Just like there are many different terms for a soft drink, there were many trends that came and went over the decades. We’re all familiar with the popular ones like “New Coke” and “Crystal Pepsi.” (BTW, I was a huge fan of Crystal Pepsi… It had that crisp, lemony flavor.) But what about some of the major trends that aren’t as fresh in memory?

Yesterday I attended a 9/11 First Responders event down here in Florida. It was fantastic to be out and about with local first responders to remember September 11. I even had the honor of speaking with a police officer who was down at Ground Zero the morning of the attacks. His story, among all the others out there I’m sure, was so touching.

The event took place at a local BBQ restaurant, which yes, the food is also incredible. While waiting in line I saw they had a variety of soda bottles available for purchase. “Big Red!” I randomly proclaimed. I thought they discontinued this. Well, as it turns out, no. They just primarily distribute to the southern states so having grown up in Nevada, we eventually stopped seeing Big Red at the grocery stores.

This got me thinking about other soft drinks that were a big trend when I was growing up. Some of which are still around but hard to find.

Jones Soda

Jones Soda. These were the glass bottles with a very unique label. The labels featured Polaroid-looking, black and white photos, that were actually user submitted over time.

And these drinks were pretty dang good. They were known to be made with real cane sugar, one of the few companies out there doing this at the time. I remember enjoying the cream sodas a lot. They produced a wide variety of fruit flavored sodas as well.

Although they seem to still be around, it’s hard to find one. On their website, they sell directly to consumer. You can even customize your own labels.  But to find a restaurant or retailer, “they’ll get back to you.”

SoBe Soft Drink

When was the last time you saw a SoBe soft drink? These were the larger glass bottles with the lizard on the label.

SoBe drinks, a product of PepsiCo, contained a wide range of colored beverages inside. I feel like the Green Tea flavor was the most popular amongst us teenagers at the time. Although there were some tropical fruit flavors that were good too. I vaguely remember the opaque flavors, that basically looked like a bottle of milk. That was kind of off-putting, at least for me. A clash of tastebuds perhaps. And did the inside of the bottle caps have quotes? Or am I thinking of Snapple?

Similar to the Jones Sodas, SoBe beverages are hard to find. Their website offers a bit more information when looking around for retailers, but again, not very quick to dole out this information without some added effort.

Tab Cola

Tab Cola, a product of The Coca-Cola Company, has been around for many decades, only officially being discontinued in 2020. Tab was created in 1963 as a competitor to the only sugarless soda on the market at the time, Diet Rite, a product of the Royal Crown Company.

So how does one in the 60s make soda sugarless? By adding a mixture of Cyclamate and Saccharin as a sugar substitute. Now, whether or not the effects were real, these ingredients combined caused a massive cancer scare to those consuming Tab. And at the time, Tab was primarily marketed to women who wanted to be lean and stay lean all while enjoying a nice refreshing cola.

I personally never latched onto Tab. Growing up my family was a Pepsi family and I preferred the cans my dad consumed. Real OG Pepsi.

Back in high school my friends and I drank so many soft drinks who actually knows what all that sugar, dyes, and those sugar substitutes did to our digestive systems. But it sure was fun going to the store to see the cool photographs on the labels of the Jones Sodas. And sitting in class sipping on a giant bottle of SoBe green tea. I feel both of these bottles became collector’s items for some too. Maybe we’ll continue to see more soft drink trends in the future. Ones that are as wild if not more wild, like those of the past few decades.