As anyone old enough to remember the 1990s about the era’s biggest commercial disasters, and Zima will almost certainly make the list. A favorite butt of pop-culture jokes, retrospectives treat the citrusy malt drink as a goofy corporate misfire alongside Crystal Pepsi, New Coke, and the Arch Deluxe. Late-night television turned ordering a Zima into … Read more
For generations across the American South, a familiar linguistic exchange played out in convenience stores, service stations, and living rooms, and in many places, it still does. It went something like: “You want a Coke?” “Sure.” “What kind do you want?” “Dr Pepper.” To ordinary consumers, carbonated soft drinks were never rigid beverage categories. Nobody … Read more
Since the 1960s and up until quite recently, Americans have relied on a convenient frozen staple that allowed them to have access to fruit juice at a moment’s notice. The freezer case of almost any grocery store in America was stocked with these little cardboard cylinders labeled Minute Maid, Donald Duck. Seneca, Tree Sweet, or … Read more
Self-styled whisky aficionados love to confidently trot out a piece of fiction about whisky. The typical claim goes something like, “Single malt is pure whisky, but “Scotch” refers specifically to a blend.” Some amateur historians push this myth further with linguistic gymnastics, insisting that “Scotch” derives from an old culinary or butchering term meaning to … Read more
To anyone who watched television in the 1970s, Fred G. Sanford’s favorite drink needs no introduction. During the six seasons of Sanford and Son, Redd Foxx’s cantankerous yet loveable junk dealer made his favorite drink Ripple as famous as his faux heart attacks and his threats to send people across the room with one knuckle. … Read more
Jonathan Goldsmith’s “Most Interesting Man in the World” was a subversive advertising masterpiece that tripled US sales for Dos Equis. Yet behind the viral joke lay a fatal flaw: the campaign created curious beer tryers rather than loyal drinkers, leaving the door wide open for competitors.