (Which is still my favorite.) Yet it was different. Ah. I remember drinking it on vacation one year and playing a lot of air hockey with my cousin. I think I won every game. Good times.

Also Orbitz. I’m pretty sure we bought those at Target. Everything else I either never had or found terrible.

Forgive the double post but this is a topic I can relate to.
I’d like to also give another nod to the “Blue Raspberry taking over the world in 1991″. For those of you who weren’t around or don’t remember, truer words were never typed.

Secondly, is there a way to preserve unopened cans? I know my STAR WARS CANS *sigh* all burst open. Can it be done or do they have to be drained? Matt? Anyone?

i’m surprised the “holiday” pepsi isn’t on here. i think it was about 2 christmas’ ago? it had cinnamon and some other “holiday” spices in it as well.

i def. remember when pepsi blue came out….tasted and looked like windex to me!

Growing up in a town where there was NOTHING to do, a new soda was a huge event. We all loved Orbitz, and hated both Crystal Pepsi and Pepsi Blue. Never had Surge where I live- bummer!

Went to a flea market today with only ten bucks…so, by the time I got to the table with the Star Wars and Thundercats toys, I couldn’t buy any! And they had an old school Lando…I might have to go back next week and buy him or Panthro.

Oh wow, a new article!!!! I was reading it while trying to watch the Super Bowl at the same time. Anyway, I got through the article but not all the photos were downloaded the first time so I had to click it on again to see all those cool cans! Well, it’s halftime and while I wait for Prince to have a wardrobe malfunction of some sort, I might as well put my two cents in.

Anyway, Matt, great article! I totally remember Crystal Pepsi and Pepsi Blue. Surge sounds familiar, but I don’t recall if I ever drank it. Actually, Surge is not Coke’s first attempt to copy Pepsi’s Mountain Dew. Before that, they had Mello Yello which I swear was exactly like Mountain Dew. Anyway, I think some places up in Minnesota still carry Mello Yello, but I never noticed. Oh yeah, and does anyone remember Slice? That’s was Pepsi’s attempt to copy Sprite, but that’s what Sierra Mist does now. Actually, I do recall that 7UP and Sprite had different tastes but now they taste very similar. Anyway, back to the Blog entry.

All I can say on the sodas I mentioned was that I really did like all three of them. I thought Crystal Pepsi tasted just fine both in its original formula and when they added the citrus. I also liked Pepsi Blue very much. Okay, please excuse me but I was a dumb kid growing up. There was this soda that I used to drink that looked just hideous. The old bubble gum Hubba Bubba had a soda out called Hubba Bubba Cola. The liquid of all colors was PINK!!!! Now that I look back, I couldn’t imagine anyone looking at it let alone drink it but I drunk it…and I LIKED it!

Anyway, what ever happened to Jolt Cola? I know they have Jolt Gum but I haven’t seen the soda in a long time. I tried the Jolt treatment one time when I was cramming for finals in school. It never worked and I always ended up falling asleep anyway. Actually, when I drink Mountain Dew and/or Vault nowadays it still never keeps me up for any length of time. I always manage to fall asleep and all it does for me is make me piss a lot. I guess caffeine has a reverse effect on me or something.

Anyway, I better wrap this up because I can’t think of much else to say. I’m a bit pissed that AFN does not air any of the Super Bowl commercials and instead I have to sit through boring commercials about the military. Oh well, at least I get to see the cool commercials online. Hopefully downloading them with my connection won’t be too long. Anyway, once again, great article Matt! Hope you write another again very soon!

Oh, one other mention since someone mentioned Valentine’s Day. I guess it’s about time to unwrap and watch the old classic “Be My Valentine Charlie Brown” special on DVD. I myself don’t have any reason to celebrate Valentine’s Day (single, depressed, and living in Iraq, why would I need a miserable holiday like that), but I will always welcome an old Charlie Brown special into my viewing eyes any day! I need that space to fill between the Christmas and Easter specials so I figure Valentine’s Day will do just fine. Why couldn’t they do a St. Patrick’s Charlie Brown special? Anyway, I gotta go….

This article is exactly why X-Entertainment is my all-time favorite website. Thanks, Matt.

An actual article? Be still my heart–thanks, Matt! This is MUCH better than watching the Super Bowl.

I never tried Pepsi Blue because I have a rule against drinking liquid that looks like window cleaner. Unless its a Jones Soda. :9

Never knew Slice was gone…Mandarin Orange Slice was teh tasty! :9 Now my fave orange soda is Livewire.

I tried Coke Blak, it wasn’t bad. Tasted like a Coke that someone spilled a mocha into. Unfortunately my local gas station never got another shipment of it.

BJ - if you have too much caffiene, it does have the opposite effect. It can also make you pretty sick, too, if you keep trying to counter it with MORE caffiene. I did that with popping NoDoz and Dew once an hour when I was in military tech school. Wound up on my back for 2 days.

(wonders who else got mark!’s Ray Smuckles remark :D How’d you like the GOF?)

Ahh, yes, fond memories of Crystal Pepsi. I drank it fairly often, and I’ve always been more of a Coke person. Also liked that “Limited Edition” Holiday Spice Pepsi from a few Christmas seasons ago. My mom lived on the coffee-flavored Kona Pepsi in the mid-90s. HATED Pepsi Blue (I still think it looked and tasted like windshield wiper fluid). Slice wasn’t really much different than Sprite (or Sierra Mist, for that matter).

As for discontinued Coke, I only have very vague memories of New Coke and Coke II. Vanilla Coke was my favorite soda for many years; it still pops up in a few select places, usually in a soda fountain. I never tried Surge but do remember the can. I see Vault all over the place; the grocery store where I work sells it. I do remember seeing Jolt, but as with Surge, never tried it.

I’ve been waiting on pins and needles. Matt, did you get my Email or not? There’s been no reply yet.

Manimal, from what Steve Sansweet in the Star Wars Insider says, cans have to be drained eventually. He suggested putting a nail in the bottom, so then you don’t have to ruin the top by opening it. Hope that helps.
Wasn’t there a pink Dr. Pepper in 2003? Fusion, or something like that.

A couple of years ago, I was able to procure a full can of Coke II via eBay for under $10. I then did a taste test. The fact that I didn’t boot was satsifaction enough.

wow I know for a fact that I have actually drank surge, crystal pepsi, orbitz, and blue. I’m wondering if pepsi fire tasted like pepsi holiday spice. Orbitz was some of the grossest stuff I’ve ever tasted I remember for some reason having to pretty much chew those stupid ball things. However for some weird reason I miss pepsi blue because it was not so long ago that it was within my grasp.

Last year I had a drink that was like Orbitz with gigantism or elephantitus or a hydrocele -whatever medical condition that causes huge balls you wanna insert! I was thristy as hell and went to this Thai food place for a lemonade, and I saw this sign that said “add bubbles for $1!” Which I assumed meant carbonization. Instead, I got this drink with a 3/4 of an inch thick straw and black balls the size of Peanut M&Ms at the bottom! I sucked one up and it gummy bear-esque in consistancy and coconut flovored. WEIRD!!! It took me nearly an hour to drink the damn thing because of all the chewing! Highly suggested unless your highly thirsty!

I had a thought, “what if the powers of the internets could be appleid to 1-800-I-FEEL-OK?”

Here’s my answer:[URL=http://www.voicenet.com/~ntareski/ok/sounds.html]OK[/URL]
OK Soda sound bites, but they’re in Real Media, so I won’t touch them.

A) This tastes like rat poison.
B) How the holy hell did Pepsi manage to screw up the flavor of a BLUE LIQUID?

Dude, Matt, I have 2 unopened bottles of Vanilla Coke down my basement, why didn’t you mention this at all?!

And PLEASE tell me that the Pepsi Blue bottle was the same one from the Skeletor Pokemon Battle article!

Also, I spent the Super Bowl at the frat house, and good times were had. Sucks that Da Bears lost, but everyone snarked over the ads and halftime show (no more than 5 people said that Prince should be working at 7-11, and one said he should be scrubbing his toilet), and halfway through, it didn’t matter about the Colts winning, only to make sure that someone won money. (and it happened)

I’m watching Puppy Bowl III on Animal Planet right now, and god damn, it’s so hyopnotic!

Great seeing an article again! I’d like to see more. I remember all of them. I also remember enjoying Crystal Pepsi. I tried Surge once, made me choke. I was an avid Mountain Dew fan. You should mention Pepsi Kona if you do a follow up.

Another drink I’d like a mention of is something from Pepsi called Storm. I stopped drinking Mountain Dew when this came out, and when it dissappeared, I pretty much gave up soda. It tasted like a Slice or Sprite type drink, just it had extra caffiene. And predating the Red Bull & Vodka fad, I often enjoyed a mixture of Storm and Seagram’s 7 or Canadian Mist brands of blended whisky.

If you do a Part II to this article, I’d love to see you talk about the soda “Kick!” which was released around 1995. I Loved that Soda

Oh, and good call on “Josta”! Now that was a Great Soda. That was also released around 1995

I was in my room at the time and heard Best of You, and I ran out thinking it was the Foos–pissed that no one had even mentioned them playing Half Time–and found none other than the purple one.

What I heard of it wasn’t that bad. Or did he do Times Like These? Damn, I can’t remember.

Okay this is off topic..and if anyone has brought this up already i apologize in advance but…
I was at target today and i picked up a pack of CHOCOLATE flavored bubble yum…i havent tried it yet but it sounded so horrible that i just had to buy it. It seemed like something only other X-E readers would appreciate.

I spent a few years in Bosnia and Kosovo and on base there was all the Pepsi products one could drink for free. It was a little bit oh heaven in alot of hell.
They also gave us all the Lays chips we could eat as well. But they were strange flavors like Paprika and Frumage. Such a great thing but rendered useless. It was like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife. Is she dead yet?

Is it odd that sometimes I love the headers as much as the articles themselves?
I tried that pink Orbitz way back when because I got suckered in by the cool factor, but I was just too grossed out to drink any after the first ball-filled sip. Maybe a straw would have helped. I believe I ended up keeping it on a shelf for awhile, along with the homemade “lava lamp” that consisted of an old school glass Gatorade bottle filled with colored water and vegetable oil. Please tell me I’m not the only one who made one of those.

Orbitz was really disgusting, but it was popular for like two weeks. You wanted everyone to SEE you with it, but it was essentially too disgusting to actually drink. It was a strange situation and there were no winners.

That said, I like Clearly Canadian. It always made me feel important when I was a kid and I would drink it from those giant glass bottles.

I never knew that they discontinued the Surge drink. Our local gas stations and grocery stores still sell it. Very Strange.

Hopefully someone can back me up on this, because if the drink really was discontinued in the 90’s then I need to notify someone.

Seriously I am not even joking, does anyone live near me? I live in Dickson, Tennessee. It’s about 50 miles west of Nashville. I just got some the other day, I’ve always loved surge and Jolt and Vault and Amped and whatever other crazy ass thing there is.

I guess I only ever tried “Crystal by Pepsi” because the ones we bought always tasted citrusy and decidedly un-Pepsi like. I didn’t think Pepsi Blue tasted that bad, but in my book it always lost out to Dr. Pepper’s Red Fusion. Anyone remember that drink? And someone mentioned Vanilla Coke earlier…please don’t tell me that Vanilla Coke is dead! I love that stuff.

Hopefully someone can back me up on this, because if the drink really was discontinued in the 90’s then I need to notify someone.

It was discontinued around 2001 or 2002, I think. It had been slowly vanishing from store shelves and vending machines before that, but I think that’s when they officially stopped production. So the stores around you are selling soda at least 5 years old if they still have Surge.

Hopefully someone can back me up on this, because if the drink really was discontinued in the 90’s then I need to notify someone.

I don’t know if they’ve completely stopped production, but they did announce a couple of years ago that they were going to start phasing the drink out in the U.S. because after initially strong sales it slumped.

OK everybody, one of the worst old-school sodas ever from the 80’s was 7-Up Gold. This hideous witches brew looked like stale brandy and tasted like ginger ale and turpintine mixed! 7-Up Gold tasted about as bad a milking a Mexican rat for your cereal milk.

It’s not technically soda, but how about Seagram’s Golden Wine Cooler with Bruce Willis playing the guitar on the porch back in 1985? “It’s wet and it dry……My, my, my my!”

Don’t forget Quench, which tasted like a bad rip off of Squirt and Mellow Yellow. It even stole the can design. It was the poor man’s Mountain Dew

And someone mentioned Vanilla Coke earlierâ€¦please don’t tell me that Vanilla Coke is dead! I love that stuff.

Sadly, the Pure Vanilla stuff is. The pepsi version is incredibly hard to find yet I haven’t heard that it got discontinued, and it’s getting harder and harder to get either Lime version.

I fucking hated Coke Blak and I’m very shocked that it’s still on sale. I love Vault, it’s what’s keeping me alive right now. Good thing both my college & CVS have an enormous supply of it

I remember my brother came home once and said that he had tried Orbitz. “It’s like drinking your own chunks,” he said.

Whoever mentioned the “pink” Dr Pepper: Yes, it was called Fusion, but it was Red. It looked like Big Red, but it was Dr Pepper. Never tried it myself, so who knows what it taste like.

If anyone ever comes through Waco, you should go to the Dr Pepper museum…It’s pretty cool, and you can pick up Dublin Dr Peppers, which are bottled in Dublin, TX–the only bottling plant that still uses pure cane sugar instead of a substitute.

And please tell me I’m not the only person who has drunk “Big Peach?” It’s made by Big Red, but it’s pink and tastes like Peaches…

I’m surprised no one on here has mentioned TAB at all!!!! Probably because it was too disgusting to want to remember being a Sugar Free Diet Soda and all. However, as a little kid growing up in the 80s, I remember drinking TAB on a number of occasions. It’s funny because when I think about TAB, I think about a comment made by Writer/Producer Bob Gale on the Audio Commentary for the first Back to the Future movie on DVD. In the scene where Marty goes into the old Cafe in 1955 and he orders a TAB, Bob Gale explained that TAB was a diet drink popular in the mid-70s that by 1985 was pretty much in extinction. Every time I hear that comment, I have to shake my head and say, “No Bob, TAB was still very popular in the mid-80s because I drank TAB on a number of occasions during that period!” Also, I recall that the other comment was about Pepsi Free. Who can forget Pepsi Free. I remember when Pepsi came out with a Caffeine Free Pepsi. I take it it was just a new name and label for the Pepsi Free, but that sure didn’t last long now did it?

Anyway, does anyone remember a soda named Like Cola? I don’t recall if I ever tasted it but if I did I can bet it probably tasted a bit like RC Cola or New Coke for that matter. I also recall a diet soda called Diet Rite. I take it this was basically another Diet Pepsi because the two often confused me.

Okay, now a question I have to ask that yes, it’s related to soda. Does anyone know what company owns Dr. Pepper? I keep thinking it’s either Coca-Cola or RC Cola. I’ve seen them available both in Coca-Cola Vending Machines and RC Vending Machines. However, Coca-Cola has their own version called Mr. Pibb (or actually it’s Pibb Xtra now), so I was assuming it was RC Cola, which would explain the many number of RC Cola Vending Machines I’ve seen in Texas. However, I think it’s probably independent of all the sodas because I believe it’s owned by the Dr. Pepper company. I think I just answered my own question.

Anyway, I thought I had another soda to mention but I guess I either forgot it, or only had this stuff to tell. So, I am going to end this blog by asking if anyone remembers any of the old slogans they used to use for soft drinks. I can remember quite a few Pepsi slogans. Everything from “The Choice of a New Generation” to “Gotta Have It” to “Everything else is a Pepsi” and “Pepsi Generation” and “Pepsi: Generation NeXt.” There’s one I remember for Diet Coke: “Just For the Taste of It: Diet Coke!” Coca-Cola had “Coke Is It” and when they brought back the original formula from the disastrous New Coke test. “Coca-Cola Classic: You Can’t Beat the Real Thing!” Finally, there’s my favorite: “Always Coca-Cola!” I bet I can think of a few more but these are the ones that come to my mind the most. Of course, what better way to end it than with the old Ray Charles slogan for Diet Pepsi, which is how I’m going to end this blog: “You Got The Right One Baby, UH-HUH!”

By the way, does anyone remember the Saturday Night Live spoof on Crystal Pepsi: Crystal Gravy?

I miss Pepsi Blue! I was so in love with the stuff that I was distinguished from the other Drew in my workplace based on my constant intake… what a horror it is no more. Good thing I’ve shirked the soda addiction, my body thanks me.

And for the record, clearly canadian is still alive and kicking strangely flavored sodas around… although I haven’t seen anything of theirs in years.

I havn’t memorized every entry on this blog, but has nobody mentioned Jolt! Cola yet? Twice the sugar, twice the caffiene. It was great. However, the MTV Half Hour Comedy Hour with Greg Proops taught me a drink that put Jolt to shame. It is called “Diet Crack” or AKA “Bastard Cousin”. You mix Strawberry Quik, Coke (the soda), and Pixie Stix together. I had a diabolically insane sugar rush for ten minutes followed by me being keel-over puking sick the next hour.

MAN!!! that brings back some memories. 1-800-IFEELOK was probably my most dialed number as a kid. I miss that bottom of the barrel mix of coca-cola brand sodas. everytime you bought a bottle it would be a different color. I remember trying to decipher which soda we were tasting. ahhh good times. I miss being a kid and having a complete disregard to the health of my teeth. though, I don’t think I tried most of the sodas on that list. I do remember, Coke 2 or new Coke, something like that, where coke pulled ALL the originals off the shelves in stores because they KNEW that this new product was going to kick ass. Welp… pepsi can thank coke for making one of the most unreal marketing decisions ever for their success. I don’t think they’d really have much now if it wasn’t for cokes stupidity.

Just gotta say, woaahh.
This guy writes with the most incredible wit! In all honesty; I never thought I’d be interested in an article about SODA, of all things. Kudos Matt, you’ve proved me very wrong.

This is amazing. I love the depth this article went into, although I must admit I am a little bit worried for Matt’s health.

Personally, my only experience/obsession with a now departed soda is much more recent. I haven’t seen one since 2004, but boy do I miss dnL. You may have saw it for the .5 seconds that 7up thought it was a good idea. Oh man, that stuff was fruitylicious!

If you’re in the market for funky Pepsi, you’ve got to track down a Pepsi Kona. You also might want to look up Mr. Green. That stuff was not necessarily good, but for some reason I became addicted to it and went through withdrawal when they took it off the market.

Hey, what gives? JOSTA? It’s the flagship guarana marketing push! WHEREEEEE is the JOSTA review? I periodically dream about opening a bottle of this gift to mankind and wake up with a heartache as if someone had just shot my father and mother in front of me. Since Pepsi refuses to divulge the recipe for the magic elixir I defer to living vicariously through people that still have some and these wet dreams of life once lived.

Glad to see that this one is well received. For those asking, remember, I just picked eleven from my collection and made due. Judging by the response, I will most definitely be adding a Part II with many of the “WHY ISN’T THIS HERE?!” sodas mentioned in the comments. :) Yay, soda fun!

Man…lol, what a great article! It brought back a lot. I remember Orbitz — you could buy ‘em by the case at Big Lots, haha — I loved it, but it was…weird, y’know? The little jello-ish globs are what I remember the most; I always swore they tasted different.
And Pepsi Blue! OMG…I dunno about you, but that was my fave on the list (aside from Surge, of course). I, like, hunted that stuff down forever…I still miss it.
But yeah, Mr. Green, dnL, Jolt!…don’t forget those next round. All in all, though, brilliantly written article, totally made my day. Thanks!

Oh man. I remember Orbitz. I remember tasting the Lemon Raspberry flavour and absolutely loving. I had somehow found out that they were discontinuing it and immediately ran down to my local 7-11. They had cases of the stuff and were selling for less than half price (which was still a lot of money). Apparently I was the only kid around who genuinely liked the stuff.

I amassed as much money as I could and bought as many bottles as I could afford. I think the cashier thought I was nuts.

I was amazed seeing all that old soda that you don’t see around. Great article! I do wish Surge was still around. I didnt like the taste, but I sure liked the energy burst.

Kudos to those who mentioned the horrific abortion of sodas known as “7-Up Gold”. I swear this was like someone poured all the stuff from a spice rack into a mixture of club soda and sugar. I cringe at the thought of what it tasted like (although I’d kill for a can just see if it’s still that horrible).

yeah…so i havent read all the comments on here… but when i first drank Vault….i was like…this tastes like Surge…. I was in high school when Surge came out…maybe middle school…. whatever…i loved that stuff…. and i even read the ingredents….i remember seeing orange juice in it….. so when i drank vault…i was like…. holy crap…this is surge….. yay!…yeah they might have changed the name…but it was back….. and now…..id still drink it….if i didnt give up soda for the year….oh well…it still leaves a warm place in my heart…knowing that a soda of the past is back….with a different name…. sort of like when Prince came back after being the symbol…

This article just set off some sort of bizarre series of flashbacks involving Pepsi Blue. We used to do the big family vacation to-do every year, which involved driving down I-95 from PA to FL. Anyway, we stopped off in North Carolina for gas and my brother and I go special Duke Blue Devils Soda, canned by the local Pepsi distributor. Yes, the soda was blue. And yes, years later I would relive that hot August day, sitting in the old gray minivan which reeked of Newports and Trues, my arm propping the window open and drinking soda with Duke’s Blue Devil staring at me when I would try Pepsi Blue some five or six years later. And all I can think was, I must be growing up because I remember this stuff being much cooler when I was in the 6th grade.

Which lead to a flashback of helping my sister package up boxes and boxes of the Blue stuff to ship to a friend in the UK, because she’d tried it while on holiday here and got hooked. Which I will never understand. But then again, those people also eat blood pudding. Anyway, it actually made it through customs. Ahh, the Pre-9/11 days …

Coke Blak is okay but I heard that it’s being discontinued, so I’ll be cleaning out the nearby grocery stores all week.

LOVED this article. I know a lot of stuff about old soda, but the Wild Bunch Pepsi was completely new to me!

Crystal Pepsi was perfectly summarized of all the Internet stuff I’ve read on it: it WAS like the second coming of Christ. Just watch the commercial on YouTube. Van Halen song, jibberish about the world…like clear cola was going to revolutionize the world. It was like the billboards in They Live that the aliens used to accustom to America.

Coke II I tried years and years ago, like when I was 4 or 5. Didn’t taste BAD from my memory actually.

I still feel like I live in a world where Surge is still made, probably because I remember that stuff from when I first tried it at a friend’s birthday party in 1998, after it went wide and readily available in NJ (it was like a cross between Mountain Dew and Sprite, but not orgasmic).

Pepsi Blue looked like Windex and tasted like a cross between seltzer and low-carb cola. No berry flavor noticed.

P.S. for Mary Mary and others: I remember Crystal Gravy on SNL. I laughed my ass off at it. “Now you can see through your food!” This was back when they went through their second golden age with Sandler, Spade, Carvey, Farley, Hartman, Nealon, et al.

Awesome review. I still remember trying New Coke and almost spitting it out because it was so sweet. You should look into a long gone drink called New York Seltzer. Awesome drink. As a kid you could drink it and belch for 4 days!!!

First of all, why does this article have to come just days after I swore I needed to cut down on the pop? (Michigander representin’)Now I’m craving at least 5 pops … grr.

My high school had Coca-Cola in promoting Surge and pretty much throwing it at us one day … my friend and I were co-editors of a zine at that time, and wrote an article about the school pushing a drug (caffeine) in exchange for cash.

Why does high-caffeine have to look like acid and taste like bad citrus fruit inbreeding? Red Bull, Amp, etc. all have that factor.

I fondly remember drinking/chewing Orbitz, even ptooing the gel balls into a glass of water to see if they’d float. They don’t. Also, seeing how many you could line up on your lip. Good times.

I never minded Crystal Pepsi, because I imagined it would taste like Pepsi and I wasn’t disappointed. Yeah, if you were thinking Sprite when you took a sip, that was a big slap in the face. This may have been psychological, but something I liked about Crystal Pepsi was that it seemed “cleaner”. My mouth didn’t feel as gunked up and syrupy when I was done. Then again, that was 15 years ago, so my review may be less-than-accurate.

I second Matt’s thoughts on Pepsi Blue. It was so beautiful that I wanted to love it with all my heart. I went to the circus once and got one of those giant snow cones in a souvenir cup (”suicide” of course). At the bottom was a pool of all the syrups. I made the mistake of drinking it and I think I was nauseous for the next 24 hours. The flavor was almost identical to that of Pepsi Blue.

Hello - fun article. I would love to see something on OK soda. I actually have a few cans left. I have a bunch of OK collectibles as well, OK stickers and such. I think it was a clever campaign that COKE came up with, plus I liked the taste even thought it was like a mixture of Orange soda and a bunch of colas.

Oribitz! I drank a couple of those in their heyday. They weren’t bad - the globs were a little weird to get used to. It really wasn’t that much different than the bubble teas that are popular today (except the tapioca globs are much yummier than the Orbitz globs).

You should get your hands on a drink called “Sundrop” it can only be found in southern states like Tennessee and parts of Alabama. It’s made by the Dr.Pepper company and has been around for years. It tastes a lot like Mountain Due only ten times better.

1) They used to have cases of that gunk.
2) A bottle of it works as a lava lamp until the pustules overheat and explode, turning the liquid into a vile glop that has to be smelled to be believed.

They forgot all about Pepsi Kona! That stuff is like drinking that cold coffee with too much sugar in it the next day.

OT: If anyone has been to Disney World in the past three years you know what I am talking about. Matt did a series on a trip to Disney so you can reference this too. You know that chick that is on the “all to do in Disney” Channel in the hotels? She shows you all the activities and she flirts with the gelato guy? Yeah, I saw her last night on a Selsom Blue commercial. I was beating myself up because she has that familiar face. It’s nice to see her working. She’s too cute not to.

Dude, Pepis Blue was AWESOME. I loved that stuff. I used to drink a couple bottles of that a day when it was out. It was definetly better in the plastic bottles than the cans though. I think the cans gave it a bit of a weird taste. That stuff was like blue, liquid crack.

Does anyone remember a contest that Coke did in the late 80s (possibly early 90s) where some cans actually had rolled up money in them when you opened them?

Yeah Ramune soda is amazing, and is made even better via Ramune candy. It’s like tiny ballerinas dancing on your tongue.

I remember such contest. Others where cans had rolled up shirts in them, which of course had a huge oversight in the fact that when you buy a coke out of a machine you want something to drink and not a shirt.

OMG! At least OK soda got a mention…. They had great commercials and a great gimmick… Too bad the drink itself was horrible.
I bought my firstand last bottle, had a few swigs, by the time I crossed the store parking lot I really though I was going to wretch. I remember it having a orangy/cola taste. It made my stomach hurt.

Coke Blak is the worst soda ever. I don’t like coffee to begin with so that was a huge strike to begin with.

I once went to a restaurant that would mix various syrups into your soda. I tried a strawberry coke and it was good. They also had a chocolate coke but I didn’t touch that one.

Do they still make Cheerwine? We had that stuff up in PA for like 3 weeks one summer and I loved it. I also miss my Frank’s. Though Canada Dry bought most of their recipes, it’s not the same without “Is that a Frank’s? THANKS!” on the side of the can.

Surge-Flavor similar to Rondo, I miss both. Vault is good, and it comes in diet.

Jolt-Had a good all-round cola flavor. Every time I drank some I went to sleep. Otherwise, I caffeinate pretty well.

Coke II: Electric Cokealoo-What was so new about tasting like a generic cola? I heard a rumor that Sam Walton bought the formula for use as the Sam’s Choice cola flavor.

I’ll always be a Surge fan because I won two Motorola FRS radios from a thier contest.

Tab is still for sale in some places. I too wish Jolt cola would have made the list. It was right there with Surge. Also I wonder what ever happened to Shasta soda’s. They used to be for sale on the west coast. But I haven’t seen a Shasta cola for a long, long time. Also there was a cola from KY called Ale81. It was awesome and was actually distributed from same facility that made Rolling Rock out of latraub, ky.. However that plant is now closed even though the bottles of Rolling Rock say that they are made there, I don’t think they are now that Anheiser Busch has bought them out. I hope you post a follow up or do a second part and mention some more of the cola’s that went the way of the Dino’s.

this article needs a part 2. Josta, pitch black, holiday spice pepsi and maybe pepsi Jazz

That was a really fun article. Thanks! Of course you know you’re looking for trouble by bringing up New Coke/Classic Coke but not the sugar cane/corn syrup part of the controversy.

The Pepsi ‘Wild Bunch’ came out when I was in 5th grade… I guess Tulsa was picked as a test market, for reasons that escape me. I always assumed it was national.

The Strawberry and Razzwhatever were kinda gross. But I couldn’t get enough of the Tropical thing. Tasted kinda pineapply-coconutty.

OK soda recipe
2 parts cola soft drink
1 part orange soft drink
tastes just like OK

We don’t have Rice Coke in Japan! :p But we do have some odd ass flavors of stuff like Coke Citra and they have Pepsi Twist hanging around as it appears to be pretty popluar over here. I can get you some awesome pictures of what is in our vending machines/grocery stores around here if you are curious. Too bad the bottles are heavy as hell or I’d offer to send you some too.

Honestly, I loved Pepsi Blue. Wish it were still around. Also wish I could still find Pepsi Twist and Pepsi Vanilla. Didn’t like the lime one too much though.

Never really drank many of the Coke variations, ’cause I don’t like Coke that much.

I think I was around 5th grade when Surge appeared. Loved that stuff. I have one great memory of a friend’s birthday party where we’d be in the middle of something, and then someone would yell SURGE!! and we’d all race over to where the cans were sitting, like in the commercials. I was super happy when Vault came out, because it’s so much like Surge was.

And BJ, I believe Dr. Pepper/7up is now a separate company from Pepsi or Coke. Although I’ve found that 7up is usually in stores as a Pepsi product and that Dr. Pepper varies.

For what it’s worth, I’ve encountered mint (ice?) pepsi in China… people mix it with red wine, and apparently enjoy the combination.

Long story short: Coke Blak = bad
Pepsi Blue = worse
Pepsi Holiday Spice = the Devil’s brew

I agree this needs a part two.
Mello Yello Cherry
Mello Yello Melon
Both good. I liked the melon. Do they still sell cherry?
There were two pepsi golds.
And many others. I love the wikipedia.
Anyone remember the cool spot? He had an ok game.
I also love this site.

There were a couple of comments on Dr Pepper’s Red Fusion, but does anyone know if it’s still sold anywhere? I hated it at first, but I got totally hooked on it. Just before they quit selling it around here.

I remember the Coke cans that had money in them. I think I remember hearing somewhere that Coke had to stop the promotion because people were going into stores and would just start opening cans.

Matt, I feel for you man. Your bladder has to be shot after drinking all these expired sodas and koolaids. Not to mention the Jones soda tasting sessions. You could probably drink melted steel and crap out an office building couldn’t you?

And I thought I was the only one who did this. I still have some orbitz in my basement, along with the Loganberry flavor of Canada Clear which was discontinued first. But you of course take the prize, well done.

Have you ever come across Quattro? Sort of a Squirt-like 4-fruit flavored (hence the name) soda that I remember from growing up in London in the early 80s. Don’t never if it ever made it over to the states, but it was tasty.

ok, not bad … but this isn’t really ‘back in the day’ stuff. Late 80’s? See if you can find a can of my fav, Tiger Red, anyplace. Cherry cream soda produced in the midwest in the mid-60’s. Fantastic stuff and had this great circus tiger on the can. There were lots of those produced before the cola wars of the 80’s made the cold war look tame and left about as many contestants standing. Regionally you could find 8-10 different varieties of root beer and cream soda, and just about as many colas … RC, Zip, Gator-Cola, you name it. If you really want a fab collection, go for some of those if you can still find ‘em. Cheers!

By the way, does anyone remember the Saturday Night Live spoof on Crystal Pepsi: Crystal Gravy?

Hell yes, we’ve mentioned it here several times, and ranks as probably one of the most nauseating SNL sketches ever, right behind Swill, the Bird Family, and my personal fav, Massive Headwound Harry.

I’d like to say I freakign LOVED Pepsi Blue and I am so damned pissed that it got discontinued along with Vanilla Coke (which it was created to compete agaisnt)! It’s the Surge and OK Soda of my time! I tried Holiday Spice only once cold and remembered liking it. And is Strawberry & Cream being phased out? I loved that one too!

I hated Coke Blak, and I gave the other 3 bottles of the 4 pack to my co-workers.

And it seems we got the Fark crowd here too. I’ll say that HOLY CRAP I loved Orange Slice and I’m saying right now that LI gas stations are plentiful of Fanta Orange.

As others have said, 7-Up Gold was both great and disgusting. What made it great was Captain Morgan Spiced Rum. To this day there is nothing that mixes better with the good Captain. The next best thing is Ale 8-1 from KY, which is still available as far as I know. At least I have still seen it down there on the shelf.

As for Jolt, it’s alive and well. It’s sold in much larger cans that resemble batteries these days, and comes in the “classic” cola as well as several other flavors, including a “diet energy drink.” They sponsored an event I helped throw back in January.

Oh man, Mello Yello Melon, or “Melon Yellow” as I called it was my God during my family’s road trip to the east coast. I’ll never forget that stuff. Also, I once enjoyed a bevorage by the name of “Sprite Ice” when I was on a trip in Canada. Back in the day I was pretty sure that it would shortly be dead in the sugar-water, so I made sure to chug as many 2-liters of it’s watered down listerine taste while I had the chance.

Jolt is still plentiful in my area (Maryland). I am surprised to see so many of us mentioning it with extinct sodas.

I believe Dr. Pepper/7up is now a separate company from Pepsi or Coke. Although I’ve found that 7up is usually in stores as a Pepsi product and that Dr. Pepper varies.

Dr. Pepper doesn’t (usually, anyway) do their own distribution, so they usually outsource it to Coke or Pepsi. Depending on what company the the local Dr. Pepper bottler has outsourced to
handle the distribution, it shows up alongsider coke or pepsi products in restraunts, etc.

Man, I was in, I think, fifth grade when Orbitz came out. There were three of us in the class that were just complete Orbitz fanboys, we could not get enough of that crap. Literally every other person I knew thought it was disgusting, but god we loved that stuff.

Come to think of it, we may have liked it partially because seeing us drink it caused our teacher to gag uncontrollably. He actually forbade us from drinking it right after lunch. God that was awesome.

I lived in Asia about a year ago and Pepsi Ice was about all I’d drink, along with all the strange bubble teas they have there.. There was also a “Icy mint white grape” Coke product as well called Qoo which was ridiciously good. excellent stuff.. now Pepsi Fire on the other hand, downright disgusting, but I suppose I could see it garnering some sales in areas where spicy food is the norm.

and responding to one of the previous posts.. Cheerwine is always available in the Carolinas, it definatly tastes more like a sugar water than a soda.

And now it’s time for another installment of Crap You Don’t Care About Theatre!

So after building a new computer, waiting for NWN2 to arrive in the mail, spending three days trying to download the patch, spending a further day downloading all the drivers to fix my horrible framerate, and taking a leisurely, thorough run through the first chapter, I have discovered that the voice I chose for my bard sounds exactly like Andy Dick.

This cannot stand. You can’t save the world from Shadow with someone who sounds like Andy friggin’ Dick. So now I need to roll a new character and restart. Foiled again.

This has been another exciting episode of Crap You Don’t Care About Theatre! Be sure to tune in next week, when I run out of clean socks and spill orange juice all over the cabinet!

The best of all time was Pomac - looked like beer - tasted good too - died without a whimper

People who mentioned that they like bubble tea: You are insane. I went to Tealuxe for the first time a few weeks ago, my friends convinced me to get bubble tea…such a waste of really, really good tea.

They tasted okay, but it was like chewing on a mouthful of snot. That’s not something I can deal with.

Pepsi Blue Was Awesome….I see a lot of claims on here that states it tastes like window cleaner, or anti-freeze. why not take a swig and truly find out ;p. Honestly don’t compare it to a deadly liquid you’ve never tried.

In fact I love Pepsi Blue so much that I have spent the last few years of my life to recreate the flavor. It’s a shame though that my tastebuds don’t recall it exactly…I think I’ve gotten close…but theres no way to be certain.

Great list, had discussions about sodas of the past many a times. Josta was the only drink really deserving to be on the list. I totally bought into its hype machine when I was in middle school, I even made sure to buy some the day it debut. I remember drinking it and thinking “Man, this tastes like Coke just mixed all the vats of soda at the end of the day and labled it Josta”. I loved it though, and am surprised they haven’t tried to revive it (since it had Guarana and Ginseng and all kinds of other stuff found in energy drinks nowadays).

Here’s some additions that are pretty old, but still pretty famous in the Great Lakes region. Faygo (I’m sure most of you have at least heard of it) came out with two sodas in the 70’s, one called Chateau Faygo which was champagne flavored and one called Faygo Brau which was beer flavored. Never had either but around 2000, the local news station in Detroit ranked them as the second “Biggest Detroit Flop” of the century behind the People Mover (groan…) and right above the Edsel. Keep in mind, this was before the Lions drafted Joey Harrington.

Very nice article. I remember a lot of the commercials that went along w/ the drinks, and most really weren’t a surprise that they were canned (sorry). Be prepared to add “Pepsi Jazz” to that list. Oh, and do you have any idea if Mountain Dew’s Midnight is going to be back in production in the future?

I have to agree with Mark, Dave, et al. If you do a part deux, don’t forget about Josta! That crap had me hooked, and then they pulled the plug. I think all the nonsense on the bottle about the super-duper power of guarana berries made me a perfect market for energy drinks when they came out years later.

RAS THANK YOU!
Although I had always thought there might be root beer in the mix…

In response to the Cheerwine comments, if you ever have the chance to buy it in old school glass bottles, do it. It doesn’t even taste like the same soda. There’s a place in S. Carolina that just sells bottles of hard to find soda. I wish I could tell you where, but my parents would stop there sometimes when they’d trek between Atlanta and Virginia. Your basic Cheerwine is readily available here in VA, and if you go to Food Lion, you can often find Cheerwine novelties (like ice cream and popsicles.)

I used to get Orbits from the 24 Hour Convenience Store on Richmond Ave. The one sorta part of Greenwich Plaza- across from the Golden Dove Diner. They also sold Jolt in those years where it was nearly impossible to find.

what about OK soda. it tasted like a comb of all the other sodas. it was pretty pretty pretty good.

My only standout memory of Pepsi Blue was that I had a really upset stomach after drinking a bottle of the stuff. Every time.

You forgot about OK soda, the soda that was OK to drink. If I remember correctly it was a mix of iced tea and orange soda from the Coca-Cola comapny

Oh and by the way, the tiny dots still continue to float in my bottle of Orbitz, almost 8 years further and counting

What about Pepsi kona?? That was the best. It tasted just like Pepsi, but had a coffee after taste. I think that may be the reason I am so large, and drink about 96 to 120 ounces of coffee a day now.

Great article. I could have sworn Crystal Pepsi tasted like real Pepsi, but all of my friends told me I was crazy. They swore to me that it was a Sprite clone. Then I tried it again, maybe a year later, and finally agreed with them.

…now I’m thinking I just had the unfortunate luck of drinking Crystal BY Pepsi. I was right all along! I can’t wait to rub it in my friends faces!

Also, when I was seven or eight, my aunt pulled some strings and got me a can of Bubble Yum Soda. After the first sip, it was my new favorite soda. I think I had wised up by the second or third sip, though. I don’t think I ever finished the can. Now I just wish I hadn’t opened it, and just saved it so I could sell it on eBay now.

what about OK cola? and it had the 1 800-I-feel-ok hotline. that was a good time in my life.

You missed the pride and joy of my ancient soda collection. In the summer of 1996, long before the forward thinkers at Coke had envisioned this truly wondrous combination (read Coke Blak), my cousin from Virginia sent to my dormitory in southern California a 12-pack of Pepsi Kona. This black-canned, coffe flavored monstrosity was actually the subject of many college bets, unltimately leading to the conclusion that not even rum-soaked frat boys could get a whole can down and keep it there. This coffee meets cola concoction was indeed so foul that a local dorm band wrote a song about it called “Black Death.” Here is a link to some stuff about it -

I still have 2 unopened cans. I highly recommend obtaining a few for your collection, but would sooner advise you to drink the piss of a rabid hungarian prostitue with leprosy.

Didn’t look through all the comments above so someone may have mentioned this but be on the lookout for “Pepsi AM” if you haven’t run across it. Came out in a few small markets and one was in Iowa in the Cedar Rapids area (I think).

It was supposed to be a cola you could drink in the morning (less carbonation) and had coffee strength caffeine. One guy drank a entire six pack while playing cards and then sat up all night huddled in a chair….

Better stock up on Coca-Cola Blak. Because in 7years your gonna be writing about how no one asked for Coffee flavored Coke, but for some reason they thought we wanted it anyway.
Also, Black Cherry Coca-Cola. Not that great.

Diet 7UP Gold was the worst ever-imagine Old Spice crossed with a Diet 7Up…Like Soda was also foul, and I never tried “Nutz” Soda but Stephen Colbert was obsessed with it… (came in pistachio, peanut, hazelnut, you get the idea…)

You have a pretty cool site here. I really enjoy your witty writing style and love learning about this off beat hobby/topic. It’s not often that a person can take a step back from pop-culture and say ‘look at all this weird shit that goes on.’ Great job! Do another article!!

Majorly off topic but, out of pure boredness and full nerdiness I have created a street! Click my name to build a house and add it to my street!

Yeah, discontinued pops/sodas… Bring back Vanilla Coke, I only have one more case left. Otherwise I’m gonna have to move to Atlanta and visit the Coke Musuem to get free samples all the time.

Otherwise, the only pop/soda I have tried mentioned in the artical is Clear Pepsi. I thought the gimmick was cool, but I was like 8 at the time so I thought everything was cool.

My eyes have only recently just beheld.. the ECTO COOLER BIBLE!! HOLY SHIT! My quest of epic porportions for the delicious orange/tangerine flavor is over. When I saw the receipt towards the bottom of the page I let loose an extremely triumphant laugh. Teh power of teh interwebnet never fails to impress me with the sheer amount of obscure information. Your research and the research of others is appreciated. Now… I must go to the grocery store.. so I can have the power of ECTO COOLER flowing through my veins once again!

I live on your street now, IHAQ. Honestly, I feel inadequate living next to you and your fully colored and populated house.

Early eighties in Sweden we had a soda called FANTA BLACK ORANGE, It lasted for two years or so,then disappeard. The rumour said that it was 50% Fanta and 50% CocaCola and it was great to mix with your moonshine. A so called “grogg”.

I have vague memories of “7-up ice cola” and how they kindly offered to mix cola and 7-up when I tried ordering it in a bar …

Hey, what about Slurm? That stuff was great. Although I heard a rumor that it was made using the excrement of a giant space slug. But that has to be bogus, right?

Ah yes, it IS February…perhaps Matt is off enjoying a few of his martinis or licqour mixed with strange sodas to celebrate…
Happy BDay- Thanks for all you do.

I found Pepsi Fire & Ice in the Philippines last summer. Didn’t try the Fire, but the Ice was ok..

what about the second version of pepsi blue that came out like 3 summers ago?
It was suppose to be “outrageously sour” or something along those lines. It tasted rather odd. More sugar and more of a sour taste, i would say, than reg pepsi blue, but overall i didnt like it.

I’m glad someone remembered two sodas I liked. Melon Yellow and dnL. And all these strange sodas are a strangely interesting read. Like most of the articles, they remind me of being a kid.
And red mountain dew doesn’t taste good. The red makes it like white chocolate reese’s, too plain and the stuff blends too well with each other.
I’d rather drink the old black or some orange. That’s not bad. And I have cheerwine. Drank some a day ago. I am in SC.

One Pepsi product not included here is Pepsi Light. Pepsi light came in a blue can, was flavored with lemon and was sold in the late 70’s. It is still one of my favorites.

I have fond memories of the Raging Razzberry Pepsi. My grandparents bought a ton of that stuff in when I was a kid. That stuff was great! I still have a raging razzberry hat around here somewhere.

I used to live in a big test market back in High School and they’d load the machines with whatever crap they were peddling. I remember “Hey, wanta pop? Oh crap, all they’ve got left is Josta. Forget it.”

That and an interesting rumor is that Pepsi defied an understood drink makers agreement not to make blue liquids to consume. For decades it was agreed not to make blue drinks cause Kids might drink antifreeze or windex by mistake.

Nice article. Looking forward to second part with Pepsi Jazz (all 3 flavors). Also be on the lookout for yet another new Pepsi flavor this summer.

How about Pepsi-Free in the red can? No caffiene which is horrible for kids, but it actually was the only caffiene free soda that didn’t taste fundamentally different than the original. I saw a few people mention Diet-Rite, and let me explain how awful that hemlock in a can was. My friend’s mother hated her son drinking excessive amounts of soda, so to get him to quit drinking too much soda, see intentionally left cans of Diet-Rite in the fridge to discourage him and his friends. Let’s just saw that I never snuck a soda out of that house ever.

Not soda, but this is the latest “Concerned Citizen” cocktail rage that is sweeping the conservative suburbs by storm. It is called an “Awesome”, which is the nickname for OSM. The Awesome is made by mixing Orange juice with Sparkling Martenelli’s. When this paganistic, souless world of misfits and heathens threatens your safe and protected lifestyle, tip back Orange juice with Sparkeling Martenelli’s (OSM, drink called “Awesome) to retain your sense of security while living life on the wild side (by your standards).

K- I am jealous of the size of your flowers. Perhaps I need some gardening tips!

Kingklash,awesome place, but I think I’ll avoid walking down the street, I don’t want to get eaten by your plants!

Maybe we can have some more neighbours? My name is still the link to build a house.

I’m thinking that Pepsi One is gonna join that list. I swear, it’s a nightmare trying to find this stuff, and I’ve looked all over. Damnit. And I think it’s better than Diet Pepsi, cuz it doesn’t have that aftertaste thing as much. Any other One lovers here?

And people already mentioned it. I lived on that shit back in the day. All Coffee Cola and some such nonsense. It as awesome.

I remember expecting Pepsi Blue to taste more… blue. Blueberry. Blue rasberry. Just more fruity flavored.

Anyway, I got a story. I went to France a few years ago and went to the store to buy soda. Of course, all the labels were somewhat French and I couldn’t find any ‘plain’ Pepsi. But they had this soda called Pepsi MAX.I was just relieved they had a soda I could recognize, so I bought them. I remember them tasting a lot like Coke, which surprised me. But I just assumed then that French Pepsi was different than American Pepsi. Like their McDonalds, or pizza.

Years later, I took typography in college and learned what a ‘Sans’ font was. Basically it meant a font without the extra curls, just the straight, simple lines. Later on, I was looking at the one can of Pepsi MAX I had brought back with me to the States and noticed at the bottom a small tag stating “Sans Sucrose”.

AS an aussie who works in a supermarket, I tried that Pepsi Samba. Once. Dear god, never again. I think we pulled it from shelves and threw em in the dumpster within a week!

Off-Topic- Has anyone tried the new limited edition Honey Mustard Pringles? Those things are DELICIOUS.

The only soda I ever actively hated is A&W Cream Soda. With the exception of Big Red, all cream sodas suck to me.

Did anyone have those make your own soda machines that was popular in the 80s? They usually came in fruit flavors plus root beer. Those were good.

I still have a few cans of Vanilla Coke at my house. I’m holding on to them for special occasions only though. In fact, I found three 12-packs at a Harris Teeter is September 2006, well after it was discontinued. I have not seen it anywhere since.

I absolutely LOVED Crystal Pepsi back when it came out… it didn’t leave the phlegmy brown wad of goo at the back of your throat like normal Pepsi.

And Pepsi Blue was a herald saint, in my book. I drank that stuff on a nearly daily basis since it was released right up to its death… it turned your poop green, though, when you drank that much. I was quite sad when they killed it off.

At least my remaining favorite soda is still around… You’ve got to get your hands on some Moxie!!

Honey mustard pringles? They sound delightful. I ADORE Cream Soda. I remember going to a brewery during a conference trip and having the best I’ve ever had while everyone else was drinking beer samplers.

I defy anyone to draw a worse house on Oh Yeah street than me. Honestly I think I could have done a better job with my touchpad. Infernal lab computer mouse

Though, the interpretation if gave me was pretty good. I know I’m not supposed to buy into that kinda stuff, but it was damn good in spite of itself.

I didn’t like Crystal Pepsi at all. The worst part was, my parents kept buying the shit. It was like it had a bad aftertaste or something… I distinctly remember drinking it and spitting on the floor afterwards to get the taste out of my mouth.

dnL was my favorite cancelled drink, very surge like but different in its own subtle way. i drank so much of that shit

I LOVE A&W Cream Soda! It’s an enormous bitch to find it in 20oz bottles, though. The only Cream soda I’ve ever hated was the one by Stewart’s, that was fucking horrible. Then again, I DID have it at one of the only 3 Howard Johnsons restaurants left…

And speaking of NEW Sodas, Coke Free Cherry is out now, but I hate Cherry, so I won’t be buying it.

I am confused as to why you point out that you saw Coca Cola Classic cans WAYYYYY after New Coke died out. Because they STILL have CLASSIC on them. They have since the first day it was brought back.

I have to say, I totally forgot about orbitz until I saw this… and I used to drink it all the time. It’s crazy how many things go in and out of market.

Man, I stayed up WAY too late reading this article. I saw it and knew I couldn’t wait to read it because I am a soda fiend!

Pepsi Blue was without a doubt, my favorite soda for the 6-12 months it was around. I remember drinking one with breakfast every morning the summer it was out. That was good summer for new sodas. There was Blue, Red Fusion and I believe that was the same year that Vanillal Coke hit the shelves.

My new addiction is Vault Zero. Now I am older and need to cut the caloires, and Zero tastes REALLY good for a diet drink. It still has a HUGE kick too despite the lack of sugar.

Drinks I would like to see in the Part II of this article: that green 7Up DNL stuff, 7UP Gold, Pepsi Holiday Spice, Dr. Pepper Red Fusion and Pitch Black (the first version, not the bastardized sour version from the following year). I know there are more oldies I would like to see, but they escape me right now. Does anyone remember a Bubble Gum soda from the mid 80s? I can’t remember what is was called but it came in a pink bottle. I thought it was great when I was a kid, but I bet if I tried it now it would be terrible.

Sodas that I think are likely to become “old sodas” in the not too distant future: Pepsi Lime, Coke with Lime, Pepsi Twist, Diet Coke with Lemon, Black Cherry Vanilla Coke (or whatever it is called), both types of Pepsi Jazz and Berries and Creme Dr. Pepper (but hopefully not Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper- I love that stuff). Nothing againt any of these, there are just too many different products on the shelf right now to stay in production.

And finally, why have Coke and Pepsi refused to try a chocolate soda? It might end of pretty bad, but I have been wanting them to try it for years. You think that with all the vanilla sodas the thought must have crossed their mind at least a few times. It’s even a classic soda fountain kind of drink like cherry and vanilla, so there is history there already. I mean, they made a freakin’ coffee flavored Coke. Come on already!

I don’t know if you just didn’t list it or if you don’t have any original coke. I actually have 3 bottles one even being an 80’s model 16 ouncer with a styrofoam label and aluminum cap. I will consider parting with one or all of them if you are interested however they won’t come too cheaply. Let me know if you are interested and I can email some photos to you. Find me on myspace at http://www.myspace.com/braacing_4_success.

The worst thing about waving to Vince McMahon at midnight is not having anyone awake enough to call and brag to about it. *off topic I know but if anyone would understand that, it’s here.

How can you possibly forget about OK Soda? It was totally disgusting but there were 800 numbers printed on the bottles that you could call and you could take quizzes and stuff. It was good. Damn, you missed out brother.

i totally forgot about surge, i used to drink it to stay awake in class during high school. it used to give me stomach aches so i switched to tequilla and have become a full fledged alcoholic. DAMN YOU SURGE

Casual Jeff: Your story with pictures about Casual cafe was probably the funniest thing I have ever read. “Sitting on your pig…” will stick with me for a while. Very funny, pal.

I loved pepsi blue! I can remember seeing the bus ads with a little dumbledor wizard + a big blue raspberry = a bottle of pepsi blue… mmmm blue liquid sugar….

Im also a big fan of Ironbru (sp?) and the random sodas i find at the local chinese market.

PS im in Canada and Sprite Ice has discontinued…nasty stuff. like drinking listerine and sprite mixed…and yet it was addicting. We called it Make-out pop.

I like Coke Blak….but i also like bubble tea so that probably doesnt say much.

Good Job Matt! Love your articles, been a fan for some time (over 2 years now….or at least a year…bad memory)

Should talk about Faygo cola (the official drink of the ICP yo) they make like 50 flavors of pop.

It looks like Vanilla Pepsi/Coke are both gone now, which makes me really upset. I loved the vanillas :( Pepsi Clear and Orbitz were awesome, as well. Pity.

Thats pretty cool, i’ve got some really old (10-15 yrs.) Special K unopened cans if you want them. I think there are like 3 citrus drop and 2 or 3 cola.

I actually enjoyed Crystal Pepsi. At the time, I also thought Howard the Duck was one of the best movies ever made, so there’s no accounting for taste.

On the topic of cancelled sodas, I really miss Holiday Spice. When it first came out, I bought 4 or 5 2 liters of the stuff and was hooked. Future X-mas’s will fell a little emptier without it.

I love the discontinued sodas, and if I could get a can of Surge I’d run over people for it.

Matt ought to draw X-E International Headquarters and All-Night Minigolf Emporium.

I want pepsi blue back! and orbitz flavor was great it was the thoughts running through your head as you try to swallow the fish eggs..

Hey, this article got a MetaFilter FPP! Welcome to any new readers who make their way over!

I bought some Storm during what I assume was a test marketing in Milwaukee in 1999 — the bottle can be seen here. I also once bought something called Sprite Ice in Toronto, which had a nice crisp lemon-lime taste, until the horrible mint aftertaste kicked in.

During the summer I was down in south america and they have some crazy flavours of pop down there. The one that I really liked was called manzana verde. It was made by a company called Samba. They also made one that was supposed to taste like pineapple and another that was supposed to taste like peach though all they really tasted like was sugar. And the Fanta down there actually tasted decent unlike the stuff we have up here.

Hey, what about Tab Clear (1993)? Do you have any cans or bottles of that? Would love to see a picture of it…

Pepsi Blue was fantastic! I drank it like everyday! One of my favorite all time sodas and now its gone…

Does anyone remember a soda called “OK Soda”?? I remember it had to come out in the early 90’s

Get ready for Caramel Pepsi Jazz. It’s crappy just like the other Jazz. Also, this summer Pepsi will debut new flavor called “Summer Mix Pepsi”. Tastes like someone mixed Hawaiian Punch and Pepsi together and this was their bastard offspring.

Yeah, welcome noobs. Thanks for the 50 “You forgot OK Soda!!” comments. Just what I always wanted.

It’s my birthday and I got Flyboys. I swear to God know one knows me. Please help me X-Er’s.

I’m totally jealous. I missed Orbitz when it went away, but I’ve always felt a hole in my soul when I couldn’t find Crystal Pepsi anymore. And now I find there’s about 10 other ones I’ll NEVER get to try, oh woe is me!!!

Bill- Bummer. “Flyboys” looks awful. That sucks. I bought my boyfriend a gift today- Season 1 of “Gargoyles”- I hope he likes it!

Let’s remember the only rule of X-E: “Don’t shit on other posters.” I’m sure someone brand new to posting in the comments is not likely to read through 200+ comments just to make sure no one has already mentioned an obscure soda.

It’s my birthday and I got Flyboys. I swear to God know one knows me. Please help me X-Er’s.

The worst B-Day present I ever got was a sweater vest. I didn’t even feign being polite. It was an atrocity that could not stand.

does anybody remember Java (i think thats what it was called) i think coke made it and it had a panther on it. It was around i know in like 96-97?

Pretty cool article. I, too, am sort of a collector of old sodas… i’ve got a bottle of orbitz (black currant berry) and a couple other things, but generally I collect Jones Soda… I have an interesting collection of theirs, generally holiday flavors but a few others that have been discontinued or were simply special editions (valentines day packs from both this and last years with Love Potion #6, 5 holiday packs with flavors like Turkey and Gravy Soda, Mashed Potato Soda, Antacid Soda, Green Bean Casserole Soda, etc… halloween flavors like candy corn soda… things of that like, and yes, my friends and I have taste tested all of them and I’ve published the tests on forums where I’m a member). One thing that I really WOULD like to get my hands on (and i’m surprised it didn’t make your list) is Pepsi Kona… I also remember Jolt for a short time made a Jolt Espresso soda.

Anyway, the entire reason I’m commenting is to give you that little insight on my own collection, compliment you on your excellent article, and show you the attached picture of the monstrosity sitting in my kitchen;
http://img.photobucket.com/alb...FatboyOverthrow/giantsurge.jpg

I’d like to make an ammendment to that. It should be Don’t shit on other posters in the blog. Cuz if I didn’t go to other people’s MySpaces and send messages to talk shit on other posters from time to time, I’d of probably exploded in a wild posting frenzy and gotten my ass banned by now.

Is that Matt or Matt? Either one is cool but we just need to know the difference. It’s like two K’s or Muppet Baby’s. Heaven forbid two Old E’s or another Manimal.

Bill, Famous Original Matt usually links the homepage through his name, so if you can’t tell from context, a mouseover does the trick.

I was just hoping you’d do an article like this. Pepsi Blue is the only food that I’ve had dreams about. “Blue…Bluuuuueee!” I scream in my sleep. And when I wake up and there is no Pepsi Blue, the world seems a little less…blue. (No OK Soda or Josta though? I’m surprised! Maybe in part 2, eh?)

Oh, and if it’s discontinued or hard-to-find sodas you’re looking for, check these out:

Whoever said they should make a chocolate flavored Coke or Pepsi: I agree! A few years ago, in a vending machine at some totally in-the-middle-of-nowhere country convenience store, I found a product called Chocola(there may have been a hyphen in there somewhere).

I was so excited. From the name, you’d expect chocolate + cola. But it turned out to just be a Yoohoo clone. No carbonation, no cola flavoring–nothing. It was pretty good, and I still bought it every time I went there, but boy do I wish it had been more soda-like.

So yeah, I’d like to see a big name like Coke or Pepsi try their hand at a chocolate soda. Although I can see them screwing it up by having it be diet only, and made with some crappy chemical chocolate substitute that tastes bad and makes my throat itch. Lousy soda companies.

And who rememberd OK Soda? 1-800-I-FEEL-OK? Has anyone else called this number??/?

Bill, Famous Original Matt usually links the homepage through his name, so if you can’t tell from context, a mouseover does the trick.

IF you can find info about Fanta MADNESS, blackberry flavor, which was only distributed in Bulgaria as a limited edition brand, I’d appreciate that!

My local supermarket (IGA) has their generic sodas that are all not-as-good clones of legit sodas with the best knock-off names…
-Mr. Spicey
-Choose Up
-Mountain Mist (or something like that)

Ever since I read this article, I am now really really NOTICING Soda when I am out at the store. Yesterday I saw pomegrante? pomegranite? pommegrante? soda….you know, that red fruit. And RC cola, which I didn’t know was still around.

I went to a job fair yesterday, and while I had some great interviews, I am still an unemployed teacher. However, I DID get on the FRONT PAGE of our city’s newspaper, since they interviewed me about the lack of jobs in our area, and my photo/interview is on the front page! It IS pretty sad when a teacher with 2 degrees and 2 years of experience can’t find teaching work. Oh well, at least my battle is recognized.

Had a grape soda yesterday for the first time in 15 years. Everytime I smell orange or grape Crush I regress a little. You just can’t be taken seriously smelling like a 12 year old.

we still have a grownup version of orbits out in the ether, its called Boba. tho the bobas are larger and you get a huge straw to suck them up. i adore bobas as much as i adored orbits.

Muppet Baby, that’s cool you got into the paper, too bad it wasn’t for something else and not about being jobless. I hope you have some good luck after going to the job fair!

To be fair, I didn’t call anyone out by name, and they’ll probably all be gone by the time the next thread gets posted. Unless Matt is so inspired that he does part II next.

Bill: I’m glad I’m not the only one who commented on all the new Matts. All we’re asking is for people to come up with a name. I’m reminded of Matt(#2?) and YetAnotherMatt. So those are taken. Get creative guys, I can’t wait to see the results!

I’m surprised you didn’t mention Pepsi Kona. It might of been mentioned in the comment threads, but I wasn’t about to read everyone of them. It was a coffee flavored Pepsi, sometime around the Crystal Clear Pepsi era. I’ve been hard pressed to find anyone who remembers it, and actually didn’t even think of it until I saw Coca Cola Blaq in the store last year. Do you remember this or have any info on it’s short life.

In the late sixties San Antonio was a test market, and one summer we got Nehi Blue. It tasted… well, blue. I loved it, so it vanished almost immediately, of course.

I heard something recently about Surge — I believe it was on NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me radio news quiz. This product was originally called Urge, but given the association of that word with the need to pee and the fact that the product is a pale liquid, they opted to go with Surge.

Yes Josta. I was lucky to be in one of the testing areas for it and had a Pepsi plant in the next town over. I drank it like there was no tomorrow. When it was discontinued I had enough to last me about half a year.
Josta was the energy drink when there were no energy drinks but Jolt.
I’ve vowed if I ever win the lottery to commission Pepsi to make me some.

I was in India summer before last, and I Coke had a Coca Cola Ice drink (I think that was the name), which matches the description of the Pepsi Ice–coke with mint. It was awful!

Oh, if you mix pink lemonade and sprite and mellow yellow together, it tastes like surge. Or something like that, anyway, I did it at subway once.

Your not listing the best unknown soda .. Bubbalicious Soda. It tasted just like gum.

Perhaps you’re not old enough, but what about “Like” cola. 7up’s shot at a decaffinated cola.

I’m loading up a HoverJeep with stun phasers, radio collars, First Aid kit, sandwiches, and sugar free Kool-Aid. I plan on studying Matts in the wild to get an angle on the sudden proliferation here in the infinite halls of the X. Are they reproducing by fission or budding? Do they congregate in packs or are they solitary? Can two divorced men share an apartment, without driving each other crazy? Who wants to go on a safari?

What about OK cola? That stuff was the greatest, with the 1-800 number to dial with some dude talking on it. Truly masterpiece.

Does anyone else remember the Great Potato Chip Disaster of ~1978? It goes like this…

Up here in the Great White North the major brand was Hostess for as long as I was alive. Other brands could be found (mainly Humpty Dumpty, ironic name these days), but not easily, and everyone considered them second best. Hostess was _everywhere_. Life was good for us Canuckians.

And life wasn’t just good, it was simple too. That’s because there were only three flavors of life, Regular, Salt and Vinegar and BBQ. Even simpler that _that_, because Regular was in a blue package, Salt and Vinegar in yellow, and BBQ in dark red. And since Hostess was #1, _everyone_ else had the exact same flavors in the same colored packages. Parallel evolutionary pressures in action.

But of course you can never leave well enough alone. So the brainiacs at Hostess-FritoLay decided they should try a few new flavors to punch up the market. And the flavors they came up with? Orange, Cherry and Grape.

Yes, Orange, Cherry and Grape. In neon orange, screaming red and putrid purple, respectively.

I never saw a single person even try them. Not one. They sat forlornly on the little metal clippy-gizmos for a couple of months, and the POOF, they all disappeared.

Hostess managed to make good on this disaster, however, introducing the completely edible Sour Cream and Onion a few months later in a nice onion-green bag. But I don’t think they ever really recovered, when the major US brands started showing up with all sorts of well-tested and popular flavors, they never really caught up.

By 1996 they had only 10% of the market, and seriously, it must have been 80% of so in the 70s. It gets kinda interesting at this point… Lay’s was a US brand that was sold in Canada, but by a competitor! It was the “low end” chip for trailer trash. HFL Canada bought back the brand and re-launched it. Within 18 months they were the #1 brand in Canada again, besting the major US ones (distribution channels can be powerful).

Didn’t the Pepsi Cool Cans come out a little earlier than 1990? For fear of showing my age, I grad. high school in 1989 and remember drinking (collecting) them while in high school. Maybe i’m mistaken, but just brought back memories seeing the cans. Unfortunately I just happened to throw the cans away about a year ago.

your surge was flat? well, surge is supposed to take like a fresh battery. Thats right.. battery acid. It does down like a fresh car wreck. I drank one every morning before college. The price we pay.

Well, unlike you, I was hooked on the Pepsi Blue for a long time… many bottles a week of it, until one fateful evening.

I accidentally dropped one of the big 20oz bottles on my friends’ off-white berber carpet. Even though we immediately stopped everything, soaked it up with (white) towels, moved the furniture, and spent the rest of the night cleaning the carpet with a deep-clean carpet cleaner (I’m not even exaggerating here, I wish I was) the blue dye remains in the carpet _to_this_day_ — as well as the white towels we used to sop it up.

That was the last time I had a Pepsi Blue, because I fully expect at my autopsy that they’ll find the same blue stains on my innards. =1

That pink stuff was called “Hubba Bubba Original Bubble Gum Soda.” It wasn’t a cola.

Boy, this article is getting some great notice. GorillaMask featured it one day and it has over 700 diggs (as of now) on Digg. WTG Matt!

Bill Bummer about Flyboys. That film is almost unwatchable. Not because it is terrible, but just boring and dull. Kinda like watching an episode of “JAG”.

I have to say that that article you wrote on the soda flops was hilarious. I was late to class because I made myself read the whole thing.

http://www.nehi.com is a massive collection of odd sodas that are hard to find, you can order by the bottle or by the case and it’s not over priced.

Christopher: That is so true! Heaven help you if a drop hits the floor because it’s there. Try sucking it out of your favorite Tshirt. Futile. It seems like a liquid your dog would get into and end up at the vet getting charcoaled.

Buckly: Thanks Pal. I think I may do my own Netfix and drop it off in a neighbors mailbox. What’s with all the shitty movies? I saw The Messangers on Tuesday and I have no hope for Hollywood. The commercial seemed so promising but what a let down. That dead kid owes me 8 bucks.

On a brighter note there is a promising Steven King flick called 1408 comming out this summer. John Cusack stares in it and it actually looks good.

yeah man, you forgot one classic and even more
obscure and infamous soda in your article than all the others you wrote about: O.K. SODA! The only soda that admitted in its marketing that it sucked, and whose label designs were done by none other than Dan Clowes, the twisted author of LLoyd LLewellyn and Dan Pussey!

When I was a kid, I remember seeing ad’s for 7-Up Gold, and I halfway expected to see this on your list. I did see someone comment about it though, so I know I didn’t dream the stuff. I never had a chance to try it as 7-Up was my drink of choice growing up (now it’s DP).

Reading about pepsi Fire does bring back memories of another pepsi limited edition which probably tasted just like Fire (since I haven’t tasted Fire). It was Pepsi Christmas Edition. It was Pepsi that had a lot of cinnamon in it. I think there may have been other flavors involved as well, but the last time I remember it being in stores was just a couple christmas’s back (’05 I think).

Last Christmas there were still some bottles of Pepsi Blue at my nearest Carrefour @ Bogota - Colombia

i remember walking through a field after a concert where pepsi was handing out free bottles of pepsi blue. the entire field smelled like the drink because everybody was tasting it and then just pouring it out or tossing it to the ground.

I was in Russia last year for a school trip, and they had 3 kinds of pepsi that i had never before seen. Pepsi Ice Cream, vanilla creamy pepsi, was amazing. Pepsi Coffee was pretty disgusting, but choclate pepsi was decent. I was so amazed when i was there, i had to try them all…

Great article. I personally have very strong (and painful) memories of the Crystal Pepsi testmarket in Denver. As if the taste alone weren’t bad enough, the sheer force that PepsiCo used in the guerilla marketing campaign sure left a bad taste in my mouth. I wrote about it in my blog: http://theextrapoint.com/archi...and-other-failed-nasty-drinks/

The Coca Cola Factory/Museum in Atlanta still has Surge available at the end when you can try a bunch of Coke products from different countries. That part always makes my head explode.

so many new people…..so many mentions of OK soda…i know where K- was coming from with that comment though.

could just be that repetitiveness drives me insane, but everytime i see “you forgot OK soda!” i grit my teeth. lol

Dozer and Zippy, I hope you’re kidding. OK soda is mentioned at least 15 times in the comments. Josta even more.

Pepsi Blue, I was wondering if anyone can clarify this. I attended the University of Delaware in the fall of 1995. And we were a test market for some sort of blue soda. They sold it all over campus, I can’t remember the name. I am wondering if Pepsi bought it and put it under Pepsi Blue.

You might have already heard of this, but check out Julmust (can be spelled different ways) the Christmas soda. It’s a running joke with my friends from high school - tastes like rum and coke.

There, now that I got that out of the way, I figure I would give all this soda talk a break. I want to let you all know that our PX here in Camp Cooke Iraq has a supply of XBOX 360 in stock. Now, while I would wait patiently for a Wii and get it immediately if they ever got a supply of that out here, the XBOX 360 was the second system I have been thinking of getting. Here’s a question I have: Can you play regular XBox games on the 360? They only have the console for the 360, but they do have other games that are just XBox. I don’t know of any titles exclusively for the 360, but I do know of a few titles for the regular XBox that I would get, one title is EXCLUSIVELY for the regular XBox. So, before I shell out $400 (actually $399 because AAFES do not charge tax on their products so I save a whole penny if I bought it here), which I’m skeptical about doing, I need to ask this important question because it would be a waste getting the new console with no games that would work with it. I probably would be better just getting an old XBox anyway, which I probably would do once I return to the states, along with a Wii if I either decide to wait or they never stock them at our PX. Anyway, I apologize for the interruption so now you can all get back to talking about soda. If this blog is continuing come tomorrow, I may just have another comment to make about the bubbly beverage!

The UK had some cool old sodas too - Quatro being the favorite amongst the “where did that go” crowd

To go OT for a few seconds, from the “It’s About Damn Time Department”: Anna Nicole Smith just died. Is anyone sad about this? Not me!

My father actually works at the plant where they make the pepsi cans. I have a whole box of rare and strange pepsi cans. The Pepsi “Cool” cans came out in 5 or 6 different designs. I’ll have to get you some pictures. Nice nostalgic write up.

Ah, soft drinks. You gotta try Raspberry Coke, the New Zealand exclusive cola because don’t have a sense of taste. Mello Yello recently had a comeback here and I only then realised how much it sucked. One of my brothers bought bottles by the boxful, though.

My local 7-11 had Pepsi Fire and Pepsi Ice for a short time (Elkhart, Indiana.) As I recall, your description of the taste was very accurate. They both sucked, Ice somewhat moreso than Fire.

I write a column for the Cleveland Free Times. Anyhoo, I go and right this article about Wikipedia “Before the Court of Wikipedia” (it ran on Jan. 10) and man, did I get a lot of shit for it. This Wiki guy writes a letter to the editor (that ran on Jan. 31) having a regular hissy fit (or, in this case, a wiki fit). I do a little digging and find out that this guy has like, put his life and blood into a Wiki article about New Coke and that he’d practically give anything for another can of the shit.

Maybe if someone had given that mother a can of New Coke, he wouldn’t be so pissy and go writing people’s bosses trying to get them fired.

I’m actually kind of shocked of people mentioning sodas that they can’t find anymore, but they seem to be plenty of here. Slice, Vanilla/Lime Pepsi, Rite Cola, and a couple others are still plentiful here. On the other hand, Vault seems to have disappeared around here.

I once went to a restaurant that made specialty sodas, including a chocolate coke. I didn’t have that one, but I had the strawberry coke. It was good.

Did anyone have one of those “make your own soda” machines? They came in fruit flavors plus root beer. We used to and they were good to.

Does anyone know why they don’t make diet fruit pop? Every other flavor has a diet version, except fruit ones (strawberry and grape especially). I would buy that religiously.

Man, for some odd reason, I enjoyed the hell out of your ‘article’. I’m one of the few who actually liked Blue & Crystal Pepsi, but hated Surge (and Vault. And Mountain Dew.), so now I’m kinda sad.

Anyways, make a part 2 man, this was great. Also, it got an ungodly amount of comments allready.

Snapple use to make soda, Tru-Root Beer and clear Cola…. Those were great sodas…..

Pepsi One are a good line of diet sodas. Made with Splenda and come in Orange, Grape, Strawberry, and Pepsi. Sometimes seen in Wal-Mart in two-liter bottles.

The safari ended before it began. A whole herd of Matt stampeded the HoverJeep, turning it over. Then, made off with the sandwiches. I’ll have to postpone until another time.

I’m surprised that in your review of sodas that have gone bye bye, you entirely neglected “New York Seltzer” and it’s many varieties of flavored “seltzer” water.

Muppet Baby I know what you mean! I was out grocery shopping today, and felt like I was on a mystic quest when I hit the soda aisle. I stood there for a good 2 minutes staring at the new design for the Cherry Coke wondering if it was looking so fine for Valentine’s Day or if it was in some way trying to seduce me. Upon looking online, the new designs are by Jay-Z’s design agency, Rocawear. Kinda weird.

kingklash Pssshhhhh… safari? I’ve got all my Matts captured here, in my Illustrated WildMatt Treasury. It says here they sleep standing up and they only eat at night.

I too, was in Iowa (Cedar Falls) during the Pepsi AM testing. Pepsi was giving that stuff away for what seemed like a year. By giving, I mean literally giving, by way of free coupons every sunday newspaper or weekly advert.

Crystal also was there, and they also tested the new Mt Dew can (had mountains on it) while I lived Iowa.

To this people think I am insane when I mention Pepsi AM; I guess it was not distributed all that widely.

Has anyone here heard of 7Up Mint? Can’t find references to it anywhere. I saw it in the stores back home (Saudi Arabia) for about two weeks. Then it disappeared. It was an utter failure. Tasted like bubbly cold peppermint tea.

Hold up you for got Citra,Mello Yello cherry,Mello Yello melon,Pepsi free,Pepsi max,Fruit Works,Fruitopia,Tab,Mr.pibb,Nugrape,RC edge,Squirt ruby red,Sun Drop cherry lemon,Sprit remix berryclear ,Sprite remix tropical,Sprite remix ruba jam,Jolt citrus climax,Jolt cherry ,Jolt white lightning,Jolt electrick blue,Jolt orange blast,SoBe MR.Green cola,Moxie cola,Sprite cherry,7UP cherry.

ok, I haven’t read the comments yet so I don’t know if anyone’s mentioned this… but I had to say it after reading the article. in China you can buy Icy Mint Sprite and Fire Sprite… I’ve tried both. Icy Mint leaves an aftertaste that’s oddly as if you’d just brushed your teeth… and Fire is slightly cinnamon-y and has a delayed reaction in your stomach that makes it feel a little warm… weird stuff.

don’t forget about Josta!!! From the info you give in this article about being in 5th grade in 1990, that would make us the same age. Josta got me through my first two years of college! It was that refreshing motivation to get through the day - I would have one every evening and just relax. I have photos of my roommate and I enjoying one of our last cans of Josta. It was a sad time when it was gone. I have one can left, but it sprung a leak as soft drink cans tend to do (at least in my experience!).

One of my friend’s sent my an email. “Hey man, there’s this really cool article about old sodas on this one site.”

Nice article. But it’s missing one of my fav’s for the short while it was around- Mr. Green. Sobe’s version of a ginseng infused Dr. Pepper. And what about the RC Draft colas from years ago? I recall being stopped several times by the cops as a teenager while drinking them because they resembled beer bottles.
Great job as always though.

About Surge: I loved the stuff, back when it came out, I was in middle school. Does anyone remember the CD promotion Surge sent out? It was 2 music CDs that came together in the mail. One was for you, and the other, you were supposed to share with a friend. I got one, and my brother got the other, and incidently I remember it was the very first CD I ever got. (I still just had a cassette player) The songs were actually very good. I would list them here but I dont remember exactly what the songs are called and who sings them. I do know that the Surge CD was the start of my love for Jimmy Eat World. I still have the CD and listen to it quite frequently. I’m interested to know if this was a nation-wide thing, or what.

About Jolt: I loved that stuff too. I remember when Episode 1 came out, I went to the midnight showing, but had school the next day. To keep myself awake I drank like 2 bottles of Jolt. I was seriously bouncing off the walls all day at school. Crazy stuff.

And I love Ramune, in all shapes and forms! Has anyone tried Ramune flavored Hi-Chew? It is a Japanese taffy-like candy. Tasty!

Good info–great site…would like to see you add the years of production, along with the number of cans made (if you can find the info).

Back in the day, I used to settle back every Saturday night and watch S.N.I.C.K. with a Peach Vanilla Mistic and a bag of microwave popcorn (but not Pop Qwiz, which was reserved for T.G.I.F.). So that’s my deepest “old-soda” connection.

Great article, Matt. I’m glad to see that you’re back into the writing mood, and I can’t wait to see more of your stuff when you find the time.

That’s really neat, in a weird way, Manimal. None of my friends have done that yet. I suppose most of my friends who would be interested have already been referred here by me. (big goofy grin)

Matt–you shouldn’t write about OK soda just to SPITE people. C’mon, it would be fun!

I know from personal experience that Japan’s 7-11s are more infested with a million flavors of Kit-Kats and Pringles. Also I try to have a new soda every month and most of them have been foul.

Come to think of it, the Kit-Kats have been foul too. Particularly the Cherry Blossom flavored one. I don’t know how or where it went wrong, but it really did. Whereas Cherry Blossom flavored everything else is fabulous.

However, if you can find the Final Fantasy potion and force people to drink it, I think they would be in a neck and neck competition for foulness with some of the most gross Jones’ holiday flavors.

Surge was invented for Surge Floats. These were SOOO good. Unfortunately I discovered them about 6 months before the soda was pulled. I wish they’d make it available like they do Tab, somewhere.

What about “Jolt Cola” in your list.
Double the sugar and ten x caffeine to keep you awake at the jobsite.

Man, I remember Pepsi Blue. After drinking a bottle of that stuff, it would turn your crap green. Seriously, it make your poop green and your pee a slight greeny yellow colour.

You can actuilly get Surge from a company called Real Soda in Spokane, WA. I drop by there all the time for odd sodas…

I remember Crystal Pepsi like it was yesterday. I actually liked it. Isn’t it ironic that the old bottle in your post has started to turn vaguely traditional-soda-color?

SURGE came out when I was a senior in high school. The taste was almost as bad as the “brand personality.” My friends and I relentlessly made fun of it anyone seen using the huge, flourescent vending machine. We’d walk up and go “SURRRRRRRRGGGGGGGE!” in our best Macho Manâ„¢ voices. Ahhh, good times.

Thanks for the entertaining read, sodadude. Just what I needed tonight. Nice work.

I wish Barr would make Ice by Tizer again… that was my all time favourite drink of all time! (sic)

Either that or this mysterious store-brand drink that, as kids, we always said tasted like bubble-gum. I think it was blueberry flavoured or something. It was awesome anyway.

Great, great stuff. Made me nostalgic for Crystal Pepsi. I remember that they also sold it in cans. It confused me because why would you want a Crystal Pepsi you cant see???

great article. My personal favorite of course is Surge. I remember I was in middle school when it first came out and they handed it out like halloween candy to little kids. I remember going home from school with probably 24 cans jammed into my book bag after ditching my books and folders in my locker and saying “fuck homework, i’m taking as much as I can of this shit home” lol

Did you have Josta? No one else seems to remember that one. It had that crazy panther on the label. “with gaurana” was part of the ad campaign.

Did you personally ever have it, I mean. Not, ‘was it on the list’. Just to clear that up.

My mother still has at least three cases of TAB left in her basement from the stock she laid in when it started to go away. She put away so much that she had to throw out christmas decorations and various childhood memorabilia-type crap to make room for it. My brother and I were profoundly changed when she did it, I distinctly remember standing with him in the yard watching the TAB-childhood crap swap (neither of us has ever gotten over it, either, he’s a scientist now, works with weird germs, and I live in a cemetery) I blame TAB.

Lol! I remember those Pepsi fire and pepsi ice in the UK about five years ago. Never tried one though!

Surge has been reborn into Vault, i always knew it when i came and coke, they seriously just started making it againa and renamed it

Whoever mentioned NITRO cola, well done. I didn’t reference it because I didn’t know how well-known it was.

I didn’t read the hundreds of comments left so far but the article forgot Pepsi Clear! not that weird orangy one you mentioned, but the one that was actually clear! it was the best! it was testes for about 6 months in Sacramento, Los Angeles, and somewhere else. When they stopped making it loaded up on 12 packs for like 2 bucks each.

Josta was awesome. It tasted so weird but good. I would get it on break in high school. I think they still have TAB in some stores. I know my grandma drank it a few years ago.

yes, they still have TAB around. I just saw it in Albertsons tonight when I was shopping.

Hey Matt— Long time reader, first time poster. I really hope you’re going to start up with the articles again. It’s been waaaay too long.

Matt, are you going to Monster Mania in NJ? Check it out if you have not heard about it. The cast from Monster Squad is having a 20th year reunion and some of the cast from Friday 13th part 2 will be there. I wish I could go. Stupid work.

Matt’s a little too young to remember long-missed national brand flops like Lemon Pepsi: all the goodness of Pepsi after it was used to rinse out a bottle of Lemon Pledge! Probably findable among 16 oz. soda bottle collectors. I do sorely miss Orange Spot; you always knew where you spilled it. Finally, Pepsi’s urban hipster vibe ruined Mountain Dew’s proud white-trash hillbilly iconography (Whoop-tee-do for my Mountain Dew!) after it bought the brand; again, see old inked MD bottles for Cletus’ tooth-impaired Dad taking a hit offa moonshine bottle with the top shooting through his floppy hat brim just like bullets!!

Pepsi Fire and Pepsi Ice - we have alcoholic shots over here in the UK now the same colour, the same flavours suggested, and called “Fire and Ice” … coincidence?

Oddly enough, Otto touches on a Pepsi that I was going to mention. I think the thing was called “Pepsi Light”. I remember drinking it after high school football practice…BACK IN 1978!!! It did have that lemon pledge taste. And for soem reason, it was a diet drink that had 110 calories or something. Like 1/3 the sugar was acceptable as a diet drink.

TAB: Once again, a comment from a guy who lived when dinosaurs were around. (Okay, 8 track tapes). I saw the new Tab. It’s got nutrasweet. The authentic old Tab had “crappY” sacharrin.

I remember one of the stigmas that Surge had was the rumor (at least in my high school, not sure if it was widespread) that it would shrink your penis because of Yellow 5… which I think even mountain dew has it. If anyone drank Surge, people would say “Dude that will shrink your penis hahaha!”

I don’t think I ever had Orbitz. Atleast I don’t remember. Unless I was too afraid of the floaty things to try it.
I never had Surge either. I generally hate anything lemon-lime.

My sister was obsessed with Pepsi Blue though. It looked so vile I couldn’t believe she actually drank it.

I liked Pepsi Kona. I wish they still made it. Coke Blak isn’t the same. I don’t see it as often as I used to anyway.

Anybody remember Tropical Splash? It was by 7 Up I think. The stuff was unreal. Also Wild Cherry Pepsi was great.

Pepsi Fire and Pepsi Ice were sold late last year in the Philippines. Pepsi X and Pepsi Max are still here but the fire and ice labels were now gone.

I remember drinking Chocola when I was a kid. I can’t remember which company manufactured that.

I only ever tried Orbitz once. It was the closest I ever care to get to having someone ejaculate into my mouth.

I work for Coke, and apparently Coke Blak is being taken off the shelves. I managed to score three bottles. I know it’s not old (it’s been out less than a year) but just FYI.

hey man, your collection is very cool ! I didnt knew there was so much different pepsi flavour !

Do you collect also special cans ? here in quebec, we get special cans every years, same pepsi, different can image. i remember that Wayne Gretzky can, or even the cans with the canada hockey tshirt printed on it.
Im sure you got the star wars special collection too, huh ?
have fun, and good luck finding more weird pepsi flavours around the world !

aaaaah yes…pepsi blue. you know when you get really really drunk and the next day, when you wake up, your not drunk but you sometimes puke a yellowy liquid? well if you drink pepsi blue the morning after and then have to puke…. yellow vomit + bright blue soda = neon green vomit. it looks like you’re throwing up antifreeze.

Pepsi Blue was alright, it tasted pretty crappy until you were halfway done with it, from there it tasted like carbonated cough syrup. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing.

I was obsessed with Orbitz during when that came out. I think it was during my senior year of High School. I would drink the entire bottle, careful not to eat any of the floating bubble things. Then I’d eat them all in one final triumphant gulp. That was a nasty nasty drink. I’m tempted to buy an orange/vanilla bottle on ebay…for $10.

Oh how I miss the early days of X-E when articles like this were a daily thing. A wonderful article, Matt! I remain faithful, though, admittedly, my visitation schedule has somewhat become as irregular as the posting schedule…

I LOVED 7-UP Gold! It was the first 7-Up product that actually had caffeine. Remember the old motto Caffeine, never had it never will” that went bye bye with 7-Up gold.

I also remember OK Soda. It was around for like what, 3 months in 1993? They had people give cans away of that stuff, they hung them on door handles. I remember I tried to put one of their stupid stickers on my hockey helmet. I thought it tasted like SWAG.

To that guy who works for Coke, does anyone at your work remember the contest Coke had in 1990, 1991 where they stuck these “Magic Cans” in the general Coke can population? And you oculd win actual money when you popped the tab? A rolled up 5 dollar bill or a wad of 100’s (in the rarer case) was to pop out of the can? But they pulled the cans because the things malfunctioned? One stupid girl where my girlfreind worked got so freaked out because she had a can with a dollar in it. But she wasn’t excited about the dollar, she was freaked because despite all the publicity, she didn’t realize there was money in front of her face. Shw anted soda! I guess that’s why they pulled the contest!

Oh, and by the way, Cans of Coca Cola STILL have the little Classic logo on them! I don’t understand why they can’t just get rid of it.

I Stumbled upon your site. Good job but you forgot it vanilla coke,it really made me mad when they took it off the market.

As a fellow Jerseyite, I got all giddy when you mentioned Woodbridge Mall. I wasted many an afternoon there. I never bought Orbitz there, though. I think I’m the one person in America that loved Orbitz & was really sad when it was gone. I used to buy it from the 7-11 on Route 22 East in North Plainfield. My family made so much fun of me when I drank it.

In the 90’s Pepsi had an Apple flavored soda called Aspen. It was tasty, but short lived. Perhaps it was only test marketed here (San Diego,CA) Does anyone remember Bubble-Up? Or when Fresca had pulp?
Matt…contact me if you would like a few SURGE stickers from soda fountain buttons.

I used to work for Coke as a sales rep, and it was an absolute bitch selling new products to people, especially a couple years ago when they were cranking out new products every couple months in an effort to flood Pepsi off the shelves. Seriously, trying to espouse the virtues of Sprite Aruba Blast to the owner of a biker bar in Fargo, North Dakota in early February is a shitty way to make a living.

Funny note about working for Coke: they don’t allow ANY competing brands’ products in the building. You couldn’t even bring food from Taco Bell, KFC or Pizza Hut into the building because those chains are partly owned by Pepsico. However I kind of hate Coke’s products, so I used to fill my Coca-Cola thermos (won at work in a drawing) with Diet Mountain Dew Code Red at home and bring it to work. Whenever someone asked I’d tell them it was strawberry Fanta.

I remember all those sodas, used to love Surge, but i would kill a man for a 12 pack of KICK! it was awesome, and it tried to say funny things on all the cans,i remember the commercial had a six pack of KICK! kill a mountain dew can in the fridge.

I was just thinking about Orbitz soda the other day. I used to buy it all the time because I felt such a cool soda should taste good…it never did. I tried really hard to like it, but inevitably my parents would find the bottle - half gone - and swear never to give me money for novelty drinks again.

You forgot Pepsi Cona. (spelling might be off). It was part Pepsi, part coffee & 100% camel piss. I’ve never drank from a u7sed spitoon, but, if I did, I think it would probably taste alot like Pepsi Cona. But, hey, at least we got one hell of an add campaign. The diner waitress rips off her contume to reveal her true identity: ladies & gentlemen, it’s… TOM JONES!!!!

i was in Poland with my family and they still sell Pepsi Blue there… this is not a Polish joke!@!

My heart just broke seeing that Pepsi Blue.

I remember when they got rid of it, I managed to find a huge sale of Pepsi Blue cans at a Target and spent like 30 dollars buying the supply. Drinking that last can was pure sadness.

I bought a bottle of that Orbitz stuff once as a freak buy at a gas station. I guess over the years I managed to convince myself that it never existed.

I’ll be throwing parties when Coke Blak is gone though. That stuff simply tastes terrible.

This article broke my heart, I also was in 5th grade in 1990 and being the weird kid I was, collected pop cans, I had some really cool weird coke cans 80s style, and even some cans of pepsi and coke that were still made of steel… One summer when i was like 14 I decided to put them in storage in the attic… Condensed Cans and Super heat… may my can collection rest in peace…

I think one of the worst sodas I can’t believe I liked were some Super Mario mini cans of fruity sodas I liked when I was 6 or 7 or 8. who knows.

Pepsi Fire and Ice are fairly common in supermarkets in Singapore. Not much of a price difference from the regular ones.

I remember orbitz before it was orbitz, I was at a church funfair as a volunteer a few years before orbitz was released. The food concession company was selling these fruit drinks that were called UFO’s that had just been invented and were being trial marketed, the bottle was ball shaped at the base and then had a slimmer neck that went up to a poptop like I have seen on bottles of POM overall it looked like a flower vase. They sold well only because you got a free straw and if properly strained through your teeth and shot back through the straw the balls shot very far.

hey..really interesting..Would be nice to read and see some more. Pepsi really did experiment in the past

I have a music CD (I’ve still held onto it!) that was a promo for Surge. It arrived in my mailbox one day in high school, the date reads 1996. There was a CD, stickers, and coupons for the “fully loaded citrus soda”. There were actually two discs, coupons, et al so you were supposed to share one with a friend.

Many of the bands on the disc are unknowns, but Five For Fighting has a song on there, long before anyone knew who they were.

Mmmm. Pepsi Clear was the bomb. I loved that stuff, but I have to say that I don’t remember it being an amber color. I remember it being clear. Man, I miss that stuff. It seems to me that Pepsi is and has been pulling stuff out of their butt for years and years.

The Skipper by Craigmont (now its Safeway Select) and Cherry 7-Up. Hope this thread hits the big four-hund

Pepsi Blue was a great drink, well okay not on it’s own. A half and half mix of Pepsi Blue and Barq’s Root Beer made a nasty bog green colour but was actually quite tasty.

I would suggest Big Pineapple and Big Peach, but they are still around in Central Texas:

has anyone else ever seen 7-up Gold? I loved it but it only lasted a few months.

So…yeah… A little late to the party but listen up:
I bought a pack of slice, another of orange slice, one of Ski, and some Mellow Yellow at my Wal Mart here in Ohio two days ago. They’re still kicking. Also, I’m looking for two things:

Mr. Cookieface ice cream sandwiches (Best ever!)
Pinaz Pinapple Soda (Yeah, Pinaz.)

Pepsi Fire and Ice are still sold out of the country.
I went to Fiji this past summer and they had cases of it in the airport snack bar.

i remember Crystal clear pepsi as a god send. I had some from the states and from Canada, and i swear to this day the Canadian version was completely seet through, just like 7-UP. Never forget folks Blue Pepsi “Tastes Like Banshee Milk” as quoted from Matt all that time ago…

All the Crystal Pepsi tlk reminds me of that great SNL commercial for Crystal Gravy….mmmmmm…..

I think those sodas dissapeared because they couldn’t still making experiments with people.

As far as Wolf Creek goes, pay the 5 bucks to rent it. I found the commentary worth listening to.

(It’s not the best movie ever, but as far as horror goes in the last few years? Pretty goddamn good.)

Your Crystal Pepsi has taken on a rather nasty shade of brown (mine is still as crystal clear as ever.)

I think that pretty much kills the value of the product, even with a nice label. Your label looks really nice.

The plastic cap is also a rather poor specimen from a collector’s stand point. Metal caps are the way to go.

I love old soda. It kind of warms me heart that someone else has no trouble dropping hundreds of times the original price on soda that will never be consumed.

I remember, before I was wise to such things, that my grandparents had bottles of old soda in their basement. It was 2-litre plastics, but it was like 10 years old back then. I wish I was smart enough to take that stuff. I would never pass up something like that now.

you can add 2 I liked and they dumped recently..pepsi twist and coke with lime.
I have some bottles of clove flavored ultra hi caffene 7up from the 1980’s

I enjoyed the article, and was hoping to see my favourite extinct soda listed, but alas, it was not. Have you ever heard of Hubba Bubba’s bubblegum-flavoured soda? I never did have the gumption to try it, but it taunted me from the refrigerators of the local corner store for quite a while in the mid-80s. It was a toxic pink in hue, of course.

I remember when Orbitz came out a friend and I saw the stuff in the store and bought a couple bottles each. ‘Cause we were sure that the drink was going to be good. It looked cool anyways.

Favorable impressions lasted only up until we actualy tasted the stuff.
We both immediately gave away the other bottles to our friends along with the rest of the contents of the bottles we had opened.
General consensus was that the drink was horrible and the little balls in the drink were just gross.

No one ever remembers Pepsi Light except me. It came in a turquoise can with a lemon on it. They made it in the early to mid-80’s and my mother would buy it as a treat. I thought it was just a figment of my imagination until I was watching Mr Mom the other night & when Michael Keaton is playing coupon poker with the other “moms”, there is a can of it on the table.

I am pretty sure Diet Pepsi Twist is pretty much the same product, maybe with aspartame now instead of saccharine.

I am so pleased to know that I was not the only child that was utterly fascinated by Orbitz, but when consumed, became ill. I did hold on to the bottle (and contents) for a couple of years because I still thought it looked cool, even though it tasted gross.

I don’t know if anyone has said anything about this because I didn’t read the 5,000 comments, but Pepsi Fire and Ice were sold in Costcos in California not long ago according to my girlfriend. So just to let you know they were available in the US.

Aah, the article that made me an X-E fan. I bookmarked the site a few weeks ago and found myself spending hours today looking over the archives and reading the comments. Seems like a nice place.

Why oh why did I not save a few cans of Crystal Pepsi? Even then I knew that this had to be a fad that would fade out soon. However I did save a few of the “cool cans” from around 1990. I need to raid the storage room at my parent’s house the next time I visit and see what I can unearth.

Hubba Bubba soda FTW! That stuff was the best. I used to have a can of it, but it apparently got lost in one of my moves a few years ago.

Actually New Coke is still around. It’s marketed as Diet Coke. Notice that the logo on Diet Coke is the same as New Coke. That’s why Diet Coke tastes nothing like regular Coke, with our without Aspartame it just isn’t the same formula!

can i order a specific pepsi brand?
because i’m really missing pepsi X here in the Philippines, i don’t know why it just disappeared from the stores here.

I don’t know why, but I actually liked Pepsi Blue and would get it all the time from the vending machine just inside the Wal-Mart at Square One mall in Ontario. It was only buck for 600 ml bottles of soda and you just couldn’t beat that. Add to the well known fact that vending machine prices are usually inflated and it practiacally felt like I was stealing.

Ahh, yes, Pepsi Blue. I remember when I first tried that crap. Tasted so bad I couldn’t finish the bottle. Man, and I thought blue soda would be so awesome too.

I was a teenager when those Orbitz drinks came out and of course I just had to have one. Man,that was one of the nastiest things I have ever tasted..
Oh and when Coke II was on the shelves, my dad was pretty much outraged LOL…he refused to buy it.

I thought you would be interested to know that while browsing the Asian market with my husband we came across a bottle of Pepsi “carnival”. I said it’s probably just pepsi in a fancy bottle…but oh man was I wrong. It was orange pepsi, and it tasted more like bitter lemon with a coffee after taste, Orange didint even cross my mind until we poured it out of the bottle. It looked exactly like orange soda would.

What about OK Soda (my Personal Favourite)? or Jaguar? Man I loved living in a Soda test market in the 90s!

Surge was godly. I’ve converted to the church of DEW these days but I’ll never forget my time with Surge.

Pepsi Blue was like really being excited for a new movie but then finding out it’s starring Stifler and Larry the Cable Guy.

I remember both Pepsi Fire & Ice, they were sold in England at the same time Barr released the new Tizer Ice (Tizer with aniseed) and Tizer Hot (Tizer with ginger). It’s weird that you mention that Mountain Dew was Pepsi’s ‘cos in England Mountain Dew was made by The Coca Cola Company (I notice a few other drinks switch sides in England including 7UP (made by Britvic here - same one’s who make Pepsi in the uk)

Thats the fuckin holy grail of soda’s,
*drools and thinks back to sipping the less phlegm building red dr. pepper*

I remember Pepsi clear, my dad bought like 4 cases of the stuff. I was the only one who drank it ( I have 4 siblings)and I can tell you for sure that I didn’t like it but I drank it anyway. oddly for what i can remember it tasted like average soda but as you said it was a psychological distaste. the best contemporary example I can come up with is green ketchup, which tastes like ketchup but looks so horrible it is hard to even imagine eating.

I randomly happened to come across this article while at work, and I laughed so hard I had to pretend I was coughing. Soda companies should really experiment more, and give us some new version of Strawberry Burst Pepsi.

Dude, you need to get OK soda! Around these parts (MA), it’s the most infamous dead soda. It’s the one everyone has a story about. Plus, they had the greatest cans in soda history. They mostly featured people who looked stoned/ready to kill. Except fot the red dude. Who knows what was up with him.

Plus they had that great hotline….I can’t tell you how many times I called that number! And, OK is a movie star! How many dead sodas can say that? Watch Waiting for Guffman very closely, folks….

Fuckin’ Hubba Bubba changed my life as a child. I really dont thing Wrigleys have attacked the soft drink market before or since.

i thought i was the only person in the world who drank orbitz when i was 10 and loved it.
i’m now 21 and realize that i never drank more than one bottle.
you think that canadian company would love me?
oh, and there is something similar- it’s called Jellyball. [bubble tea, pearl drink, boboa]

I know I am horribly, horribly late to the party but: What about Pepsi Kona or Apple Cinammon Slice? I know you have at least one in your collection.

I’m sure it’s mentioned, but I’m awful lazy. Pepsi has ressurected the Tropical Pepsi flavor. Get it at convenience stores today!

Thanks for the post - good stuff. I’ll be looking forward to another page if you ever get around to making it.

What soda captured this country’s imagination more? It was brewed with guaranna extract taken deep from the lush jungles of Mexico, and it had a freakin’ badass panther as a mascot. Plus, it tasted great.

If you do a discontinued sodas part II, you need to start out with this beverage.

After like a gizzalion posts about you forgetting OK Soda,Red Fusion,Tab,and the like I’d like to mention a different drink that has been mentioned here once without detail,do you remember Fruitopia? it was a drink that was a big hit in the 90’s.

It was sold almost everywhere in their own vending machines,one place I remember getting it alot was right outside Kmart,it had a mixtures off who bunch of fruit flavors I can’t remember it off the top of my head but I remember getting the one that was tan most of the time, I remember the taste too, it was sweet, but not too tangy it was potent though but it was delicious. It had mouthful of flavor that I just loved.

It was discountinued by the Coca-Cola company in the US for some reason in 2001,and replaced it with the dull minute maid brand why? I didn’t see anything bad about the soda.

This drink was radically different in it’s image compared to other soft drinks.

Good new though, Tw!ster another brand from my past is back on the shelves,haven’t really tried it though.

I also miss that old Pepsi logo,it fit the can better compared to today which is the mishmash of placing the name and the symbol separately,sigh.

I’m with you on the desire to like blue sodas paired with the disappointment that they’re rarely any good. Wish I could have tried Strawberry Pepsi, though.

I once ordered a chocolate root beer (root beer with syrup added) at a Steak ‘N’ Shake, just out of curiosity, and immediately understood why it’s never been released commercially. However, I’ve made chocolate Coke at home, and it’s not bad! Just make sure you use the right kind of syrup, as in, NOT the kind you put in milk, but the kind you put in coffees or Italian sodas.

i actually have an alarm clock made by SURGE. when it goes off, it actually screams SURGE! like on the old commercials. i would be willing to let it go for the right amount. i actually use it right now as my ONLY alarm clock. it lights up the SURGE Logo if you’d like and even has AM/FM radio. just email me if you are interested.

I remember a mint flavoured Sprite, called Sprite Ice or something like that. I collect pop cans. I’ve got a few weird flavours of Crush, like Pinneapple and Birchbeer.

Oh, Matt, how I absolutely love these articles which take us back to our childhoods…

To reply to a few of the previous comments on this post: OH YEAH Josta and Red Fusion rocked. And I was a HUGE fan of Pepsi Blue (one of the few fans I know of; I bought the shit like it was liquid Jesus).

I was in grade school when Crystal Pepsi was out, but I remember drinking it, frequently, from those old-school glass bottles. And I liked it.

Don’t forget all of the other “limited edition” or failed Pepsi products, Matt. You already touched on the best ones, the Pitch Blacks and the Holiday Spice, but now they must be discontinuing their “Jazz” line as well, for I work in a grocery store and all of the 2-liters are on massive clearance for 50 cents.

Oh yes, and the Pepsi Summer Mix, as well. This soda is destined for obscurity and infamy because it tastes like Skittles.

I still get a little misty-eyed over the disappearance of Holiday Spice Pepsi, myself. I was okay with the idea that it was a limited edition, because I’d expected they’d release it every year in November or so and that’d it’d disappear in February but be back for the following winter. I loved it so much during the first season that I swore to myself that the following year, I’d buy cases and cases of it so I could have it throughout the year.

Hey, I have yet to see anything on Zydecola. I believe I was the only person in a 200 mile radius of Lawrence, KS who drank it. I loved the coffee/cola taste…

Coca cola released Coca-Cola Blak which is the “coffee/cola” taste…..I for one enjoy it.

Id just like to say that Pepsi Blue was the greatest beverage man kind has ever known, and that we as a species are lessened by its absence. It just took some getting used to is all.

You know, I think Pepsi is still trying to sell the berry flavored crap. I work for a big Pharmaceutical company and every day we have “guests” on campus hocking their wares. One day, the Pepsi corporation was there conducting a taste test of some flavors of soda. One of them was a Raspberry soda, another was a Strawberry soda, and I can’t remember the other one. The only thing I remember is filling out a survey form and mentioning how horrific they all tasted. If they’re using the same formula they did before, then they have a LOT of work left to do.

there was a soda based on life savers when i was a kid. i don’t know if they still sell it anywhere though.

SO, all these flops had one thing in common - they sucked. You know what new soda doesn’t suck? That’s right…Coke Zero. It’s awesome, I love it.

Forgive me if this was mentioned already, I didn’t feel like reading through all the thousands of posts. Anyone remember Sobe Mr. Green?It was fantastic stuff, and I can’t understand why they stopped making it. It was like Dr. Pepper with a green cherry flavor, and I think it had ginseng in it too.It was actually really good quality stuff, too(like Sobe products in general) and didn’t have that over-sugary watered down taste like most Dr. Pepper imitations. Those of us who loved it should all hit up Sobe’s site and ask ‘em to bring it back. I like you r site by the way.

Ah, Pepsi Blue… I was just starting college when this stuff came out, and like any proper college student, I had no problem downing my first and only bottle in one day. It tasted… okay, but was ultimately disturbing when one begged the question: “what the hell is ‘blue’ supposed to taste like?”

Long story short, it dyed my insides. Think about it for a moment, and you’ll know how I found THAT out…

i really truly loved the orbitz questionable floaties. my friends (middle school age) were having a great time calling me the wierd one because i bought 2 at one time (spent my whole $5 bill!) but i also refused to let them try it, and furthermore - where did canadian mist go anyway? did it get sucked up by nestle waters or something?

Don’t forget 7-Up (Pepsi subsidiary) had a Cinnamon-flavored citrus soda. It was awesome back in the early 80s, with a very cool pale red color. When I found out that 7-Up was killing the line, I bought up every case I could find. It lasted over a year, with rationing, but eventually the last was gone (no, it tasted too good to keep a case or a 6-pack for posterity - sorry). Repeated requests over the years to Pepsi, to bring it back have fallen on deaf ears. But, it was good while it lasted.

Has anyone ever mixed Dr. Pepper and cold black coffee together? If you do, prepare for a stiff foam head. Love the double caffeine, but the taste is mild, not so sweet and quite good. I mix these together anytime I go to a fast-food place. A most excellent drink. Too bad no one could market this. Cadburry-Schweppes, who owns and markets Dr. Pepper (through Coca-Cola), have never returned any of my recommendations/requests for this. Try it sometime.

Check the ingredients of the dog food. Most of the time the main ingredient is corn, corn meal, or some kind of wheat. That will make your dog constantly eat because corn has little nutritional content and is only digested. This can make your dog obese.

I just stumbled upon your website….pretty cool.
I have a question….whatever happenned to “josta” cola?

All the latest statistics for your shoutcast radio stream - FOR FREE! http://www.shoutq.com provides you with FREE statistics for your internet radio station.

Oh man, Stumbled upon a cool article here! I didn’t have time to read through all these posts, but I did scan over quite a few of them. Just a few notes:
1) We still have Tab here, even though it can be hard to find. (I live in western KY)
2) To everyone posting about Vault being hard to find, not here. The Hardees around here have it as a fountain drink. It replaced Mello Yello. Sucks for me as I can’t stand Vault, but like Mello Yello. Vault tastes like anti-freeze.
3) What about Ski? We have it here, but I’m thinking it’s primarily based in southern markets.
4) Coke Blak….wtf were they thinking? Not being a coffee drinker made for an early strike, but I still tried it just for the novelty.
5) Orbits….I liked this stuff. Can’t remember what it tastes like now, just remember that I liked it. I do, however remember the consistency and texture of the little blob thingies. Wierd.
6) Ale81…yeah, we have that here, even though I’ve never tried it. I assume it’s juse ginger ale.
Predictions for the next dead sodas.. Pepsi Razz, Coke Blak, and I can’t think of anymore right now. Guess I’ll have to go around to the convienience stores and see what currently sucks or is just too much of a novelty to last!

And Orbitz was sold in other places other than Woodbridge Mall. I used to work in the Shoprite in Little Ferry, NJ- and we had it there.

Thanks for posting the Orbitz though- my girlfriend and I were trying to remember the name of the product for about 2 months!

I had quite a lot of the Pepsi Wild Bunch sodas that one summer when they came out in Pittsburgh. Those were heady days of comic books, cheap snack mix and as many cans of pop you can handle and still ride a bike.

The Raspberry was the weakest of the three. I was just this generic berry soda flavor, like if you took those shitty raspberry hard candies that you find in nursing homes and dissolve them in Pepsi. Not good.

The Strawberry was interesting. It tasted much closer to the target fruit than the Raspberry did. You could probably make a similar version if you were willing to take the time to mix Pepsi and Faygo Red Pop in the correct ratio.

Believe it or not, the Tropical Chill was my favorite. It had almost a pineapple/citrus thing going on. Truth be told, there’s no reason why it wouldn’t work if properly marketed. Easily better than the whole Pepsi with Lemon and Coke with Lime shit they were marketing recently.

One other pop I wanted to mention, that I never really hear anyone talk about is Hubba Bubba Soda. A bizarre pink, bubble gum soda. It was eerie in so much as it tasted exactly like bubble gum (unlike the only thing similar I can find these days, Jones Soda Blue Bubblegum, which tastes like something you swish around in your mouth during a dental procedure - like something evil that they’re just trying to make as pallatable as possible). I used to drink that while chewing Milkshake flavored bubblegum, because it made the most sense to me.

awesome, just awesome. i don’t read many things i stumble onto but this caught my eye. great article.

hey mr….Matt person who typed this article its written very well and its very interesting i thought you would say something about RC though, i know its not entirely ”extinct” as it were but i talk to people from the northern U.S. and they’ve never heard of it

I’ve had only one of these sodas(I’m only 13 and I don’t live in a town that has soda tests), but I’ve had pepsi blure and that is the SHITIEST soda I have ever tried and probably ever will. It almost made me throw up right in the Shop-rite I got the sample from, and I’m still gagging over it today. They say it was a “fruity concoction”, but you may as well have twisted off the top to a bottle of Windex and chugged the entire bottle right then and there. Also, if I’m correct, Surge is still sold in Norway, because the sales over there were and are amazingly plentiful. I’ve never tried it, but if I ever go to Norway, I’ll be sure to snag a bottle or two. I’ll also try a bottle of vault, to try the general taste of it.

Coke II is still canned and is being sold in US territories and foreign countries

Can you believe that Pepsi is the one with the most flubs? That is sad. I am a huge Dr. Pepper drinker, and I have yet to tasted a Dr. Pepper I did not like. Yet Pepsi has had many nasty tasting sodas.

OMG! Orbitz! I used to drink those as a child, and I love them! None of my friends remember them, nor anyone else I have talked to for that matter. I have been trying to find evidence of their existence for over 10 years, and now I have! I never could remember the name of the drink - I just knew it was some kind of astronomy term.

Hah! I was in Thailand when they were advertising Pepsi Fire and Pepsi Ice. We never hunted any down, since it looked rather disgusting, but it takes me back. Fun trip.

If you look around, you’ll find a soda from 1994/95 called Ok soda, put out by Coca Cola. It never made it past the test markets, but the whole story behind it, and how it was aimed at the generation X demographic was awesome. I suggest looking into it. Would make for a great article.

I don’t get what the big deal about the energy that SURGE gave people. I remember the ads as clear as yesterday. SUUUUURRRRRGGGEEE!!!!!!! Somebody would yell while doing something extreme.

My friend LOVED the drink, it’s all he would drink. But all it was , was a soft drink. I’m not sure how gamers hypnotized themselves to make themselves think it kept them up to game later.

The energy drinks today are what real energy drinks are. And they don’t even work as much. Back then Surge just had the same amount of caffeine as any other soft drink did.

By the way, if you want to write soft drink companies, if you surf around enough you’ll find contacts other than the terms of use, or privacy contacts (which go no where).

On the April 13 edition of Unwrapped on Food Network (9:30 PM ET), they reshowed a segment on Pepsi Blue even though it’s not made here anymore.

1: Surge f**kn’ RULEZ! There is actually a soda out there now that pretty much uses the same flavoring. If I see it today, i’ll post it.

2: Every year around Christmas time, Coca-Cola secretly comes out with “Kosher Coke”. It replaces the high fructose corn syrup with actual, regular SUGAR! It tastes slightly better and doesn’t burn so damn much going down. Every year I drive to the Jewish side of town and find their major grocery store and ask the manager for the Kosher Coke. It’s worth the drive and mild child-like excitement the drive brings out in my.

One more thing… in every country I been too I try their Coke. I believe Coke makes a slightly different flavor for each country it has a large market in. #1: Italy.

Add A New Comment!

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 4th, 2007 at 5:53 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.