Shasta Cola

Shasta Beverages is an American soft drink manufacturer that markets a value-priced soft drink line with a wide variety of soda flavors, as well as a few drink mixers, under the brand name Shasta. The company name is derived from Mount Shasta in northern California and the associated Shasta Springs.

History

Shasta began as The Shasta Mineral Springs Company at the base of Mt. Shasta, California, in 1889. In 1928, the name was changed to The Shasta Water Company. It produced bottled mineral water from Shasta Springs in Northern California. The water was poured into glass-lined railroad cars and shipped off for local bottling.

In 1931, Shasta produced its first soft drink, a ginger ale. Until the 1950s, the company's products were mainly mixers for alcoholic drinks: mineral water, club soda, and ginger ale.

Shasta introduced new marketing strategies in the 1950s, which became industry standards: the packaging of soft drinks in cans, the introduction of low-calorie (i.e., “diet”) soft drinks, and the distribution of cans and bottles directly to grocers through wholesale channels.

By the 1960s, Shasta was a well-known brand of sodas and mixers in most of the western United States and parts of the Southwest. During the 1960s, Shasta was purchased by Consolidated Foods (later known as Sara Lee) and was renamed Shasta Beverages. In 1985, it was acquired by the National Beverage Corp., which also owns the similarly marketed Faygo line of soft drinks.

Products

In addition to soft drinks, Shasta Beverages produces club soda and tonic water for mixing alcoholic drinks.

Soda flavors and mixers

Shasta Beverages currently produces 34 varieties of soft drinks and mixers:

* Apple
* Black Cherry
** Diet Black Cherry
* California Dreamin' (orange creamsicle)
* Club Soda
* Cola
** Diet Cola
** Cherry Cola
* Creme Soda
** Diet Creme Soda
* Dr. Shasta (similar to Dr Pepper)
** Diet Dr. Shasta
* Fiesta Punch

* Ginger Ale
** Diet Ginger Ale
* Grape
** Diet Grape
* Kiwi Strawberry
* Mountain Rush (similar to Mountain Dew)
* Orange
** Diet Orange
* Pineapple
* Raspberry Creme (raspberry-vanilla)
* Root Beer
** Diet Root Beer

* Strawberry
** Diet Strawberry
* Tiki Punch
* Tonic Water
* Twist (lemon-lime)
** Diet Twist
** Very Cherry Twist
* Zazz (grapefruit)
** Diet Grapefruit

Discontinued flavors

These are the soft drink flavors that have been discontinued by Shasta Beverages, including a line of flavors targeting Hispanic consumers(‡) that was introduced in 2007.

* Arctic Sun
* Bubble Gum
* Chocolate
** Diet Chocolate
* Cranberry
* Fruit Punch (carbonated)
* Fruit Punch (non-carbonated)
* Guava-Passion Fruit
* Horchata ‡ (based on the Mexican drink of rice, cinnamon, and vanilla)
* Iced Tea with Lemon

* Jamaica ‡ ( hibiscus flavored)
* Diet Kiwi Strawberry
* Lemonade
* Mango
* Pineapple Orange
* Red Apple Soda
* Red Creme Soda
* Red Pop
* Ruby Red Grapefruit
* Sangria ‡ (based on the wine-citrus drink; nonalcoholic)

* Strawberry Peach
** Diet Strawberry Peach
* Tamarindo ‡
* Tiki Blue
* Tiki Mist
* Tiki Orange Mango
* Vanilla Cola
** Diet Vanilla Cola
* Wild Raspberry

In 1993, Shasta Beverages offered flavors such as Mario Punch and Princess Toadstool Cherry, which were produced in 8-ounce cans and marketed to children.

From 2003 to 2006, Shasta Beverages sold soft drinks called Shasta Shortz that were also marketed to children. Shasta Shortz products were produced in 8-ounce cans and had sweeter, more candy-like flavors, including Bubble Gum, Camo Orange Creme, Chillin' Cherry Punch, Cotton Candy, Rah-Rah Root Beer, and Red Grape Stain.

Ingredients

Shasta Beverages uses high-fructose corn syrup as the sugar source in their drinks. Shasta diet soft drinks use sucralose and acesulfame potassium as non-nutritive sweeteners. Some of their sugar-based drinks, including their cola, use a combination of high-fructose corn syrup and sucralose. Ingredients for some of their sodas are as follows (in decreasing order by % of product):

*Diet Cola: carbonated water, caramel color, phosphoric acid, citric acid, potassium citrate, sucralose, potassium benzoate (a preservative), caffeine, acesulfame potassium, natural flavor
*Root Beer: carbonated water, high-fructose corn syrup, caramel color, natural and artificial flavors, potassium benzoate (preservative), sucralose
*Tiki Punch: carbonated water, high-fructose corn syrup, citric acid, potassium benzoate, gum acacia, natural and artificial flavor, glyceryl abietate, red 40
*Orange Soda: carbonated water, high-fructose corn syrup, citric acid, potassium benzoate (preservative), modified corn starch, glyceryl acetate, natural flavor, yellow 6, vitamin C (ascorbic acid), sucralose, calcium disodium EDTA, red 40product label (2017)
*Black Cherry: carbonated water, high-fructose corn syrup, citric acid, natural and artificial flavors, potassium benzoate (preservative), caramel color, red 40, sucralose, blue 1
* Creme Soda: carbonated water, high-fructose corn syrup, potassium benzoate, citric acid, caramel color, artificial flavor, sucralose

References

External links

Shasta Beverages website

{{Colas

1889 establishments in California
American soft drinks
Companies based in Hayward, California
Food and drink companies established in 1889
Food and drink in the San Francisco Bay Area
Drink companies based in California
1985 mergers and acquisitions