RC Cola

Many people today probably do not know what RC stands for, but here's the story, borrowed heavily from my earlier post on Nehi. In 1905, a pharmacist named Claude Hatcher founded the Union Bottling Works in Columbus, Georgia. Claude's company focused primarily on the production of his sodas Chero-Cola and Royal Crown Ginger Ale. Due to the popularity of Chero-Cola, the company changed its name to the Chero-Cola Company in 1912. 

By 1924, Chero-Cola Co. released a line of flavored sodas under the name Nehi. The two major myths about the root of this name boil down to their calling the competition only "knee-high" when compared to their drink. In 1928, the company changed it's name again to the Nehi Corporation.

Claude Hatcher died in 1933 and the new president of the company, H.R. Mott led the development of a new cola drink and using Hatcher's old brand name, called it Royal Crown Cola. Never ceasing to ride the waves of popularity, Nehi, changed its name again in 1955 to the Royal Crown Company. Today the company is owned by and under management of the Dr Pepper Snapple Group.

Even though it's now part of a large conglomerate I still hold a warm spot for RC because it's such an underdog in the cola market compared to Coca-Cola and Pepsi. RC Cola is closer to Pepsi in flavor than Coca-Cola. By that I mean I don't find it as sweet, more of a crisp bitterness to it. I also enjoy it's level of carbonation. Funny to say, but as often as I've had RC, I can't remember ever having tasted Diet RC, but you're sure to see it on this blog eventually. If drink a good deal of cola, mix things up and pick up some RC next time. Or if you're donating blood, like I'm apt to do at times, get a free taste there since they often have it next to the snacks for donors.

Nichol Kola

I was thrilled to find a bottle of Nichol Kola in Oklahoma one day. Although my collection of vintage soda signs is admittedly pretty small, it started with a Nichol Kola sign I picked up at an antique store while hunting for vintage soda bottle caps. If you're interested in collecting vintage signage Nichol Kola is a good place to start because for some odd reason there is a spate of Nichol signs in the antique store and flea market circuits. I'm not sure why there are so many in circulation but it means they are often a little more affordable. Aside from that I enjoy the design of their signs, which is why I have three now, one in NOS condition which waits in my garage to be cleaned of the paper packing adhered to it. Due to having these signs I often wondered what it tasted like but was well aware the company went under. 

Enter Orca Beverages, mentioned before in this blog, who have been taking up the cause to license and bottle many old vintage brands of soda again.

While it has the aroma of RC cola, it's hard not to taste the coriander and cinnamon. These flavorings hang in your mouth long after drinking it. Its certainly a change up from the straight cola flavor I was expecting. It's familiar and different at the same time and so I'm happy to recommend trying it. 

Nehi Grape

In 1905, a pharmacist named Claude Hatcher founded the Union Bottling Works in Columbus, Georgia. Claude's company focused primarily on the production of his sodas Chero-Cola and Royal Crown Ginger Ale. Due to the popularity of Chero-Cola, the company changed its name to the Chero-Cola Company in 1912. 

By 1924, Chero-Cola Co released a line of flavored sodas under the name Nehi. While the name conjures something of an asian origin to my mind, lore holds that it had a more folksy beginning. There is more than one story, but the two major myths basically boil down to calling the competition "knee-high" in how they compared to their drink. The Nehi line up at the time included orange, grape, peach, and root beer. By 1928, Nehi drinks were outselling Chero-Cola and so the company again changed names to the Nehi Corporation. 

Nehi suffered from the Great Depression like most other companies and operated at a loss in 1932. When Claude Hatcher died in 1933, the new president of the company became H.R. Mott. H.R. Mott led the development of a new cola beverage and borrowing a concept from Hatcher, named the drink Royal Crown Cola. Never ceasing to ride waves of popularity the Nehi Co. changed its name again in 1955 to the Royal Crown Company. The company was later brought under the umbrella of Snapple, which was later acquired by Cadbury Schweppes Inc. which spun it off to the control of by the Dr Pepper Snapple Group. Although Nehi can still be found today in some flavor variations, I doubt it is possible to still find it in glass bottles.

Perhaps Nehi is most well known from M*A*S*H, the television series which ran from 1972-1983 about an army surgical group in Korea. The character "Radar" O'Reilly was obsessed with Grape Nehi on the show. 

This bottle has a nearly non-existant level of carbonation, but a pleasant sugary, grape aroma. It has a sweet grape flavor like most modern American fruit-flavored sodas but isn't quite as overly rich as, say, a Welch's or the older Crush Grape which can sometimes make you sick by the end of a bottle.

Boylan Cane Cola

Boylan Bottling Company was founded by William Boylan in 1891 and oddly enough their first offering was a birch beer soda. Boylan uses cane sugar in all their varieties. I have always appreciated their vintage styling but am not a fan of all their flavors.

This posting relates to one of my favorites from Boylan, their Cane Cola. It has a sugary cola scent and is one of the sweetest tasting colas I can remember drinking in a long time. The cola flavor isn't as deep as Coca-Cola, and yet it still seems like just the right balance. There is a very tiny metallic after-taste but most would probably not notice that unless they really took their time savoring it. The sweetness of the cane sugar and level of acidity are very close to the taste of Royal Crown Cola. I can tell you that there is something about the finish of this drink that isn't easy to pinpoint and yet strangely makes me think of smoke-filled flea markets and I have no idea why. I should note that most cola's obtain their caffeine from the kola nut, which is a natural source of caffeine, but strangely the label on this cola makes mention that the caffeine is from coffee. It makes me wonder if this affects the flavor in any way. Either way, if it was possible to make this soda zero calorie without sacrificing an iota of it's flavor I'd probably be drinking more of it. If I'm ever able to locate their Diet Cane Cola I'll just have to put that to the test.

Pig Iron Cola

Today's selection is Pig Iron Cola. This bottle came from a random selection I bought from Galco's. In trying to find out more about this brand I visited the website listed on the bottle for Pig Iron BBQ, which is the home page for a Barbecue joint in Seattle, WA. There is no information whatsoever on their site about the cola and it doesn't even appear on the menu posted there. Even a Google search turns up squat.

**** The following paragraph was added 3/27 ****

I contacted Celeste Lucas from Pig Iron BBQ who tells me that they developed this drink with Orca Beverages in 2006 because they were no longer able to get RC Cola in glass bottles in their region. Celeste says, "We wanted a cola that had plenty of carbonation and was sweetened with real sugar, also needed to have a bit of a bite... not too sweet and that complimented our barbeque. We really like soda out of [sic] bottle, it tastes better and has a nostalgic feel." She also informed me that while it is primarily sold out of the restaurant, Orca also distributes it to the rest of the US.

******

This is a cola with a greater than average carbonation level. When twisting the cap it's always nice to hear the gases within sound as if they were being released by NASA and it tingles nicely on the tongue. As for the taste, it is very much like Pepsi so no surprises with weird herbs or after tastes. I like a cola with a heavier beef or pork meal so I can imagine it goes nicely with a pulled pork sandwich or some brisket. I also find that the acids in colas cleanse the palate from heavy sauces well, I like to imagine they "burn off" the particles in the mouth rather than merely rinse them away like a lighter beverage. As for the packaging... What's not to love about an ugly pig winking at you? Now, if I'm in Seattle I'll have to try their BBQ with another bottle.

Tab

Initially diet drinks often replaced sugar with artificial sweeteners called cyclamates and sometimes mixed with saccharin. The sweetness of cyclamates were discovered by accident in 1937 who apparently did not mind smoking in the lab since it was there that he was working on creating an anti-fever medicine when he tasted a sweetness after picking up his cigarette. In 1966 a study found that cyclamates were linked to cancer and in 1969 it was banned by the FDA. After the ban on the use of cyclamates diet drink makers, including Coca-Cola, turned to saccharin (also known as Sweet 'N Low) as a replacement artificial sweetener but this often lead to a chemical or bitter taste. The FDA also wanted to ban saccharin in 1977 due to correlations in cancer research until further review could be completed. They were unable to ban saccharin but food using it had to carry a special warning label, which was later repealed in the 1990's. By that time nearly all diet drink makers had already been using another artificial sweetener called aspartame (also known as NutraSweet). Diet Coke which was released in 1982 uses aspartame as a sweetener which is what leads to it's distinctively different taste from Coca-Cola Classic.

The first diet soda drink was a giner-ale called "No-cal" sold by Kirsch Bottling Company of Brooklyn, New York in 1952 and was originally made for diabetics. In 1958, Royal Crown Cola came out with Diet Rite. By the 1960's so-called "diet" products were increasing in popularity and Coca-Cola entered the diet soda market with Tab in 1963.

The name Tab has also offered some debate, but when Tab was created the Coca-Cola company had rejected the idea of calling it Diet Coke but agreed that it should have a short name. Coca-Cola used an early IBM computer to churn out a list of words no longer than 4-letters, but excluding any that were unpronounceable or too similar to other products. After paring this to a short list Tab was chosen as it was able to be used as a play on words - to keep "tabs" on your weight. The pink-hued packaging is likely a relic from it's creation in the marketing department's attempts to focus on weight-watching women customers.

When Tab was first introduced it too featured cyclamates and changed to saccharin when the FDA banned cyclamates. Tab still uses saccharin (mixed with aspartame) as a sweetener today but was overtaken by Diet Coke in the 1980's as Coca-Cola's major diet soda brand. At it's apex the Tab brand included Tab Lemon-Lime and Tab Orange. In the early 1990's when Pepsi released Crystal Pepsi, the short lived Tab Clear was sold but was pulled within a year. Tab has a dedicated fan following which keeps it going and is sold outside the US in Spain, South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia and Botswana. Recently a Tab energy drink was also released.

Most people today are familiar with Tab as a cola, but most remember it as a fad or relic from their past due to it being harder to find in some retail locations than others. My own grocery store carries it, but my mother, a Tab fan, goes to specific retailers to find it. I find that Tab has a distinctly chemical flavor to it which immediately reminds me that I'm drinking a diet soda. While the sweeteners may vary it is very similar to a Diet Pepsi flavor. The carbonation is rather average. I tend to steer clear of Tab because it gives me strong headaches between my eyes as though my blood vessels are squeezing tighter, making it harder for blood to move through, but this effect is not equal as some people drink it regularly.

Following, are two Tab caps currently in my collection...