Wednesday, October 12, 2005

That down home taste

I've had two very kind offers today to procure and deliver tasty treats from America to me. One was from a friend from Ohio, who leaves from Heathrow tomorrow and who is already bringing back Velveeta and milk duds for others.

The other was from St Caffeine who offered more regional delights. He said do you want something from the Southern or more specifically North Alabamian. I scratch my head in puzzlement, what's a particular speciality of North Alabama?

The first thing that popped into my head to both requests was SunDrop. Now the Ohio friend had never heard of SunDrop (but I know that St Caffeine knows what I'm talkin' about.)

She and a British colleague both asked me "What is SunDrop?"

This is a question I've probably had to answer a thousand times. And there is but one answer:

"SunDrop, my poor uninitiated friend, is the nectar of the gods. SunDrop is a soda, it's a down home taste that picks you up. Within 30 seconds of drinking it, you feel revived, within a few minutes you may feel a little jittery, but that feeling passes, and then you want another one. Its secret ingredient is resin."

The British colleague decides to Google SunDrop. "It's all one word, " I tell her.

She finds the website and says. "It looks like Mountain Dew." Yes, yes, yes, I've heard that before, it's nothing like Mountain Dew. SunDrop has a flavor all its own.

"What flavor is it?" They ask. "Yellow." I reply

She also sees it's described as a "community drink." She thinks that's kind of sweet.

I guess. Maybe crack cocaine is a "community drug". All I know, is that it's hard to kick the SunDrop habit, and you never really get free. I haven't had one in 2 years, and I'd crawl over your near lifeless body to get a cold one now. I can feel the cool smooth roundness of the small glass bottle in my hand. I can hear "pssht" as I twist off the cap and its subtle aromas rise to my nostrils on a golden mist. I feel the press of the bottle against my lip and I can almost, almost taste that sweet, delicious SunDrop liquor on my tongue. Ahhh.

I think I need to lie down now.

Anyway, they got all kinds of cool stuff on the SunDrop website, like:
  • a forum for SunDrop addicts (including a comment from someone whom I scarily resembled in my heavy SunDrop days),
  • recipes (kids, I'm thinkin maybe you shouldn't try these at home)
  • and merchandise

I could snark at the merchandise, but I am actually the proud owner of a SunDrop brocade sofa throw. (Thanks VolMom).

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3 comments:

St. Caffeine said...

Hmm, Vol, you raise a couple of good points -- one I might steal. What products define North Alabama? Well, I could send you a cotton boll or maybe a replica of the Saturn V rocket or some BBQ. They tend to be very proud of their BBQ here, but I really don't think it's any better than what you get across the border.

As for SunDrop. Did I tell you we have it in the vending machine in our building? Yep, pretty cool. It is hard to explain to people and I HATE the comparison to Mountain Dew. Oh, you didn't even go into just HOW good SunDrop is from a 10 ounce glass bottle. That's the absolute best!

melusina said...

Yea, SunDrop isn't anything like Mountain Dew. But SunDrop seems to be indigenous to the South. It wasn't a favorite of mine, but I'd drink one now and then.

Dr. Pepper/Mr. Pibb is what I'm missing. I bet they even have Dr. Pepper in England, don't they?

Vol Abroad said...

Yes they have Dr Pepper in the UK, no Mr Pibb
And as to the 10 oz bottle, my little fantasy was all about the 10 0z bottle - I'd drink out of the 16 oz one, but it's not really the same.

Vo, Mom will stock up on 2L bottles of SunDrop when I visit, which is really sweet, but I don't have the heart to tell her that my jones is really for the 10 oz bottle SunDrop. Well, I guess she knows now.