My first taste of Moxie was last year, a bottle found in a five & dime in Branson, Missouri. Last week I located a store in Westport that carries it. I didn't swig it down, so I missed the effect you describe. Sort of like a low-grade root beer to me. Did see a key lime cream soda, really good. German name that I don't remember. A lot of stores around here sell Coca-Cola and Pepsi imported from Mexico. These are still made with cane sugar, rather than corn syrup. I think this was the big change in the Old Coke vs. New Coke controversy of the early 1990's. Just like beers, there are a lot of local varieties of soft drinks and it's nice to live in a big enough city where specialty stores carry them.

Out in Cali we have BevMos (Beverages and More) that stock 100s of exotic soda in glass bottles. My prefs are Schenker's Puma Cola, Moxie Original, any of the weird Japanese sodas with the glass ball plug in the bottle neck, and some Russian sodas in Cyrillic. Can't really describe their colas except to say that some are fruit types, others taste medicinal, and there are several terragon types with green coloring!!! Import shops that stock foods and beverages usually will have them too. I'm surprised that you didn't get the Moxie sting of bitterness that is off the charts. That soda is accurately distinct from all the rest. I drink mine from the bottle as-is but cold. Is at first refreshing and then the aftertaste sets in immediately making the tongue and throat feel paralyzed, numb. An aquired taste for sure :)