Irn Bru

[Cohaagen]

What?  But someone has taken over the manufacture of Wham Bars, right?  RIGHT?

I eat about eight or nine Wham bars a week and can confirm that they are still on sale, at least in Scotland, as are Vimto and Irn Bru bars.

[Sandow]

I had my evening bottle of Irn Bru yesterday. I was looking forward to it more than any person really should get excited about a plastic container of toxic-coloured cat's piss. Could only manage half a 500ml bottle. It's not great stuff really, is it. 'Sparkling Carbonated Drink' it says, nondescriptly, on the label; don't most soft drinks try to assign at least some kind of recognisable flavour to their product?

Sorry Irn Bru, but away with yer.

[CaledonianGonzo]

is that I thought the name made a mockery of the English language and so must be aimed at thickies who thought it was 'cool' to not spell things properly. If they'd have simply called it 'Iron Brew' I would have not had an issue with it.

I'm rapidly turning into the Irn Bru wikipedia entry here, but I think it used to be known as Iron Brew but the government made them change it back in the 1940s because the product wasn't actually 'brewed' in the technical meaning of the word.

don't most soft drinks try to assign at least some kind of recognisable flavour to their product?

Coke doesn't - "Sparkling Soft Drink with Vegetable Extracts"

[Sandow]

I'm rapidly turning into the Irn Bru wikipedia entry here, but I think it used to be known as Iron Brew but the government made them change it back in the 1940s because the product wasn't actually 'brewed' in the technical meaning of the word.

Coke doesn't - "Sparkling Soft Drink with Vegetable Extracts"

Though 'vegetable' is at least some hint.

Fucking hell, out of context, 'Sparkling Soft Drink with Vegetable Extracts' sounds like the vilest substance ever invented. A soft drink with vegetables in, anyone?

[CaledonianGonzo]

I tend to avoid the full-sugar versions of soft drinks unless I'm in the depths of a brutal hangover, but I'll speak up for Diet Irn Bru being one of the more palatable sugar-free softs.  It's light years ahead of things like Diet Coke.

[Marvin]

Oops

[Wet Blanket]

Is Irn Bru really difficult to get hold of down south? And I mean the south of England, 'cos it's dead common here in't Yorkshire.

The formula for it is as well kept a secret as that for Coca-Cola isn't it? There's only two or three people at Barr that know it. The rest must be in charge of making that Cream Soda, which is fucking shite.

According to the Arctic Monkeys, Dandelion and Burdock is also rare, but that's popular round here as well, so clearly I live in fizzy drink heaven

[chand]

Though 'vegetable' is at least some hint.

Yes, it really does have all of the nourishing vegetabley goodness that description suggests.

According to the Arctic Monkeys, Dandelion and Burdock is also rare, but that's popular round here as well, so clearly I live in fizzy drink heaven

Dandelion and Burdock is everywhere round here, either the Ben Shaw's version or Barr's hilarious 'D'n'B' version, which is the worst attempt to make a drink sound cool since they tried to convince people you could call Southern Comfort 'SoCo' and have people not think you were a throbbing bellend.

[Natnar]

Tizer with added Menthol to make it taste "cold", tasted as shit as it sounded.

[Sandow]

Tizer with added Menthol to make it taste "cold", tasted as shit as it sounded.

I'm mildly pleased that Tizer was created by a man named Fred Pickup.

[Wet Blanket]

Anyone remember Tab Clear?

[Utter Shit]

Yeah, what were all that abote?

[Replies From View]

at least some kind of recognisable flavour to their product?

TIS THE FLAVOUR OF SWEETIES.

[Replies From View]

I'm rapidly turning into the Irn Bru wikipedia entry here, but I think it used to be known as Iron Brew but the government made them change it back in the 1940s because the product wasn't actually 'brewed' in the technical meaning of the word.

Or "ironed".

Fucking hell, out of context, 'Sparkling Soft Drink with Vegetable Extracts' sounds like the vilest substance ever invented. A soft drink with vegetables in, anyone?

Yes, for some reason rotting vegetation always comes to my mind.  I think of swamps and that.  From which the fresh, warm "coca cola" is scooped in 500ml portions before being filtered and chilled.  Yumptious!

[Wet Blanket]

Yeah, what were all that abote?

It was the 90s man, when soft drinks were wild. I just looked it up on Wikipedia and apparently there was a brief vogue for clear cola, though I don't remember any others. This contemporarry review made me laugh, in terms of marketing blunders:

one oddity about the new Tab Clear: it is only sold in cans. You would think that would eliminate one of the soda's strongest selling points--its clearness

I also recall, back in the 90s, my local newsagent selling a weird pop that came in mad flavours like bacon. Nobody else I know remembers it, but it definitely existed. Came in a black bottle.

[Replies From View]

Anyone remember Tab Clear?

I can't give you a tab mate unless you FUCKING FILL IT IN!


Yeah, I remember the name.  Was the gimmick that it was uncoloured cola, as well as sugar free?

Did they also have transparent plastic cans, or was that a separate gimmick doing the rounds at the same time?


Edit:  this was written before I saw Wet Blanket's post.

[Replies From View]

Here's weird.  Every now and then you stop and think about the things we took for granted.

Today, I remembered those ring pulls that actually came off the can:



They littered the place, they were harmful to wildlife, they were sharp and some kids used them as knuckle-duster type weapons.  Fucking terrifying things.  And yet we took them for granted with every single can.

Look how big the pull itself is, to fit the finger through!

It was like magic when they invented the safe ones.  HOW IS THE HOLE IN THE CAN NOW MADE?


Only one of these sounds remains ubiquitous.  The other could well be extinct, but I remember it as clearly as I do daytime:

*fssshk*

(beat)

*teeeeeeaeear*

(throw)


Or, occasionally:

*spnk*  "Oh fuck it's broke off."

[Tiny Poster]

Is Irn Bru really difficult to get hold of down south? And I mean the south of England, 'cos it's dead common here in't Yorkshire.

Not here in London, it seems to be in every corner shop for 69p. I went through a phase of buying it because it was the cheapest 550ml bottle I was somewhat familiar with (I have since taken risks on Caribbean drinks). I should have warned precinct that it's actually far from great - not a patch on the chew bars.

[Replies From View]

Ooh - slightly tangentially but relatedly, what about when crisp packets had transparent sections in because they were plastic rather than foil-based?

They made an excellent type of shrinky dink.  I filled a shoe-box with a load of shrunken crisp packets in the mid-90s, and I didn't realise but as I was doing that the packets were all gradually changing to the foil ones.  The foil ones did shrink but not as much, and not in the same way at all.  So I managed to capture a bit of time there before it was too late!

[Sandow]

I have since taken risks on Caribbean drinks

Like Ka? I'm partial to the Pineapple and Black Grape varieties, though they are ridiculously sweet. Nice though. Yeah, they and their ilk seem to be everywhere in London these days.

[chand]

It was the 90s man, when soft drinks were wild. I just looked it up on Wikipedia and apparently there was a brief vogue for clear cola, though I don't remember any others.

Crystal Pepsi was the other one. Think it was a way bigger deal in the US than over here.

There's currently a Lucozade Cola. I have no idea what the point of that is and I refuse to pay money to find out.

[Sandow]

Ooh - slightly tangentially but relatedly, what about when crisp packets had transparent sections in because they were plastic rather than foil-based?

They made an excellent type of shrinky dink.  I filled a shoe-box with a load of shrunken crisp packets in the mid-90s, and I didn't realise but as I was doing that the packets were all gradually changing to the foil ones.  The foil ones did shrink but not as much, and not in the same way at all.  So I managed to capture a bit of time there before it was too late!

Even more tangentially, I'm sure Cadbury's Dairy Milk doesn't taste the same since they started packaging them in that plasticy matt foil a few years ago. Some Irish Cadbury bars are still wrapped in proper gold foil and paper sleeves, and taste so much better (though I think that's also partly due to a different formula).

[Replies From View]

Come on which drinks were in transparent plastic cans?

[madhair60]

There's currently a Lucozade Cola. I have no idea what the point of that is and I refuse to pay money to find out.

It's the worst thing I've ever consumed.  Yes, including that.

[Wet Blanket]

Even more tangentially, I'm sure Cadbury's Dairy Milk doesn't taste the same since they started packaging them in that plasticy matt foil a few years ago. Some Irish Cadbury bars are still wrapped in proper gold foil and paper sleeves, and taste so much better (though I think that's also partly due to a different formula).

I thought that silver foil wrapping had been made obsolete on account of new rules about packaging for certain foodstuffs. I might have heard that from a mad person in a pub though so it could be bollocks.

Incidentally, I liked both the coffee creams and the miniature Bournvilles in Cadbury's Roses, yet they've both disappeared.

Black Midget Gems aren't liqourice any more either, though this isn't such a sad loss as they were rank.

[Dead kate moss]

This thread is morphing into the Orange Kit-Kat one, but this seems the right time to remind everybody that John Shuttleworth nailed what was going so wrong with sweetie packaging when he sang about the removal of the cardborad bit from the Bounty bar. If only he knew then how much worse things would get. Aeros should be in foil and paper too, and the kids today might have their internet, but do they have crisp packets that you can shrink? Yes. I mean no.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSkCy1MvICM

[Replies From View]

This thread is morphing into the Orange Kit-Kat one, but this seems the right time to remind everybody that John Shuttleworth nailed what was going so wrong with sweetie packaging when he sang about the removal of the cardborad bit from the Bounty bar. If only he knew then how much worse things would get. Aeros should be in foil and paper too, and the kids today might have their internet, but do they have crisp packets that you can shrink? Yes. I mean no.

Certain chocolate wrappers were paper as well, if I remember correctly.  Not just the ones with paper sleeves and foil wrapping, but I distinctly remember ones like Drifter having papery wrappers.

Ha, googling I found this:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/wishbook/2120745063/  Read the comments!

[biggytitbo]

Nobody else seems to remember this but there was a time, presumably very briefly, where monster munches were multi-coloured. Each piece of the actual corn based snack would be either pink, yellow or blue.


I am not shitting you.

[CaledonianGonzo]

This thread is morphing into the Orange Kit-Kat one

I'm starting to wonder whether Replies From View is actually Peter Kay.

[Dead kate moss]

Presumably the reason we don't have Rasberryade or Space-Dust Flavour Crisps anymore is because they were just a bunch of dangerous chemicals that drove kids mental - yeah mental enough to invent glam-rock, punk and new wave! This nanny-state fazing out everything that isn't orange flavour or fussing about whether a pop drink is 'brewed' is what has led us to Coldplay and The Kooks. We need more E numbers, to save pop itself!