Foreword:

It is ironic that I am writing a foreword to this story. I have always contended that if I ever wrote a book, that I would not include a Foreword since no one ever reads them and just dives right into Chapter 1. I had intended to post this story after New Year's, but since it is germane to a New Year's resolution, which everyone makes but no one ever keeps, I decided that this would be a good time to post it since it's New Year's Eve today. I made a decision to stop drinking pop and other carbonated beverages about 2 months before New Year's Day. This way I can avoid the crowds who wait until New Year's Day to make their resolutions. It is also yet another example of how I don't follow trends, I start them. Since giving up on pop, I have noticed a slight increase in my energy level, but nowhere near the inexhaustible manic energy level I used to have when I was younger way before I started taking various medications to "calm me down". And now the story as originally written more than 2 months ago before I totally and permanently (I hope) quit drinking carbonated soft drinks…

 

Well, now I see they’re fooling around with 7Up! It’s now called “All 100% Natural” or something trendy like that! It tastes totally different from the original 7Up! I’m boycotting 7Up until they go back to the traditional formula! That‘ll show ‘em! As much pop as I drink, that’s sure to make a big dent in their profits! They tried the same thing with the “New Coke” and were forced to go back to the “Traditional Formula”. I think that was just a publicity gimmick to sell more Coke! I hope it’s the same with 7Up too! 7Up was really good when I was a kid. Back when it first came out around 1928, it had lithium and real sugar in it and still did when I was a kid. It was originally designed to sooth an upset stomach from a hangover. The name 7Up was derived from the 7 ingredients it contained. One of the best things I liked about 7Up was rapidly popping off the cap with a cap opener resulting in a loud deep “POP”. Sometimes we would put our thumbs over the top and shake it and spray it all over the place including the ceiling. We had some great “pop fights” too. 7Up was always the best one for this since it had the best carbonation.

 

In the “good ole days”, pop was great tasting. They used real cane sugar then, and not “corn syrup”. Corn syrup is in everything we eat or drink these days. Whatever happened to real cane sugar? Did the corn syrup people sabotage all the sugar cane fields in Cuba or something?

 

Where have all the great pop brands gone?

 

Back when I was a kid, pop was pop and not “natural flavors” and had real metal caps and was sweetened with cane sugar.  One of the main brands of pop we used to drink was “Mission” Orange and Root Beer. The only place I ever saw this brand was at TEACO (the nearest local “beer joint”.) I’m sure they had other flavors, but the 2 aforementioned flavors were what I always drank. One time I was at TEACO with Uncle Ned and Roger Waite. Since neither one of them were “feeling any pain”, Roger kept buying me bottles of Mission Root Beer. In all, I drank 6 or 7 bottles! I’ve never seen this brand since. It’s apparently on the list of “extinct pop species”.

 

Another brand of pop back then was Nehi. I always thought the grape flavor was the best tasting. Although you can buy Nehi on the Internet, I haven’t seen any for sale in any stores for years. Even though it’s expensive, I may just get a few bottles of grape Nehi via the Internet. Whatever they want for it price wise, it’s a cheap price to pay for a little taste of “nostalgic heaven”.

 

Another one of my favorites is "Dad’s" Root beer. This used to be all over the place, but it has been very hard to find the last several years. A quick search on Google revealed that it’s still made, but very limited in its distribution. This confirms my theory that anything that’s really good, they either go out of business or make it very hard to find. One website sold individual glass bottles of Dad’s for $1.45 per bottle! Oh well, here again, it may be worth it to me to get a few bottles just to drink it again. The only other root beer I liked better was from Frosty’s in Huron. They served it in frosted glass mugs. This place, of course, has long been out of business.

 

"Uptown" pop was also available several years ago. It was a 7Up clone and was quite good. I’m very sure that this company has been out of business for several years.

 

Yet another swell pop was Kist. A quick search has found that they do indeed still manufacture this even though I haven’t seen it in several years. It’s in clunky plastic bottles which results in even the rare old established brands having an “off taste” from the plastic containers. There’s nothing like pop in glass bottles! The only pop in glass bottles with the old fashioned metal caps is Stewards. It’s expensive but well worth it! At least I can still find it at Huron IGA. Unfortunately, it too has corn syrup sweetener and not sugar.

 

I used to really like “Squirt” in the good old days when they actually used real grapefruit juice with grapefruit pulp in it! Now days, it’s artificially flavored like everything else. Now it’s “pulpless and gulpless” as far as I’m concerned!

 

I also really miss real metal pop bottle caps with the cork lining that need a bottle opener to remove. I’ve never liked the “twist off” type these days. We used to go to TEACO and get a bunch of pop and beer caps just to play with. We also made fish scalers out of them by nailing them, with the serrated edges out, to a piece of plywood. (See drawing below). I remember all the colorful caps from various brands of beer and pop. In those days pop and beer tops had a real cork lining under the caps, and we had to scrape it off of each cap. When we weren’t making fish scalers, which no one ever used, we would fly the caps like miniature Freebies. They also made great targets for our various collections of rifles and pistols. Back in those days, we could have fun with anything! As they say, “The best things in life are free”. Unfortunately, I can’t think of anything practical or fun to do with the pop-top openers that come with aluminum pop cans these days. Back then, pop cans were made with steel and had a firm solid feel to them when we held them in our hands. Now with all pop cans being thin aluminum, it feels like I’m holding a piece of tin foil! These days I so detest the corn syrup laden pop in those thin plastic bottles with the plastic twist off caps!  L 

 

It just occurred to me that since I am on the subject of soft drinks, the BEST "pop" I ever had was the mixed kind with syrup and carbonated water at "Shoopie"s drug store in Berlin Heights. The cherry coke was my favorite. Alas, like pop with real cane sugar in it, soda fountains are a thing of the past! Oh how I despise the present at times!

 

Alas, yet more items that were wonderful back in the good old days, that are relics of a bygone era. I yearn to go back to the past. Where's Rod Serling when you need him?

 

Afterword:

Never mind, no one ever reads those either…

 

Related Past Story Link:

“ROUGH NECKS”