Object Lesson
Regional sodas are something of a passion of mine. Whenever I travel, I make a point of trying to go to a grocery store to see what kind of sodas they have that we can’t get at home. I’m almost always rewarded with something interesting. It seems I’m not the only person who’s noticed this persistence of regionalism in the soda pop business; The New York Times has a great article about the phenomenon, written by Paul Lukas, who I expect is the same Paul Lukas who published the zine Beer Frame for so many years on the topic of inconspicuous consumption. This topic seems right up his alley, and he does a decent job of covering it.
There’s a little sidebar with the article pointing to dealers where you can purchase most of the sodas mentioned in the article. For Valentine’s Day a few years ago, Laura bought me a small stash of Vernors and Blenheim in glass bottles from Pop the Soda Shop in Arizona, which is mentioned. The service was great, but the shipping for glass bottles of soda is a bit steep. I tend to prefer getting my Vernors in quantity in my car, although I’ve been known to stick a few six packs in my check-in luggage when flying. I’m not sure how well that would play in a post 9/11 era, though, so I don’t recommend it. And fortunately for me, a friend turned me on to a soda distributor in Allentown, Pennsylvania, a short two-hour drive away, that carries cases of Vernors, so I don’t have to wait until my next trip to Michigan or Ohio. Allentown is only a day trip, whereas Ohio requires a weekend. :-)
Maybe it’s a product of the fact that I grew up in Detroit. Lukas mentions that to this day, it’s a hotbed of regional sodas, with Faygo and Towne Club also maintaining a market. When I was growing up, Towne Club was only sold in their own distributorships, so my grandfather used to take us to the one a few miles from their house and let us fill up a case or two with bottles of our favorite sodas. I loved their cream soda.
So what’s your favorite oddball soda?
Posted at 7:22 AM
I think that regional potato chip brands would be an excellent follow up article for Lukas to write. Remember the "potato chip of the month" club I signed you up for a couple of years ago? Benefit of regional potato chips over regional sodas (esp. ones in glass bottles): potato chips are much, much cheaper to ship!
Posted by Laura at 7:36 AM, July 23, 2003 [Link]