I came across a soda pop at Big Lots named Lotsa.
The flavors were grape,fruit punch and red pop.
The cans were pre priced at 50 cents for 16oz.
Big Lots had them on sale for 25 cents.

The can says Metro Beverage Company from Ohio.
I tried looking all over the place for more info.
Does any one have more info?

The grape flavor tasted good. The carbonation was a little weak. The can had a freshness date of 3/11/06.

[ 11-13-2005, 12:15 PM: Message edited by: Mr Zabe ]

Lotsa is easy to find here in Nashville; a couple of grocery stores stock it. They have several flavors, including diet versions.

Most of them aren't that good, IMHO. They're about the same as Faygo; there's even a Redpop flavor.

Big Lots is great for finding odd sodas. My local Big Lots still has KMX, and even Mexican sodas!

[ 11-13-2005, 04:14 PM: Message edited by: ChrisPC ]

Metro Beverages a few years back held the RC franchise for part of Ohio and Eastern Indiana. They had RC products and Big Red. They sold their rights to American Beverages and now just bottle and can Lotsa.

[ 11-13-2005, 10:03 PM: Message edited by: bigrich ]

Yep, picked up some Lotsa sodas too. Also, some strange Tampico drinks.

Here in Mexico is available Tampico Citrus Punch

In cities like Tampico or Cd. Victoria, Tampico is distributed and made by the Coca-Cola bottler Grupo Tampico ( www.grupotampico.com.mx ), while here in Aguascalientes Tampico is made and distributed by San Marcos Milk. Tampico Citrus tastes really good!, but I wish they could bring the flavors you show in the picture, wonkapete!

[ 11-14-2005, 11:36 AM: Message edited by: Ramón el Coca-Colero ]

I was at Big Lots yesterday and picked up more Lotsa sodas. They had all new flavors. Some of the flavors are pretty good.



Also picked up some coffee drinks, which are very good and some strange sodas. One has a scary black kid on it that looks like Arnold from Different Strokes.

Pete,
Did you try the Lotsa soda pop ginger ale and the pink lemonade?

I tried the Cola and Grape. Funny but the labels are tastier than the soda pop. LOL The cola was ok but it had a weak taste.

Tampico makes good sodas. At least I have always liked them. The Super Giants around here have them.

The Ginger Ale didn't have much taste. So far, the Kiwi-Strawberry has been my favorite. Very sweet though. I haven't got around to trying them all yet.

Metro Beverage was headquartered in Columbus, OH and was heading towards its third generation of family owned existence. The brand had been around for 50 years and was having continued independent bottling success. However, the company was sold to Cott Industries (the largest bottler of independent products in the world) of Canada in 2004/2005. Cott bought the product names, but primarily purchased Metro Beverage for the bottling facility in preparation for a pending deal with WalMart, they were looking for extra production capacity in the MidWest to better serve WalMart. Ultimately, I believe the deal with WalMart fell through, Cott closed down the bottling facility in Columbus, discontinued the brands, and may or may not still utilize the warehouse facilities in this area. I designed the labels on the final series of products that came out from 2003-2005. The new "burst" image on the signature Lotsa products, the 8 oz cans for kids labeled "Lil' Lotsa", as well as a few other brands they rolled-out towards the end. It was a great family to work for, their departure was unforeseen, and it was sad when they closed down as an independent. I was sorry to see them leave the business. If you ever had the opportunity to try the product, please know that you were sampling a product with a long family history, that was produced for many years with care, and employed many people who were long term employees. The product that appeared at Big Lots was the liquidation of the remaining product after the company's purchase.