In my "five things you might not know about me" blog entry, I mentioned that one of the things that I missed about no longer being in the South was the absence of Cheerwine from my life. What is Cheerwine, you ask? Well, it's a soda somewhat akin to cherry Coke, although with quite a distinctive flavor. The story I had always heard about it was that it was invented at a time (WWI, I believe) when there was rationing of sugar. The soda company was looking for a sweetener, and found that the only thing they could get a supply of was some cherry flavoring that was normally used for cough syrup. They put it in their cola and the rest is history!
I have no idea if this is true or not, and this may sound absolutely disgusting, but I certainly love it. Looking at www.cheerwine.com, it appears they're based in Salisbury, NC, which would make sense since I usually had Cheerwine while visiting my grandparents who lived in Charlotte, just down the road. So there's definitely a sentimental angle to it as well. For a little while, a local (Seattle) grocery story actually stocked Cheerwine in their "specialty" bottle section, but then it disappeared and I only have it when I come home.
However, Chris Williams, a VB MVP and all around great guy, read my blog entry, thought to himself "hey, I sell that in my store," and decided to send me a six pack. So I've been very gratefully indulging in my nostalgic drink. Maybe I'll head downtown and get some Krispy Kremes and then I'll really feel like I'm back home...