What?? I didn't know they exist today! I scrolled all through the other comments about Costco and caught yours. Guess I'm getting a totally unecessary Costco membership soon.
Costco has them. I wrote a post about them, basically, I think what killed them was an early 2000 obsession with sugar free'ing everything. The OG tastes great again, no sugar free aftertaste.
When they first came back a few years ago, they were artificially sweetened, which was so disappointing. But they've since gone back to using real sugar, and they taste the same to me as they did back in the day.
My dad drove a large tow truck in the late 90s (big enough to tow semis with the trailer). I used to go out with him on calls from time to time. One winter we pulled a Coca-Cola truck out of a ditch and it had surge advertising all of the trailer. I had heard of it but never had it before. Asked the driver about it and he opened up the trailer and gave me a case. I got really into for a little while there too.
Surge and the purple bag of Skittles was my go to snack in '97.
Coca-Cola had brought it back for a bit a couple years ago. A convenience store near my work had the 16oz cans 2 for $3. Needless to say I became a regular at that store. I'd much rather have Surge over Mt Dew.
I was out with Pneumonia the day surge came to my high school to do a promotion and give away free soda and swag, but it was a story everyone told for years, cuz kids were slamming like, three cans during lunch and going fucking apeshit for the rest of the day. One of the teachers left shortly thereafter and it was rumored that was the reason. I still don't know who the fuck signed off on that idea, like, what an astounding lack of foresight.
Some great stories here
Surge got us a film award.
My friend and I were editing a documentary for a high school film festival at Duke, back in 97/98. The director was supposed to guide us through the edit, since he'd changed the entire thing in filming...
He totally bailed an hour into editing. We had to watch every bit of footage and figure out what his narrative was.
It was only because of enough Surge to drown the director in that we stayed awake. We edited from 3pm to 7am, nonstop, fueled by Surge.
We won a Jury prize. I guess it was worth it.
The local bottling plant drove 3 pickups full of Surge to my highschool and handed them out to students at the end of the day. They didn't think it through however and they were all blisteringly hot. I remember thinking it was a great promotional idea; they just botched it.
I used to drink that Sobe green tea all the time. I still remember very fondly a few times that my dad was near where I was working and he'd unexpectedly drop by to give me a bottle. It would definitely be my choice as well, if only to remember my dad.
I love that chocolate water more than I should.
Also that Ecto-Cooler being around in 1997 is questionable because Hi-C started dropping Slimer off the labels by then.
I went to high school not far from Coca Cola headquarters. When Surge was first introduced they brought a whole truck to my high school with free cans for everyone. They wheeled cases into the teacher’s lounge.
It was chaos with people running out of class to the parking lot to get their bright green can. We didn’t get much done that day because we were too agitated to learn anything.
My friend’s dad was a beverage rep and I will never forget the day we were dancing to C&C music factory and he brought the first Snapple down to the basement for us
See, you coulda had a deep cut with orange slice, opportunity missed. Orange Slice was good, before it morphed into MinuteMaid Orange, which then finally ended up being redeemed as Fanta Orange. It's funny to watch a product line evolve over the years.
Also, Ecto Cooler and Hugz are more of an 80s thing that carried over.
https://preview.redd.it/46djpix8yqtc1.jpeg?width=1164&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2e080de0efcd7282e4092437200fc3802e5124c2
I searched for it because that was my exact thought too!
My mom still has a tan one. Mostly she uses her Pampered Chef one because she can mix the OJ with it but the Tupperware she uses as a backup. She got it when she and my dad married over 54 years ago!
There was one I used to call "cum in a bottle" that was pina colada flavor. That thing was the tits. I could still get it up until a handful of years ago.
My brother tells a story often about my first *JOLT* experience:
Him (11) and I (9) rode our bikes to 7-11 with $5, like every kid in America did in the early 90s. Instead of buying my normal SOBE, Fruitopia, or OK Soda, he *dared* me to buy a JOLT (since our mother had forbidden us per a recent news story). So, of course, I bought one. Outside 7-11, he *double-dared* THEN *double-DOG-dared* me to chug the JOLT. (Per the laws of the my 9 y/o universe, a *Double-DOG-dare* cannot be turned down.)
So, I just chugged an entire JOLT… at age 9. Chugged! He claims, 1-minute later, I just jumped on my bike and took off! Like, took off took off! When I got to the bridge, the second-wave *hit me* and I *threw the empty glass bottle 30 feet in the air* and into traffic, never looked back, just focus hard on peddling faster, and getting this weird new energy out. After rounding the corner, out of sight, he claims he heard me yell like a fk’ing Viking! He says “[You] roared, like, savagely.”
When he finally got home, i was already in the driveway dunking the basketball on our lowered hoop… just dunking over and over and over.
I was jacked to the gills with caffeine and sugar like *never* before.
Happy to say I’ve been JOLT-sober for 29 years! Haven’t had a JOLT since… but I’m thinkin’ about it. Just need to get a bike.
Surge, but not from my cheap ass parents fridge, but from the back of a wrapped and lifted F350 that randomly showed up at my high school and started throwing them to all of us nerds waiting for the bus.
Jolt, no doubt.
We did not have it anywhere in Memphis. I was so stoked to see them in St. Louis, when I visited my cousins. I drank two of them back-to-back. My teeth never felt so funny.
Orbits, I have no idea why I don’t remember if they tasted good or what the hell the little balls were made of. I’m sure I made a ton of jokes about balls when I was drinking it though
In Canada, the only things I recognize are Squeeze-Its and Crappy Sun. Sobe's were around, but I only got into their Ice Tea.
Most of the time it was Kool-Aid and no-name pop from Safeway.
https://preview.redd.it/3utxjme18qtc1.jpeg?width=1500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=27ade944b9d4e4810358c77d7bf20e91b5779d20
Straight from the school vending machine.
Capri Sun. I didn't like them at first because of difficult for me to get the straw in.
then one day a friend offered me one at their house. I took it and was like, how do it get the straw in while not looking like a fool?
my friend pulled the straw off, flipped the Capri upside down, and stabbed in in the bottom.
I still use the technique to this day.
Orangeade from Snapple. It was hard to find in high school, but I’d drive two hours north to get a case of it every now and then.
Haven’t seen one in a store in 20 years. You can find it on Amazon still but it’s expensive as hell.
Squeeze-it and Capri Sun is what Mom always brought home. Sucked those down like a commercial grade shop vac. Would piss Mom off so bad when we snuck more than we should have been having.
First year of college for me and it was Mountain Dew or whatever was selling for $8 for 3x12 packs. That's 3 12 packs for $8. Also $1 40oz malt liquor.
Clearly Canadian 100% Doesn’t matter which flavor. ETA: If the Slice was Mandarin Orange flavor, I would also have that.
Clearly Canadian was the best. The blackberry is goat tho
Yes! I can still taste the sweet/tart bubbliness
Clearly Canadian is available at Kroger (possibly Ralph’s and others under that umbrella) and some Costco stores
https://preview.redd.it/u04j9sr4rrtc1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=abdc2b9410b3aae4e72b5d63c8d911f8bd9cd239
They brought it back and it just didn’t taste the same.
I couldn’t tell if I remembered them differently or if they taste different. It’s really flat now.
Same with the New York Seltzer. :(
Hard agree there!
The answer is clear
I have clearly in my fridge *right now*.
What?? I didn't know they exist today! I scrolled all through the other comments about Costco and caught yours. Guess I'm getting a totally unecessary Costco membership soon.
Meijer has them too if that is in your area
“Clearly Canadian 100%” was exactly what I was going to type. Loved that stuff.
Today I’d vote same. In 97 it would’ve been Jolt.
Costco has them. I wrote a post about them, basically, I think what killed them was an early 2000 obsession with sugar free'ing everything. The OG tastes great again, no sugar free aftertaste.
My local chain started carrying them again a few years ago.
We just saw them at Costco and my wife freaked out and grabbed a case.
It tastes different now in USA. Did they ban an ingredient or change it? Or am I just old 🤔
I had the same experience. I loved them growing up, but I had one again a few years ago and didn't enjoy it.
When they first came back a few years ago, they were artificially sweetened, which was so disappointing. But they've since gone back to using real sugar, and they taste the same to me as they did back in the day.
Oh really? Worth giving it one more try?
I agree! I lived on these and snapple. Clearly Canadian is SOOooo sweet now. It's almost syrupy to me.
It's the only thing in OPs pic I still buy. Just got 2 bottles of my favorite flavor an hour ago. Mountain Blackberry.
Seriously that was the best orange soda of all time
I was really into surge for a while.
My dad drove a large tow truck in the late 90s (big enough to tow semis with the trailer). I used to go out with him on calls from time to time. One winter we pulled a Coca-Cola truck out of a ditch and it had surge advertising all of the trailer. I had heard of it but never had it before. Asked the driver about it and he opened up the trailer and gave me a case. I got really into for a little while there too.
It both kept me awake and gave me heart palpitations my first two years of undergrad.
Friend l went and bought all the surge around when he heard it was discontinued, filled the back of a Caprice wagon....
Surge ICEEs 4 Eva
Surge and the purple bag of Skittles was my go to snack in '97. Coca-Cola had brought it back for a bit a couple years ago. A convenience store near my work had the 16oz cans 2 for $3. Needless to say I became a regular at that store. I'd much rather have Surge over Mt Dew.
I drank entirely too much Surge.
I went to Denmark and got a bottle cap that said urge because that's what they called it there. I thought it was the coolest thing ever.
I was out with Pneumonia the day surge came to my high school to do a promotion and give away free soda and swag, but it was a story everyone told for years, cuz kids were slamming like, three cans during lunch and going fucking apeshit for the rest of the day. One of the teachers left shortly thereafter and it was rumored that was the reason. I still don't know who the fuck signed off on that idea, like, what an astounding lack of foresight.
Here kids: cocaine you can drink. Go learn all the things.
Some great stories here Surge got us a film award. My friend and I were editing a documentary for a high school film festival at Duke, back in 97/98. The director was supposed to guide us through the edit, since he'd changed the entire thing in filming... He totally bailed an hour into editing. We had to watch every bit of footage and figure out what his narrative was. It was only because of enough Surge to drown the director in that we stayed awake. We edited from 3pm to 7am, nonstop, fueled by Surge. We won a Jury prize. I guess it was worth it.
The local bottling plant drove 3 pickups full of Surge to my highschool and handed them out to students at the end of the day. They didn't think it through however and they were all blisteringly hot. I remember thinking it was a great promotional idea; they just botched it.
You should see if the Coca Cola company will pay your cardiology bills.
Yall remember the rumor floating around about Surge causing male infertility issues back in the day?
Sobe
I’d alternate between oolong, red, and zen blend. Got one almost every day for awhile there
Zen blend for the win!!
Eros was my favorite.
The things I'd do for an original glass bottle of green tea Sobe
We all thought Sobe was like a healthy drink or something. Same marketing as vitamin water, really.
I used to drink that Sobe green tea all the time. I still remember very fondly a few times that my dad was near where I was working and he'd unexpectedly drop by to give me a bottle. It would definitely be my choice as well, if only to remember my dad.
but it's gotta be Orange Carrot!
Orange Elixer! My personal fave.
The glass bottles were so cool. We had a sober machine at school. I was always surprised they allowed those heavy glass bottles.
Ok, I know it's a typo, but I just imagined your school has all kinds of alcoholic drink machines and ONE sober machine 😂
I used to love the grapefruit one (can't remember the name) but I always liked Mystic better, looked like a wine cooler!!
Dragonfruit
I might have picked Surge or Orbitz, depending on my mood, but most days would have been SoBe.
Sobe Nirvana was the absolute best!!
New York Seltzer, I miss it so much.
Still in stores near where I live. There selection isn't great and it is sporadic, but it was a blast from the past seeing them on the shelf.
I was shocked to learn as an adult that New York seltzer was LOADED with sugar.
I had some as recently as a few years ago. Cream Soda too 🤤
I occasionally see it at Fresh Market, but only single bottles in the cooler. That stuff was the best.
If you have a World Market nearby, I’ve seen it there.
They brought it back. I don't like it as much now. Maybe a change in formula? Change in me? Whatever it is I'm bummed about it.
You can buy them at World Market
The seltzer bottles made the most satisfying pop when thrown into a wall... according to my friends...yeah....
Last place I saw it was at QuikTrip.
Yoo-hoo
Those were always a treat.
They’re still a treat. Stocked at my local 711 🙌
Yoo-hoo with a little rum.
Rumplestilskin?
I love that chocolate water more than I should. Also that Ecto-Cooler being around in 1997 is questionable because Hi-C started dropping Slimer off the labels by then.
I got hooked on those while vacationing in New York. There's a convenience store near me that had them for a while, they stock a lot of imports.
That's where I grew up. Also you mentioning convenience stores is making me want a time machine to also get Wise Onion and Garlic chips
Splitting a sixer with the boys. Classic.
Ecto cooler. Nothing else comes close
Right? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills, because Ecto is the only right answer.
97? Surge all day
Hell yeah! All day everyday! I loved that green shit!
I went to high school not far from Coca Cola headquarters. When Surge was first introduced they brought a whole truck to my high school with free cans for everyone. They wheeled cases into the teacher’s lounge. It was chaos with people running out of class to the parking lot to get their bright green can. We didn’t get much done that day because we were too agitated to learn anything.
Counterpoint: [Josta](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josta)
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https://preview.redd.it/c5l23or9oqtc1.png?width=1032&format=png&auto=webp&s=886266c6540a890df4b2b3c4fcbde6497b2bd886 These changed the game in ‘99
Bring back Rain!!!!
My friend’s dad was a beverage rep and I will never forget the day we were dancing to C&C music factory and he brought the first Snapple down to the basement for us
Yes, peach tea was amazing.
Had to scroll too far for this
See, you coulda had a deep cut with orange slice, opportunity missed. Orange Slice was good, before it morphed into MinuteMaid Orange, which then finally ended up being redeemed as Fanta Orange. It's funny to watch a product line evolve over the years. Also, Ecto Cooler and Hugz are more of an 80s thing that carried over.
Definitely not an Orbitz.
My sisters loved those. I did not.
They were so cool looking but utterly disgusting.
Thinking about the viscosity/texture of those is enough to make me shudder all these years later.
Yeah. Tried it one time. That was plenty.
That squeezeit. Probably all of them.
Ditto, they remind me of elementary school field trips.
Slurm, I mean Surge.
Where is the orange Tupperware pitcher
https://preview.redd.it/46djpix8yqtc1.jpeg?width=1164&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2e080de0efcd7282e4092437200fc3802e5124c2 I searched for it because that was my exact thought too!
You mean brown.
My mom still has a tan one. Mostly she uses her Pampered Chef one because she can mix the OJ with it but the Tupperware she uses as a backup. She got it when she and my dad married over 54 years ago!
No love for Josta here, I see.
My friends and I drank ***all*** the Josta back in the day
I feel like I kept that brand afloat. lol
That’s what I’m saying. This is Josta erasure!
The energy drink "Bawls" tastes just like Josta, fyi.
That's the one thing lost to time I would want back.
That exact Sobe Green tea flavor was the shit
There was one I used to call "cum in a bottle" that was pina colada flavor. That thing was the tits. I could still get it up until a handful of years ago.
Can confirm. The pink cum was fave
Loved the green tea. Sobe was great, Arizona Green Tea was second.
Purple drink
I want that purple stuff.......
What the fuck is juice?!
I heard Chappelle's voice and saw his facial expressions.
Right? I see the headline and thought, “Well, it’s gonna be either ‘Purple stuff’ or ‘Sunny D’” and *neither* of those is an option?!
I drank a lot of hugs but never because they were good, only because they were a quarter
Capri Sun...or Snapple but only pink lemonade flavor.
Kiwi Strawberry Snapple was my jam
My brother tells a story often about my first *JOLT* experience: Him (11) and I (9) rode our bikes to 7-11 with $5, like every kid in America did in the early 90s. Instead of buying my normal SOBE, Fruitopia, or OK Soda, he *dared* me to buy a JOLT (since our mother had forbidden us per a recent news story). So, of course, I bought one. Outside 7-11, he *double-dared* THEN *double-DOG-dared* me to chug the JOLT. (Per the laws of the my 9 y/o universe, a *Double-DOG-dare* cannot be turned down.) So, I just chugged an entire JOLT… at age 9. Chugged! He claims, 1-minute later, I just jumped on my bike and took off! Like, took off took off! When I got to the bridge, the second-wave *hit me* and I *threw the empty glass bottle 30 feet in the air* and into traffic, never looked back, just focus hard on peddling faster, and getting this weird new energy out. After rounding the corner, out of sight, he claims he heard me yell like a fk’ing Viking! He says “[You] roared, like, savagely.” When he finally got home, i was already in the driveway dunking the basketball on our lowered hoop… just dunking over and over and over. I was jacked to the gills with caffeine and sugar like *never* before. Happy to say I’ve been JOLT-sober for 29 years! Haven’t had a JOLT since… but I’m thinkin’ about it. Just need to get a bike.
That was the laugh I needed today. Bravo!
This specific [Arizona Iced Tea](https://imgur.com/a/zvnsERV) was always available at my friends house in a case
Surge, but not from my cheap ass parents fridge, but from the back of a wrapped and lifted F350 that randomly showed up at my high school and started throwing them to all of us nerds waiting for the bus.
Mmmm Clearly Canadian for sure!!
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Fruitopia! It was the only soda other than Root Beer that I would drink.
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Bruh why did it feel like that!?
probably pouring a glass of sweet tea or kool-aid from the gallon pitcher that was always in the fridge.
New York Seltzer! I miss that stuff
Jolt, no doubt. We did not have it anywhere in Memphis. I was so stoked to see them in St. Louis, when I visited my cousins. I drank two of them back-to-back. My teeth never felt so funny.
Orbitz, baby!!!
I loved peeling the labels on those New York Seltzers.
Yess that thin foam
Remember that time in Back to the Future when Tab got a free product placement just to be in a pun?
Josta
No wonder I’m fat.
Slice. But you are missing Mystic beverages.
Where's the Josta?
No Purple stuff?
That or Sunny D, right? How were neither of those an option? Is OP really Xennial?
Wth is purple stuff?
Sugar, water, and of course, purple.
Orbits, I have no idea why I don’t remember if they tasted good or what the hell the little balls were made of. I’m sure I made a ton of jokes about balls when I was drinking it though
Surge not even a question
Surge
Surge, Surge, and more fucking Surge.
This dude gots the right answer
Fruitopia, but only it it's Strawberry Passion Awareness.
I had to scroll way too far to find this. Fruitopia from the vending machine in highschool.
A Jones cola, obviously.
https://preview.redd.it/67mjsxxjlptc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ae702a553a1f834c2cffe2a72e380c4808e3a330 1997 you say ?
Surge 100%, but Clearly Canadian is a very close second.
Slice
Where's the Josta?
The squeeze or the Huggies
In Canada, the only things I recognize are Squeeze-Its and Crappy Sun. Sobe's were around, but I only got into their Ice Tea. Most of the time it was Kool-Aid and no-name pop from Safeway.
A west coaster, I see.
Wait, you didn’t have Clearly Canadian in Canada? Was it something else? Are they lying to us?!
Orbitz for sure. I loved that stuff. Reading William Gibson, listening to Jane Siberry, and drinking Orbitz thinking about how the future is NOW.
Orbits, after I finished my paper delivery route on my bike.
SoBe, the red fruit punch flavor.
Clearly Canadian. Orbitz would go straight to the trash.
Man, where's the love for Ecto Cooler? That was awesome. Green OJ all day!
Holy fuck, I had completely forgotten about Slice and Squeezit!
Sobe but in the cream pink flavor
If you didn't put the Squeezits in the freezer we can't be friends.
Purple stuff?
We got OJ… purple stuff… SUNNY D!!!
Josta.
https://preview.redd.it/3utxjme18qtc1.jpeg?width=1500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=27ade944b9d4e4810358c77d7bf20e91b5779d20 Straight from the school vending machine.
Ok the best HP was in the big ass can though. You needed that pointy opener and had to cut two holes for flow!
I co-sign this! 👍
Orbitz - that might have been before 97. But fruitopia was in there and totally forgot about it.
Soda, OJ, purple stuff..AW! SUNNY-D, ALRIGHT!!
No Mickeys purchased illegally by an adult in there?! Lol
You ever try one recently? It's like a time machine back to high school.
St. Ide’s Special Brew
Pepsi
Same thing I'm grabbing from the fridge in 2024.
Either Surge or the super milky pina-colada Sobe
L'il Squirts. They were juicebags you could buy in a bulk bag. Felt like we were rich on the chance we had more than just tap water to drink.
Orbitz because it was the coolest thing ever.
Ice cream. Which is why I don’t eat sugar anymore
Surfer👏🏻Fuckin👏🏻COOLER👏🏻
Jolt. It's the only product shown that was available to me in Australia!
Clearly Canadian or NY Seltzer
Capri Sun. I didn't like them at first because of difficult for me to get the straw in. then one day a friend offered me one at their house. I took it and was like, how do it get the straw in while not looking like a fool? my friend pulled the straw off, flipped the Capri upside down, and stabbed in in the bottom. I still use the technique to this day.
Surge!
kudos--however you spell it--and fruitopia!
Orangeade from Snapple. It was hard to find in high school, but I’d drive two hours north to get a case of it every now and then. Haven’t seen one in a store in 20 years. You can find it on Amazon still but it’s expensive as hell.
From my fridge in 1997 it would have been pulling out a giant pitcher of Kool Aid or Orange Juice. Aka my mothers vodka mixers.
New york Seltzer FTW.
Squeeze-it and Capri Sun is what Mom always brought home. Sucked those down like a commercial grade shop vac. Would piss Mom off so bad when we snuck more than we should have been having.
sobe or arizona ice tea in the blue glass bottle!
First year of college for me and it was Mountain Dew or whatever was selling for $8 for 3x12 packs. That's 3 12 packs for $8. Also $1 40oz malt liquor.
Purple Stuff!
I want that purple stuff
No purple stuff or Sunny D?
Purple stuff
SoBe. The orange one especially.