# Other Soft Drink Flavors **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 21, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-soft-drink-flavors/547505 "2010-07-21T19:22:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-soft-drink-flavors/547505/41 "2010-07-27T05:50:44Z")
Squirt is available anywhere here on the west coast. I like grapefruit flavored drinks a lot. Even better than Squirt is Izze grapefruit. [http://www.izze.com/](http://www.izze.com/) I remember the old A&W drive-ins were often shaped like giant barrels. My hometown had one. I can’t seem to google up a photo, though, which makes me doubt my own memory. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-soft-drink-flavors/547505/42 "2010-07-27T15:10:59Z")
I liked Faygo “Rock and Rye”. I wonder what it actually was because it didn’t taste like anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-soft-drink-flavors/547505/43 "2010-07-27T15:15:07Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Remember Fanta? It’s still around. There’s a bunch of different fruit flavors. I never liked it myself. That’s big over here, too. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-soft-drink-flavors/547505/44 "2010-07-27T15:45:14Z")
> [@Amp](#): > > [Malta](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta_%28soft_drink%29). It is the drink of the Gods. Just about all the kids–and some adults–in Caribbean Colombia drink Pony Malta. There’s also a Russian malta I’ve seen in stores here, called something like “Kbac.” ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-soft-drink-flavors/547505/45 "2010-07-27T16:06:06Z")
I’m surprised Cactus Cooler is still around. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-soft-drink-flavors/547505/46 "2010-07-27T16:22:42Z")
[A-Treat,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-Treat_Bottling_Company) based in Allentown, Pennsylvania, also has some unusual flavors, including raspberry, black cherry, and pineapple sodas. ---
**Author:** ![eastcheap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8491ac/32.png) [@eastcheap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eastcheap)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-soft-drink-flavors/547505/47 "2010-07-30T10:49:26Z")
I, for one, still mourn the passing of Rondo, a sort of Solo clone marketed for awhile in Texas at least. As for Big Red, folks in Waco are still sore about being deserted by Dr. Pepper. I figure they’ll keep making Big Red forever, out of spite if nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![eastcheap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8491ac/32.png) [@eastcheap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eastcheap)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-soft-drink-flavors/547505/48 "2010-07-30T10:58:37Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Remember Fanta? It’s still around. There’s a bunch of different fruit flavors. I never liked it myself. Mmmmm, Fanta. It’s [Nazirrific!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanta#History) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-soft-drink-flavors/547505/49 "2010-07-30T14:52:48Z")
> [@signal11](#): > > [I had an English roommate back in grad school and he hated root beer. Said it tasted like cough syrup, which I came to understand later wasn’t that uncommon in England. The story goes that here in the states they made cough syrup taste like root beer to get the kids to drink it. Root beer evidently didn’t make it over to England till after root beer flavored cough syrup, so kids their grew up associating root beer with cough medicine. Yeah… it’s a nice story, but I’m pretty sure it’s not true. I’ve seen people liken root beer to cough mixture before, but they seem to be trying to explain the strange, sort-of-medicinal taste it has, without having a name for it. I’ve never found cough medicine here that actually tastes of root beer. I’m pretty sure that the objectionable flavour in root beer is the wintergreen component, which I’ve never come across here in cough syrup (or anything meant to be taken orally). It is an ingredient in antiseptic ointment and liniment, though, and that’s what most people will associate with the smell and taste, even if they can’t quite put their finger on it. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-soft-drink-flavors/547505/50 "2010-07-30T16:23:27Z")
Some people (_e.g.,_ my wife) find licorice and anise highly unpalatable due to childhood associations with an antiasthmatic. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-soft-drink-flavors/547505/51 "2010-07-30T19:57:32Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > Some people (_e.g.,_ my wife) find licorice and anise highly unpalatable due to childhood associations with an antiasthmatic. Me, a number of meds were flavored with licorice, the flavor and sometimes even the smell are nauseating to me. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-soft-drink-flavors/547505/52 "2010-07-30T20:53:21Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > > [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > > > Some people (_e.g.,_ my wife) find licorice and anise highly unpalatable due to childhood associations with an antiasthmatic. > > Me, a number of meds were flavored with licorice, the flavor and sometimes even the smell are nauseating to me. A lot of Star Trek fans were deeply disappointed when they tried “Earl Grey Hot” for the first time. Bergamot is used as a medicinal flavoring here. [Pop The Soda Shop](http://popsoda.com/index.html) has an awful lot of the brands mentioned here including Cel-Ray and Moxie, and they ship. Makes the sodas not cheap, though. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-soft-drink-flavors/547505/53 "2010-07-30T21:09:27Z")
I find licorice unpalatable because it is licorice. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-soft-drink-flavors/547505/54 "2010-07-31T10:50:58Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > I’m pretty sure that the objectionable flavour in root beer is the wintergreen component, which I’ve never come across here in cough syrup (or anything meant to be taken orally). It is an ingredient in antiseptic ointment and liniment, though, and that’s what most people will associate with the smell and taste, even if they can’t quite put their finger on it. Last fall I took a vacation to the States with a truckload of Norwegians, and my eldest son and I got them all to try root beer. A couple of them liked it, but the others were unanimous that it tasted like toothpaste. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-soft-drink-flavors/547505/55 "2010-07-31T12:14:42Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > Last fall I took a vacation to the States with a truckload of Norwegians, and my eldest son and I got them all to try root beer. A couple of them liked it, but the others were unanimous that it tasted like toothpaste. Is Euthymol toothpaste popular in Norway? That has wintergreen in it. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-soft-drink-flavors/547505/56 "2010-07-31T12:29:43Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > > [@flodnak](#): > > > > Last fall I took a vacation to the States with a truckload of Norwegians, and my eldest son and I got them all to try root beer. A couple of them liked it, but the others were unanimous that it tasted like toothpaste. > > Is Euthymol toothpaste popular in Norway? That has wintergreen in it. Nope. Don’t know of a single toothpaste here with a wintergreen flavor. If they used another term, they said it was minty, but none of them said minty like chewing gum - they all said minty like toothpaste. Oh, well, more for me. ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-soft-drink-flavors/547505/57 "2010-08-02T17:55:16Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > I’m pretty sure that the objectionable flavour in root beer is the wintergreen component, which I’ve never come across here in cough syrup (or anything meant to be taken orally). You mean besides Life Savers, Rolaids, and the like? Powers &8^] ---
**Author:** ![Zelski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c67d28/32.png) [@Zelski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zelski)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-soft-drink-flavors/547505/58 "2010-08-03T04:35:32Z")
My favorite type of soft drink is birch beer. Birch beer is related to root beer, but instead of the root extracts, etc., birch beer is/was brewed using oil of birch bark. It turns out that the oil is almost identical to wintergreen oil and I will say that the fragrance and flavor are wintergreeny. My current favorite is Boylan’s brand Creamy Red Birch Beer. They make an excellent brown birch beer, too. It is stronger, but not as smooth. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-soft-drink-flavors/547505/59 "2010-08-03T07:36:24Z")
> [@Powers](#): > > > [@WotNot](#): > > > > I’m pretty sure that the objectionable flavour in root beer is the wintergreen component, which I’ve never come across here in cough syrup (or anything meant to be taken orally). > > You mean besides Life Savers, Rolaids, and the like? When I said “here” I meant in the UK, where I am. No Life Savers, no Rolaids. ---
**Author:** ![Rakso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@Rakso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rakso)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-soft-drink-flavors/547505/60 "2010-09-24T14:43:31Z")
I’ve lived in Pittsburgh my entire life, and have hardly ever seen sarsaparilla sold anywhere, nor anyone drinking it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-soft-drink-flavors/547505.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-soft-drink-flavors/547505.md?page=4)