The Clear Craze of the 90s: Remembering Zima

You guys beat me to it!

It wasn’t paid placement though! JMS says:

  • Babylon 5 (the show) got not a dime for sticking in the Zima sign. We just thought…well, it’d be funny.
  • Actually, the idea of Zima lasting even into 1995 is hysterical. I keep fighting the urge to have some guy show up on B5, “Zo then I zays to him, nize ztation”…and five Narns just jump on him and beat the shit out of him, WHAMWHAMWHAMWHAMWHAM!
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New York Seltzer was notable for having those cute little (glass?) bottles. I think it referring to itself as “seltzer”, even just as a brand, left me brain-poisoned to expect seltzer to be sweet for at least a decade.

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Yes! They even made it up into Canada and we loved them! I, too, thought it was some form of magic to have something clear and yet so full of flavour, it never occured to me how little colour and flavour need to be connected in the modern era. :slight_smile:

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millerclear

There were a couple of competing “clear beers” in the 1990s.

It’s not on the official tour, but if you ask very nicely at Saint Arnold Brewery in Houston, TX, they can show you their possibly-comprehensive collection of 1990s Clear Beers, which they keep in a case in their administrative office. I believe the collection includes a bunch of the clear colas, as well.

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You’re thinking of Orbitz Soda, I think

Which, fun fact, lasted long enough to once have a web presence at orbitz.com (yes, the very same! – but to the best of my knowledge in no way related).

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EDIT – I see yourself beat me to it.

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All the snapple sodas were amazing. Tru Root Beer, as you mentioned, Apple soda, I seem to recall a decent ginger ale?

Oh, and let’s not forget Clearly Canadian, which is having some kind of weird comeback. I was so fascinated by finding this at the local grocery store that I was compelled to document the moment photographically:

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You beat me to it with the Crystal Gravy. But on a related note:

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Yup! I grew up drinking it in Canada.

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I tried a few zimas. they came out right at the beginning of my drinking history, so everything was new to me anyway. I liked them ok but there was some flavor in them that was truly bizarre. it didn’t dominate the overall taste but it was enough to throw you off.

Mickey’s, otoh, I drank steadily for a few years:
·friday
·finish classes
·“donate” plasma (it was for pay)
·take free cash directly across 17th st. to the beer store
·6pack of Mickey’s “hand grenades” – short, wide green glass bottles – because the alcohol laws in Knoxville forbade sales of 40s.
·head to whichever rock show or party in the Fort (or both) that was going on.

presumably I got an extra buzz kicked in from the loss of plasma, but ultimately irrelevant since drinking a 6 of Mickey’s is gonna get you plenty nice, regardless.

oh, wow, I had no idea anyone outside of Knoxville knew that band whatsoever. It is possible I drank zima at their show. I mean, I definitely drank, and the timeline is right.

fucking lol. I remembered Bad Idea Jeans all these years, but had completely forgotten 3 legged. now we need Kris Kross to wear 3 legged jeans backwards. also, is that Maya Rudolph next to Chris Rock?

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Clearly!

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I went to the other orange-and-white UT, in Austin – while there, I sent off for a 'zine from Knoxville’s UT called The Lame Monkey Manifesto. Good stuff.

A few years after that – right around the time Zima became popular – there happened to be a small Knoxville diaspora in Austin, centered around the band Hominybob (two members of which were later in Drums & Tuba). I see some good soul has put their cassette online:

Not sure Lame Monkey or Hominybob will ring familiar to you… More recently, having finally at least driven thru Knoxville, I’ve had the pleasure and good fortune of eating shawarma and falafel from Yassin’s.

Anyway – before White Claw and Zima, we had (and, I suppose, we still have) wine coolers.

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Jake Gyllenhaal Reaction GIF

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Naturally, it was made in Memphis, as if it didn’t already have self-esteem problems.

drums and tuba I believe I saw on tour while I was in Knoxville, I definitely remember the name from listings and flyers. LMM and HB ring a bell but I think that’s because they were a bit before my tenure there. Yassins is after my time, Felafel Hut was the only middle eastern fare in town during my stay. despite the corny name it was respectable.

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You might still be able to buy unopened bottles of it on eBay, but “lava lamp juice”, well…

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Hey now…

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I also liked Zima.

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That video reminds me that in the back of my fridge is an unopened can of Billy Beer from 1977! It used to have a twin, but one evening when we were having a party a friend’s 8 year old decided to crack it open (no idea why; we were all outside with a cooler full of beer, but it was inside the fridge). Don’t worry, she didn’t drink any of it. But we did.

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ETA: While looking for that image I came across this:

I agree with their assessment, but I really doubt that the beer today resembles what went into the can at all. I assumed that some esterification and oxidation occurred in the can over 40+ years which deepened the color and gave it all of those fruit notes.

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Crystal Pepsi! For some reason, I remembered it being called Pepsi Clear … and I liked it! I was sad to see it go.

I rarely drink soft drinks now. Too sweet. I wish there were a lightly sweetened version of soft drinks. I wonder if they would taste too much of chemicals if the sugar were knocked way down.

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