Why does the iconic Coke bottle have such an odd shape?

[just_labels]

@jsroberts

when I was travelling more (and still drinking Coke) I found you could fairly reliably tell which country a coke came from by its taste.

I’ve noticed that too. Wikipedia says:

@Wikipedia

The actual production and distribution of Coca-Cola follows a franchising model. The Coca-Cola Company only produces a syrup concentrate, which it sells to bottlers throughout the world, who hold Coca-Cola franchises for one or more geographical areas. The bottlers produce the final drink by mixing the syrup with filtered water and sweeteners, and then carbonate it before putting it in cans and bottles, which the bottlers then sell and distribute to retail stores, vending machines, restaurants and food service distributors.

The biggest difference is in the USA where we sweeten with corn syrup. In addition to the water there may be variations in the sweeteners between other countries.

My favorite shake-up was finding Red Bull in small medicinal-looking brown glass bottles, uncarbonated. In Singapore it’s in half-sized cans, also uncarbonated. Really weird taste.