It's Time to Zag

So while I was at Massanetta I became reacquainted with an old, old love of mine - one that had become buried in the mists of time and almost... almost... forgotten. But not completely. Not entirely. Not entirely forgotten.

I guess you could say I got in touch with my inner Cheerwine.

Cheerwine, y'see, is a bottled beverage which hails from the Carolinas, and is largely unavailable anywhere else. It is akin in taste to a really cherry Dr. Pepper, but it has a bit more bite and a lot of that old timey cachet that just gets you right here (he points to his heart with his hand). It makes you think of another time and place, a place where you can sit on a porch and play checkers on a checkerboard with old bottlecaps for the pieces. The kind of nostalgia which Cracker Barrel tries (and fails) to export wholesale. Cheerwine has that. It has it in spades.

But here's the thing, see. The thing is this. I'm a purist.

If you have read this blog at all, you know I am rather picky about my beverages. And since I am not a cola drinker generally, the fact that there is one soda that I am fanatical about is sort of an exception-proving-the-rule type thing. But even here, I am quite picky.

Not just any Cheerwine. Not in cans. No. Not in two-liter jugs. No. Gotta be this: gotta be Cheerwine in glass bottles. Ice cold. Preferably painful-cold, like out of a long-cooled ice chest.

And here's the best part. You wanna know the best part? The best part is this. Cheerwine, when it comes in the glass bottles, has a different formula than regular Cheerwine. Like all the "soft" drinks, the Cheerwine company sometime back started using corn sweeteners in most of its products. But not the Cheerwine in the glass bottles. No. Proudly and happily they have maintained their heritage - the heritage when these kind of fizzy drinks meant something. When they took a stand. This is Americana at its grand height. Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to introduce to you a carbonated beverage still made with real sugar (there's the proof, there on the right).

So, when it comes to "soft" drinks, rest assured I am remaining vigilant, though now there is a happy chink in my armor. I think, every once in a blue moon, I can contentedly kick back and relax with a cold bottle of Cheerwine ("On All Occasions, It's Good Taste") - even here in Nashville.

I brought some home with me from the 'netta. Oh, and I found an online source, as well.

Dude. Forget your tired old corn-syrup cola. It's freakin' time to zag!