SDI JUL09.qxd - Soft Drinks International

48 FROM THE PAST
Soft Drinks International – JULY 2009
100 Years Ago
From the Mineral Water
Trade Journal of
July 1909
Parlous outlook of the trade
It was all very well for Tom Hood to sing:
We will not woo foul weather all too
soon,
Or nurse November in the lap of June.
The simple appalling fact is that we
have had to do it in this year of grace,
1909. Nurse forsooth! We have endured
the experience with a loathing, a repugnance,
and a chagrin that has been all the
more bitter because it has been the offspring
of empty breeches pockets.
I may be said to have my finger on the
pulse of the national trade. I can recall no
period – and in this I am corroborated by
Mr William Tooke, the Secretary of the
National Union – when the outlook was
more dreary, when the prospects were so
fraught with financial trouble, and when
so many makers were confronted with the
50 Years Ago
From the Soft Drinks
Trade Journal of
July 1959
Swiss drink makes London debut
The Swiss sparkling health drink, 'Rivella',
was introduced to this country recently at
a reception held in London by Horlicks
Ltd, who, in agreement with Rivella
International, are producing and bottling it
in Great Britain.
This unusual drink, which has already
done well on the continent – 15 million
bottles were sold in Switzerland alone last
year – is confidently expected by its sponsors
to become a good seller over here.
'Rivella' is a non-alcoholic drink having
its origin in milk. It is derived from whey
by a unique biological process producing
non-alcoholic fermentation. It is flavoured
with extracts of mountain herbs and fruits,
and pasteurised.
The use of whey and sour milk products
for the treatment of many conditions has
been known for hundreds of years and
Switzerland, in particular, has been
famous for its whey cures for over a century.
Although 'Rivella' is smooth and velvety
to the palate, it has a pH as low as 3.2
and is therefore most useful for patients
with low stomach acidity. By virtue of its
lactic acid and mineral content it also has
a marked buffering effect which will
menace of ill-fortune, and possible ruin.
We had reared great hopes of the assurance
of a glorious summer. We had confided
to one another that the promise of May
- that effulgently-beautiful May – meant
thirsty souls, parched throats and swollen
profits, profits sufficient, indeed, to rehabilitate
the trade in the esteem of the
bankers.
Those hopes have been brutally,
ruinously falsified. “The miserable,”
quoths Shakespeare, “hath no other medicine,
but only hope.” Alas! Our's is that
hope which deferred maketh the heart
sick. An honourable trade playing an honourable
part has been dealt another blow
when it could lease bear it. We are in a
parlous condition, thanks to influences
over which we have no control. Nature
hasn't played the game with us. We
deserved better of her than howling winds
in July, hurricanes of rain and cold
spasms that know no thirst. And nature
has been aided in her malice by statecraft.
“I'll drink no more whisky at that price,”
says the whisky lover when he learns the
price the distiller wants as a sequel to the
Budget. And when the whisky lover refuses
to drink whisky he needs less soda
Sourced by Stewart Farr
diminish symptoms associated with
hyperacidity and is therefore a suitable
drink in most cases of digestive upset.
New apple drink
A concentrated apple juice, produced by
vacuum freeze-drying techniques, was
launched last month by C. Robinson & Co
Ltd of Tenbury Wells under the name
'Dapple'.
Heavy advertising is planned for this
new product, using point-of-sale material,
with which to alloy it. But nature is the
bigger offender of the two!
A new seal
An ingenious bottle-stopper has been
patented, under the name of the
'Champion Bottle Seal,' by the inventor,
Mr Jacob Hermann, who is managing
director of the company, which is now
engaged in introducing the seal to the
British market. It is claimed for this seal
that it is perfectly sanitary, and that the
part which comes in contact with the bottle
is made of the finest quality
Government-inspected block tin. One of
the most distinctive marks of the
Champion Seal's method consists in the
fact that no lever is required to open it.
You simply pull the tab at the side, which
is embossed with the word “pull” - that is
all. The seal is claimed to preserve the
contents of the bottle for an indefinite
time. Climactic changes will not, so it is
urged, affect this seal in the slightest
degree. No contamination can, so it is
asserted, arise from the sealing medium.
All the employees engaged in the manufacture
of the seals are, we are told, provided
with overalls and head-gear, so that
not even the hair of their heads can come
in contact with them.
large spaces in the press in the
Midlands and also TV. Agents
handling the marketing and advertising
are Dolan, Ducker,
Whitcombe and Stewart.
Eleven tons of orange
compound by air
A giant DC.6C aircraft from the
Eagle Aviation fleet carried 11
tons of concentrated orange
squash compound to Kuwait last
month.
Awaiting its arrival in Kuwait
was His Excellency Sheikh Duej al
Sabbah, who controls a bottling
factory there, which will convert
the compound into orange squash
and orangeade for sale throughout
the Middle East under the name of
'Al Sabbah'.
The compound was exported by
W.J. Bush & Co Ltd.
Cola in Denmark
Last year's reduction of the Danish
tariff on the import of ingredients
for cola drinks has resulted in the appearance
of Coca-Cola in Denmark this month.
A large Copenhagen dairy company,
Dadeko, has the Coca-Cola franchise and
has now started operations.
Considerable competition is expected as
a number of Danish breweries, which also
produce soft drinks, have together formed
the Danish Cola Drink Co which will market
a new product under the description
'Jolly Cola'. ■