One more little bit of fallout from my recent trip to Ohio – I stepped into a Kroger store on Saturday afternoon for at least one item, my Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi. I had run out of the stock I brought with me and needed more to feed my habit. When I got to the checkout line, the clerk asked me if I only had the one box of pop.
Pop?
I did a double take.
My next younger brother and I had been playing a game for years, where we referred to carbonated cola-flavoured beverages as “Sodas,” just to confuse other people in a section of the country where those same beverages were called “Pop.” What those beverages are called depends on where you live. For instance, where I live in Texas, sodas are “cokes,” small “c.” Doesn’t matter if it’s Pepsi, or RC or even 7Up, it’s a coke. The only exception to that rule is Dr Pepper… a genuine Texas beverage if ever there was one.
The summer after I married my better half, we took a trip to Ohio and West Virginia with our two younger sons. Her son (my stepson) had only been out of Texas once before – that being when we took him into Oklahoma for about 10 minutes just to say that he had been out of the state of Texas. He had it in his mind that once one crossed the Red River, no one knew about or sold Dr Pepper. I recall stopping at a gas station in Missouri on the way up, and purchasing a carton of Dr Pepper just to show him that the beverage was, indeed, sold north of the Red River.
Anyhoo, I managed to purchase my soft-drink of choice despite my double take, and everything turned out all right.
Earlier in the day, the better half and I stopped in a specialty store which stocked a wide variety of soft drinks, including one I had heard of, but had never seen before. Moxie.
I’ve heard the phrase, “That person has a lot of Moxie,” used to describe someone (in my mind at least) who had a lot of chutzpah for much of my life. I became aware that there was a beverage called Moxie out there somewhere, sold primarily in the northeast United States. And here were several bottles of Moxie being sold at Grandpa Joe’s Candy Store in downtown Chillicothe Ohio being sold for two bucks a pop (or soda, or coke, take yer pick). I told the better half that I couldn’t rationalize the purchase of a $2 bottle of Moxie if that was all I was going to purchase. She suggested another item to purchase, and we walked out of the store with a bottle of Moxie and something else which will be used as a gift for someone who didn’t believe that Dr Pepper was sold north of the Red River.
As I undertstand it, there are quite a few local soft drinks with limited distribution patches.
In southern Ohio, that beverage is Ski. I never had it while I lived there, and will likely never have it. A person I know with means (and a serious addiction to Ski) had a Ski machine installed at his home so he could buy one for himself whenever he wanted. Now, there’s some dedication!
I have a like for a beverage known as Ale-8 (or Ale-8-1), bottled in Kentucky. I first tried it on a trip up north about five years ago when I was having lunch with one of my best friends at a restaurant near his home outside Versailles Kentucky. Basically, it’s ginger ale with a hint of citrus. Since that trip, I have made it a point to seek out Ale-8 whenever I’ve been out of Texas. The closest I’ve found it was in Illinois this past summer. The Kroger where I purchased the Pepsi didn’t have it, but the other Kroger in Chillicothe did have it.
I nabbed three cartons of Ale-8 on the way out of town. Score!
At each of the Krogers, I was able to score bags of Herr’s Salt and Vinegar potato chips. Herr’s doesn’t quite make it all the way to Texas – unusual in my mind because another of the southeastern Pennsylvania chip makers, Utz, HAS made it to the local grocery stores. The family has called Herr’s Salt and Vinegar chips “Juicy Chips” because of my niece. She was with us at the small family reunion we had in Columbus. When I mentioned that I snagged a couple of bags of Herr’s, she immediately lit up and and said, “Juicy Chips!”
The “Juicy Chips” will last until the end of next week if I’m lucky. The stash of Ale-8 might, just might, mind you, last until early next year with prudent rationing.
And the Moxie? Gone! It was the only cold beverage available at the time we needed a cold beverage when we were almost home. An interesting cola, with hints of root beer and cinnamon. Not bad at all. Worth $2 for the taste. Not worth going up to Maine to get more at a regular price.
I’ll stick with my Diet Pepsi.
Be Seeing You!
bdharrellauthor 