New Taste Club: September 2004 Archives
Maxwell Bass Sr. [blog] has recently ditched the pacific northwest for the magical wonders of New York City. He has agreed to be on the look out for food and drinks that are new to him. This is his first post as part of the NYC branch of the New Taste Club.
Maxwell Bass Sr. tells us, "Tropical Fantasy Grape is awesome. Very grapey. I get the fantasy at a li'l cafe round the corner from my house called California Pizza."
Tropical Fantasy was brought onto the market in September 1990 by Brooklyn Bottling, a small family-owned soft drink manufacturer established in 1937, that was in 1990 only just getting by on its line of seltzers. Fantasy's comparably low price (49� per 20-ounce bottle versus Coke and Pepsi's 80� price tag for a 16-ouncer) led to a stunning initial success, and overnight a moribund firm became a bottler now with per-month sales of $2 million plus.
In April 1991 rumors began circulating in black neighborhoods that the beverage was laced with a secret ingredient that would cause sterility in black men, and that the Ku Klux Klan were the actual bottlers.
Sales of the beverage plummeted by 70%. (these rumors were of course not true)
Maxwell Bass says, "Fizzy Lizzy I get at my work. It tastes like fizzy juice."
Fizzy Lizzy consists of all-natural fruit juice and sparkling water with no added sugar, corn syrup or preservatives and an average of 70% juice per bottle. Fizzy Lizzy started because Lizzy Marlin used to always mix fruit juice and seltzer at home but could never find such a concoction in stores. She created a market for people who crave a healthful alternative to soda and a drink that�s not overly sweet.
BevNet describes the brand: Health conscious Americans can begin counting calories backwards, as Fizzy Lizzy LLC introduces a line of all-natural beverages made solely from fruit juice and seltzer that are delicious, refreshing, and not too sweet.
Maxwell Bass Sr. tells us, "The Presidente tastes like Pabst and Corona mixed. It's just as prevalent as Corona, if not more so. You see it all over NYC, advertised with neon signs and shit."
Presidente is a national favorite in the Dominican Republic brewed by Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana. Although not very well known, it's premier beer, Presidente Pilsener is popular in many Hispanic neighborhoods in the United States. There is a lot of online rumor-mongering about this being a brand in the SABMiller family, but there is nothing listed on the SABMiller corporate site about it, but it's possible the confusion comes the fact that they import the beer to the US (via a subsidiary, Martlet Importing Co.).
