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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!

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Discussion Thread: 485 comments

surge is the best soft drink ever created….EVER

Ghosted by Anonymous @ 03/09/2007 2:18 AM EST

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.)

Ghosted by Molly @ 03/11/2007 8:30 AM EST

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

Unless your camera has problems with clears.

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.

Ghosted by jeff. @ 03/12/2007 1:24 AM EST

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

Ghosted by John Parks @ 03/14/2007 10:37 PM EST

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.

Ghosted by The ShanMonster @ 03/16/2007 11:34 AM EST

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.

The drink didn’t last too long on store shelves here in Eastern Ontario.

Ghosted by Kurt @ 03/17/2007 2:50 PM EST

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.

Ghosted by Aimee @ 03/18/2007 9:34 PM EST

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.

Ghosted by Jen @ 03/19/2007 1:27 PM EST

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.

Ghosted by Thomaso Guiseppe @ 03/19/2007 3:35 PM EST

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.

Ghosted by Hank Scorpio @ 03/19/2007 10:03 PM EST

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.

Alas, poor Hubba Bubba. I knew him, Horatio.

Ghosted by TheAardvark @ 03/21/2007 1:22 PM EST

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!

Ghosted by Rob @ 03/21/2007 11:33 PM EST

i’m just gonna ask,

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 have been looking everywhere here but to no avail….

Ghosted by Troice @ 03/27/2007 11:12 PM EST

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.

Ghosted by Dave @ 03/30/2007 8:36 PM EST

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. :(

Ghosted by cheese007 @ 03/31/2007 8:16 PM EST

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.

Ghosted by Nikki @ 04/13/2007 12:19 AM EDT

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.

Ghosted by Holly @ 04/17/2007 12:35 PM EDT

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

Ghosted by John-E @ 04/19/2007 5:17 PM EDT

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.

Only soda I ever willingly gave up.

Ghosted by Adam X @ 04/24/2007 8:26 AM EDT

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)

Ghosted by Darren @ 04/25/2007 3:20 AM EDT

Hi Sam! Photos i send on e-mail.
Green

Ghosted by Green @ 04/25/2007 8:25 AM EDT

YOU FORGOT RED FUSION!!!

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

I really miss it.

Ghosted by Jayme @ 04/27/2007 6:35 PM EDT

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.

Ghosted by Aylmer's_Tune @ 04/27/2007 6:57 PM EDT

Wow I never knew there were so many failed sodas.

Ghosted by MightyStalfos @ 04/29/2007 6:49 PM EDT

Pepsi Samba tasted like a cross between urine and condensed mango juice.

Ghosted by Daniel @ 05/06/2007 12:19 AM EDT

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.

Ghosted by MalibuBarbie @ 05/08/2007 9:04 PM EDT

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….

Love the site!
-Eric

Ghosted by Eric @ 05/12/2007 6:57 AM EDT

What about Mountain Dew Live Wire?

Ghosted by Nina @ 05/13/2007 11:18 PM EDT

You missed the rarest and most FANTASTIC dead soda of them all:

HUBBA BUBBA.

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

Ghosted by Kaleb @ 05/15/2007 1:22 PM EDT

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]

Ghosted by phiz @ 05/15/2007 1:55 PM EDT

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.

Ghosted by Tom from West Chester @ 05/15/2007 9:49 PM EDT

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

(It’s pretty bad, without being actually offensive.)

Ghosted by Dan @ 05/22/2007 4:09 PM EDT

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

Ghosted by Anonymous @ 05/25/2007 2:20 AM EDT

Great article, but there was one glaring omission… JOSTA!!!

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.

Keep up the good writing.

Ghosted by Simply Anonymous @ 05/25/2007 1:51 PM EDT

Hey,first timer here found you through Malls of America.

I like taking trips down memory lane a lot,sodas also a keen interest to me.

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 in a glass bottle like Snapple was only without the plain flavor.

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.

they got a website still for the rest of the countries that still carry it:
http://www.fruitopia.com/fruitopiasecure/index.htm

but heres the bottle label I remember:
http://hyperreal.org/raves/database/visuale/plate15.jpg

an ad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_bvwsqUHCo

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.

Ghosted by Mark @ 05/28/2007 12:20 AM EDT

Sprite Ice was a good mixer with vodka. Just saying.

Ghosted by MC @ 05/28/2007 12:44 AM EDT

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.

Ghosted by Mary @ 05/29/2007 1:25 PM EDT

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.

thanks.
:scooter:

Ghosted by scooter @ 05/31/2007 11:20 AM EDT

wheres the OK Soda?

Ghosted by Vreeland @ 05/31/2007 3:17 PM EDT

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.

Ghosted by Ryan Spencer @ 06/01/2007 4:13 PM EDT

You made me laugh at least a few times out loud.

Ghosted by Joe @ 06/01/2007 10:54 PM EDT

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.

Just a few thoughts.

Ghosted by DonOtaku @ 06/02/2007 3:31 AM EDT

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.

And then they never brought it back. Bastards.

Ghosted by Jamie @ 06/02/2007 7:14 PM EDT

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…

Ghosted by Eric @ 06/03/2007 9:47 PM EDT

I loved Orbits. Not for the taste, but the texture.

Ghosted by Nick @ 06/04/2007 5:08 PM EDT

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

Ghosted by Dubya @ 06/04/2007 5:09 PM EDT

Hear about the cucumber pepsi coming out in Japan?

http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=1812

should be interesting :P

Ghosted by ChaosDreamer @ 06/06/2007 11:30 PM EDT

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.

Ghosted by altlucifer @ 06/08/2007 9:36 AM EDT

Hey man dont forget &up Gold the ” Spice ” flavored soda.. i kinda liked it

Ghosted by Akira @ 06/13/2007 10:40 PM EDT

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.

Ghosted by Justin @ 06/14/2007 10:37 PM EDT

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