Coke Classic has left the building.

Nearly 25 years after Coca-Cola added "Classic" to its original formula in order to differentiate it from the short-lived New Coke, the company has admitted defeat.

Company officials confirmed Friday that they're phasing out the Classic tag from American cans and bottles this year to streamline global branding, finally putting to rest the New Coke fiasco of the mid-'80s.

"It felt like the right time," Scott Williamson, a spokesman for Coke, told Slashfood on Monday.

Coke fans surely remember the spring of 1985, when the company shelved Dr. John S. Pemberton's original 1886 Coca-Cola recipe for a formula that performed better in taste tests and tasted, as I recall, a great deal like its chief competitor Pepsi, which naturally caused a furor among the soft drink's legion of fans.

"In the real world, they had a deep emotional attachment to the original, and they begged and pleaded to get it back," the company says on its Web site.

"Critics called it the biggest marketing blunder ever. But the Company listened, and [77 days later] the original formula was returned to the market as Coca-Cola classic®."

Williamson said that "classic" will remain in small print on the side of the bottles in the phrase "Coke Classic Original Formula."

"When people think Coke, they think Classic," Williamson said. "So more than two decades after we introduced that word, its reason for being as a descriptor has essentially disappeared."

About time they realized Classic has been the standard all along.

Tanqueray London Dry Gin is 94.6 proof/47.3 abv. and has a nice juniper flavor with sharp hints of spice and citrus. When sipped straight it has a sprightly juniper bite on the tip of the tongue. Once watered down, more of the botanical flavors are released and you get the addition of many mild floral and citrus notes. Some of the botanicals used are Juniper, coriander, angelica, and my guess is some form of citrus. It is quadruple distilled, first in a continuous column still, and then a final time in a pot still.

Tanqueray is based on a 200 year old recipe and is the number one imported gin to the U.S. Supposedly the Tanqueray recipe has been carefully guarded since it was first made and there are only four people in the world today that can make Tanqueray. This gin is a genuine, classic gin that tastes like gin should.

Fun facts: The late Johnnie Johnson (known best as Chuck Berry's piano player) wrote a song named Tanqueray. It appears on the album Blue Hand Johnnie which was released in 1991. At Rhapsody you can hear the original and several other versions of Tanqueray, as well as other sings with the same name, which are all really, really great. Well, maybe not in the case of "interesting" song called Poon Tanqueray by Rapnexx.

Snickerdoodles are supposed to be one of the great standards of American cookies, although they look relatively nondescript when compared to an ultra-rich chocolate chip cookie loaded with bittersweet chocolate and nuts. Once you get past their plain appearance, you'll discover that the chewy vanilla cookie with the crunchy cinnamon sugar coating is indeed one of the cookie greats. But bringing up the comparison with the very varied chocolate chip cookies introduces the one drawback of the snickerdoodle: it almost never undergoes any variations because everyone likes the original so much. Karen at FamilyStyle made up a batch of Chocolate Chai Snickerdoodles that bucks this trend, though. These cookies have the classic texture that we know and love from the original cookies, but with lot of added spices and a base cookie that has a healthy amount of cocoa added for chocolate flavor. The recipe is after the jump:

Macaroni & Cheese: 52 Recipes from Simple to Sublime is a single-subject cookbook that comfort food fans can really get behind. This book starts most of its recipes off with a basic roux, a mixture of flour, milk and butter that is the foundation of many oh-so-creamy sauces, and nothing in it resembles the stuff that comes from a blue box and bright orange cheese powder. The author tackles a very classic macaroni and cheese, but also takes advantage of cheeses from around the world, including Asiago, Roquefort and Feta. She blends the cheeses and pastas with other ingredients to create down-home comfort dishes, like Green Chile Mac and Cheese, and adds in things such as lobster meat, prosciutto and artichoke hearts for more upscale variations. There is even a dessert macaroni and cheese, made with a creamy, sweetened mascarpone mixture.

Some of the recipes are original, while some have been collected from various chefs that Joan Schwartz, the author, has worked with. Regardless of the origin of the recipe or the distance it has developed from what why may remember from childhood, the fact that the basic technique is the same or similar for each recipe means that you'll be able to add 52 recipes to your repertoire in very short order.

Sarah asked how your dressed your dogs - mustard? relish? chili? Personally, while I enjoy dogs dressed with all kinds of things, my very favorite way to eat them is with ketchup. I know it's boring compared to a loaded dog, but I also know I'm not the only one who likes them that way. My ketchup of choice is Heinz .

Heinz Ketchup is celebrating its 130th birthday this year and more the 50% of the Ketchup sold in the US is made by Heinz. Out of the many ketchups I've tried -including those ghastly green and purple monstrosities from Heinz, various "natural" ketchups and homemade ketchup - I've found that classic Heinz generally tastes the best. It has a sweetness that complements a slightly spicy dog, a little bite from vinegar and salt and a smooth texture. Of course, the texture of classic comes from the high fructose corn syrup that is in it and, because I generally try to avoid foods with high fructose corn syrup, I was delighted to discover that Heinz Organic doesn't have any! Granted, it came out in 2002, but old habits are hard to break. It tastes a little fresher and has a little more body than the classic Heinz, which actually makes it tastier than the classic - and it still goes perfectly on any hot dog (or fries, burgers, etc.).

The Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook was selected as one of the best basic cookbooks you can have in your arsenal. It's extremely well-rounded and has recipes for every meal and every cooking technique, covering the basics like roasted chicken and bread pudding, though it doesn't stray too far from mainstream recipes and ideas. The book is exceptionally good if you're cooking for a family, since it's guaranteed to have something for everyone in it. The 75th Anniversary Edition of the cookbook adds a little something extra with a section at the back of the book that includes some favorites from past decades that are still worth a look. It is ring-bound, which allows the book to lay flat on your countertop, and has tabs that make for easy navigation. Recipes are also given notations like "low fat" or "best loved," so it's easy to find something to suit your needs.

This summer, Oreos are changing their classic, round shape for six weeks. The new Oreos, called Dunkers, will be oblong, stretched out to enable easier dunking. Apparently, the most popular way to eat Oreos is to dunk them in milk, but most of their advertising has focused on the "twist" and "lick" aspects of their "Twist, Lick and Dunk" theme. Additionally, instead of having the "Oreo" logo printed on the cookies, they will feature new slogans, like "Dunk Me," "Milk's Favorite Cookie" and lines that indicate suggested levels of dunking. The campaign's success, when it is launched in June, will determine whether the classic cookies will make their shape-shifting permanent.

AdJab doesn't like the idea of the shape change because they're not big fans of the dunking concept. I could go either way as far as dunking is concerned, but I suspect that the "twist" part of the Oreo-eating process will be made much more difficult by having an oblong cookie. As the twist is my favorite part of eating Oreos, I think I'll be in favor of sticking to the traditional shape.