TOD
I remember, all too well...
Coca-Cola. The Real Thing. My favorite as a kid, and my favorite now. My parents never bought it frequently enough to satisfy me, which probably contributed to my indulgences as an adult. But I don’t indulge in the regular drink so much as Coke Zero which is the only diet version to capture the taste of the original formula. For the likes of moi, that has been a godsend, following several years of drinking Diet Coke. When I REALLY want to indulge, I get the bottles (yes, glass bottles) from Mexico with the true original formula using sugar cane and not high fructose corn syrup. Anyway, however you slice it, Coke is my #1.
Vernors Ginger Ale was a VERY special treat as a kid, and I have no idea why we had it so infrequently. Following childhood, I have a few very nice associations with it in Cleveland and in Michigan during college years. It never stopped being a Midwestern thing, and I pick some up on every drive into Ohio or West Virginia. No glass bottles today, I don’t think, but I know that as of a few years ago they were offering it in plastic bottles that you could order.
Pepsi (original, in bottles) is also fine, but it really has to be the original.
When we’d first moved to Florida in 1960 we were getting RC Cola, which I probably wasn’t crazy about then but I’d love to try it now.
A&W Root Beer — at their drive-ins, in the frosty glass mugs. (We had other root beers at home, which was never the same.) Also, the Birch Beer served at the Royal Castle chain in Florida, also in the glass mugs.
We also usually had 7-Up and, later, other such things as Sprite, but I never thrilled to the lemon and lime stuff like I did the colas.
