Moxie – The Nerve Food That Outsold Coca-Cola
Moxie is a brand of carbonated beverage that is among the first mass-produced soft drinks in the United States. It was created around 1876 by Augustin Thompson as a patent medicine called “Moxie Nerve Food” and was produced in Lowell, Massachusetts. What started as a medicinal tonic claiming to cure everything from nervous exhaustion to paralysis became America’s first bottled carbonated beverage. By 1920, Moxie reportedly competed strongly with Coca-Cola, thanks to its distinctive taste and advertising efforts.
It has been described as having “a bitter aftertaste that some say is similar to root beer.” It is flavored with gentian root extract, an extremely bitter substance commonly used in herbal medicine. This unique flavor divided America into two camps – people either loved its distinctive bite or found it absolutely revolting. Calvin Coolidge allegedly favored the drink, and reportedly observed his 1923 inauguration in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, with a bottle purchased from a nearby general store. The author E.B. White once wrote, “There is a certain serenity here that heals my spirit, and I can still buy Moxie in a tiny supermarket six miles away.
The drink’s decline began during the Great Depression when marketing budgets tightened and sweeter sodas gained popularity. Though still produced today and The Coca-Cola Company announced it would be buying Moxie with a promise to not tinker with its unique taste. The oldest continuously produced soft drink in the United States, now under the ownership of its former competitor, is still going strong, Moxie remains largely a regional New England curiosity.
TaB – Coca-Cola’s First Diet Revolution
TaB wasn’t the first diet cola, but it was the first developed by Coca-Cola. Before its introduction in 1963, other diet drinks, such as No-Cal and Diet Rite, were stocked on the over-the-counter medicine shelves at stores or pharmacies, and had a reputation for poor flavor. Coca-Cola sought to take advantage of the emerging diet drink market by creating a product with improved flavor, which would be stocked in beverage sections along with conventional drinks. Like No-Cal and Diet Rite, TaB was formulated with the artificial sweeteners cyclamate and saccharin.
The drink faced a major crisis in 1970 when the FDA banned cyclamate due to cancer concerns. After the FDA banned cyclamate in 1970 due to concerns that it was a carcinogen, TaB was reformulated using only saccharine. Its flavor was described by devotees as clean, with hints of lemon and bubble gum, and its (very dated) advertising was aimed at women. Despite this setback, by the 1970s, TaB was the most popular diet drink in the U.S.
TaB’s downfall came in the 1980s when Coca-Cola shifted its marketing focus to Diet Coke. Though still available in select markets, TaB became a cult beverage with a small but passionate following. The pink can that once dominated diet soda shelves became a nostalgic relic of women’s liberation and calorie consciousness.
Postum – The Coffee Alternative That Divided America
Postum is a powdered roasted grain beverage popular as a coffee substitute. The caffeine-free beverage was created by Post Cereal Company founder C. W. Post in 1895 and marketed as a healthier alternative to coffee. Post was a student of John Harvey Kellogg, who believed that caffeine was unhealthy. This health-conscious beverage emerged during an era when many Americans viewed coffee as a dangerous stimulant.
Made from roasted wheat, molasses, and bran, Postum had a nutty, slightly sweet flavor that satisfied those seeking a warm morning beverage without the jitters. The “instant” drink mix version was developed in 1912, replacing the original brewed beverage. The drink became particularly popular among Mormons, whose religious beliefs prohibited caffeine consumption, and health-conscious families across America.
Post Cereal Company eventually became General Foods, and merged into Kraft Foods Inc. in 1990. Eliza’s Quest Foods assumed the trademark rights and secret recipe of Postum in 2012. The beverage disappeared from most store shelves for decades but experienced a small revival when modern health trends began favoring caffeine-free alternatives. Still, Postum never reclaimed its early 20th-century popularity when it competed directly with coffee for America’s breakfast table.
Ovaltine – The Malted Milk Marvel
Ovaltine, also known by its original name Ovomaltine, is a brand of milk flavouring product made with malt extract, sugar (except in Switzerland), and whey. Some flavours also have cocoa. Ovaltine was developed in 1904 by chemist Albert Wander in Bern, Switzerland. By 1915, Ovaltine was being manufactured in Villa Park, Illinois, for the US market.
Originally advertised as consisting solely of “malt, milk, eggs, flavoured with cocoa”, the formulation has changed over the decades and changed for different parts of the world. The drink positioned itself as a nutritious supplement for growing children, promising to build strong bodies and sharp minds. Radio shows sponsored by Ovaltine, including “Little Orphan Annie,” cemented its place in American childhood culture.
Ovaltine also manufactured PDQ Chocolate Flavour Beads, PDQ Choco Chips, Eggnog Flavoured PDQ, and Strawberry PDQ, which are no longer available. These drink mixes enjoyed their greatest popularity from the 1960s to the 1980s. While Ovaltine remains available today, its cultural significance has diminished dramatically. Modern parents gravitate toward products with cleaner ingredient lists, leaving this malted marvel as a nostalgic memory of simpler times.
Beef Tea – The Victorian Health Elixir
Beef tea is a concentrated protein beverage extracted from the essence of beef used to restore human health from the 18th century forwards. Florence Nightengale used beef tea to restore fallen Crimean War soldiers. American Civil War soldiers were likewise treated. This might sound revolting to modern tastes, but beef tea was considered the ultimate health drink for invalids and anyone suffering from general weakness.
Early recipes provided instructions using real beef. Variations permitted other animal proteins (veal, lamb, chicken) and occasionally included vegetables. The preparation involved slowly simmering beef in water for hours, creating a clear, protein-rich broth. In the 1880s commercial beef extracts were employed to make a quick beef tea. Some concoctions proved more healthful than others.
A survey of late 19th/early 20th century USA newspapers and cook books confirm the popularity of homemade beef tea for the general malaise called “what ails you.” The beverage disappeared as medical understanding advanced and commercially prepared broths became available. Today’s bone broth trend bears striking resemblance to this forgotten health elixir, though modern versions rarely claim to cure everything from exhaustion to melancholy.
Lime Rickey – The Sophisticated Soda Fountain Star
Long before artisanal beverages became trendy, the Lime Rickey reigned supreme at American soda fountains. This tart, refreshing concoction mixed fresh lime juice, seltzer water, and simple syrup, sometimes with a splash of cherry. Named after Colonel Rickey (a lobbyist, not a military man), it became the sophisticated alternative to sweeter sodas in the 1920s-40s.
The drink represented the height of soda fountain culture, when skilled soda jerks created elaborate beverages with theatrical flair. Its crisp, citrusy flavor appealed to adults seeking refreshment without excessive sweetness. The Lime Rickey offered complexity in an era when most sodas relied heavily on sugar and artificial flavoring.
While the cocktail version with gin lives on in some bars, the innocent soda fountain original has largely disappeared except in a handful of nostalgic diners preserving vintage recipes. The decline of soda fountains and the rise of standardized soft drink manufacturing eliminated many of these handcrafted beverages. Modern craft cocktail enthusiasts occasionally rediscover the Lime Rickey, but its days as a mainstream refreshment ended with the golden age of soda jerks.
Whistle Orange Soda – The Midwest’s Forgotten Fizz
Before national soda brands dominated, Whistle Orange Soda reigned supreme across the Midwest. This regional favorite captured the hearts and taste buds of entire communities, becoming as essential to local culture as baseball teams and county fairs. Its bright orange color and distinctively sweet flavor made it the drink of choice for summer picnics and neighborhood gatherings.
Unlike today’s corporate beverage giants, Whistle Orange represented authentic regional identity. Local bottling plants employed community members, sponsored local events, and created a sense of civic pride around their product. The soda’s marketing emphasized hometown values and neighborly connections rather than celebrity endorsements or flashy advertising campaigns.
The brand couldn’t survive the consolidation of the beverage industry during the latter half of the 20th century. Coca-Cola and Pepsi’s massive marketing budgets and distribution networks slowly squeezed out regional competitors like Whistle Orange. Today, it exists only in the memories of Midwestern families who remember the distinctive taste of their local orange soda, forever lost to corporate homogenization.
Flip – The Colonial Tavern’s Warming Specialty
While some taverns had broad liquid offerings, many specialized in a particular drink–anachronistically ‘cocktails’ as that term only came into usage in the early nineteenth century–often guided by local availabilities of ingredients. And it is some of these tavern specialties that were a gustatory highlight of Hirsch’s talk, where she included a tutored tasting of three colonial-era drinks: Flip, Rattle Skull, and Stone Fence
Flip was one of colonial America’s most beloved winter beverages, consisting of beer, rum, molasses, and beaten eggs, heated with a red-hot iron poker called a loggerhead. The dramatic preparation created a frothy, warming drink perfect for harsh New England winters. Tavern keepers took pride in their flip recipes, often guarding secret ingredient ratios and preparation techniques.
The drink represented more than refreshment – it embodied colonial social culture. Much consumption took place in the tavern, the locus of social and political life in colonial New England. Taverns performed multiple functions in the seventeenth through early nineteenth centuries, acting not only as a place for travelers to sojourn, but as clearing houses for news and political debate. Modern colonial reenactments occasionally feature flip, but its complex preparation and acquired taste keep it firmly in the realm of historical curiosity rather than practical beverage choice.
Stone Fence – Revolutionary War’s Liquid Courage
The Stone Fence brought together two of the key alcohols central to colonial drinking: rum and cider, typically combining rum and hard apple cider in varying proportions, nowadays enlivened with a dash of bitters. This potent combination perfectly captured the spirit of early American resourcefulness, mixing imported Caribbean rum with locally produced apple cider.
Hirsch relayed (with a scholarly degree of skepticism) the folklore that Ethan Allen’s Green Mountain Boys fortified themselves with generous slugs of Stone Fence before attacking and successfully overcoming the English forces at Fort Ticonderoga in the early stages of the Revolutionary War. Whether historically accurate or not, this legend reflects the drink’s reputation for providing courage and warmth during difficult times.
The Stone Fence disappeared as American drinking preferences shifted toward beer and standardized cocktails. By the early eighteenth century, rum exports were a significant part of the colonial economy and British taxation and tariffs on sugar and molasses were one of the economic provocations that fed revolutionary fervor. After the Revolutionary War, rum’s importance declined as whisky, produced from local grains, rose in economic importance. This changing alcohol landscape left Stone Fence as a forgotten relic of America’s rebellious past.
Coffee Egg Cream – The Soda Fountain’s Mysterious Marvel
The Coffee Egg Cream was a popular soda fountain treat in the mid-20th century, especially in New York. It combined the rich flavors of coffee with the creamy frothiness of milk and seltzer. Despite its name, it contained neither eggs nor cream. This paradoxically named beverage exemplified the creativity and showmanship of skilled soda jerks who transformed simple ingredients into elaborate treats.
The drink was a testament to the creativity of soda jerks, who crafted delightful concoctions. As soda fountains dwindled, so did the Coffee Egg Cream. The preparation required precise timing and technique – creating the perfect foam without over-mixing, achieving the right balance of coffee flavor without overpowering the delicate carbonation, and presenting it with theatrical flair that kept customers returning.
The Coffee Egg Cream represented urban sophistication in an era when simple pleasures carried profound social meaning. For a nostalgic sip, mix espresso, milk, and carbonated water, and dream of simpler times. Its disappearance marked the end of an era when beverages were crafted by hand rather than dispensed from machines, when each drink told a story of local culture and personal expertise.
These ten forgotten beverages tell the larger story of American drinking culture throughout the 20th century. Each represents specific moments in our social, economic, and cultural history – from patent medicine origins to regional pride, from health consciousness to sophisticated urbanity. While modern beverage aisles overflow with choices, we’ve lost something irreplaceable in the process: the connection between drinks and community, the regional character that made each sip a taste of home, and the craftsmanship that turned simple ingredients into memorable experiences.
What strikes food historians most about these vanished beverages is how completely they’ve disappeared from our collective memory, surviving only in dusty bottles and faded advertisements. What would you choose if you could taste just one of these forgotten flavors from America’s beverage past?
