Sunday, March 8, 2015

What's Your Favorite Soft Drink?

(Reclaimed from Bubblews, where this one first appeared on April 28, 2014. Photo credit: Catzie at Morguefile: http://cdn.morguefile.com/imageData/public/files/c/catzie/preview/fldr_2011_07_10/file5821310310122.jpg)

As Bubblers know, BubbleWS uses a spam filter that sometimes asks questions about product brand names. The idea makes sense to me, but something about the questions...

I don't really have a favorite brand of soda pop any more. I used to. My favorite brand used to be Corr's. It was made with natural ingredients, in small batches, and wasn't available just anywhere, and came in odd flavors that did not include cola. It didn't do too well on the commercial market.

After Corr's went out of production my favorite brand used to be Orangina. It was allegedly imported, although it didn't cost more than U.S.-made brands. It contained real orange juice, with a fair amount of pulp, and was only moderately carbonated. To make it bubbly and also keep the pulp from forming a choking mat at the bottom, the bottles instructed, "Shake Me." 

Now I am still definitely a soda pop drinker, but I no longer have a real favorite flavor. Since the price of a six-pack of Mountain Dew has been jacked up I've been enjoying the opportunity to buy a bunch of different flavors in two-liter bottles. Soda pop brands currently stocked in my kitchen include Mountain Dew, Mello Yello, Sundrop, two different store-brand competitors with those, Sunkist, and Barq's Root Beer. What I've been sipping today was Mello Yello, because that was what my car pool buddy bought when he stopped at his favorite gas and convenience station. Sometimes I also buy A&W Root Beer, Sunkist Grape, Sunkist Strawberry, Nehi Peach, and a bizarre local brand of caffeinated cream soda called Big Blue. If I were anticipating company I might buy at least one diet drink and one cola drink, too, since a lot of people like those, although I don't. 

I also like ginger ale, with or without cherry or lemon. I don't often buy it, and apparently a lot of other people don't either, because it's not available in all the local stores all the time.

So why, when shown a list of "Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, A&W Root Beer, 7-Up, Other," did I just say that A&W was a favorite? Because questions that try to force choices yield misleading results. I don't drink A&W regularly. When I went online at the Gate City public library computer center, which is near to a convenience store that used to offer various discounts on two bottles of soda pop bought at one time, the second bottle was likely to be A&W. I've not been there yet this year, and I don't think I've bought an A&W yet this year either. I do, however, like A&W more than the other brands on that list. 7-Up is a distant second. I don't really like cola flavor, although I buy it for other people. I don't know anybody who likes Dr. Pepper, in real life, although quite possibly somebody out there in cyberspace does, because it's been around for a long time.

Maybe I should have said "Other," because Corr's or Orangina would still be my favorite flavors if they were still on the market. 

What's your favorite soda pop flavor?

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