Sips From the State: The History Behind 3 Popular North Carolina Beverages (2024)

FAQs

What beverages were invented in NC? ›

Did you know that Pepsi, Cheerwine and Sun Drop all have roots in North Carolina?

The General Assembly adopted milk as the official State Beverage on June 12, 1987. (North Carolina Session Laws, 1987, c. 347).

The Cherry Bounce is North Carolina's signature drink, and for good reason. According to local folklore, it only took a few generous drinks among friends, just outside Raleigh, to declare that city the State Capital. A Cherry Bounce is a combination of cherry vodka, cranberry juice, and lime juice.

While you may have expected North Carolina's most popular drink to be Salisbury's own Cheerwine, or even Pepsi which was originally introduced in the state in the late 19th century, residents actually searched Google more for a different kind of soda: root beer.

1 Cheerwine

Known as the “nectar of the tarheels,” the cherry-flavored Cheerwine soda was created in the basem*nt of LD Peeler's wholesale grocery store in Salisbury during a World War I sugar shortage.

Coca-Cola has retained many of its historical design features in modern glass bottles. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, Coca-Cola was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta, Georgia.

One of Pepsi's most recent slogans is “Born in the Carolinas.” More than that, the man behind the popular soft drink, Caleb Bradham, was also born in the Carolinas. Bradham was raised in Chinquapin, North Carolina and enrolled at Carolina in 1886 before becoming a pharmacist in New Bern.

"Drink", "cold drink", "carbo", and "soda" are locally common in southern Virginia and the Carolinas, spreading from there as far as Louisiana.

With a burgundy-red color and cheery disposition, the name “Cheerwine” simply made sense. The taste sensation known as Cheerwine was born. The cherry soda from North Carolina with a bubbly effervescence and one of a kind taste became an instant hit.

Can I drink in North Carolina? ›

NCGS 18B-302 A person must be 21 years of age to purchase alcohol in North Carolina. need an ABC permit? Yes. NCGS 18B-304 states, “It is against the law to sell or possess any alcoholic beverage for sale, without first getting the appropriate ABC permit such as a Special One-Time or Limited Special Occasion Permit.”

Before we get to Reader's Digest's pick for the best and most delicious North Carolina ice cream shop, let's look at the state's most popular ice cream flavor. According to a new feature in Taste of Home magazine, North Carolina residents love Wolf Tracks.

Sun Drop is a citrus-flavored soft drink produced by Keurig Dr Pepper with a yellowish-green color.

The new soda was a smash hit, particularly in the South thanks to pitchmen like NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt and bottling plants in North Carolina and Tennessee. In 1961 the plant in Pulaski, Tennessee, changed its name to the Sun Drop Bottling Co., because making Sun Drop soda was keeping it so busy.

Like ginger ale, Cheerwine is named for its closeness in color to the alcoholic beverage. The taste has been likened to Dr Pepper mixed with cherry syrup (though for the record, Cheerwine was invented 92 years before Dr Pepper Cherry). It's also more heavily carbonated than the average soda.

Early patent records list such items as corn shellers, cotton thinners, threshing machines, seed planters, patents for agricultural tools and and gristmills as being invented by people from the Tar Heel State.

In the small town of New Bern, North Carolina, local pharmacist Caleb Bradham invented the original formula of what would become Pepsi-Cola.

Chickens, tobacco, Christmas trees: Top products raised and grown in North Carolina. North Carolina remains one of the most productive states in the U.S. when it comes to agriculture and crop production. Tobacco, sweet potatoes and livestock are North Carolina's top agricultural drivers.