The world of discontinued beverage collecting is surprisingly lucrative, with passionate enthusiasts paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars for sips of the past. These liquid time capsules capture more than just flavor – they represent cultural moments, marketing experiments gone wrong, and the eternal human fascination with what we can no longer have. From presidential endorsements to corporate rivalries, these beverages have transcended their original purpose to become coveted collectibles.
What drives someone to pay fifty dollars for a bottle they’ll never open, or bid hundreds on a can that’s decades past its expiration date? The answer lies in nostalgia, rarity, and the thrill of owning a piece of beverage history. Let’s explore eight discontinued drinks that command serious money on the collector’s market today.
Crystal Pepsi: The Clear Cola That Became Liquid Gold
Crystal Pepsi stands as perhaps the most famous beverage failure of the 1990s, yet its collectible value continues to soar. Launched in 1992 with a huge marketing campaign and to great success, capturing a 1% soft drink market share worth US$474 million in its first year, this clear cola was PepsiCo’s attempt to tap into the “clarity equals purity” trend that dominated the early nineties.
The drink’s transparent appearance was achieved by replacing Pepsi’s traditional caramel coloring with modified food starch for body with a clear look, after PepsiCo devised 3,000 formulations of a new clear drink, under consumer testing. Despite initial success, Crystal Pepsi faced sabotage from Coca-Cola through their deliberately unsuccessful Tab Clear product, designed to confuse consumers about Crystal Pepsi’s positioning.
Today’s collectors pay premium prices for original bottles. A yellowed 16-ounce glass bottle of the original stuff can be had on eBay for around $87, while some sellers push the boundaries even further. One seller is even offering an original bottle at $8,000, showing just how much some people value this piece of cola history.
The discoloration actually adds to the mystique. Many bottles of Crystal Pepsi available on the secondary market aren’t quite as crystal clear as they once were. Time and exposure to sunlight have turned them an unnerving lemony beige, creating an almost archaeological quality that collectors find irresistible.
Billy Beer: Presidential Memorabilia in a Can
In July of 1977, Falls City Brewing Company of Louisville, Kentucky began producing a brew called Billy Beer, a brand centered around Billy Carter, the younger brother of then President Jimmy Carter. Upon each can was printed this promise: Brewed expressly for and with the personal approval of one of AMERICA’s all-time Great Beer Drinkers – Billy Carter.
The beer was notoriously awful, with Billy Carter himself later admitting he was probably drunk when he approved the recipe. It also turned out that Billy’s claim that the beer was the best he ever tasted wasn’t true since he supposedly preferred and drank mostly Pabst Blue Ribbon. Billy Carter apparently later remarked that he thought he was probably drunk when he picked out the recipe for his beer.
Despite being produced in massive quantities, Billy Beer has become a classic example of collectors’ psychology. One estimate of the number of Billy Beer cans made is 2 BILLION. As a result, it is worth about 25 cents at most and then only if it is in very good shape, and if you can find a collector who actually needs one. However, the myth of value persists, fueled by early scam artists who advertised six-packs for thousands of dollars.
Real collector prices are more modest but still significant. The typical value of an old Billy Beer can ranges anywhere between $10-$50, with the rarest cans going for hundreds of dollars. Some specific cans can fetch anywhere from $150 to even $600 if they are in mint condition. A short look at recent eBay sales reveals that an unopened can of Billy Beer sells for roughly $10, and a six-pack for $15-25.
Orbitz: The Lava Lamp You Could Drink
Orbitz was unleashed on the market by the Clearly Canadian Beverage Company in 1997, each bottle packed with tiny, brightly colored gelatinous balls, giving the drink a lava lamp-like appearance. This bizarre beverage represented the peak of nineties novelty culture, combining unusual textures with wild flavor combinations that seem almost surreal today.
The floating gelatin spheres weren’t just for show – they were meant to be consumed, creating a drinking experience that left many consumers unsure whether to sip or chew. The flavor offerings – including Pineapple Banana Cherry Coconut, all in one bottle – were also very odd. At one point, a Charlie Brown Chocolate flavor was introduced.
The short-lived refreshment, which came in a variety of mixed fruit flavors, barely lasted a year. A bottle of Orbitz today could set you back upwards of $50 or $60 today on eBay – around the same price as an actual lava lamp. The irony isn’t lost on collectors – you can buy an actual lava lamp for the same price as an empty bottle of what was essentially a drinkable version.
The drink’s failure was almost inevitable. The odd-looking novelty of the suspended beads was enough to get many to buy a bottle out of curiosity, but the taste wasn’t enough to keep them coming back for more. The ’90s were also a turning point for the way society viewed sugar-loaded beverages, despite clever marketing.
Pepsi Blue: The Soda That Looked Like Windshield Washer Fluid
Pepsi Blue represented one of the soft drink industry’s most visually striking experiments. As the name suggests, Pepsi Blue was known for its glass cleaner-like blue tint. The company pumped huge sums of money into promoting it, recruiting the likes of Britney Spears for television spots, and partnering with a host of corporate sponsors from the New York Mets to Volkswagen.
The berry-flavored cola launched in 2002 as Pepsi’s answer to Coca-Cola’s Vanilla Coke, but the unusual color proved more off-putting than appealing to most consumers. Research suggested that Americans preferred their colas (and cola-adjacent beverages) to stay brown and retain the cola flavor. In a head to head battle with Vanilla Coke, the competition won in year one, moving 90 million cases versus Pepsi Blue’s 17 million.
The product’s rapid decline was dramatic. In year two, Pepsi Blue sales fell to 5 million cases. The company quietly – because the soda had so few fans – discontinued Pepsi Blue in the spring of 2004. This quick death has made original bottles increasingly valuable to collectors who appreciate the audacity of a blue cola.
Collectors looking to own some of the original ephemeral beverage can find bottles or cans on eBay ranging from $15 to over $100. The wide price range reflects both condition and the particular variant, with some commemorative packaging commanding premium prices.
Surge: Mountain Dew’s Would-Be Killer
Surge was a highly caffeinated citrus-flavored soda from Coca-Cola. Before its release in 1997, the drink was code-named “MDK,” short for Mountain Dew Killer, because the company hoped to convert customers from PepsiCo’s popular citrus soda to its own. Unfortunately for Coke, Surge never outpaced its competitor and was discontinued in 2003.
The drink targeted extreme sports enthusiasts and adrenaline junkies with aggressive marketing campaigns featuring teenagers performing stunts. The commercials featured teenagers doing “extreme” things like hurdling over ratty couches in a race to snag a single bottle. This positioning helped create a devoted fanbase that outlasted the product itself.
The drink developed a bit of a cult following, and seizing on the enduring demand, Coca-Cola reintroduced Surge in September 2014 as an exclusive on Amazon.com in 12-packs, which quickly sold out and found their way to eBay. Now, you can expect to pay as much as $25 a can. The loyal following demonstrates how certain discontinued beverages develop almost mythical status among their fans.
Original Surge cans from the late nineties command the highest prices, especially those with intact pull-tabs and minimal wear. The brand’s return in 2014 only increased interest in original versions, as new fans discovered what they had missed.
Tab Clear: Coca-Cola’s Sabotage Weapon
Tab Clear holds a unique place in beverage history as a product deliberately designed to fail. In the 2011 book Killing Giants: 10 Strategies To Topple the Goliath in Your Industry Sergio Zyman, Coca-Cola’s chief marketing officer who introduced Diet Coke in 1982, is reported as saying that Tab Clear was a “suicidal kamikaze” effort to create an unpopular beverage that was positioned as a counterpart to Crystal Pepsi in order to “kill both in the process”. Tab Clear was labelled as “sugar-free” to confuse consumers into thinking Crystal Pepsi had no sugar and Tab Clear was marketed as if it were “medicinal”. Sergio Zyman pointed out that “Pepsi spent an enormous amount of money on the brand and, regardless, we killed it”.
This corporate warfare strategy worked brilliantly, but also created one of the most cynical products in beverage history. If The Cola Wars hadn’t been raging, the Coca-Cola Company’s braintrust may have waited and watched Crystal Pepsi fail before launching its own see-through soda. But in late 1992 they unleashed Tab Clear… and watched it disappear from shelves as quickly as its competitor.
The deliberate failure makes Tab Clear bottles particularly fascinating to collectors who appreciate the dark humor of owning a product designed to destroy another product. Since both Tab Clear and Crystal Pepsi disappeared quickly, finding either in good condition requires serious dedication and money.
The rarity of Tab Clear, combined with its fascinating backstory of corporate sabotage, makes it one of the more expensive clear cola collectibles on the market today.
Citra: The Grapefruit Soda That Almost Made It
Citra was a grapefruit-dominant, citrus-flavored soda put out by Coca-Cola in 1996. It graced store shelves for more than eight years before it was rebranded in 2004 as Fanta Citrus, which itself was shortly thereafter discontinued. Today, a can of the original U.S.-marketed Citra costs about $19 on eBay.
Unlike many discontinued beverages that failed spectacularly, Citra enjoyed a respectable run of eight years, making it one of the more successful “failed” sodas. The drink filled a niche for consumers seeking a more sophisticated citrus flavor than traditional lemon-lime options.
The transition to Fanta Citrus represented Coca-Cola’s attempt to streamline their citrus offerings under the Fanta brand umbrella. However, the rebranding never captured the same market appeal as the original Citra formulation, leading to its eventual discontinuation.
Citra’s moderate collector prices reflect its longer market presence – it’s rare enough to be valuable, but not rare enough to command the extreme prices of shorter-lived products. Collectors appreciate its clean design and the fact that it represents Coca-Cola’s last major independent citrus brand before consolidating everything under Fanta.
The Psychology Behind Liquid Nostalgia
The world of discontinued beverage collecting reveals fascinating insights into human psychology and consumer culture. Soda collectors will spend far more than pocket change to get a genuine, unopened bottle of a favorite discontinued drink. They’ll also be quick to let you know that nobody in their right mind drinks the stuff. This paradox – paying premium prices for something you’ll never consume – speaks to the deeper emotional connections we form with commercial products.
Soda rarely costs more than a dollar, so the triple-digit price tag for rare vintage drinks is hard to swallow. Soda collectors seem to own the skeptical looks they get from others in the collecting hobby. Everyone’s got something that gives them that warm, fuzzy feeling of nostalgia; who’s to say some can’t have a warm, fizzy feeling instead? This captures the essence of why people pay serious money for liquid memories.
The discontinued beverage market continues to grow as millennials and Gen X consumers reach their peak earning years and seek tangible connections to their youth. Whether it’s the clear cola that promised purity, the blue soda that defied convention, or the presidential beer that embodied American excess, these liquid artifacts remind us that sometimes the products that fail commercially succeed spectacularly in capturing our imagination.
What would you pay to taste your childhood again? For many collectors, the answer is surprisingly high – and rising.
