Drinking Coca-Cola in old-time Phoenix


I'll admit it, I like Coca-Cola. I've never been one of those people who drinks it out of a giant cup, but I do enjoy drinking it. I buy it in bottles at my local grocery store, and usually pour it over ice, sitting in my backyard. I consider it one of the small joys of my life.

No, it's not like I dislike Pepsi, or RC, or anything like that, it's just that I decided that I wanted to be able to sit down and drink a Coke whenever I wanted to, and aside from coffee it's the most common drink I could think of, that I could get anywhere in the world. I used to imagine waking up in Shanghai, and still being able to get a Coke.


By the way, before we time-travel back to old-time Phoenix, I gotta tell you that I'm old enough to remember when it seemed as if I'd never be able to drink Coca-Cola ever again. I was living in California when the taste was reformulated, as "New Coke", and I bought up a bunch of the original formula, in those little tiny cans, which I stored in my apartment, and drank sparingly, thinking that when it was gone, it would be gone. Luckily, the company wised up not too long after that and brought back the original formula, which they called "Classic Coke". I've talked to people who said that it was all one big conspiracy, man, but I've been in Marketing long enough to know that sometimes companies make mistakes. They panicked because of the competition from Pepsi, and they freaked out.

Anyway, let's time-travel back to old-time Phoenix and have a Coca-Cola. We're going back to 1906, and yes, we can get it in bottles. And luckily for us, the logo is the same. Yes, there's cocaine in it, but just a trace, and so small that you really wouldn't notice. They say it helps the flavor.

Since it's 1906, and the price of sugar hasn't skyrocketed, like it will during the Great War, there's no need for the bottle to have the narrowing in the middle, which allowed Coca-Cola to give the illusion of having the same size bottles. A neat trick, which now we associate with Coke, as just part of their logo.

Let's open a bottle. Yes, we'll need a bottle opener, no twist-off tops in 1906! I have a couple of glasses here, and I got some ice from old man Lount's ice company. You know, Hattie's dad.

Looks great! Fizzing like crazy! Let's take a sip! Mmmm... Coca-Cola on ice, I love it!
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