
Cheerwine
'Cheerwine' is a
soft drink produced by the
Carolina Beverage Corporation of
Salisbury,
North Carolina. It has been produced since
1917.
Cheerwine is fairly unusual amongst sodas for what the company calls its "cherry taste and rich
burgundy color." Cheerwine has a very sweet cherry flavor and an unusually high degree of carbonation compared with many other soft drinks.
Cheerwine typically comes in a 12 fluid oz
aluminum can, 12 fluid oz
glass bottle, a 16 fluid oz
plastic bottle, or a 20 fluid oz
plastic bottle. Cheerwine distributed in the glass bottle contains
cane sugar, instead of the typical
corn syrup. There are also ancillary Cheerwine products, including a line of ice cream products flavored with Cheerwine, co-branded by Cheerwine and
Food Lion grocery stores.
As for the name, the company site explains "In the early 1900s, soft drinks were often named for their appearance, hence the names
root beer and
ginger ale. Therefore, it made sense to name a burgundy-red, bubbly,
cherry concoction—Cheerwine."
Cheerwine is available in most of the
southeastern United States, from
West Virginia south to
Georgia, but is better known and has been a longtime favorite in the
Carlolinas and
Virginia. It is available in
Cincinnati at Jungle Jim's. Other spots to find Cheerwine are the many "specialty soda" stores throughout the country, such as The Fondren Beverage Emporium in
Jackson,
Mississippi. However, as of late
2002, the beverage is now also distributed in
Norway through
Oslo-based American Marketing. There are plans to expand distribution to the rest of
Scandinavia in coming months. In April of 2005, other regions of the United States began to bottle Cheerwine; mainly through
Pepsi distributors. The first area outside the traditional market area was Quincy, Illinois. Other areas added recently include Burlington, Iowa; Duluth, Minnesota; Chattanooga, Tennessee (in certain stores); Tulsa, Oklahoma; Topeka, Kansas; Rolla, Missouri; and South Yankton, Nebraska. It can be found in vending machines in eastern Ohio and in Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology of Terre Haute, Indiana, and in some restaurants in San Francisco, California.
However, these recent moves to expand outside of the southeast are not new. In the 1970s Cheerwine could be found in the
Chicago area, for example.
Cheerwine is also now available at Winn-Dixie stores in the New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana areas.
Sponsorships
For 2007, Cheerwine sponsors an elite women's professional cycling team that competes in
UCI Women's Road World Cup and
USA Cycling National Racing Calendar events.
In 1994 and 1995, Cheerwine Sponsored
Morgan Shepherd's #21
Ford in the
NASCAR Busch Series.
Advertising Slogans
★ "Full of good cheer."
★ "It's A Carolina Thing."
★ "On all occasions, it's good taste."
★ "Now That Would Be Different."
★ "It's Time to Zag."
★ "It's, like, something else." (
Valspeak-inspired
1980s-era campaign)
★ "Protecting Your Right to Drink..."
★ "The Cherry Different Soft Drink"
External links
★
Cheerwine official site
★
Cheerwine History
★
Newspaper Article: "Governor Sending Cheerwine To Oregon"