"soda" news and stories

by Catherine Donaldson-Evans

Veterans are incensed over the release in Russia of soda bearing pictures of dictator Josef Stalin and other World War II leaders.

The soft drinks will hit store shelves in early February, Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reported this week. They were produced at a beverage plant in Volgograd, Russia, to commemorate the 67th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad -- Volgograd's name before the fall of the Soviet regime.

The sodas will be re-released in time for end-of-war Victory Day festivities on May 9.

The three drinks have portraits on them of Stalin, Marshal Gregory Zhukov and Marshal Konstantin Rokossovksy, framed by the words "Our cause is right – We have triumphed."

About 30 million people perished during Stalin's oppressive reign.

A New Orleans soda that got its start in a pharmacy more than a century ago has wound its way back to the quasi-health food category.

Vitamin Cold Rush, a spin-off of the venerable Nectar Soda label, premieres this week at a Tiger Express convenience store in Baton Rouge. The low-sugar frozen drink is flavored with the same vanilla-almond extract combo L.I. Lyons peddled in his New Orleans pharmacy back in 1866.

"We wanted to make it as healthy as we could," Nectar Soda owner Susan Dunham says. "We're trying to go in a healthy direction."

Although Nectar Soda originated in a pharmacy, it was never used medicinally. The syrup, which became well-known in New Orleans after the K&B chain started stocking it at their lunch counters, was added to soda, cream or ice cream, "depending on how much money you had," Dunham explains. The familiar nectar flavor nearly vanished from the city's foodscape in the 1970s, when K&B closed most of its soda fountains.

Diet Dr. Pepper has always boasted that their diet soda doesn't taste like a diet soda (just like every other fizzy drink manufacturer). But the latest cans are causing confusion among bloggers like Jenny the Bloggess. The word 'diet' is encircled by a bright orange oval hue and adjacent to it are the words, 'Nothing Diet about It.' (Followed by a trademark symbol in case anyone else wanted to use that quartet of words in their braggart ads).

It begs the question: is it a diet drink or isn't it? It seems a wee bit contradictory to trumpet both claims on the same can but Dr. Pepper's peeps don't see it that way.

Leslie Vesper, brand manager for Diet Dr Pepper, sent Slashfood the following perky statement.

"Our loyal consumers tell us all the time that Diet Dr Pepper doesn't taste like a diet soft drink. This is where the "There's Nothing Diet About It" tagline comes from. We'd encourage anyone who is confused to give Diet Dr Pepper a try -- it's unbelievably satisfying!"


So hopefully that clears up the case of the puzzling and perplexing Dr. Pepper diet declarations.

[via The Consumerist]

When Alistair Beswick logged into the Coke Zone rewards Web site in the U.K., he got an obscene security code randomly generated by the site, The Sun reported.

Coke Zone, which randomly generates six-character security codes, asked Beswick to enter "U F * * K R" to enter to claim his reward points, the paper said.

Operated by Coca-Cola Great Britain, the Coke Zone site allows British customers to redeem coupons for gifts including iPods, movie tickets and Domino's Pizza discounts.

"I couldn't believe my eyes when that popped up," Beswick, a 26-year-old warehouse manager, told the paper. "I understand it was randomly generated, but you'd think Coke would have some measures in place to stop four-letter words like that appearing."

Coca-Cola will return to Costco shelves next week, the Associated Press reports.

The wholesaler dropped the popular soft drink last month due to a pricing dispute, but that's been settled, Costco says.

Costco CFO Richard Galanti told investors Thursday that Coca-Cola would be back "around Monday," the AP said.

"Our signs basically said it all -- until we can provide our members with these products at competitive prices and provide our members with value, we are not prepared to sell it and we are now going to sell it," Galanti told the AP.

Coca-Cola didn't want to make the price cuts Costco wanted in order to keep profits high for the soft drink maker, the AP said.

Were you bothered by the lack of Coca-Cola at Costco? Tell us about it in the comments below.

[Via Associated Press]