Vess Soda is a brand of

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 ...

manufactured and distributed primarily in the

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Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

metropolitan area and recently in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

through

Dollarama Dollarama Inc. is a Canadian dollar store retail chain headquartered in Mount Royal, Quebec. Since 2009, it has been Canada's biggest retailer of items for five dollars or less. Dollarama has over 1400 stores and is active in all of Canada; Onta ...

and Giant Tiger locations. The company was founded in 1916 by Sylvester Jones, who arrived at the Vess brand name from his nickname. Charles Leiper Grigg, who would later invent 7UP, invented and marketed his first soft drink called "Whistle", an orange soda which is still sold by Vess today. The success of Whistle led to his promotion to the position of sales and marketing manager, however, eventually he and Vess came to an unreconcilable disagreement and Grigg left the company, leaving Whistle behind. While Whistle was marketed individually, the Vess logo was used on other soda flavors. The 1929 stock market crash left the company in bad financial shape. The business was sold to Donald Schneeberger. Schneeberger was considered a genius at marketing and added several new flavors to the line, many of which are still produced today. At the height of its popularity, Vess had bottling plants in several locations, including

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. Located at the confluence of the French Broad River, French Broad and Swannanoa River, Swannanoa rivers, it is the county seat of Buncombe County. It is the most populou ...

;

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;

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; and

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

. Vess was purchased in 1994 by Cott Beverages.Company News: Cott buys Missouri Bottler for $27.4 Million
/ref> In 2017, Refresco purchased Cott and assumed ownership of the Vess label. Vess continued to be distributed primarily in the Midwestern United States with its core business centering around St. Louis, where the Vess bottle statue near the Gateway Arch is a protected landmark. In 2021, Vess hired Folsom Distributing Company of St. Louis to distribute its products in the St. Louis region.

Current products

As of 2007, Vess is sold in small plastic bottles and cans, as well as 2- and 3-

liter The litre ( Commonwealth spelling) or liter ( American spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metres (m3). A cu ...

bottles. Its slogan is "The Billion Bubble Beverage."

Past products

In the 1980s, Vess produced a chocolate beverage similar to

Yoo-hoo Yoo-hoo is an American brand of chocolate-flavored beverage that was created by Natale Olivieri in Garfield, New Jersey, in 1928 and is currently manufactured by Keurig Dr Pepper. As of 2019, the drink is primarily made from water, high-fructos ...

called Vess Chocolate. It was discontinued in the mid-1990s. Vess also made Holy Cow collectible soda in a variety of flavors in 1988. It featured an illustration of

Harry Caray Harry Christopher Caray (; March 1, 1914 – February 18, 1998) was an American radio and television Sports commentator, sportscaster. During his career he called the play-by-play for five Major League Baseball teams, beginning with 25 years of ...

's face on each can.

References

External links

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Giant replica of a family-size Vess soda bottle neon Sign
{{7 Up Companies based in St. Louis American soft drinks Cuisine of St. Louis Food and drink companies established in 1916 Drink companies of the United States Food and drink companies based in Missouri

Current products

Past products

See also

References

External links