A couple of weeks ago I had a roadtrip to St. Louis, here are some of the side notes & pics...

In Louisville, RC was selling 16 oz cans of A&W, Big Red, RC, Sunkist and 7up. I noticed that the old production coding format (A, B, etc.) has been replaced with the 2-letter system, LV is now used by the RC plant in Louisville. They were also producing these retro type bottles of Big Red/Diet Big Red, similar to the A&W and Vernor’s bottles that came out recently.

I stopped in Tell City, IN to see if the Frostop was still open, but it had closed. The root beer barrel was still intact (and visible) inside the restaurant. I saw a couple in Louisiana earlier this year that had met the same fate.

Before getting to St. Louis. I stopped at Excel Bottling in Breese, IL, to buy some Double Cola. Super nice folks there, it’s great to see a family run bottler doing well. Their Ski 4-packs are below, with the 50’s style logo. I was glad to find Cherry Ski there also.

The Fitz’s delivery truck was parked outside of their restaurant/bottling plant in the University City section of St. Louis. The food at the restaurant was average but the root beer’s pretty good. The bottling line is visible from the restaurant area. The Lewis Osterweis sodas were also made by Fitz for Schlafly Brewing (soon-to-be the largest American owned brewery in St. Louis … )

The Vess Bottle doesn’t light up any more but it’s still impressive. It’s really, REALLY close to I-70.

The A&W and Sunkist bottles came from Corral Liquors in Granite City. I went there for beer, but I also found a cooler up front with longnecks from Dr Pepper of Texas. Their A&W and Sunkist bottles have lost the long necks and are shorter now. It looks like their bottler code is DP on the new system.

The best soda selection I found in St. Louis was at Straub’s, an upscale grocery store. They sell single bottles of Mason’s, Baumeister, Jackson Hole, etc., lots of brands you wouldn’t expect to find.

In Cape Girardeau, MO, RC Evansville has what you’d expect from the Cadbury guys plus Sierra Mist. You can see the mist slot in the vending machine below. Seems that Pepsico got PO’d at Pepsi Mid-America when they wouldn’t drop 7Up for Sierra Mist, and gave it to Evansville instead. This is the first place where I’d seen a non-Pepsi distributor with it.

All for now...

Thanks for the pictures. It's always interesting to see what drinks are available in other places.

Wait, you went to St. Louis, and didn't pick up any Vess soda?

Great report. Thanks

Blue Ridge Beverages in southwestern VA used to have Sierra Mist when Pepsi Shenandoah had 7Up.

Is the Ski long neck have screw top?

Originally Posted by jmyjunk

Wait, you went to St. Louis, and didn't pick up any Vess soda?

Ha! I picked up one each of each new flavor I could find (black cherry, cola, whistle orange and root beer I found a couple months back in Evansville). You gotta love a soda named "Vess Up".

I stuck the M sodas in the picture too, they are from Mapco convenience stores. The "Mt." and "Mr." M sodas are knock offs of MD and DP.

Originally Posted by The Truth

Is the Ski long neck have screw top?

Yes those are twist off. Excel has returnables also, that require an opener, it's the old Ski bottle from the 70's/80's.

I've seen a 6-pack cans of Vess (grape and peach, I believe it was) soda in a Fred's store in Lexington, NC. Isn't Vess owned by Cott?