If you are from the NY/NJ area and are "middle 20th century vintage" you might remember Hoffman (they dropped the 2nd n) beverages. Exotic flavors but the best were Cream and Ginger Ale. We always had a quart bottle on the table for holiday dinners. The Newark water is the best (from Wanaque reservoir, Newark Budweiser is also best in USA). I remember the "soda bottle water tank" gone for almost 50 years. Don't know why this popped into my head this am. Joe

__________________
Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

Real (original) Nehi grape soda as well.

And the original Verners ginger ale. Not the watered down stuff they sell today.

And the original Coca-Cola with cocaine, not the watered down stuff they sell now...

__________________
protocalldesign.com

Middle 19th Century.

NeHi Soda, especially Grape, was he best.

I believe it was even mentioned on the "MASH" TV Series.

__________________
Who are? "They"

Yes, originally from north NJ and remember Hoffman. Our family always had Brookdale as a regular soda item at home. Dad would go to a beverage discount store and pick up his Black Label Beer and Brookdale soda. The bottles were thick returnables.

__________________
Life Member SAF, CCRKBA, FOAC

Nehi Grape was what Radar drank and was heavily featured in the series. Here in Ct we had and still have “Foxon Park” out of East Haven CT. Glass bottles and flavors like the old days. They have a web site and they ship. Many flavors - highly recommend White Birch, Root Beer and Ginger Ale. They have grape too !

Attached Images

365C590E-752C-4A36-B89D-928218384384.jpg (26.5 KB, 15 views)

I grew up in NYC in the '40s and '50s and we had a "Seltzer Man" who delivered seltzer in the old siphon bottles as well as quart bottles of Hoffman sodas right to our door. I still remember the old advertising jingle:

"You don't have to go to university
To know what you should do when you are thirsity.
Drink Hoffman's, call for Hoffman's
Hoffman's is the finest when you're thirsity."

Tough to get the Spell Checker to ignore "thirsity".

As a lad across the pond we had a Corona man who would park his lorry in the middle of the block and yell "Corona! Corona man!" Needless to say kids would hit their moms up for a few shillings and scurry out.

__________________
Music/Sports/Beer fan

Here's a local one that is still made across the river.

__________________
Music/Sports/Beer fan

You likely remember Rheingold and Ballantine.

__________________
Sure you did

We had a local brand on the Eastern Shore of Md. Think it was called Marvel's.They had different flavored fruit type drinks...root Beer and a chocolate drink like Yoo Hoo...but much better. Of course, Nehi grape and Orange. One I remember that was made by Canada Dry (and still may be) was called Island Lime. My daughter loved it but hasn't found it for a few years. It was the best lime soda I ever drank. And we had RC Cola(and Moon Pies of course) back then. And 2 cent deposit bottles around for soda and beer. They provided funding for my forays to the dump to shoot rats and ground hog shooting around bean fields

Out here on the West Coast, I remember Nesbitt's. usually their orange, but their cream soda was pretty good too. Also, Pop Shoppe. Now we have Jones Soda and their madness.

__________________
The best I can with what I got

__________________
Music/Sports/Beer fan

I remember a jingle from radio ads when I was probably 3 years old.
"The prettiest girl I ever saw ...was drinking Hoffman's through a straw".

RC Cola and a Moon Pie.

__________________
Music/Sports/Beer fan

Loved Brookdale Celery soda. Nice thing, you could go and take an empty wood case and fill it with any 12. In the ‘60’s, maybe a buck and change as long as you brought the empties back. Joe

__________________
Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

BITD the local Coca Cola bottler my Dad worked for had their own line of flavors.

Coke has the flagship brand, Sprite, Tab, and Fresca in the 1960's.

Key Beverages were the flavors (called soda water on the invoices). 7oz bottles, named after their franchise, Keystone Coca Cola.

With the advent of canned soda, that was the end of Key Beverages. Coke's line of flavors were Fanta. And as the can became the prevalent product , the days of independent lines like Key came to an end. The advent of large canning co-ops hastened their demise.

I still have some bottles and cap to remind me of a time long past.

PS - the lemon lime was the best.

Never heard of Hoffmans, but I remember Nehi. I really liked Dads Root Beer, especially with a scoop of French Vanilla.

There used to be a local company in Swissvale (home of US&S) that bottled Regent pop. They made a citrus mixer called 4%. We’d drink it straight, as is. We loved it. I’ve never found anything that tastes like it.
Lately I’ve been on the lookout for diet Barq’s rootbeer. No one I’ve tried has it anymore.

__________________
I told you not to use Lifebuoy

Dad's is still around. I find it occasionally. They have it at the local hardware store.

__________________
The best I can with what I got

They bottled Barq (Root Beer) in Okinawa.
It kind of gave me that Biloxi Redneck Rivera feeling, but something was different.
One Sat during a water outage period we were circling in line behind the bottling plant to get some drinking water.
I began to see huge piles of empty Henikens beer bottles.
Got it! They were bottling Barq in Heniken Beer bottles.
Barq never claimed to be Root Beer. To avoid conflicts with Hires and others.

__________________
NRA LIFE MEMBER

Joe, Yes- Forgot about the mix and matching. Fun memories thanks for the post.

__________________
Life Member SAF, CCRKBA, FOAC

You do not have to go to university, to know what you should do when you are thirsity. Call for Hoffman's

__________________
Too Soon Old, Too Late Schmart

Loved the seltzer delivered to the door. Great for chocolate sodas or egg creams because of the power it had when you pressed on the lever. Also good for seltzer fights.

__________________
Too Soon Old, Too Late Schmart

Add Schaefer and Piels. Shaefer for the Dodgers, Knickerbocker for the Giants and voting for Miss Rheingold, Ballantine Ale.
"Baseball and Ballantine" said Mel Allen

__________________
Too Soon Old, Too Late Schmart

Anyone from Eastern PA should remember A-Treat.

Based out of Allentown, it was a mainstay of beer distributors and grocery stores.

Known for their Birch Beer (natch, since it is Eastern PA), and they also has Sasprailla, a real old time flavor that was a cross between birch and root beer IMHO

They went bankrupt, but someone picked up the company and are now out of Orefield, PA.

I hope that they make it.

__________________
BTDT, Got The T-Shirt

Heck I remember A-Treat. you could find it even in Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Md

Mission: Orange and Grape

Nedicks Orange

White Rock

RC Cola

__________________
Too Soon Old, Too Late Schmart

I think that's supposed to have some bourbon in it

Oh man, let's not go there. I remember the brewery by the tracks in Orange. "My beer is Rheingold, the dry beer
Ask for Rheingold wherever you buy beer,
it's not bitter, not sweet
it's the extra dry treat
Won't you try extra dry Rheingold beer."
60 years later and that **** is still in my "file cabinet." Joe

__________________
Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

Stewart's root beer

You from Jersey? What exit?

My beer is Rheingold the dry beer. Think of Rheingold whenever you buy beer. It's not bitter, not sweet, it's the extra dry treat Won't you try extra dry Rheingold beer?

__________________
Made it, Ma! Top of the world!

When I lived in NC I got real fond of this. The Kroger by me carries it.

__________________
Music/Sports/Beer fan

For the non alcohol crowd, the Piragua aka icy man was always around after school.

Cherry, root beer, and coconut, were my favs.

__________________
Sure you did

Might have had the same soda guy, he would deliver soda, seltzer & ubet chocolate syrup.
Those were the days.

8/19/42

Nehi was the brand Jean Shepherd referenced-not by name- in "A Christmas Story."
Another NY/Northern NJ brand was Cott's-"it's Cott's to be good."
When I moved to Central NJ in 1961 there was a local bottler in Trenton, NJ called E. L. Kerns. Can still see the bottles with the elk on it. Their cream soda was red, which I thought violated some law of nature. Drank it anyway. There were all sorts of local bottlers that have all disappeared, alas. Dr. Pepper was basically a Southern brand until the 1970s-1980s. In those areas where Coca-Cola was not the producer of Dr. Pepper they created a knockoff called Mr. Pibb.
In 1960-61 I lived down the street from the Knickerbocker brewery in Manhattan. I can still smell the mash cooking. PHEW!!!

I remember as a youngster, taking a lot of care to remove the old bottle tops with my bottle opener.
A dent in the top was not acceptable, for most of us kids.
We, then would take care to slowly and carefully remobe the cork section
that was in the top of the lid, and it had to be in just one peice!!

Then we would place the top on the outside of our "T-shirt" and the cork section
placed on the inside of the shirt and press it into the bottle top.

Wa la..............
and instant "Badge" to wear and to show off, to all the other kids.

Doesn't matter, it's still Jersey.

Actually, just ignore the red underline and it will show in the post however you typed it. OR right click on the red line then click on "add to dictionary" in the menu and your computer will accept the incorrect spelling from then on! This only affects your computer!

__________________
Gunsmithing since 1961

Anyone else remember a blue cream soda? I can’t remember who bottled it but it looked exactly like windshield washer fluid.

__________________
I told you not to use Lifebuoy

My wife, being from Maine, named our current dog Moxie. I've not had one.
Tom B.

__________________
frontsightnsqueaz

It has been a while since I had a Moxie. Kinda bitter.

The inventor claimed it is especially effective against "softening of the brain".

I should stock up.

__________________
Music/Sports/Beer fan

Cant remember all the names but if you make a trip to Cracker Barrel they have a lot of those named drinks.

The Pretest Girl I ever saw was drinking Hoffman thru a straw