A Thanksgiving Soda Feast - in a bottle?

It's Thanksgiving Day in the US today - and boy, is my mouth watering at the thought of downing some "Corn on the Cob" soda and topping it off with some liquid "Smoked Salmon Paté" ..... MMMMmmmmmmmm. The what now?

Never heard of Jones Soda? Shame on you... it's hip, it's cool, it's different - and I don't even have any kids to tell me so. I've followed the beverage landscape long enough to know - this is the stuff that the media eats up - or drinks up, at least.

Jones Soda has been around for a number of years - you may or may not have seen their more traditional flavored sodas in your local beverage cooler with flavors like Vanilla Cola, Fufu Berry, Green Apple, and Strawberry Lime just to name a few. But every once in a while, they come up with something that makes you take a second look (and third, and fourth).

It all started with the Hotwheels Pack in 2003. Jones Soda brought out a bottle with a Hotwheels car on it - and packaged along with the bottle was a Hotwheels dinky car based on their orange Jones Soda RV. It was an instant hit with collectors and beverage connoisseurs alike. Then Jones took the ball and ran with it when they concocted their first version of 'Turkey and Gravy' soda for Thanksgiving 2003.

Now the Thanksgiving soda smorgasbord has exploded with two different Jones Soda holiday packs to whet your taste buds with sodas you never knew you always wanted. "Turkey & Gravy" is back, but you'll also now be able to enjoy Broccoli Casserole, Wild Herb Stuffing, Cranberry Sauce, Pumpkin Pie and Pecan Pie. I'm not kidding - how could I make this stuff up?

Don't believe me? Maybe you'll listen to Jones Soda's CEO: “Because of the overwhelming response to our holiday packs in 2004, we saw that there was a real demand for zero-calorie, meal-replacement beverages. This was also an opportunity to provide even more support for children’s charities,” says Peter van Stolk, President and CEO. “This year, we wanted to make the holiday packs more available to our consumers and our partnership with Target helped make this happen.” The company's goal is to raise $100,000 in support of St. Jude, the leader in the research and treatment of childhood cancer and other catastrophic diseases.

Over the past couple of years, Jones Soda has come up with some truly innovative sodas to grab the public's attention. Halloween soda cans, weird and wacky photos on their labels, and when you're not a billion dollar empire, why not strive for the outrageous! I say bravo to Jones Soda for thinking outside of the bottle. Would I try Turkey & Gravy soda ? Definitely! The only question I have is, would you serve Turkey and Gravy soda hot or let it chill and have it as leftovers?

I don't know about you, but I'll definitely be clicking over to eBay and bidding on the special edition "Turkey and Gravy" lip balm that the Jones Soda folks sent out to the media (I think I was conveniently overlooked this year). I guess technically, it was done to entice and help spread the word about the Jones Holiday packs since who in their right mind would buy it; but what could be better than licking your lips and getting a full flavored turkey experience? :0)

See you in the pages of the Soda Pop Dreams print edition, happy collecting, and digest well, dear readers.

A Sugar High for the Sodadood

This has been quite a week for the Sodadood.

First, I got a box of various US sodas from a trading friend of mine. He was nice enough to send me some of the new diet Coke with Splenda, Barq's French Vanilla, Barq's Floatz, Dr. Wham & Diet Dr. Wham, Mountain Dew Pitch Black II, and Grapico. The one

I was looking most forward to trying was the diet Coke with Splenda, since I live and die by the DC (if there's a Heaven, I don't wanna go there unless they have diet Coke on tap). I was surprised how different DC with Splenda tasted from the 'normal' stuff that I'm used to. To be honest, it tasted NOTHING like diet Coke... so I won't be tripping over to Buffalo to fill up the car with this stuff, that's for sure.

This October, here in Canada we were treated to Mountain Dew Pitch Black (the same formula that was out in the US last year, which we DIDN'T get until this year). So in the US this year was Pitch Black II - I wanted to try both side by side and do a comparison... whoa - PB II is much more sour than I anticipated. No doubt we'll get it next year when those of you in the States get PB III. ;0)

What can I say about Barq's french vanilla.... it was heavenly - and left a happy taste in my mouth (always a sign that the Sodadood likes what he's pouring down his pie-hole). Dr. Wham - a concoction from Pepsi in a very narrow distribution tastes remarkably like Dr Pepper (except WITH the . after Dr). It's got some funky packaging and flashy graphics, no doubt to suck in the youthful generation of which I am no longer a part of.

Grapico? Well, the verdict's still out on this stuff since it's the only thing left from the soda box that I have yet to try.

Just when I was about to muster up the gusto to crack open a bottle of Grapico, what should appear in my mailbox? A box of 'NEW' Pop Shoppe pop, courtesy of the owner of the chain. I've written extensively about Pop Shoppe in the past, but the stuff they sent me this week... oh boy, are these bottles fantastically retro.

If you remember the Pop Shoppe chain from the 1970s, you'll remember the old stubbies with the red/white acl logo. When Brian at the Pop Shoppe brought the chain back last year, his first bottle was a paper label - same familiar logo. But now he's gone back to the drawing board with the bottle design, and it's perfect. A more fitting tribute to the soda of old there will never be. Incidentally, the flavors that I LOVE from Pop Shoppe are: Black Cherry and Pineapple.

And if those two soda events weren't enough, the SODA LIBRARY website is now up and running. We've weeded out some of the earlier bugs in the system and there's a TON of stuff going up there in the next couple of weeks. If you're a fan of old beverages, new beverages, retro sodas, or you're a collector of bottles, cans, signs, etc. - this is the website for you.

OK, that's all for now. Happy Collecting, and I'll chat back to you soon!