Vernors
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|
| Type | Ginger ale |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Dr Pepper Snapple Group |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Introduced | 1866 |
| Variants | Diet Vernors |
Vernors ginger ale shares the title of America's oldest surviving soft drink with Hires Root Beer. It was invented in 1866 by James Vernor, a Detroit pharmacist.
Contents |
[edit] History
Although Vernors is the oldest surviving ginger ale sold in the United States, there were a number of ginger ales and ginger beers sold in commerce prior to 1866.[1]
According to company legend, prior to the start of the American Civil War, while a clerk at the Higby & Sterns drug store in Detroit, James Vernor experimented with flavors in an attempt to duplicate a popular ginger ale imported from Dublin, Ireland. When Vernor was called off to serve in the war, he stored the syrup base of 19 ingredients, including ginger, vanilla and other natural flavorings in an an oak cask. Vernor joined the 4th Michigan Cavalry on Aug. 14, 1862 as a hospital steward, was promoted to second lieutenant Sept. 20, 1864, and was discharged on July 1, 1865. After returning from battle four years later, he opened the keg and found the drink inside had been changed by the aging process in the wood. It was like nothing else he had ever tasted, and he purportedly declared it "Deliciously different," which remains the drink's motto to this day. In a 1936 interview, however, his son, James Vernor Jr., suggested that the formula was not developed until after the war. This was confirmed in a 1962 interview with former company president, James Vernor Davis.[2]
Vernor opened a drug store of his own on Woodward Avenue, and sold his ginger ale at its soda fountain. According to the 1911 trademark application on "Vernor's" as a name for ginger ale and extract, Vernors entered commerce in 1880. City by city, Vernor sold bottling franchises, with operators of those franchises required to strictly adhere to the recipe. In 1896, Vernor closed his drugstore to concentrate on the ginger ale business alone. Initially, Vernors was only sold via soda fountain franchises, but later Vernors was bottled for home consumption.[3] James Vernor died Oct. 29, 1927 and was succeeded by his son, James Vernor Jr. Expansion continued throughout Prohibition. In 1962, Vernors introduced Vernors 1-Calorie, now called Diet Vernors. In 1966, the Vernor family sold out to the first of a succession of owners.[4] The company was next acquired by American Consumer Products and then by United Brands before being purchased by A&W Beverages in 1987. A&W was later purchased by Cadbury Schweppes.
Just prior to the onset of World War II, James Vernor II presided over the construction of a 230,000 ft2 bottling plant and headquarters, encompassing an entire city block on Woodward Avenue, one block from the Detroit River. In the late 1950s, when the City of Detroit proposed construction of Cobo Hall and other riverfront projects, a land-swap was negotiated, and Vernors moved its bottling plant and headquarters to the location of the old civic exhibition hall at 4501 Woodward Avenue, incorporating many of the popular features of the old plant. Tours of the Vernors plant old and new were major tourist attractions. The flagship Detroit bottling plant was shut down by United Brands in 1985, with the local rights to bottle Vernors granted to Pepsi-Cola.[3]
[edit] Slogans
Vernors has consistently used the slogan "Deliciously Different" since its introduction. Other slogans associated with the brand have changed over the years. The labels formerly read "Aged 4 years in wood", which was changed some years ago to "Flavor aged in oak barrels", and in 1996 to "Barrel Aged, Bold Taste". [5] The current slogan found on a can purchased 11/09 reads "Barrel Aged 3 Years - Bold Taste".[citation needed] The apostrophe in the name "Vernor's" was dropped in the late 1950s.[6] For a time in the mid-1980s Vernors used the slogan "It's what we drink around here" in its advertising campaigns.[7][8][9] The gnome mascot, named "Woody", was used from the turn of the century until 1987, when it was dropped by A&W Brands in favor of new packaging.[3]
[edit] Flavor and Characteristics
Vernors is a golden ginger ale with a robust flavor, more like a ginger beer, that historically was flavored and colored with caramel. This style was common before Prohibition when "dry" pale ginger ale, typified by Canada Dry, became popular as an alcoholic mixer.[10]
Vernors is highly carbonated and drinking Vernors from a glass can sometimes make one sneeze or cough from the bubbles it gives off. Some people consume Vernors hot as a remedy for stomachache, with ginger being the active ingredient.[11]
LA Metropolitan News Editor Roger Grace describes the original flavor as "mellow yet perky with the mellowness attributed to the aging in oak barrels, and the perkiness to the use of more ginger and sugar than "dry" ginger ales. Many people believe that the taste of Vernors has changed significantly in recent years. Grace describes the current flavor as an "emaciated version of a product that once was" and "sweetened carbonated water with ginger flavoring". Theories as to the reason for the claimed change in flavor include: (i) that it is no longer bottled in glass, but in aluminum cans or plastic bottles, (ii) that the the secret formula has been changed to use new products not available to Vernor, such as high fructose corn syrup, (iii) that it seems to have less carbonation than formerly; and (iv) that Vernors is no longer aged four years, but only three years in oak barrels. [3][5]
[edit] Availability
For most of its history, Vernors was a regional product. Initially Vernor sold franchises throughout Michigan and in major regional cities such as Toledo, Cleveland and Buffalo. Vernors was not mass distributed nationally until the late 1980s, when United Brands, A&W and Cadbury expanded it over a 10-year period to a 33-state area. Even after expansion, Michigan accounts for 80% of Vernors sales. Michigan, Ohio and Illinois are the highest-selling states, and primary cities are Detroit, Flint, Toledo and Cincinnati. It is also very popular in Florida, which has large numbers of retired or relocated former Michigan residents.[3] Vernors was also sold in Canada at soda fountains from the 1920's onward, with bottling facilities, soda fountains and outlets located in Southwestern Ontario.[12] As well, it is popular in Canada where it is widely available in most towns and cities south of London, Ontario (Southwestern Ontario).[citation needed]
[edit] Boston Cooler
A Boston cooler is an ice cream soda drink made from Vernors and vanilla ice cream, named not after Boston, Massachusetts, where Vernors is practically unknown, but after Detroit's Boston Boulevard, where it was supposedly invented.[13][14]
[edit] References
- ^ Grace, Roger M., "Vernors is not, despite claim, 'The Original Ginger Soda'", Metropolitan News-Enterprise (Los Angeles) (October 27, 2005) p.11
- ^ Rouch, Lawrence L., The Vernors Story: From Gnomes to Now (University of Michigan Press) 2003 pp 6-8 ISBN 0472066978, 9780472066971
- ^ a b c d e Johnson, Eric A., "The original Motown gold", Toledo Blade (March 23, 1997), Sec F, pp 6,2
- ^ Grace, Roger M., "Wood-aged Vernors ginger ale was "Deliciously Different", Metropolitan News-Enterprise (Los Angeles) (October 13, 2005) p. 11
- ^ a b Grace, Roger M., "Is Vernors still aged four years in wood? No answer", Metropolitan News-Enterprise (Los Angeles) (October 20, 2005) p. 15
- ^ Wunderlich, Keith. "Vernors remains 'Detroit's Drink' even with many ownership changes through the years". Archived from the original on February 3, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080203195330/http://www.vernors.com/beverages/VernorsArticle.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-18.
- ^ 1980's Vernor's Ad w. Ted Nugent
- ^ 1987 Vernors Ad w. Petr Klima
- ^ 1987 Vernors Ad w. Pat Paulsen
- ^ Grace, Roger M., "Prohibition creates market for Canada Dry Ginger Ale" Metropolitan News-Enterprise (Los Angeles) (October 6, 2005) p.11
- ^ Schrader, Jessica, "Club celebrates the 'deliciously different' drink", C&G Newspapers (February 21, 2007)
- ^ Wunderlich, Keith, '"Vernors Ginger Ale, Arcadia Publishing, 2008 ISBN 0738551856, 9780738551852 pp -50-5151
- ^ Griffin, Holly, "FIVE THINGS: About coolers" Detroit Free Press (August 31, 2007)
- ^ "Daily TWIP: Ice Cream Soda Day", Nashua Telegraph (June 20, 2008)
[edit] External links
- Vernors page from Dr Pepper Snapple Group web site
- Snack foods and pop, Detroit style
- Vernor's Collectors Club
- A Tasty Part of Flint History--former Vernor's outlet in Flint, MI, now Halo Burger.
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||
