Dad's Old Fashioned Root Beer

Dad's Old Fashioned Root Beer was created in 1937 by Ely Klapman and Barney Kerns in the basement of Ely Klapman's home in Chicago. This drink grew quickly in popularity in the American Midwest and in the 1940's was the first drink sold in six-pack format. During the 1940's the brand was sold as a "family" of sizes with the Papa being a full half-gallon bottle. Dad's was purchased by the Monarch Beverage Company, of Atlanta, in 1986.  In 2007 the beverage returned to it's Midwestern roots when it was purchased by Hedinger Brands, based in Jasper, Indiana. Like many drinks with regional beginnings you can find loyal Dad's fans around the Midwest.

This soda is caffeine free and made with cane sugar, and yes, bottled in Jasper, IN. It has a pleasing, old-fashioned root beer fragrance. As much as I was hoping to like this root beer, I found it to have a distinct chemical overtone to it. I found it to be too much for me to enjoy sipping it.

Sunkist

Sunkist as a brand name dates back to the turn of the 20th century when a co-op of citrus growers, called the Southern California Fruit Exchange, began branding it's fruit in 1908 as "Sunkist," alluding to it's high-quality. This is said to be the first time fruit was branded. Over time the co-op and the brand grew, including fruits other than oranges and even nuts. The co-op changed names later to the California Fruit Growers Exchange and later Sunkist Growers, Inc.

In 1977, General Cinema Corporation was also a Pepsi bottler. To fill out their range of soda offerings General Cinema wanted an orange beverage and so developed it's own concoction and licensed the "Sunkist" brand name from Sunkist Growers. Sunkist, the soda, was released on the public in 1978 and was the best-selling orange soda in the US two-years later.

It's actually surprising to me that a non-profit like the Sunkist Growers, who used their "Sunkist" branding as a sign of their high-quality, fresh fruits, would sell-out to General Cinema who use no oranges in making their drink, but rather citric acid, high-fructose corn syrup, and sodium citrate.

True, it's become this neon-orange which Americans see as the very symbol of "orange" and "freshness" over the duller colors of more natural orange drinks. And it does indeed have the aroma of a fresh orange rind. It has a good deal of carbonation and a tang flavor. But it's sodas like this and Fanta which are the par for the orange soda taster.

Sidral Mundet Apple

Sidral Mundet is well known in Mexico, but unless you spend any time looking in the ethnic food section of your local grocery store, you may not be aware of it. The drink was the creation of Don Arturo Mundet who began bottling it in 1902. Real apples are supposedly used in the brewing process. It is said Mexican mothers give the drink to children with upset stomachs... sounds like the role 7-Up has here in the States.

This beverage has a good level of carbonation. Oddly, there was an almost entirely imperceptible aroma of any kind ever when holding directly under my nose. The flavor reminds me of a crisp Gala apple. It is light and palate cleansing. There aren't many American bottlers making any sort of apple soda so give this a try if you find it at the market.

Boylan Orange

See my earlier post for some historical notes on the Boylan Bottling Company.

This libation from Boylan is their orange. I realize there are a great many Boylan fans out there, but this is merely a so-so soda for me. Keep in mind that these antique orange sodas are not the chemically made orange sodas of today's Sunkist-like brands. The aroma is that of an orange cream soda, but I found the taste to be a little more like orange peel than orange. It's still an acceptable thirst quencher, but I'll keep working my way through the Boylan line-up.

Kickapoo Joy Juice

Kickapoo Joy Juice is citrus soft drink inspired by the nickname given to moonshine in Al Capp's Lil' Abner comic strips. The comic strip, which ran from 1934 to 1977, featured the misadventures of Lil' Abner and a town of hillbillies from the imaginary Dogpatch, Kentucky.

There seems to be some question as to who developed the drink first, since my research shows claims made by both NuGrape and the Monarch Beverage Company. However, the drink was introduced in 1965 and is a non-alcoholic soda, much the same way that Mountain Dew, also a euphemism for moonshine, is. Either way the NuGrape company as well as others were bought over the years to bring them under the current umbrella of products from Monarch Beverage Company.

There is a light sediment in the bottle similar to some other citrus soft drinks, I would assume this is from the concentrated grapefruit juice listed on the bottle. It's hard to describe flavors such as this one which are such a blend of real world citrus fruits that it has really become it's own flavor. The the aroma is similar to the more main stream Mountain Dew, I think the flavor is more subdued... not as bold as Mountain Dew and has more of a grapefruit highlight to it.