Perhaps I am running out of ideas. Or maybe it’s because I love pop so much. But this idea just popped into my head the second I sat down, and I already knew just about all of them. There’s definitely enough types of pop that doesn’t make this a cinch; in fact you may be surprised at what the top 3 might bring. Let’s drink sugar!
I – A shout out to Crystal Pepsi. You were pretty cool.
#9 – Vanilla Coke. Although it’s to a certain extent fallen by the wayside, I really enjoyed Coke Vanilla in its zenith. It came out around the time I turned 21; earlier than Vanilla flavored Vodka, so a Coke Vanilla Vodka was my drink of choice for quite some time. I understand it was always going to be short-lived, but just like the ice cream, you can’t really go wrong. Stoli and Smirnoff have seen to that.
#8 – Sprite. Another beverage that I really don’t care for lonely in an isolated form, but tastes delicious when combined with a vodka or whiskey. Even an Amaretto sprite isn’t the worst idea ever. That lemon-lime flavor is the perfect complement to so many mixed drinks and well as those “fu-fu” drinks that the ladies seem to enjoy. While I enjoyed making Seven-up mine, Sprite wins the caffeine free drink race.
#7 – Mug/IBC. I might receive a lot of criticism for this one, and believe me; I thought my root beer through. They are just about all fantastic, especially under the coldest of circumstances on a hot day. But for me, these two I can drink without restraint. A&W is great, but really goes well in a float or over ice cream. Dads is of the youth, but I just haven’t had enough to truly consider it a great. 1919 offers nostalgia as well as it always seems to be served at state fairs and carnivals and the like. And Barq’s is quality. These two are just a little bit better.
#6 – Cherry Coke. Ah, the sweet nectar. It’s a lovely combination; the excellence of coke merged with that pleasing cherry flavor that really gets the heart pumping. It’s actually really poor when mixed with liquor, and I’m also not a fan of it at room temperature. But it’s most often the drink of my choice when I go out to dinner, and looking for an enjoyable sober evening meal.
#5 – Mountain Dew. Do the dew. I’ve been probably doing it for over 20 years now if not longer. Dew is great cold. It goes down quickly and can be put away at even 4 or 5 at a time. It’s the perfect movie pop, card playing pop, basketball in the park pop, lying by the pool pop and most other group events. I wouldn’t drink it with steak, and it’s kind of a poor combo with pizza. It doesn’t have to be the be-all and everything. It’s just delicious and nice to have around.
#4 – Mello Yello. The old version did nothing for me, and when it got replaced, there was no one happier than me. When they got rid of surge back in 2002, there was probably no one that was more heartbroken than I was. But than Mello Yello came back with a vengeance. It’s new version with just a hint of orange juice concentrate was a fabulous idea, and for me the perfect breakfast soda. I can and prefer to drink Mello Yello with a meal of scrambled eggs, toast and bacon. I can drink it warm, cold and any other reasonable temperature. It hasn’t quite hit legendary status for me, but whenever Target does their 5 for $10 on coke products, more often than not, it’s Mello for me.
#3 – Coke. Mello Yello’s big brother. Part of the reason it scores so high is the feature that it can be found in just about every major eating facility in America. You can find it at gas stations, restaurants, rest stops, sporting events, bars and every other place where people gather to have a drink . Coke goes great alone, with alcohol, with other pops (also known as a “Suicide”) and even tastes decent flat. They are great branders of the drink, and do well to be very visible in most aspects of human life. I can get it in Mexico, Europe and I’m assuming on every other continent that I haven’t visited unlike Pepsi, where I noticed their absence considerably when I was an exchange student in Germany. Coke runs things, and I’m very ok with that.
#2 - OK soda. Ha, ha, just kidding. But I had to get it into a pop blog somehow. It wasn’t great, but it was in every sense of the term, OK.
#2 – Tahitian Treat. Indeed. Speaking of sweet nectar… I will never understand why it’s only released in the tiniest of quantities. I think it might be the best tasting pop of all-time; it’s like Hawaiian punch, but with that unique bite that can’t be described but only understood. I still remember when I spilled some on my brand new bedroom carpet, and instead of my first thought being “well I better go clean it up”, I thought “crap, what a waste of Tahitian Treat.” Needless to say I didn’t clean it and the carpet still has a nice shade of red to this day. Perhaps because it’s making a mark on my life. Well, I’m proud to wear it like a scar.
#1 – Surge. I probably gave it away a little while back, but Surge is one of the great innovative ideas of the 20th century. The fact that it was going to be introduced as the MDK (Mountain Dew Killer) says everything. It had great flavor. It had great marketing. I thought it had a great following but Coke claims that they only moved 100,000 cases per year (colinnekritz.com) and it declined considerably before they discontinued it in 2002. I find that hard to believe as it was also sold at McDonalds and at sporting venues. Here’s a pop who’s myth was so big, their legend so popular that people actually started believing that Surge was unhealthy to drink and loaded with caffeine. (It had less caffeine than Mountain Dew). It was the flavor that myself and the other Surge fans loved, and I would be the first person in line at the store if Coke stood up and finally brought it back.
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