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Jolt Cola

glitch

glitch

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Sort of retro, and definitely computer related: I found original flavor Jolt Cola in 16-oz cans at the Dollar Tree for...$1! I was excited about this, as I remember getting ahold of Jolt was a Big Deal in elementary/middle school, back when it came in a red and yellow can. I thought they'd stopped producing it after the Jolt battery bottles disappeared from 7-11.
 
Fry's Electronics used to sell the stuff by the caselot. That, and the Canfield Fudge soda were big sellers.

Until very recently, anything with a bunch of caffeine is also likely to have a healthy dollop of alcohol in it also...

Four-Loko1.jpg
 
I remember one of the first video like animations I saw on a computer screen, which was a turning Jolt can.
Must have been around 1990, on a Schneider PC1512 XT.
 
Until just a few years ago, I believe Jolt Cola was illegal to sell in Norway. Then they changed the legislation so our dear Norwegian friends may get a bottle or two, but at outrageous prices even for being Norway, the country where everything is extremely expensive to start with. I have a Swedish friend in Oslo and went to meet him a few years ago. He had two wishes for stuff to bring from Sweden: meat (very expensive in Norway) and Jolt Cola (thus almost impossible to find).
 
Why is that, because of the caffeine content?

Is it the same with the German Afri-Cola?
 
I am not sure, but yes, I believe it was due to the caffeine concentration. Still I have a feeling that European Jolt is much less loaded with caffeine than what US Jolt is. Many years ago I read a cola test in a magazine, in which they even specified amount of caffeine per liter or whichever the measurement was. I remember Jolt was maxed out at the highest legal concentration, 135 mg/l (or if it was 135 mg/dl, can't recall) while regular Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola and so on only had 130 mg/l. So in practise the Jolt sold over here contained 4% more caffeine than any other cola drink. However I believe in the USA the caffeine content is closer to 270 mg/l so the marketing about more caffeine works better on that market.
 
Good heavens, no. Jolt Cola was around in the 1980s and to my recollection, was the first flavor. As I mentioned before, John Fry offered it at his first electronics store (the Fry family was long involved in the supermarket biz and the electronics thing was just a sideline. So getting stuff like Jolt Cola and Canfield Diet Fudge soda was no big deal).
 
Yep, Jolt Cola was the original flavor -- "real sugar, twice the caffeine!" Usually with bargain stores like Dollar Tree and Big Lots (my sources for caffeine) they pick up surplus from local places. IIRC, Jolt was (is? I know they filed for bankruptcy recently) based out of Rochetster, NY. Being near Albany, I'd imagine the surplus was just distributed from the bottling plant to local stores.
 
I would do unspeakable things to get my hands on a case of original Jolt, but then I'd be too afraid to drink it... What a conundrum!

I'm kind of grumpy that we can't even get the battery-bottle Jolt anymore, since they went and filed for bankruptcy, this time for real. All I want is an energy drink that tastes like cola...call it nostalgia.

This brings up the topic of OpenCola - right in the OC Wiki, it warns you against being like everyone else who's tried to create some sort of "super-Jolt" and put themselves in the hospital with a caffeine overdose, but it would be reasonable to suggest an increased level of caffeine over regular soda. Information regarding OpenCola can be found on Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenCola_(drink) - and I've considered making a batch of this stuff just to see what it tastes like. It could be an adequate substitute.
 
Over here, we have a Fairtrade branded cola called Ubuntu (yes, just like the Linux distribution, but they're unrelated). As far as I'm concerned, the Ubuntu cola tastes horribly, cold or room tempered. I hope the OpenCola recipe is better than the Fairtrade one. For that matter I can think of many different flavours of soda that could be produced under fair trade conditions without being a failed attempt to put together a cola recipe.
 
I pretty much stay away from caffein these days (too many Mountain Dews in the 90's I guess), if you over do it and quit you get headaches and it affects your concentration (no I don't drink coffee either). Decaf iced tea or soda with no caffein works for me.
 
i try to keep away from caffeine because i think it was keeping me up till 3-8am and then i would sleep in till 12-2pm.
 
I generally don't drink a lot of caffeine, but when I'm having a sluggish morning or absolutely have to drive for long periods of time (like the upcoming holiday), I generally prefer caffeine in energy-soda form. 5 Hour Energy or Mini-Thins make me feel really weird...more high than awake, so I try to stay away from those.

I stopped by a Dollar Tree in East Greenbush today (also NYS Capitaland), and they also had a large quantity of Jolt Cola, original cola flavor. I guess it's surplus from wherever it's bottled, which according to Wikipedia is either Rochester or somewhere in New Jersey...it's not too clear since the page doesn't seem to have been updated in a little bit.
 
Today I noticed that the local supermarket is selling bottles of Coke (Coca-Cola) that have been bottled in Mexico for $1.68 per 12-ounce bottle (glass, not plastic). I asked the checkout clerk about it and she said that they were selling briskly and that people were buying them because they were produced using cane sugar.

The world gets stranger every day...
 
Yes, it is generally known that Mexican Coke uses real sugar. I would have snagged some to taste it, should be different tasting.

Mexico doesn't have corn farmers to support so sugar prices are cheaper then corn syrup.
 
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