Northern Neck Ginger Ale was a regional
ginger ale
Ginger ale is a carbonated soft drink flavoured with ginger. It is consumed on its own or used as a mixer, often with spirit-based drinks. There are two main types of ginger ale. The golden style is credited to the Irish doctor Thomas Joseph ...
sold in the
Northern Neck
The Northern Neck is the northernmost of three peninsulas (traditionally called "necks" in Virginia) on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in the Commonwealth of Virginia (along with the Middle Peninsula and the Virginia Peninsula). The P ...
region of Virginia for 94 years from 1926 until its discontinuation in 2020.
History
Northern Neck Ginger Ale was created in 1926 by Arthur Carver in
Montross, Virginia
Montross is a town in Westmoreland County, Virginia, United States. The population was 553 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Westmoreland County. Located in the historic Northern Neck of Virginia, Montross is near the George Washingto ...
.
The ginger ale was developed from a family recipe made during
prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...
, and was originally sold as Carver's Ginger Ale. It was bottled in Montross until 2001 under Carver's company, Northern Neck Brewing Co., which also bottled
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...
products under license. It was sold in the Northern Neck region and nearby areas such as
Fredericksburg and
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, a city in the United States
* Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...
.
The recipe was sold to Coca-Cola in 2001, who then moved production to
Sandston, Virginia
Sandston is a census-designated place (CDP) in Henrico County, Virginia, United States, just outside the state capital of Richmond. The population as of the 2010 Census was 7,571. It was designated a Historic District by Henrico County in ...
.
Production was discontinued in 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
.
In January 2019, a bill was sponsored by representative
Margaret Ransone, whose district included several counties in the Northern Neck, to make it the official soft drink of Virginia. The bill followed a petition made in July 2018. The bill did not come to pass, however.
Discontinuation
Following a shortage of
aluminum can
An aluminum can (British English: aluminium can) is a single-use container for packaging made primarily of an aluminum exterior with an epoxy resin or polymer coated interior.
It is commonly used for food and beverages such as olives and soup b ...
s due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Northern Neck Ginger Ale was discontinued by the end of 2020, along with other products such as
TaB,
Delaware Punch
Delaware Punch was a fruit-flavored soft drink. Its formula used a blend of fruit flavors, with grape ( Methyl anthranilate) being the most prominent. It was not carbonated and was caffeine-free.
Delaware Punch was created by Thomas E. Lyons in ...
and Diet Coke Feisty Cherry.
Due to the discontinuation of the soda, a non-profit group called the Northern Neck Foundation, along with a
Facebook group
Facebook Platform, Facebook is a Social network, social-network service website launched on February 4, 2004, by Mark Zuckerberg. The following is a list of software and technology features that can be found on the Facebook website and mobile ...
and a
petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication.
In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to an officia ...
, were started to convince Coca-Cola to bring it back.
The group rented a
billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
in Richmond. Several Virginia politicians, such as
Tim Kaine
Timothy Michael Kaine ( ; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party (United States ...
,
Ralph Northam
Ralph Shearer Northam (born September 13, 1959) is an American physician and former politician who served as the 73rd governor of Virginia from 2018 to 2022. A pediatric Neurology, neurologist by occupation, he was an officer in the Medical Co ...
, and
Rob Wittman
Robert Joseph Wittman (born February 3, 1959) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2007. The district contains portions of the Richmond suburbs and Hampton Roads area, as well as the Northern Neck and Middle ...
sent appeals to Coca-Cola to reinstate the brand.
,
Westmoreland County, and Montross also adopted a resolution of support for reinstating the brand.
Further reading
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References
External links
*
{{Ginger ales
Coca-Cola brands
Products introduced in 1926
Products and services discontinued in 2020
Ginger ale
Northern Neck