I knew I could count on the SDMB to get to the saccharine and aspartame issue. How did Cecil miss that one?Especially in 1983 when, as far as I can remember, TAB was still full of saccharine.
Can I add this, in recent years, all the cans of Tab I’ve seen contain aspartame. Within the past two years, The Wall Street Journal did a story on “Brands that will not die” such as Tab and Boo Berry. If you have a subscription to the Journal (not free) or Nexis, you might want to read that gem. Lot’s of quotes from die-hard who still bemoan the death of Quisp cereal.
IMHO, all diet drinks taste pretty nasty. However, when blood sugar problems are an issue, you have to cut carbs and sugar when you can. If seltzer and club soda were more widely available, I’d never touch diet drinks.
Ah, I know there’s Tab in my area because I’m temping for Coke-- and look at the product codes every day. I can assure you that it is in vending machines, at least here in the Pacific NW.
Just today I was drinking orange Fruitopia and thinking it tasted nearly exactly like orange Hi-C (sans extra C, Hi C is also a Coke product) and anyone who has ever had Sprite Remix and Fioravanti (a Coke brand in South America) will also notice a distinct similarity there…I’m telling you, if I could figure out how to caffeinate my Sprite Remix, I’d be a happy woman.
Anyway, it’s all conjecture as to whether they’re actually similar/the same recipe to me…I don’t work on the floor, and they don’t really go handing it out anyway.
Lots of people there have worked for other bottlers in the past…long story short…almost all malt liquor is bottled by Strohs, and apparently some of the brands are basically more or less concentrated versions of other Strohs brand malt liquors.
Pungent? Is that really the word you want to use? Okay, how about: “You smell like a day-old sun-baked dead fish in a week old sweaty sock dunked in skunk scent.” Pungent enough?
Okay, technically pungent means pricking, sharp, keen. However, common use is almost exclusively related to odor.
I have it on good authority (IE: I saw it on a webpage put up by some 12 year old), that aspartame (NutriSweet) is a bit of a carcinogen. Appartently the head of the FDA (or whatever it’s called over there) whisked it through despite his scientists’ objections, then went and sat on the board of NutriSweet and made a fortune. Word is, it gives rats brain tumors.
My question is, do we believe the sad, despressed, lonely little doomsayers, or the spectacularly rich, amoral corporations? Or do we just post our concerns on some website and decide that’s enough?
Nutrasweet, aspartame, whatever. Doesn’t matter to me. I’ve liked Tab since it came out in 1963 and will still go to some strange lengths to get my hand on it.
When stationed in Germany several years ago, our local commissary stopped carrying it. We would drive two hours to Heidelberg to get it and then would buy several cases so it’d last me until we made the next trip.
My wife used to send me six packs of the stuff when I was in Iraq after Persian Gulf I. I was no doubt the only Tab drinker in Iraq.
When in Korea, I’d get it at the local commissary, but it didn’t taste quite the same. Musta been the North Korean version.
Like I said, though. Doesn’t matter. I like it and I like it better than any other diet drink. So sue me.