Since I live on the West Coast of the US, I had never heard of Moxie Cola before despite online ordering of weird sodas from the past like Bubble Up and Double Cola. But my interest was sparked by the movie "Small Apartments" in which a weird character drinks Moxie in bulk. I called around town and found that BevMo carries it and so like so many others HAD to try it. It is absolutely the most unique soda on earth, not fitting in any of the three main categories of sodas: colas, root beers, and fruity types. Moxie was invented in 1876 by Dr. Thompson who used gentian root extract in it courtesy of Lt. Moxie. The root is VERY bitter and the drink was originally an elixir for health benefit w/o carbonation. It was called Moxie Nerve Food and was used to treat paralysis, nervousness, and stomach problems!!! It went into production in 1884 and even rivaled Coca-Cola in the early days. Production waned in the 1920s, but then a weird series of events promoted it. It was the favorite soda of President Calvin Coolidge; it was promoted as the official soda of Mad Magazine in the 1960s, and Moxie promoted the drink with a dozen Moxie Horsemobiles- strange cars that had the driver operating the vehicle from a mounted mechanical horse! What makes Moxie unique is the reaction it gets when sampled. It is best served ice cold in its bottle. The smell is deceiving and initial taste pleasant... then the nasty aftertaste hits the tongue and back of the throat which can cause recoiling. Most describe the aftertaste as drinking battery acid or licking a railroad tie! And it's true! However, the drink has a very strong and loyal fan base, especially on the East Coast. Moxie soda led to the word which is defined as having courage, daring, and spirit. Indeed, it takes courage to drink Moxie!!! I liked it so much I bought out BevMo's stock at 2 locations!!! Coke sells over 7 billion cases of its product per year vs only 10 million for Moxie, but the loyalty is still strong as ever (Coke eventually bought Moxie which had several owners over 129 years).

*Actually invented in 1876, production by 1884. ** President Calvin Coolidge *** Mad Magazine had adverts since 1962 **** "Moxie" in the English language became known as standing for courage, daring, and spirit