Speaking of regional delicacies, meet Cheerwine. The super bubbly cherry soda from Salisbury, North Carolina is the perfect companion for a hot summer day or a trip the your favorite BBQ spot. In fact, Manhattanites rejoice, Cheerwine is available at Brother Jimmy’s and I’m sure a few other locations throughout the city. The delicious soft drink lays a serious ass whoopin’ on Cherry Coke, and I don’t even ever drink Pepsi products so whatever they make that is cherry flavored probably isn’t as good as Cheerwine either.
Incidentally, some regional Pepsi bottlers make and distribute Cheerwine. Anyway, the real gem of the product line is the bottled variety made from – you guessed it – real sugar. Do yourself a favor and pick up a case or ten. (Don’t live in the South and want a case of Cheerwine? The company offers a mail order service. Boom!) While your at it, hit the running store for some new sneaks, you’re gonna need ’em.
Photo one via Cakeight, photo two via, Photo three via Erin T.
I just came from NC this morning (seeing my gf) and tried Cheerwine for the first time this weekend. DELICIOUS.
I remember seeing a giant Cheerwine logo in my local Brother Jimmy’s, but I TOTALLY did not know they serve it too!!
Thank you so much for this article, it means so much to me, not just about how amazing the drink is, but how much I love and miss my gf. <3
Made my day to find out where to get Cheerwine in the city – I have a serious addiction. Thanks.
The finest soft drink known to mankind.
We got in two cases of Cheerwine for a story we were working on about road trip finds. I just about single-handedly finished the case of the regular stuff. Then (not ashamed to admit), I went ahead and finished the entire case of diet.
Occasionally drank Cheerwine growing up in Georgia. Good stuff.
Speaking of Pepsi, when I was a kid (not that long ago) we were practically brainwashed by Coca-Cola. They would give “presentations” at elementary schools at least once a year and give away Coke paraphernalia. We thought every soft drink was some type of Coke (ie. “Orange Coke” for Sunkist/Fanta etc). No one (literally) drank Pepsi – if someone asked for it, they got strange looks. I grew up thinking that Pepsi was yankee communist poison – imagine my surprise when I found out many years later that it was from North Carolina!
….other N.C. delights that i miss, pulled pork bbq(eastern) on white bread topped with cole slaw…a krispy kream doughnut is also a fine dessert…wash it all down with a yoo-hoo(thanks NJ!).
…a chocolate moonpie and orange nehi is a great in-between meal snack
once you get past the cough syrup taste, it is de-lic-ous.
@DAM:
Your mother must have found the best cough syrup ever cause Cheerwine is delicious all the way through.
FYI:
Smoke-n-Stokes BBQ of Greenville, SC is sponsored by Cheerwine and has an award winning Cheerwine BBQ sauce. Check it out if you ever find yourself in G’ville.
I’m sure you’ve seen this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPbh6Ru7VVM&feature=player_embedded
Seems like a real nice fellow!
Finally, a truly excellent post on this blog!!!
(Sorry, being raised on Cheerwine, I had to …)
My wife will travel across an ocean (we have lived in the UK for the last couple of years) for some Diet Cheerwine. While you are looking at regional specialties, may I suggest that you lock your lips on some Sun-Drop. It knocks Mountain Dew and the like into next week.
Agreed. Cheerwine kicks it over Cherry Coke and Dr. Pepper. BBQ was made to go with Cheerwine. Sort of like Chicago pizza and Dad’s Root Beer for me. Great post. Back to green tea today. Heh, heh.
…and on a somewhat different note about delicious sodas-Moxie has to be one of my favorite *Northern* varieties…although, talk about a taste that one has to get used to…
I didn’t know Cheerwine was such a regional item. I’ve seen it pretty regularly on the west coast and they had a domestic road cycling team about two years ago.
Dr Pepper in a glass bottle, beef jerkey and a $40 a night motel room off I95. Pop in a Thin Lizzy CD and point me in the direction of Garland, NC and all is right with my world.
i tell you what, i am getting pretty sick and tired o all the damned Pepsi bashing.
sick of it.
but yall dont know about Big Red. its like a liquid jolly rancher. amazing.
Going to Duke for college, I had plenty of Cheerwine. Too much for my own good, in fact! I can occasionally find it now in Charleston, SC.
Tintin- awesome, awesome picture you painted….
Why do you need running shoes?
You probably need running shoes to undo the effects of drinking a case or ten of Cheerwine.
this made me smile. i had completely forgotten about cheerwine since my NC days
Wow, the Cheerwine site is odd.
As the son of a NC father and a SC mother, I love all things Carolina, it was a real chuckle to see Cheerwine as your post today. Cheerwine goes perfectly with a pulled pork sandwich of the vinegar based sauce variety(mustard is farther east,) preferrably served by a waitress with a double first name: Martha Lou, Betty Faye, etc. If you travel a town or two over you may even find the Lexington NC, BBQ festival some day, that’s a real regional treat.
Salisbury also has a very interesting history in regards to the Northfolk/Southern railroad lines. Goggle Spencer Shops and you may find more on this.
co-sign on cheerwine.
co-sign on the south.
co-sign on fuck pepsi.
Cheerwine, cane sugar Coke – What other sodas do you fellow ACLers recommend?
@Drew, my diner waitress this morn was named Sadie Mae West! Thought of your post. No southern accent, though.
Another NC regional gem is Cook Out, a burger and shake joint with 40-something flavors of milkshake. One of their specialties is a Cheerwine float, with vanilla ice cream, of course. The creaminess brings out another dimension of Cheerwine goodness.
36 flavors, I ate Cookout last night. That place is damn good. I’m glad you brought it up, it needs to be world renowned…
ramirez,
big red is so gross. thanks for reminding me of my borderline white-trash days in northern indiana.
the only other regional thing from there would be the super cheap burgers piled high with green olives. (and being able to order pizza with green olives).
they dont do that out in the northwest.
Supongo que sera lo que en españa , se llama zarzaparrilla algo que se dejo de consumir hace mucho tiempo atras, lo mejor la botella es autentica
You should try the forzen variety-in effect a Cheerwine slurpy-amazing…
Warning: Cheerwine is addictive. I am from Salsibury and justed wanted to suggest that if your heading to Charlotte that you should make a quick stop in Salisbury to get a Cheerwine out of the bottle (real sugar) and a Hap’s cheeseburger. Hap’s is a standing room only hot dog and burger joint that has cheerwine in the bottle and cheerwine slushes! Once you have tried Hap’s with some Cheewine you’ll feel changed…
second the haps and cheerwine comment. if you are ever in a 2 hour radious it will change your life. cheerwine is an amazing drink that always reminds me of home….
these regional food and drink highlights are a nice change of pace. I think someday I’ll have to go on a roadtrip to all states trying the food and drinks particular to each area.
cheerwine is amazing. especially the other cheerwine things like Cheerwine freezer pops and mmmm diet cheerwine
I loved Cheerwine as a kid. I now live in California and this year I’ve seen Cheerwine in a couple different stores. It’s being distributed locally by 7up.
Cheerwine is fantastic, as is Sundrop and Nee-Hi sodas, though I’m not quite 100% on the latter’s spelling. When I would make drives from Florida to states further up north, it was guaranteed that there would be at least one excursion into some larger convenience store to pick up bottles of fantastic southern sodas, after a quick cringe at the racist paraphernalia being sold on nearby shelves.
Real sugar sodas = cavity-inducing bliss.
This immediately made me think of that scene in “Junebug,” when Embeth Davidtz’s character is trying to find Cheerwine for the outsider artist she’s trying to sign. He also wanted a “Barker’s Fruit Basket,” probably also a North Carolina thing.
I’m glad to see so many ACL readers NC affiliated!
Oh and keep showering us with these carolina gems ACL!
A scene from Season Two of Mad Men shows folks drinking a Cheerwine. My local cool grocer carries it and my kids prefer it to anything else, except Bubble Up.
cheerwine is sacred to us natives in salisbury, glad to see ACL notice.
cheerwine got some big face time in the season finale of east bound and down.