Planning a trip to Grantville PA (near Hershey) for New Year and have “negotiated” some stops along I-81 with my co-passengers. I figure we have time for one stop in each of the above mentioned cities so I am trying to make sure they’re darn good ones.

Know we have board members around several of these areas so I need your input!

Here’s my shopping list
Jolt (any)
50:50
Cherikee Red
Dad’s
Hires
Cotton Club
A-Treat (maybe I should look further north in PA for this one?)
Fanta other than grape, orange, strawberry, pineapple
Sunkist other than orange, grape
Slice other than orange
Nehi other than grape, orange, peach (but would like to find grape/orange in cans)
Still no Northern Neck in the valley?
Any Pepsi Blue in cans?

I despise plastic so if you know places that have cans or glass that’s better. Which supermarkets in these areas tend to have the best variety?

Kroger in Staunton and Harrisonburg has an excellent variety. Food Lion's is OK. Martin's and Weis don't have wonderful variety, IMO. Giant Eagle is OK.

Jolt - NO
50:50 - Not until you get up toward Pittsburgh more, where ABC does third-tier.
Cherikee Red - same as 50:50, ABC has it.
Dad's - NO
Hires - Yes, in Winchester, RC Winchester gets it in from Independent Beverage out of Charlotte. You can only find it in 20 oz. in the 7Up cooler at the Super Wal-Mart there.
Cotton Club - Again, to ABC areas.
A-Treat - further North.
Fanta isn't even done by Central Coke. You won't see ANY from Staunton to Chambersburg. There may be a little Orange and Grape around Harrisburg from CCE, but I don't think they have any Fanta anymore either.
Sunkist is only offered in orange here. Diet is even a chore to find. I think Davis does it, but RC Winchester does not.
Slice is only in Orange and Diet Orange.
Nehi and Northern Neck aren't here

Pepsi Blue may be in cans around Staunton and Harrisonburg as CPG-Pepsi Shenandoah still had it when I was there last around the middle of November. They also still had Mr. Green, and had NuGrape, Pepsi-bottled 7Up, Cheerwine and Diet Cheerwine, Sun Drop too.

Plus, get to Winchester, and you can find the coveted non-Pepsi Mountain Dew from there. You'll find it pretty much anywhere in town, markets, Super Wal-Mart, or any Sheetz or 7-11. Their DP I've heard is much better than PBG DP, which may be why I hate DP so much, all I've ever had is PBG's junk up here in Cumberland.

There's not much glass around here. You can get Schweppes and Canada Dry in deli bottles, and maybe club soda and tonic water, but that's about it, except for the Coke longnecks around here in major brands. I occassionally see some Pepsi and Mountain Dew deli bottles, but I think they're only over in Northern West Virginia.

Central Coke bottles the Coke from Staunton up to Shippensburg. After that, in immediate Harrisburg (most of Cumberland County and all of Dauphin County) is CCE.

Davis bottles third-tier around Harrisburg. RC Winchester does DP from Chambersburg down to Winchester, and Davis does some of the other products. However, RC Winchester recently has been doing some of the other brands now too.

Pepsi is Pepsi Shenandoah in Staunton and Harrisonburg up through Woodstock, and then Winchester on is PBG.

DP is regained by Pepsi in Harrisburg, from there down it's RC Winchester, and then it's third-tier bought off PBG (might as well be Pepsi's stuff - it tastes like it).

Northern Neck was in Hagerstown for a hot minute, but the stuff ran out of code before they sold it all. They "fire-saled" what they had left, just to get rid of it.

A-Treat is an Allentown-area beverage, so you won't find it in any of those areas...Well, MAYBE you will find it at the Giant in Hershey, but I seriously doubt it. It's a brand new store, and I hear it's a sight to see.

Lancaster is probably the closest place to Hershey that has A-Treat.

Definately stop in RC Winchester territory and get yourself some DP and Dew. Even their Red Fusion tastes better than the Coke and Pepsi stuff around these parts.

You won't find any other Fanta flavors in that area. Philly does Black Cherry, Consolidated does Peach. Both of their territories are really far away from Hershey.

Jolt is produced by Paul's Beverages in New Castle, Pa, which is north of Pittsburgh. I see their stuff in different places, but it's mostly carried by small indie distributors. Don't recall seeing any around the areas you mentioned stopping in. They also produce Dad's-- I've seen their 20oz.

Hagerstown is a Central Coke area, so you'll find Barq's Red Cream there, if you haven't tried it already. The Super Wally in Hagerstown is right off of I-81 (take the 40 West exit). In Chambersburg, it's on 30 (East of I-81). There are also plenty of Sheetz stores at these stops, and they often have some intersting stuff in their coolers. In Staunton, the Super Wally is off of 250, West of 81. The Sheetz store in front sells CF DP in 20oz, which I hadn't seen until I was there a few years ago. I also found Dublin DP at that Wally.. but they haven't had it since, and I've stopped as well as others have stopped, and no luck.

I've only seen Cherikee Red and 50:50 in the northeast part of PA, where I believe Crystal Soda bottles it. Oh, and when I went out to Ohio, I saw it around Pittsburgh, too.

You're not exactly going to places that are a hotbed of beverage excitement. You will find Sierra Mist handled by a 3rd tier and Dew by RC Winchester, which are two oddities.

thanks for all that info, it helps a lot. I'll definitely try the MD and DP around Winchester. Plus I'll check out the super wallys for Hires and other stuff. Interesting that Hires comes from Independent in Charlotte, our local distributors only carry their A&W, as far as root beers go. I guess Independent doesn't send any A&W up that way so they're trying Hires instead?
We'll be in Hershey so I'll try to check out that new Giant too.
It's a pity that Crystal Soda and A-Treat don't distribute around Harrisburg, it looks like they make some interesting stuff.

ps the barq's cream will be high on my find list too, I haven't tried that in a loooong time.

[ 12-09-2003, 12:06 AM: Message edited by: Cheer-wined ]

Central has been pushing Seagram's hard here at least to the west. The Winchester Wal-Mart Supercenter is off Exit 313 and then you'd turn right, go around the mall, and it's behind the mall.

Martinsburg's Supercenter is in the mall, parallel to I-81.

Harrisonburg has a new Supercenter off Exit 247B right off I-81.

You wouldn't happen to be visiting Penn National race track up in Grantville would ya? [img]smile.gif[/img] I go there every once in awhile.

As for your wish list, I can only speak about Harrisburg/Chambersburg but here's what I know:

Jolt - You probably won't find this in any grocery stores in this area, but you can usually find the cola in 20oz plastic (sorry) in convenience stores. I know the 7-11's in the area carry it and I'm pretty sure Sheetz does too. Sheetz are a little closer to I-81 as well.

Cherikee Red/Cotton Club - I've only ever seen it in a vending machine in Camp Hill, but I didn't actually test to see if they really had it. Otherwise, you will have to go up into NE PA as Fusion said. I was born in Scranton and they always have it up there. It's possible a convenience store may have it are Hershey though.

A-Treat - Haven't seen any in this area but I know again, NE PA has it.

Hires - Haven't seen it in Central PA for years unfortunately.

Fanta - The Wal Mart in Carlisle had Grape and Orange for several months but hasn't carried it for awhile. That was the only place in Central PA I ever saw it.

Crush - The Wal Mart in Chambersburg has Orange, Grape and I believe Strawberry in glass!

Pepsi Blue - It seems to be long gone here, you might find a c-store that has out of date stuff though.

The other stuff on the list I've never seen in these parts.

You can find A-treat sodas in Redners Wharehouse markets some of them are around Harrisburg and Lancaster areas,Redners has a website with locations, they will carry plastic and cans in a variety of flavors, depending on the shelf space in each store. You might be able to find it in some smaller grocery stores south of the Susquehanna, not sure where off the top of my head. Hope this helps out.

thanks kbw guy, I checked the Redner's website, there is one in Palmyra just north of Hershey and they carry A-treat!

I totally forgot about Redner's! I used to travel up 81 and 78 on my way from Maryland to New Jersey, and I would often take side trips, through Hersey, Lebanon, Allentown, and so on. At that time, the only Super Walmart on the trip was in Lebanon, so I often stopped there to stock up on various things.

Redner's is an interesting store.. and they have good prices, too.

karks, never been to Penn National, my cuz' is going to play at a new year's party up there. hillbilly music, it should be a blast. i hear that the local sheep are already getting nervous .