Kickapoo Joy Juice is a

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. ''Citrus'' is nativ ...

-flavored

soft drink A soft drink (see #Terminology, § Terminology for other names) is a class of non-alcoholic drink, usually (but not necessarily) Carbonated water, carbonated, and typically including added Sweetness, sweetener. Flavors used to be Natural flav ...

brand owned by the

Monarch Beverage Company The Monarch Beverage Company Inc is a diversified, international beverage company based in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The company's CEO is Jacques Bombal. The company was founded in 1965 by Frank Armstrong. Monarch Beverage Company ...

. The name was introduced in ''

Li'l Abner ''Li'l Abner'' was a satirical American comic strip that appeared in multiple newspapers in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It featured a fictional clan of hillbillies living in the impoverished fictional mountain village of Dogpatch, ...

'', a comic strip that ran from 1934 through 1977. Although ''Li'l Abner'''s Kickapoo Joy Juice was an

alcoholic drink Drinks containing alcohol (drug), alcohol are typically divided into three classes—beers, wines, and Distilled beverage, spirits—with alcohol content typically between 3% and 50%. Drinks with less than 0.5% are sometimes considered Non-al ...

, the real-life beverage is a lightly

carbonated Carbonation is the chemical reaction of carbon dioxide to give carbonates, bicarbonates, and carbonic acid. In chemistry, the term is sometimes used in place of carboxylation, which refers to the formation of carboxylic acids. In inorganic che ...

''Li'l Abner''

"Kickapoo Joy Juice" was a fictional beverage coined in the American

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

''.

Al Capp Alfred Gerald Caplin (September 28, 1909 – November 5, 1979), better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip ''Li'l Abner'', which he created in 1934 and continued writing and (w ...

, the

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

, described the beverage as "a

liquor Liquor ( , sometimes hard liquor), spirits, distilled spirits, or spiritous liquor are alcoholic drinks produced by the distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar that have already gone through ethanol fermentation, alcoholic ferm ...

of such stupefying potency that the hardiest citizens of

Dogpatch Dogpatch was the fictional setting of cartoonist Al Capp's classic comic strip ''Li'l Abner'' (1934–1977). ''Li'l Abner'' comic strip The inhabitants of Dogpatch were mostly lazy hillbillies, who usually wanted nothing to do with progress. ...

, after the first burning sip, rose into the air, stiff as frozen

cod Cod (: cod) is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family (biology), family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gad ...

fish". It was said to be an elixir of such power that the fumes alone have been known to melt the rivets off battleships. Capp asserted in 1965 that the cartoon "never has suggested that the drink is

moonshine Moonshine is alcohol proof, high-proof liquor, traditionally made or distributed alcohol law, illegally. The name was derived from a tradition of distilling the alcohol (drug), alcohol at night to avoid detection. In the first decades of the ...

", in response to claims that the Kickapoo Joy Juice of ''Li'l Abner'' was an illicitly distilled liquor. Brewed by Hairless Joe and Lonesome Polecat, two of the comic strip's backwoods

poachers Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the hunti ...

, the ingredients of the brew are both mysterious and all-encompassing, (much like the contents of their cave, which has been known to harbor prehistoric monsters.) When a batch "needs more body", the formidable pair simply goes out and clubs "a body" (often a moose), and tosses it in. Over the years, the "recipe" has called for live grizzly bears, panthers, kerosene, horseshoes and anvils, among other ingredients.

Product

The real-life drink was introduced in 1965 under NuGrape, a former brand of the Monarch Beverage Company. That year, Nugrape worked out a deal with Al Capp, the owner of the "Kickapoo Joy Juice" rights, to produce the beverage as a

carbonated soft drink A soft drink (see #Terminology, § Terminology for other names) is a class of non-alcoholic drink, usually (but not necessarily) Carbonated water, carbonated, and typically including added Sweetness, sweetener. Flavors used to be Natural flav ...

. Capp, however, would have the last word on all

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

and

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

. Kickapoo Joy Juice's early

advertising campaign An advertising campaign or marketing campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ide ...

was very similar to

Mountain Dew Mountain Dew, stylized as Mtn Dew in some countries and colloquially known as Dew in some areas, is a soft drink brand owned by PepsiCo. The original formula was invented in 1940 by Tennessee beverage Bottler (company), bottlers Barney and A ...

's of the time – using characters from ''Li'l Abner'' to create and market a

hillbilly ''Hillbilly'' is a term historically used for White people who dwell in rural area, rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in the Appalachian region and Ozarks. As people migrated out of the region during the Great Depression, ...

feeling. Although the product is distributed largely in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

n markets (Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Cambodia and Bangladesh), the can still comes decorated with a vintage ''Li'l Abner'' drawing. ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' had a regular feature on mixed drinks, and once published in it a recipe for Kickapoo Joy Juice. The backstory is that it had been illicit hooch ginned up by soldiers during World War II, often starting from alcohol intended for fuel for torpedoes and the like.

Variants

*Kickapoo Joy Juice (original) *Kickapoo Fruit Shine (sangria flavored) *Kickapoo Fuzzy Navel (peach flavored) *Kickapoo Malibu (piña colada flavored) *Kickapoo Lemonade (lemon flavored)

References

External links

Kickapoo Joy Juice review
a
BevNET
{{Li'l Abner Citrus sodas Li'l Abner Products introduced in 1965 Soft drinks

''Li'l Abner''

Product

Variants

See also

References

External links