Moxie, a soda pop with a root beer and ginger beer taste, was one of the first mass-marketed sodas. It was created in 1876 as a drug for ailments, including dementia and erectile dysfunction. Moxie has been the official soft drink of Maine since 2005.
These days, when you say someone has moxie, it generally means chutzpah, wit, or go-get-’em. But, Moxie is the trade name of one of the first mass-marketed soda pops. While its popularity may not match what it once was, it’s actually been the official soft drink of Maine since 2005.
Moxie has a root beer and ginger beer taste that is said to take some getting used to. Even some enthusiasts compare it to motor oil and cough syrup. That said, it’s not as light as standard soda. It is, in fact, a bit strong.
The Moxie logo, which can be found as both an original and reproduced collector’s tag, features a well-coiffed, furrow-browed young man leaning over the tag, pointing an accusing finger while wearing a very official. The lab coat isn’t surprising, since when soda was first created, many beverages were pretty much marketed as pharmaceuticals.
It was, in fact, an actual drug patented by Maine native Dr. Augustin Thompson in 1876. Thompson was on the staff of the Ayer Drug Company in Lowell, Massachusetts, and that’s where the drug was patented.
Thompson dubbed his product “Moxie Nerve Food.” It appears to have been geared for a number of ailments, but most notably dementia and penile erectile dysfunction. Sure, they called it “softening of the brain” and “loss of manhood” back then, but it’s pretty clear what they meant.
In 1884, the drink was carbonated and the drinker was said to be “drunk.” It underwent another change in marketing campaign with the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, eradicating claims that it cured “dullness of the brain” and hair loss. However, diehard New Yorkers insist it’s not just a soda, but a “tonic.”
As the Tab-cult favorite with her dedicated followers, addicted to what many tab-tabers call her “diet-loathing aftertaste,” Moxie had her own distinctly strong aftertaste. There were rumors, as the soda was offered across the United States, that bartenders were serving it to customers who needed the “hard stuff” cut, as a way to disguise the fact that it was a “soft” drink. but with a “bite” that could be mistaken by an intoxicated person as “real stuff”.
EB White, author of Stuart Little and Charlotte, was a fan of the drink and wrote, as an 83-year old elder, that it contains gentian root, which is the path to the good life. He also rippled rhapsodic about how he was still able to buy it at a small supermarket “just six miles away”.
It’s the gentian root that perhaps gives the soda its rather indescribable aroma – there’s a spiciness to the drink that’s a little cinnamon and nutmeg with a clouding of winter green. This is probably why one of the biggest campaigns exclaimed, “Learn to love Moxie.” If a consumer can learn to love the taste of coffee as an adult, why not a soft drink
It is said that when President Calvin Coolidge was sworn in in 1923, he toasted the event with Moxie. Even baseball hero Ted Williams has made no secret of his love for soda. And he’s in good company. Every July, there are “Moxie Days” in Lisbon Falls, Maine, and dedicated devotees are proud to call themselves “Moxieheads.”
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
