Kickapoo Joy Juice

Back in June, I made a post about Fred Flintstone's favorite drink, Cactus Juice, and its real-world counterpart.  I recently found out I have another such drink in my collection, Kickapoo Joy Juice.

Li'l Abner was before my time.  I had heard of the name, but knew nothing about it until now.  This is from the wiki entry:

Li'l Abner is a satirical American comic strip that appeared in many newspapers in the United States, Canada and Europe, featuring a fictional clan of hillbillies in the impoverished town of Dogpatch, Kentucky. Written and drawn by Al Capp (1909–1979), the strip ran for 43 years, from August 13, 1934 through November 13, 1977. Read daily by scores of millions of people, the strip's characters and humor had a powerful cultural impact.

And what was Li'l Abner's favorite drink?  Kickapoo Joy Juice, which was originally coined as a "volatile brew" in the comic strip.  The real-world counterpart is a non-alcoholic citrus-flavored soft drink brand owned by The Monarch Beverage Company.  The can even states it's "The Original Dogpatch Citrus Soda."

For more info, check out Kickapoo's wiki page.

Cans for Trade

The next best thing to getting a can I don't already have is getting a better condition can of one I have.  So what do I do with the lesser quality cans?  I put them in trash bags, essentially adding to my "B" collection.  If I see a special promo can I already have, it goes to the "B" collection.  And before I knew it, I had four trash bags of "B" collection stock.

3/4 of my "B" collection

What am I going to do with these cans?  Hopefully start trading.  All of my trade cans are from the last few years.  So if anyone is looking for a newer can, I might be able to help.

Click here to see the Trade section on my official collection site.

2011 Holiday Cans

Halloween cans have come and gone.  Make way for the Holiday cans...

These are my first two for this year.  The Diet Coke was a gift from my sister on Thanksgiving and the Sprite from a co-worker earlier in the week.  I'm ready for some more...

2011 World Series Pepsi Can

Two nights ago, I attended our quarterly team meeting at work.  When I entered the conference room, I noticed a few people had cans of soda on the tables in front of them.  I quickly found the barrel of iced soda cans and started digging.  I found two cans I didn't have, a Brisk lemonade can and this Pepsi World Series can.

This was a real surprise because I didn't know Pepsi had their own World Series can.  And this happened just a few of days after I acquired the Coca-Cola World Series can.  So now I wonder, "Are there any other brands that produced a World Series can?"

Same Name, Different Brand

Back in July, I got a Shasta Moon Mist can in a lot I bought on eBay.  Just last week, I stopped in a gas station and saw a Faygo Moon Mist can, so I had to buy it.  Of the 1500 cans in my collection, this is the first time I've seen two different brands with the same crazy flavor name, although I'm sure it happens quite often. 

Moon Mists

Current Excitement: A Can from Australia?

My daughter's piano teacher recently headed to Australia to visit her daughter until the end of the year.  So I had a short conversation with her revealing I have a can collection and since she was going to be in Australia...

She asked how many cans I want.  Haha.  I don't want to be an inconvenience, so I said I'd be happy with one... or two, three, four, whatever she could fit in her suitcase.  I told her to make sure she empties any cans she brings back!  I was going to suggest a separate shipment of cans back to me, but again, I don't want her to have to "work" on her vacation.

As I said, she's going to be there for the next several weeks, so only time will tell if I'm able to add a can from Australia to my collection.  I'll be sure to post an update as soon as she gets back.

*** Click here to read the update on this post ***

Game Fuel: Modern Warfare 3

As a gamer, I love the Game Fuel cans from Mountain Dew.  The first Game Fuel was for Halo 3 in 2007, the second for World of Warcraft in 2009 (two cans), and now in 2011, they have released one for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

The Game Fuel line is a limited flavor release of usually 12 weeks.  The Modern Warfare 3 flavor is a tropical flavor.




  
And how did I get this can?  My dad was out for a walk, saw the can on the side of the road and picked it up for me.  He had no idea it would be one of my favorite cans in my collection.

I also have the two 2009 World of Warcraft cans, but I do not have the 2007 Halo 3 can.  Yet.

Retro Big Red

Jones Soda made the switch to real sugar from high fructose corn syrup a few years ago.  Then we got Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback in 2009, also made with real sugar.  Dr Pepper was soon to follow with Dr Pepper Heritage.  And earlier this year 7 Up released their Retro version.

So who else could jump on the "real sugar" bandwagon?  How about Big Red?  Ok.

* This picture is from the internet, not my personal collection.  It's another can I need to watch for....

Cans from Vacation

Why has there been a lack of posts this week?  Because my wife and I just got back from a Bahamas cruise for our 11th anniversary. 

I saw dozens of cans on the cruise and during our stay in Florida, but given the way we packed I couldn't bring many cans home.  If there had been more time, I would have gathered some cans and shipped them home UPS but we had a tight schedule. 

But that doesn't mean I came home empty handed!  Here are my new cans:

Pepsi:  The first night we were in Ft Lauderdale, I saw this Pepsi can in a parking lot advertising FAU Owl Athletics.  I like cans with local advertisements.
Coca-Cola:  The "Arctic Home" cans are common now, but I got this on the cruise ship itself.  I will still be looking to get a bottom-opened one, but this is a good memento of our trip.
Ironbeer:  I had never heard of this brand.  I found it in a trash can on Miami Beach. 
Chek:  I have a couple of older Chek cans, but this one we found on the ground in a Taco Bell drive-thru in Ft Lauderdale.  We had gone into a Winn Dixie earlier that day and I saw all the different flavors of Chek available, but I didn't buy any. 
Minute Maid:  I got this one on the plane back to St Louis.  As they served everyone their mid-flight drinks, I mentioned to my wife that I didn't have this Minute Maid can, so she asked for it and the lady gave it to us. 

Something to keep in mind... if we drive somewhere on vacation, I can collect a LOT more cans!!!

Summit Cans Have New Design

Earlier this year Shasta did a makeover of their can design.  After acquiring quite a few different flavors, I started seeing the new can designs for the flavors I already had.  So many of my Shasta flavors have two cans.

I found out this weekend that Summit, the ALDI brand of soda, has done the same thing.  The old Summit can design started with silver at the bottom and blended upwards into the color associated with the flavor (purple for grape, orange for orange, etc).

The new design has removed the silver and is now a solid color.  In the picture above, the old can design is on the top row and the new can design is on the bottom.  These are the only three cans so far that I have both designs.

November 26, 2011 update - I just got the new Citrus Twist can last night.  Here are those two designs:

Old and new

Fact or Fiction?

I found this online.  Some people claim it's real, others say it's fake.  Either way, I don't want to try it.