The Food That Built America Recap for Citrus Soda Stars
-This week’s episode of The Food That Built America on History Channel is titled Citrus Soda Stars and focuses on the lemon lime soft drinks we have come to know and love.
-Soda became popular during Prohibition, which led to a man named Charles Leiper Grigg inventing a soda called Howdy, not knowing that his orange flavored concoction was already invented in the form of Orange Crush. The latter added vitamin C, so they literally crushed the competition.
-Charles decided to change gears and use lemon instead. There were already several lemon sodas on the market, but none of them stood out. He tried several concoctions, but nothing worked, so he headed to a local soda place to order one for inspiration. There was none available, so he ordered a lime soda, leading to him taking his invention in a whole new direction—a lemon lime soda.
-Charles began experimenting with mixing the flavors together and came up with a winning combination. He calls his friend Frank Gladney, a successful lawyer, in hopes that he will invest in his business. The two agree to work together and try to come up with a plan to sell it to a cola loving nation.
-Instead of caffeine, they put lithium in the drink, giving it an extra kick.
-Charles and Frank release their soda and mere weeks later, the stock market crashes, leading to The Great Depression.
-However, despite the mad time economically, the lithium became a big draw for the soda. However, Prohibition ended, leading to more booze and less soda.
-The Hartman brothers Barney and Ally opened a new plant where they can bottle beer and the Orange Crush they invented. They also had a lemon soda called Natural Set Up, which was struggling. Little did they know that they would one day invent something that will change the soda business forever.
-Frank and Charles continue to work on a way to sell their drink, focusing on curing hangovers. Their hook was to sell their soda as a cure for ailments such as hangovers and sicknesses. They had a list of seven and legend has it that this is how 7Up came to be. They are good to go on getting it on the market, not knowing that miles away the Hartman brothers had the exact same idea.
-The Hartman brothers turned to Billy Jones to make their own similar drink, using it as a mixer for cocktails.
-Charles and Frank set out to launch 7Up, but their drinks were bottled in a green bottle instead of the clear ones they requested. They decided to go with it for their hangover cure drink. The drink began to grow organically due to no competition and became the number one lemon lime soda.
-The Hartman brothers were selling beer, Pepsi and their own lemon lime mixer. They also sold moonshine with the code word Mountain Dew because it was invented by the mountains in the Appalachia. It was mixed with the lemon lime drink and became so popular they did a soft launch of it at a convention under the name Mountain Dew. Both the cocktail and soda were a huge hit.
-The Hartman brothers decided to launch the soda nationally with the mascot Willy the Hillbilly. However, they decide to take it slow…until Barney died of a heart attack. Ally is lost and upset without his brother.
-Meanwhile, 7Up is making a killing in the market. However, lithium is soon banned by the FDA in foods and beverages, forcing them to change the formula. At this point, Charles has passed away, so Frank works with Will Winter, rebranding the soda as a healthier, less sugary option.
-The rebrand put the soda on the map.
-Mountain Dew is finally off the ground, but is only a local drink in the South. Sales are dismal, so Ally hires a focus group to find out what people want. He discovers that people see it as a 7Up knockoff, so decides to change gears. He turns to Billy Jones again and sells him the rights to the drink for the price of a $7 dinner.
-Billy decides to overhaul the drink by making it the opposite of the ‘healthy’ lemon lime drink. He mixes 55 mg of caffeine, twice the amount of sugar as cola, lemon, lime and orange flavoring. Green food coloring is added and a new drink was born….becoming a huge hit.
-Fanta soon enters the scene after the conflict with Germany causes problems with getting cola syrup. Enter the invention of Sprite.
-Pepsi then buys Mountain Dew, adding it to the family of drinks they already own.
-7Up is soon struggling, so they rebrand as the UnCola. They are able to reclaim their crown as the leader of lemon lime sodas. It is still one of the top sodas in the world today.
-Mountain Dew is the fourth most popular soda in the world and set the road for energy drinks.
