# What do you do when you can't get your cola of choice? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** soda-softdrinks\ **Created:** [March 16, 2014, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-you-cant-get-your-cola-of-choice/683838 "2014-03-16T15:27:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 6
**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:** [March 19, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-you-cant-get-your-cola-of-choice/683838/101 "2014-03-19T16:49:18Z")
> [@minionkat](#): > > If I am ordering a soda, it’s generally ginger ale. If they have it, I am not picky about the brand. What always boggles me is when they don’t have it and offer me a Sprite or 7Up instead. Not the same thing. I do enjoy Dr Pepper and root beer, so I sometimes get one of those. Mostly, I drink water. I like water. This - not overly fond of colas, but I find ginger ale reasonably palatable. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-you-cant-get-your-cola-of-choice/683838/102 "2014-03-19T17:20:05Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Do you have a better fizzy drink to put in your gin? Class it up and use Squirt as a mixer. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-you-cant-get-your-cola-of-choice/683838/103 "2014-03-19T17:45:30Z")
“Do you have Canfield’s Diet Chocolate Fudge?” “???” ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-you-cant-get-your-cola-of-choice/683838/104 "2014-03-19T18:48:52Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > “In that case, I’ll have a double vodka on the rocks with a twist” “…and keep 'em coming!” ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-you-cant-get-your-cola-of-choice/683838/105 "2014-03-19T19:03:52Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > Class it up and use Squirt as a mixer. Do it, **MOL**!! Then when the bartender asks, “Squirt?” you can get all offended.😛 ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2014, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-you-cant-get-your-cola-of-choice/683838/106 "2014-03-19T23:37:07Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > From experience, I can tell you that cream soda is definitely _not_ in the running. I actually recoiled just reading that. How drunk were you when you tried this? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-you-cant-get-your-cola-of-choice/683838/107 "2014-03-20T02:29:03Z")
I drank a bad bad thing ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-you-cant-get-your-cola-of-choice/683838/108 "2014-03-20T03:04:17Z")
I’ll drink Diet Pepsi in place of Diet Coke, but I certainly prefer the Coke. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-you-cant-get-your-cola-of-choice/683838/109 "2014-03-20T03:19:08Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > I actually recoiled just reading that. How drunk were you when you tried this? Pretty damned drunk. Freshman year college. I hated gin. Needed to mix it with something. Only fizzy drink available was cream soda. Bad idea. Really bad idea. Somehow, I did not vomit, but it wasn’t like the happenstance meeting of chocolate and peanut butter you saw in those old Reese’s commercials. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-you-cant-get-your-cola-of-choice/683838/110 "2014-03-20T14:35:21Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > Class it up and use Squirt as a mixer. What do you call a gin and Squirt cocktail? I spent three weeks drinking them at a Dublin, OH hotel bar and the bartender kept calling them _Gin things_. (I think that’s what she called them?) (I think it was Dublin, OH?) It was a really long training school. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-you-cant-get-your-cola-of-choice/683838/111 "2014-03-20T15:08:41Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > What do you call a gin and Squirt cocktail? A squint. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-you-cant-get-your-cola-of-choice/683838/112 "2014-03-20T15:16:37Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > What do you call a gin and Squirt cocktail? I spent three weeks drinking them at a Dublin, OH hotel bar and the bartender kept calling them _Gin things_. (I think that’s what she called them?) (I think it was Dublin, OH?) It was a really long training school. I have no idea! I’ve never had one that wasn’t poured out of the back of someone’s pickup at a tailgate party, or at the kind of bar where most of the patrons’ parents are cousins. They’re good though, right? ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2014, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-you-cant-get-your-cola-of-choice/683838/113 "2014-03-20T15:46:22Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > I have no idea! I’ve never had one that wasn’t poured out of the back of someone’s pickup at a tailgate party, or at the kind of bar where most of the patrons’ parents are cousins. > > They’re good though, right? They were very good. Not too sweet or hard, like whiskey and cola drinks. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-you-cant-get-your-cola-of-choice/683838/114 "2014-04-11T19:19:32Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I can never order my favorite soda, because very, very few places will have the caffeine-free variety of normally caffeinated sodas. The two usually available options, root beer or lemon-lime soda, aren’t usually different enough to matter, especially when watered down by ice. This situation is increasingly irksome to me. I would prefer a caffeine-free Diet Pepsi (Coke is also acceptable), but no, I always have to choose between a caffeinated diet cola or a caffeine-free fructose-laden drink (usually Sierra Mist or something of that ilk). The ONLY place I’ve found that offered a caffeine-free diet option is the food court at HyVee stores. (I’m sure there are other exceptions but I haven’t found them yet.) I have always been baffled at the hardcore Coke/Pepsi partisans. The two brands just aren’t that different to me. I have noticed that most of my “Coke or nothing” friends seem to be southerners, and their Coke loyalty seems to be tied to their strong regional self-identification. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-you-cant-get-your-cola-of-choice/683838/115 "2014-04-11T20:35:22Z")
> [@steveroo](#): > > This situation is increasingly irksome to me. I would prefer a caffeine-free Diet Pepsi (Coke is also acceptable), but no, I always have to choose between a caffeinated diet cola or a caffeine-free fructose-laden drink (usually Sierra Mist or something of that ilk). The ONLY place I’ve found that offered a caffeine-free diet option is the food court at HyVee stores. (I’m sure there are other exceptions but I haven’t found them yet.) > > I have always been baffled at the hardcore Coke/Pepsi partisans. The two brands just aren’t that different to me. I have noticed that most of my “Coke or nothing” friends seem to be southerners, and their Coke loyalty seems to be tied to their strong regional self-identification. I agree 100% with your first point, I have even written letters- why a place could have EIGHT different soft drink flavors and none of them be sugar **&** caffeine free is beyond me. One place (Camera 12) even has Coke Zero and Diet Coke, which are nearly the same. I agree 90% with the second point. Only about 60% of drinkers can even tell the difference. Oddly of them, 60% prefer Pepsi (poll numbers vary of course). Even hard core COKE!!! drinkers usually can’t tell or would prefer Pepsi if it came in a red can. Now, I can tell the two apart, but once you add a lime or lemon wedge, Diet Coke is perfectly OK by me, even tho I slightly prefer Diet Pepsi. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-you-cant-get-your-cola-of-choice/683838/116 "2014-04-12T13:06:47Z")
I drink water, or iced tea. I don’t care for soda, any flavor. I will drink Diet Coke in the summer, though, when I start dragging in the afternoon heat, but only for medicinal purposes! ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-you-cant-get-your-cola-of-choice/683838/117 "2014-04-12T13:15:52Z")
Gin and Squirt? Try sloe gin and Mountain Dew. It’s ever so much better than it sounds. Mix it half and half. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2014, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-you-cant-get-your-cola-of-choice/683838/118 "2014-04-12T13:32:29Z")
The situation is different depending on if it’s just me. Walk into a store, feeling like a pepsi max and they only have diet coke? I’ll get some other, non-cola drink. In restaurant with friends, you only have ammonia with brown food colouring? Sure, whatever. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-when-you-cant-get-your-cola-of-choice/683838.md?page=5)