Mexican Coke

Before the days of artificial sweeteners and corn syrup, soda companies used real sugar. In fact that is all that was available at the time. Now times have changed. In order to save money scientists created artificial sweeteners and although similar in taste sodas with high fructose corn syrup just don't match up to their sugary sweetened counter parts.

A classic example of the differences in the two sweeteners is with Coca Cola. Coke is the largest soda company in world and we are all used to the cola drink made with high fructose corn syrup. But lets not forget that at one time Coke was make with pure cane sugar. Long gone are those days, however, Mexican Coke is still make with the pure cane sugar formulation. Just one sip of Mexican Coca Cola may even make you swear off artificial sweetners completely. There is a reason why many retro sodas, as some call them, still exist today.

Nostalgia Provides for Some Good Memories

To say that internet browsing can pull up some interesting finds is an understatement. We all have childhood memories of commercials that ran on tv (sometimes in b&w). In fact we can probably still sing most of the jingles. Can you recite all the ingredients in a Big Mac? More specifically on the beverages side how about Coke teaching the world to sing, or the Kool Aid guy breaking down the wall, or even the deep voice of Geoffrey Holder as the Uncola guy?

Well we decided to create a special page dedicated to these old time classics. Although we may not sell all the items from these ads we do carry a few. For instance Nesbitts was recently brought back into production in 12 oz glass bottles. Although I do not remember the ads posted some of you may. The new product still tastes just as good.

We will continually be on the hunt for others ads as we build this walk down memory "tv commercial" lane. Have fun, share this page with others and don't forget to pay homage to our sponsors.

Glaceau Enters the World of Coke

Glaceau the maker of the infamous Vitaminwater and Fruitwater hit a major grand slam recently when they decided to sell to Coke for $4.2 Billion dollars. Yep that’s billions. I am still amazed at the purchase price given that just less than a year earlier Coke offered half that amount for a company whose sales were approximately $355 million. Has the internet purchase price phenomenon hit the beverage world? One of the big winners was Tata Tea who aquired a 30% stake in the company less than year ago for $677 million. What a way to double your money without the back breaking work of actually having to sell the products.

Coke in recent times has suggested that they bought this company because of the potential it has to morph this brand into something that can compete with Gatorade. Gatorade? Wow, what a stretch! Is that what we are going to see in the next few years – athletes chugging Vitaminwater during time outs, coaches getting barrels of Fruitwater thrown over them at the end of a big upset? Given what Coke has done with every brand that it has purchased over time does this brand stand a chance? Also, how will Coke and Vitaminwater compete with the slew of copycat products that are coming out into the marketplace in the next few months to fill the distribution voids left by this purchase? Is Sobe bigger or smaller since Pepsi purchased them?

I would like to hear your thoughts on whether this product will survive and over time can Vitaminwater match up to the power of Gatorade?