Patterico's Pontifications

4/5/2006

Soda Blogging

Filed under: General — See Dubya @ 2:33 pm



[Posted by See-Dubya]

This post at Ace of Spades about Kosher Coke, and the second comment on it by Right Wing Sparkle, reminded me that there was a great article about that in the Wall Street Journal a while back–a lot of the coke in the Latino markets is bootlegged in from Mexico. Not bootlegged in the sense of it being illegal, but that it violates exclusivity agreements between Coke and its distributors. I’d find and link the article, but it’s behind a subscription firewall by now.

It’s stupid because there’s a huge demand for it, and Coke is playing coy and not only not meeting the demand, but paying big money actively cracking down on those who sell it and especially on those who sneak it out of the Mexican warehouses. Why they don’t just introduce a new product line, I don’t understand. (Commenters: what should Coca Cola call Mexican Coke?) Meanwhile they’re trying to build a new bunch of customers from scratch for brands like “Vault” and “Diet Cherry Vanilla Coke”.

As for the delicious sugar-based Kosher Coke Laura W. is posting about, it is a sore temptation. I gave up carbonated beverages for Lent, but I may have to lay up a few bottles in my soda cellar.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I got a Coca-Cola Scholarship my freshman year in college, just so you know. So I don’t want Cathy Seipp coming in here and busting my butt and calling me dishonest for failing to disclose that fact or anything.

UPDATE: I must say they’re doing a reasonable job promoting “Vault”. Go here and click on “Scarecrow”.

UPDATE II: Rightwingsparkle came up with “Guestworker Coke”. That’s gonna be hard to beat. Maybe they’ll introduce “Pepnesti” to compete.

–See Dubya

20 Responses to “Soda Blogging”

  1. What is with all the freaking convoluted carbonated drinks coming out now? The other day I noticed a co-worker was drinking cherry vanilla Dr. Pepper.

    Yuk!

    John from WuzzaDem (dfd3ae)

  2. Names:

    MexiCoke
    MatriCola
    El Coke del Real
    The Other Coke.

    Joe Mama (dff15c)

  3. John, have you ever had a cherry vanilla Dr. Pepper made at a soda fountain? It’s some good stuff. If you’re ever at the Sonic drive through chain, order one. I can see why they would want to try to capture that in a bottle. It’s not as bad as it might have been. We’re not talking Coke With Pee Lime or Pepsi Blue.

    See Dubya (3fb86e)

  4. Hey! I’m not doing anything illegal by buying this coke am I? Cuz I am all about doing the right thing ya know!

    How about GuestworkerCoke???

    Heh.

    Rightwingsparkle (39dfa1)

  5. I don’t know what the name should be, but here’s a million-dollar slogan: It’s Mexican Coke, not Columbian Coke

    NateG (1d9f7c)

  6. Hey! I’m not doing anything illegal by buying this coke am I? Cuz I am all about doing the right thing ya know!

    Actually, you would be guilty of felony harboring and ingesting of an illegal soft drink. Especially if the proposed legislation goes through, and you attempt to serve La Coca for Christmas dinner.

    Tom (fefa50)

  7. Now you know I would not do that!

    Cathy Seipp (d8da01)

  8. Cardinal Mahoney says that he will instruct the Archdiocese to continue to drink the Undocumented Coke if it finds its way to the local parishes, despite any attempts to prevent it from entering.

    JVW (d667c9)

  9. La Cuca Cola.

    Even comes with its own timeless classic song….

    Elliott (f0adef)

  10. Don’t know about you, but in this part of the world it’s Kosher Coke time. God you can taste the difference! It’s not as, thin as regular coke. Sort of thicker, more body. Definitely sweeter. From what I can tell, it looks like Coke reformulated Coca Cola so it would taste like Coke when sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup. Which means that when sucrose (regular sugar) is used it now tastes odd. Another example of the law of unintended consequences.

    Alan Kellogg (6a4acc)

  11. Coca-C-Ole’!

    Guy T. (6d429a)

  12. You can still drink sugar-based Coke on Sundays during Lent and not break your vow. Sundays don’t count during Lent. So, enjoy some Kosher Coke on Palm Sunday this weekend 🙂

    Steverino (6d41f5)

  13. You can still drink sugar-based Coke on Sundays during Lent and not break your vow. Sundays don’t count during Lent. So, enjoy some Kosher Coke on Palm Sunday this weekend.

    Hey Steverino, technically you have to first go to confession for absolution, then go to Mass and take Holy Communion before you get to celebrate a Feast Day on Sunday during Lent. At least that’s the way it was always presented to me.

    JVW (d667c9)

  14. JVW, I wasn’t talking about Feast Days within the Church calendar, I was talking about Lenten abstinences.

    Sundays are not considered part of Lent, and haven’t been for some time. Count the days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, and you’ll see that there are more than 40. Omit the Sundays (except for Easter Sunday), and you have 40 days.

    There is even a term for the middle Sunday during Lent, which meant in essence that you could skip your Lenten observations on that day. It’s been almost 30 years since I studied in the Seminary (Catholic), so forgive me for not recalling the term 🙂

    Steverino (6d41f5)

  15. Yeah, I should not have used the term Feast Day. What I meant to imply, and what I was always taught while growing up, is that you had to make your confession then attend Mass and take Holy Communion before you could take advantage of a Lenten abstinence. Maybe, though, that was just my parents’ way of cajoling me to Sunday Mass during Lent.

    JVW (d667c9)

  16. Commenters: what should Coca Cola call Mexican Coke?

    Coma-Caca. Millions of T-shirts say that already, so why not take advantage of the free advertising?

    I got a Coca-Cola Scholarship my freshman year in college, just so you know.

    Money launderer!

    Xrlq (51d90f)

  17. I don’t think we hard-core Anglicans get all these little breaks in Lent, fellas. If we do, my preacher hasn’t said anything about it.

    See Dubya (921613)

  18. They could call the diet version “NAFTA Lean.”

    Michael Bates (5279e3)

  19. […] Oh, sure, XRLQ, we can’t get those exotic Latin temptations up here, be they sweet, tart, dusky, or bubbly, but you know what soda we get here that Latin America doesn’t? […]

    Patterico’s Pontifications » Yet More Sodablogging: Pop Culture Follies (421107)

  20. […] Previous sodablogging here, here (by XRLQ), here, and, um, here…yeah…never mind. […]

    Patterico’s Pontifications » (See Dubya) Sodablogging V: Vault Zero Review (421107)


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