Summer’s here, and it’s time to recycle the memories of those hot lazy days. Remember those bottled beverages from our youth, slipping smoothly through the chutes of the coke machine, their tapered bottles promising cool sugared joy as you sipped their essence from their tapered tops?
I remember them well. Coke and Pepsi were always in battle, their caramel colored liquid giving you that extra zing to propel you through the high treetops of Studio City. There was something special about drinking soda from a bottle, almost like you were kissing someone, although I probably didn’t think about it in that way when I was nine.
I also loved Orange Crush when I wanted a bit of a citrus hit, the bright tangerine coloring reminding me that it was really summer, and nothing else mattered except having fun, playing ball, and getting dirty.
Then there was 7-Up, Bubble Up, Squirt and later Fresca, all with that lemony zip, but I think Coke and Pepsi dwarfed them. These behemoths had an advantage with advertising campaigns that fueled many martini luncheons among the execs at ad agencies like those featured on Mad Men.
Root beer lovers will recall A&W and Hires, also loaded with sugar. Back then, diet drinks weren’t even considered. We didn’t need to diet. We ran ourselves silly all day, burning through the sugar with the speed of a thoroughbred. Life was so free and easy…
What drinks to you recall, and which ones did you like?
